Big Sale at 2nd Hand Rose in Buffalo

Last Sunday, while on hiatus from the 2 nearby auctions, I stopped at Second Hand Rose in Buffalo to see how Kris was doing with setup. Second Hand Rose is the original Minnesota occasional sale (a model which Gypsy has adopted and modified for our sale in Sauk Rapids). The sale starts on Thursday, so not all the different vinets were completed when I was there. There are many talented shabies doing their business in the shop. Many interesting pieces and some ideas that I may be able to hogify for my uses.



























Mr. Flannery

Auctions aux deux

Sunday was an interesting day here on the auction circuit. I attended the 2nd day of the large auction near Maple Lake. There was another auction only about 2 miles away at the same time. The Maple Lake auction was disjointed and confusing. There was so much stuff and it was hard to ascertain exactly what item was selling and where the bid was at. I finally loaded up my purchases and scooted off to the other auction. This was more of a farm and estate auction, much better organized and easier to understand what was going on.

I sat around at the second auction for more than an hour while they got good money for old gasoline water pumps, tractors, fanning mills, seed sorters and smut cleaners. Then they got to the architectural salvage, table scraps (ie pieces of tables like ornate legs and stringers), and rustic furniture. I bought a nice spoon carved square oak dining room table, 2 porch pillars, 2 boxes of legs and parts, an oak work desk, 2 upholstered benches and a funny black floor lamp with a Bakelite handle, metal shade and partial goose neck. Some of the pieces are already at Gypsy Lea's for next weekend's sale and others will be sanded and painted tomorrow.

My legs, knees and back were exhausted when I left that auction to visit (help)(harass) Kris as she was setting up at Second Hand Rose in Buffalo. We had a quick McDonald's dinner and then I decided it was time to get a rest. The signs for the Maple Lake auction were still in place as I drove through Maple Lake on the trip home. I returned to that auction and spent another 2 hours bidding on the last of the stuff they were selling in the 9th and 10th hours of the auction.

2 different auctions with 4 different visits and a trail off to Buffalo in the midst, was a record. I was happy that I had enough sit on my butt and do my real job work to do on Monday to avoid more dancing with furniture. Tuesday brought about a trip to Gypsy's to drop off about 1/2 a truck full and a chance to help with the set up for next weekend's sale. It looks really cool in the shop already, with a number of eclectic hogs hiding amongst some wonderful roses.

Mr. Flannery

No Train Here

The amusement park train from the 1950's was even better than it looked in the pictures. Unfortunately it sold for $14,300, so it will not be traversing Flannery Bay. However, if I connected it to the mainline at South Haven, the State would probably give me the more than $1 million per mile subsidy that we're paying for the almost as useful rail line from Big Lake to St. Paul. I didn't buy anything too wonderful, but I will have three trucks full of furniture to haul away from there. I already brought a nice dining table, buffet, 8 chairs and 2 bar stools to Gypsy's for the October sale. I will go there again tomorrow for my next load and to see if there are more hogs to be herded in the second day of the auction.



Mr. Flannery

Just How Old is Antique

I was working at Gypsy Lea's last month with one of the young girls who also sells there. (30+ y.o. with 7 y.o. son). One of her items came to the counter and was marked "antique". Now this was a bowl from the late 1970's, so I asked her what was her definintion of "antique". She said it was anything older than her. Damn, now I know that I even have some antique shoes, that I still wear.

There's an interesting looking auction in Maple Lake tomorrow. The first photos that come up in the web listing are for a small amusement park train ride. The locomotive (with seating for the operator), a couple of cars (with seats for the kiddies) and 500 feet of track. The train is from the amusement park at St. Paul's Como Zoo. I remember that train from the time I was actually a size that would fit into the kiddie cars. I really would love to buy it, but $10K plus, is more than mad money for this hog herder.





This may be a fun auction for watching and wishing. Lots of interesting things that I just don't see at auction very often. The airplane pedal car is really cool. Of course my eyes were dawn to the listing for "tons of metal shelves". A place to store my hogs. I'll take my camera and give you some updates after the auction.



Mr. Flannery

A New Benchmark for the Hogs Amongst the Roses

I have this great old lift seat bench to shabotage. I liked the paint and stencils that are already on it, but Gypsy says that it didn't sell because it hadn't been painted. I have the sander out, the paint purchased and the brushes limbered. I am going to paint the yellow parts satin black and spruce up, but not change, the wood color on the bench top.




There is a hole for an electrical outlet beneath the bench. I have plans for a special repair for the hole.

