How To Be An Antique Picker
(Page 6 of 9)
July/August 1971
By the Mother Earth News editors
It's not necessary to be secretive about bidding. Everybody's got this dumb idea that you have to be anonymous and sneaky when you're bidding. Horse puckies! I've found that the best spot at an auction is right up front, as close to the auctioneer as possible. That way you can see exactly what it is that's being sold.
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It's amazing how many people bid on things (or miss bidding on things) that they can't see. I've been at auctions which were overrun with dealers, all of whom missed at least one good buy because they couldn't see in detail what they were bidding on. When this happens, you can frequently sell your purchase at a profit before you even leave the sale.
Improved Cedar Cylinder Churn.
More on being up front: Stay as close to the auctioneer as possible. Farm auctions are frequently conducted from the front porch of the house. Get right up there by or on the porch steps. This has a number of advantages in addition to visibility. By being close to the auctioneer, you have a good chance of making friends with him after a few sales (laugh at his jokes, be a good ol' boy). Once the auctioneer gets to know you, he'll sometimes quickly knock down an article to you that he knows you want badly. But never ask him to. You'll blow it forever. If he does it himself, OK. Otherwise forget it.
Being up front also gives you the advantage of being able to face the audience. You can see just who is bidding against you . . . and they can see you . . . and all this can be used to your advantage.
For instance, if you're big and ugly, you can try glaring at others to intimidate them out of bidding. Or if you're sort of freaky looking, you can play the role of the local fool and get some sneaky bidding in while nobody is taking you seriously. Or if you sense that people are bidding against you out of spite because you're weird, you can make virtually imperceptible bids that only the auctioneer can see. Auctions are really a game, you see, and if you don't take them too seriously, they can be grand entertainment. Half the fun, (and success) in fact, lies in learning to play the game well.
Here are a few final handy pieces of information about auction buying. If bidding seems to be generally too high for what the merchandise is worth, don't waste time waiting around for a good buy. Sometimes auctions run this way. Go find another auction.
If you have a choice between two auctions, one of which offers a good many antiques and the other listing only a few, choose the latter. Most of the dealers and collectors will be at the first one.
Picture frames are always desirable items at an auction. However, nobody seems to care much about what's in the frame. Let somebody else buy the frame and you can frequently talk them out of whatever's in it for little or nothing (assuming that you want whatever's in the frame).
At farm auctions, there are always things which come up that won't even bring the minimum bid (usually 25 cents). When this happens, the auctioneer will put it aside and go on, adding no-bid items to the pile as he goes. Every once in awhile, he'll bring the whole stock up for bid. It doesn't often bring much, if anything, because nobody wants to cart all that junk home. But if you're close to the auctioneer, you may see repairable things or something vaguely useful in these piles. Besides, if you buy the junk, you'll be a little further on the way into the good graces of the auctioneer.
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