{"id":750,"date":"2011-02-02T10:33:29","date_gmt":"2011-02-02T10:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salvagesisters.wordpress.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2011-06-12T18:46:12","modified_gmt":"2011-06-12T18:46:12","slug":"a-novice-at-the-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/?p=750","title":{"rendered":"A novice at the auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last wednesday was my\u00a0first\u00a0foray into the world of auctions. DJ Manning in Bo’ness was to be my initiation. So with my closely perused and annotated catalogue, snack supplies and a bundle of anticipation, i set off in search of a bargain. I arrived an hour before the sale for the viewing. After a heady 1\/2hr of vintage and antique everything, i began to realise that it was going to be a long day….my specific items of interest were spread across the 1000 lots, and thus the 11-4pm sale time. Not having any idea of an approximate price tag in order to leave a bid and depart, that meant sticking it out until the bitter end. I consoled myself by thinking that this would equip me more readily for ‘next time’, in which i would feel more confident bypassing the actual auction.<\/p>\n

Surrounded by old men with wads of cash sticking out of grubby back pockets, i settled myself into a corner and attempted to look inconspicuous. Clearly i was not doing a very good job, as i found myself having unsuspectingly bid \u00a330 upon an utterly horrible armchair whilst swiping my hair. Evidently, swiping one’s hair is indicative of a bid. By divine intervention, someone with no taste continued to bid further. My heart racing, i prepared to bid on something i actually wanted – an oak arts and crafts set of shelves. But they eluded me. Then, so did a cheval mirror, 2 towel rails, a fireside chair, 2 footstools, both oak kists and 2 beautiful lamps. Despair was looming. Nor was it dissipated by winning a rather random oversized beaded foot stool for \u00a320 – i admit it, it was an impulse purchase, a consolation. Then again, everything at an auction is an impulse purchase, given that you have about 1 second to decide on your readiness to spend. This certainly goes against all my furniture\/home-wares buying principles. (Which are, if you are interested, look carefully for unworkable flaws, consider the actual value, envisage its purpose and home, deliberate on it for a while, maybe even phone a friend. Above all, be selective.)<\/p>\n

As the day wore on, i soon realised that having your sights set on a particular item is not the way to go. Despite coming away with a reasonably satisfying haul (see below), as i drove home i started to think about the things i let slip, having focused too much on the key items none of which i won anyway. However, i must say i am thoroughly delighted with my British Rail Notices framed poster. Catches the eye in the porch.<\/p>\n

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So, what are my auction conclusions? Firstly, its not for the fainthearted! Its a long day, and you spend most of it on tenderhooks. Each lot tends to be quite large, so you often end up with a few choice items mixed in with other rubbish (eg wicker baskets with a 1970’s cooler), which will invariably go straight to the charity shop. On the positive, i saw stunning pieces of furniture going for nothing – antique\u00a0mahogany\u00a0or oak drawers and wardrobes selling for around \u00a335. Those buying furniture were definitely onto a winner.<\/p>\n

In summary, a time-consuming way to pick up a potential one-off piece for a fraction of its value. If your lucky…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last wednesday was my\u00a0first\u00a0foray into the world of auctions. DJ Manning in Bo’ness was to be my initiation. So with my closely perused and annotated catalogue, snack supplies and a bundle of anticipation, i set off in search of a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,15,48],"tags":[32,80],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-2","category-furniture","category-lucy","tag-auction","tag-furniture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1105,"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions\/1105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tullyroan.com\/salvagesisters\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}