Auction deals: A look back at our craziness

During the first quarter or so of our marriage, we had gotten turned on to estate and consignment auctions.

The deals were amazing and we were determined to take advantage of them. We filled up our minivan easily for $40 — sometimes for $20 or even $5. A friend at the time (the one who introduced us to auctions) one time bought the contents of an attic for a dollar, sight unseen. He made $30 just charging people admission to take what they wanted!

Auction deals are only good if you have room for them

We eventually got way more selective about what we brought home from estate auctions.

One time that we went overboard wasn't really our fault but we were more careful after that. It was a multi-client consignment auction and I put my hand up to bid on several boxes of housewares for $5. There were at least five or six boxes already in the deal. I ended up being the only bidder and the auction team was piling boxes on the table as fast as they could while the auctioneer was calling for final bids. They really just wanted to get rid of the stuff and they found a mark (me) who would take it off their hands.

We ended up with nearly a dozen boxes of housewares that we had to haul off. I think we needed a second trip with our minivan to haul all of the stuff. We ended up donating most of the things some time afterwards.

A few choice auction items for sale that we bought

One of the memorable ones we attended was a consignment auction in Fredericksburg, VA. We had the pleasure of meeting a local bigwig real estate developer — bigwig enough that he has an entire commercial retail area with his name. Super pleasant guy. We ate at Pizza Hut that night for free because he owned one and gave us vouchers. (That wasn't the only reason why he was a super-pleasant guy though, haha!)

There was a good variety of things at this particular auctionone. Here's what we bought:

A long box of comic books ($20)

There were fourteen boxes of comics available, and most of the comics were in great shape and put in plastic sleeves. They were in good enough shape that they were suitable for displaying on shelves. Most of the rest I would have wanted to protect in either comic folios or comic binders, or even a mini safe.

I called a friend who was knowledgeable about comics to come and check them out. He found one box that was pretty good, and said that they'd all be good deals at $10 or $15 each. One guy bought one box for $30, and I got the one my friend suggested for $20. Then someone else got the rest for $15 each (the auctioneer sold them buy the box, take one or take them all).

Two display swords for ($15)

My wife had a thing for weapons (no I wasn't worried). She sold the lesser one for $2 to someone. The one she kept was the nicest of the bunch (there were a couple dozen sold).

A multiple box lot ($2)

The reason I bought the box lot is that it had a Scrabble game in it. That's how these box lots go: one item pays for the whole thing, or more.

I can sell the tiles on eBay. They're used for jewelry and scrapbooking crafts. Other stuff in the lot included:

• a brand-new ceramic chip and dip bowl
• an electric carving knife that my wife could use to cut foam for her projects
• a toddler bed guard rail
• an old Rummy tile game and a couple of other games
• some decorative kitchen copperware
• a few Jewish items including three yamulkahs and a mezuzah

Some auction deals we passed on

We (okay, I) bid on a few other items like a collection of salt and pepper shakers, some vintage Star Trek spaceship models, and a couple boxes of books, but didn't need them badly enough to win them.

A few people were grumbling about some of the bidders (including the super-nice real estate magnate we met earlier!) who were “just grabbing anything in sight to keep others from buying.”

I smiled and nodded, but (a) it's their money to spend as they please, (b) it's the auctioneer's job to get as much for the items as they can, and most importantly, (c) high bid wins! If someone's willing to pay more for something, why shouldn't they have it?

We were happy with what we got, and we were happy also that we didn't get too much.

(This post was originally published on 25 September 2007, and has been updated. Photos by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA and Erik Mclean)