Saturday Estate Auction

For a while now I’ve wanted to expand my vintage shopping horizons. Yes, I frequent all of the thrift stores and vintage stores in my area but I know there’s a whole world of estate sales and auctions that I’ve never gotten into. I just didn’t know where to begin! Thanks to a tip from the super sweet Morgan from Ambrosia’s Musings I attended my very first estate auction yesterday morning.
When we first pulled up to the barn (it was out in farm country) all I saw were piles of old rusty tools and farm equipment. Uh, oh! Were we in the right place? We wandered into the barn to find tables full of old pottery, figurines, silver and linens. There were lots of things that caught my eye: vintage canning jars, art deco planters, stacks of 1920’s Vogues, stuffed animals that had the fur loved right off of them. I knew I had to keep focused or I was going to end up going home with a car load full of stuff! Then I spotted it in the back corner of the barn. A rack full of lovely 40’s and 50’s dresses surrounded by stacks of hat boxes, purses and shoes. I fell in love with all of them instantly then had to remind myself that there was still bidding to be done.

Nearly four hours later, after countless tools, jars and tchotchkes were auctioned off, one by one by one, they finally, finally started auctioning off the vintage clothes. I was super nervous and eyeing the crowd to see who might be bidding against me… very different than the anonymous world of Ebay! The first dress up was an adorable Bobbie Brooks mini dress that I knew I wanted to buy. Luckily only one other person bid and I was able to snatch the dress right up. I was feeling a little more confident after that and was able to snag most of the pieces I had my eye on. I’m happy to say that most of that rack of clothes in now hanging on my “to be sold rack”. Yay! I’m sure I’ll be looking into going to more auctions and estate sales now that I’ve got one under my belt.

P.S. I just put a few more items in the Etsy Boutique!


photos by Tom b.