Oh Country Auction, How I Love Thee!

"SOLD! to number 26."

Howard and I heard that a lot on Saturday, as we bid, and bid,
and bid some more at a wonderful auction in New Jersey's
Hunterdon County, where the horsey folk live.

The skies were threatening, and fewer than 50 people showed up.

Good news for the auction bidders.

Bad news for the auctioneer and the homeowner;

so many of her beautiful things went for far below their value.

For instance, that china in the above picture?

That's old Booth's china, made in England between

1912 and the '30s, in the Dragon Green pattern.

Service for 8.  $5 a place setting.  $40 for the whole shebang.

And it's mine, all mine.

Poor deluded Howard thought I'd bought it for the antiques booth.

Oh, ho, ho, ho.  The poor dear innocent.

See this cupboard, below?

It is tiger maple, and was custom made by a local

Hunterdon County cabinetmaker in the 1970s.  It is to die for.

And as soon as we can figure out how to transport it,

it's coming to live at That Old House.  Another surprise for Howard!

But

we did buy things -- lots of things -- for the booth.

Like this reproduction hunt board, or tall sideboard, below.

Each drawer locks and has its own key, and the drawers

are set up to house your valuable silverware.

We snagged a primitive blanket chest, 6-board,

with traces of old red paint.  Love it, but it's in the booth.

Other things we got include . . . a Queen Anne tea table, a Hickory wing chair in like-new shape, a perfect Federal settee upholstered in pink silk -- oh it is SO gorgeous -- Chinese porcelain fishbowl planters, brass trays, oil paintings, watercolors, needlepoints, a huge old stoneware crock, several beautiful lamps, a Majolica style luncheon set, another sideboard, mahogany, that because it was missing the bail on one handle sold for $15, and on and on and on.  OH, some gorgeous monogrammed and heavily laced old napkins, some tablecloths, an old handstitched quilt, a chamber pot, an ironstone soup tureen, a bit of carnival glass . . . . and some of these things set us back a whole dollar.

Howard and I had a blast.  After the auction we stuffed what we

could into the red minivan and headed off to empty things

into the booth, where we ran out of room!

So goodbye, my friends, we're heading back to Somerville to

price the new things, and re-jigger the booth.

I am an auction junkie now! -- Cass 

P.S.  The pictures in this post are from the auction listing by the auctioneer -- Robert Heller Auctions.  I hope they don't mind my using them!  I'll be checking out their other auctions in the future.