Mr. Flannery

Vintage TV - But is it really HD?

I bought an early 1950's wooden TV cabinet yesterday. It cost me $1. I intend to cut down the depth and then mount a 13" flat screen monitor in the space. I will connect the power so that the old knob will turn on the monitor and the computer speakers will play through the old speaker grill. I'm not sure that I will get it all to work properly, but at least I have a plan.

I also have a very nice picture 27" Mitsubishi color TV with a very 80's faux wood cabinet. I have contemplated shabotaging the case a nice shabby red. Any thoughts on the effort?

Mr. Flannery

There is History - Even on the Tundra

I went to a very local auction this morning. It was at a little farmstead, and bed and breakfast, just outside of Kingston, MN on the north bank of the Crow River. That is close enough to be in the same zip code as Flannery Bay.

I have been moving piles and piles of stuff from stashes to my new storage, so attending another auction makes no sense at all, but it is my primary social event of the week. Recently in moving the piles I found a little book, "The Condensed History of Meeker County". I have been reading the book off and on for the past couple of days. Kingston is in Meeker County and is one of the earliest settlements in the area, utilizing the power of the Crow River to grind the settlers' wheat in the Kingston mill.


I just read about the 1862 Sioux Indian Uprising on the Minnesota frontier. The Sioux were encouraged by the departure of regular Army units and Minnesota Volunteers to fight the Civil War. Our part of the tundra was the eastern edge of the Sioux lands. The Sioux having been pushed from the north and east by the Chippewa who had guns and steel from their contacts with the Europeans. Kingston, Forest City and Meeker County were the western edge of the Big Woods that extended all the way east to the Atlantic. West of here the Tall and Short Grass Prairies, the land of the buffalo and the great plains Indians extended to the Rocky Mountains. The local Sioux, now owners of the richest casino in Minnesota, were the last of the woodland Sioux, not the mounted warriors who wiped out Custer 14 years later.


Anyway, I just read about the settlers abandoning their homesteads and fleeing east to Kingston Mill. There they erected a wooden fort centered on the mill. The settlers withstood many days of attacks, lead by the Sioux chief, Little Crow.

The auction site was on the edge of the old mill site. The battle occurred on the same ground that we were now pursuing antiques. On County Road 2 as I drove from Kingston to Flannery Bay, there is an old highway sign, overgrown by vines and brush, marking the point where Little Crow was killed about a year later by two men from Hutchinson who were out hunting blueberries. It seems that Little Crow returned to Minnesota from exile in Canada to steal horses so he could join the Lakota on the Prairie.

I was really pleased to know these events, to find the book and to spend a beautiful late summer day looking in the face of our local history.

Mr. Flannery

So much dancing

The sale at Gypsy Lea's went very well for Mr. Flannery's hogs. Big pieces of brown colored furniture squealed all the way out the door. Of course, there are many more hogs where those came from.

(BTW - did you hear about the group of pigs put into orbit around the Earth? It was the first herd shot 'round the world.)

I have been transferring inventory from my various storage stashes to my new digs. Damn, I have a lot of books. Frames, books and chairs seem to be my downfall. I swear that I can attend a restaurant bankruptcy auction and still return with books. I have been taking trucks full of stuff to the storage almost every day. I still am less than half way finished. Mike stopped by today and gave me a big hand. We loaded my pickup truck and my bigger trailer and placed it all in the new storage. Both of our backs were sore after that little dance.

The heartening thing about this dance is that I have become reacquainted with many items that have slipped from memory over time. I brought a bunch of newly unearthed smalls into Gypsy's for the last sale. They sold very well. While their sale had little impact on the storage space, they will have a nice impact on my pocketbook.

I hope have two spaces empty before October 1st. We are going to have a featured space at Gypsy Lea's for musical instruments next month. So the dancing will continue for many more months.

Mr. Flannery

Its a Wonderful Sale at Gypsy Lea's

We are ready for our next sale at Gypsy Lea's in Sauk Rapids. I am really pleased with the style and quality of merchandise that we are offerring this weekend. Gypsy and Kris and Kim and Linda and Katie and Pete and Denny have all busted body parts to get things ready. It looks wonderful. (btw - Mr. Flannery makes a fleeting appearance in one of the mirrors in the photos below.)

A rare hog tuba.



A real antique, 300 million y.o.





Wonderful faux stone lions.



Hog amoire. SOLD





Denny's 4x4 vintage ceiling tin mirror.
Mike's organ parts mantle.

Mr. Flannery