You hear much nowadays about the sickness of those who are labeled as hoarders, people who don’t throw anything away and end up with homes filled from floor to ceiling with nonsensical items. To me, a hoarder’s sale is the most exciting kind of auction when there are endless piles of antiques and treasures buried amongst the garbage. This is my favorite kind of auction.
I remember attending one such auction years ago over by Arpin, Wisconsin. The auctioneer was selling items out of small sheds, many sheds, dotted all over the yard. After several hours of not making much headway, one of the auction helpers decided to help speed things up a bit. He told the crowd, after stepping into another small shed filled to the brim, “If there is anything in this shed you’d like to buy bring it up and show me. Just give me a dollar a piece.” So I stumbled around walking on top of things, digging through piles, and came up with my own pile of treasures and a big smile on my face. I can’t remember what I bought but it was like a true treasure hunt. In the meantime the auctioneer continued moving down the line in another direction selling items out of other sheds. Those kinds of sales are rare.
At a sale years ago near New Auburn, Wisconsin, the yard was filled with items in many rows and also semi-trailers filled to the brim. Someone had been accumulating things for years and it was a true hoarder’s sale. I bought an antique trunk there that I now call my treasure chest for $20.00. It has beautiful hardware on it, a key that works in the lock, and a tray inside of it. The auction itself was on what I’d call on the junky side. But there were some neat items amongst the junk.
Many years ago we attended a farm sale by Greenwood and there were piles of scrap iron and piles of everything piled up everywhere. On one hay wagon loaded with junk from a barn was an antique oak chair sitting on the very top of the pile. It caught my eye, and although a friend standing next to me wanted it too, she let me win the bid on the chair. I paid $15.00 for it. I later learned it is called a Morris chair; it has a metal rod going across the backside of it allowing the top part to recline in three different positions. Notches are carved out of the wooden sides and the rod can move up or down and set into them. I refinished the wood, the varnish on it had turned nearly black with age, and reupholstered the cushions and we kept it in the living room for several years. Now it is in my barn loft, probably waiting to sit on top of another hay wagon at another auction.
I found a set of vintage ceramic bowls at an auction once near Granton, Wisconsin, and just had to have them. I got the whole set for under $15.00. and still have them. They are pink and gray and have a primitive design in cobalt blue of flowers, and are called nesting bowls because they fit inside one another. I later learned that they should have a lid to fit on the largest bowl and have since collected several more sets of them. They seem to call me and I don’t know why. I’ve since given a set to three family members and have another set under the bed! I’m probably leaning in the direction of becoming a hoarder myself!
A KID WITH LOW SELF ESTEEM
When you can’t talk about your home life,
Or tell your friends where you bought your jacket,
Because your father is an alcoholic,
And your coat used to be someone else’s…
When you can’t have a friend visit you,
Or you wear jeans that are too short
Because you’re ashamed of the house you live in,
And you’ve outgrown most of your clothes…
When you have tape wrapped around your glasses,
Because there’s no money for a new pair,
Or people ask what you got for Christmas…
And you don’t have a long list of presents.
When you know you don’t fit in with anyone,
Because your family is dirt poor,
Except the boy that smells like cow manure,
And you don’t want anyone to know…
You think you can fool them but you can’t.
They’ll figure it out, and they’ll treat you differently.
Such is life for a kid without much
And you know there’s nothing you can do about it.
Love these stories and the poetry, her poetry could fill a book also. thank you so very much Tom
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