At the Auction

Jo and I went to the auctions yesterday. All good fun. Enhanced by being surrounded by a lot of people we knew from Birkenhead Flea Market. Our objective was to bid on a new Slumberland double bed for Richard. Estimated price in the catalogue £60/70. It was to be in the second half of the sale in the early afternoon. We also had in mind to get a table top fridge for Jo’s office and some videos for Richard.

We had a wander around the saleroom for the half hour before the bidding started and then settled down to watch the auctioneer as he tried to get £2 for a wall clock and a pair of clogs; the same amount for a rechargeable car vacuum and a box of light fittings; £3 for four radios and a massive £12 for a pair of weird models – “Mr and Mrs Duck”. It all boded well for reasonable prices for the items in which we were interested. The only expensive item was a Black’s Atlas which went for £130. I needed the loo, which was out of action, so I wandered along to Wetherspoons (about which a blog posting another day) while Jo stayed to see what was happening.



The first item of interest to us was number 142 – about seven boxes of videos for Richard. He was prepared to pay up to £20 but we got them for £6 (plus buyer’s premium of £1.36). They proved to be an excellent collection, all new, none of them ex-rental. I haven’t counted them but would guess there were about 200 of them. We had agreed with him that we would sell any that he didn’t want so he should eventually make quite a bit of money out of them.



The next item along was about ten boxes of assorted bric-a-brac. We had decided that we probably wouldn’t bother with bric-a-brac but at all those for a Fiver I couldn’t resist. They obviously included some good children’s toys and a warming pan which would undoubtedly get the money back and it was a case of what else might be hidden in the lower boxes.
Jo got her table top fridge for £24 and it will have the advantage of saving money on the electricity at the office as well – and perhaps at home as her office one is probably more efficient than Richard’s so we may well swap them over. I bid on a working television and got it for a fiver. Not quite sure where it will end up but if we could sort out the aerials we might have one in the bedroom.



I got Richard another three boxes of videos for Richard at £3 and then passed on a fish tank which was estimated at £5/6 and which I would have paid £8 for. It went at £22. I’m glad it was out of my league. I could not have resisted starting the hobby up again and that would have been expensive!



We had a break outside for a brief spell with Lainee and Dave and then went back in to bid on the bed. Jo got it for £60.

We took all the bric-a-brac (a car full) and then went back again for the videos (another car full). The bed, fridge and TV will be delivered today.

A quick exploration of the bric-a-brac yielded ...



I’ve always wanted a ship in a bottle!



I wonder who will get these for Christmas?



Rolls of Manchester United Wallpaper – the bin I think!



Crockery is pretty much a waste of time at the flea market or church halls but we may keep this bit of blue and white with a couple of willow patter plates for ourselves. There also seems to be a boxed set of six cups, saucers and plates.




A cut glass scent bottle and more boats.



The little pink hair dryer still has the plastic covers on its plug.



There’s a PS2 playstation and a steering wheel and foot controls...

This morning we shall explore further the boxes of bric-a-brac – who knows what we will find.