The Thrill Of Buying Through Auction

and I thought I was long past that!

Last Sunday I attended a good local auction, and when I arrived I spotted a great piece of furniture, that I was not expecting to see.  The piece came in as a last minute addition to the sale, and I didn’t even notice it in the advertising. I’ve seen, and sold, tens of thousands of pieces through auction, but this particular piece really caught my eye.  Four unit, eight door stacking oak bookcase in great, clean original finish.  I sold something similar to it several years ago, and have not seen anything like it since. I decided I wanted it for myself, which is unusual because I buy very little for myself now.  Don’t have the room, and there are not a lot of pieces that really catch my eye, but this one did! I waited for two or three hours, and finally the piece was about to be auctioned.  My heart started beating a little faster as they got ready to start selling. Me, the seasoned auctioneer and auction goer, and my heart started racing at the thoughts of buying this piece!  This was very unusual. I waited until the bidding started, and like any seasoned auction buyer, I had a maximum  price in mind.  There were two or three of us in the bidding, and then only me.  I thought I had it for much lower than I anticipated…and then someone else jumped in! Grrrrrr! She made her bid, and I hesitated. Then I raised the bid by $25 instead of the $50 increment they were asking, and the bidding stopped.  I got it!  And I got it for $75 less than I was willing to go for it.  Man this is fun! I am reminded again why you people come to auctions! I carefully packed and brought the piece home, and then spent a few hours trying to figure out where to put it.  Finally I worked it in, but wasn’t really happy with the way it looked.  I am by no means an interior decorator, but I have to feel good about the way a room looks.  This wasn’t looking right, and all week I was trying to figure out how to make it work.  Finally, today I tore the whole room apart, re-arranged almost everything, and now the piece looks great! If it didn’t work out, you were going to see the piece in the March 27 auction, but now that isn’t going to happen.  This one is a keeper. It was nice to see an auction from the buyer’s perspective again.  I have been on the selling end of the business for 14 years now, and it was good to relive the thrill of getting a good buy at an auction! So have fun on the auction trail, and I hope you can make it to our Feb 13 auction.  If you have as much fun and satisfaction as I did buying this particular piece, then it will be well worth the trip! Rob