So All the Money is in Iowa

Mike and I went to an auction in Northern Iowa. It was 180 miles from my house to the auction, so this was a more than average hike to auction. The listing was for a good old junk auction. The guy was a longtime collector and auction goer who had lived alone for many years and had been in a nursing home for the past 3-4 years. The houses were leaky and the furniture was in pieces and parts while often covered with mold. It sounded just like our kind of sale.

The economy has been junk and sales have been spotty. The prices of antiques and shabbies has been largely deflated. Well I found out what happened, all the money has been sucked into Iowa. Maybe its the "Picker" effect. Maybe its burning corn in our cars rather than eating it. Whatever it is, we saw its full effect at this auction.

This 4 section lawyer's bookcase with on door missing and the feet melting off sold for $550.

The post offices boxes with no back and no combinations was over $300.

The completely tattered Chinese restaurant hanging lamp was $90 and the kerosene floor lamp $280.

2 plank harvest type table with 2x4 legs did $280, well over retail here.

The price for junk were unbelievable. The furniture, with only a hint of its former grandeur, sold for more than its perfect counterpart would do at the high end stores in Minneapolis. Needless to say we didn't bring home any of the furniture. I bought a couple of lamp pieces and some older books to be cut up for framing. Mike bought a great 5 tier rotating nail bin. (However he bought it from the scrapper who bought the entire contents of a building rather than directly at auction). We will not be traveling to Iowa for an auction anytime soon. Oh well, it was only a 2 tank-full lesson.

The little farm house was too neat. It was concrete with great pillars and a portico. Built in 1906 (according to the imprint on the lintel over the front door) the concrete is very grainy and weathered.

Mr. Flannery