It was Very Strange at the Auction

I attended another auction on Tuesday evening. Because of the locker trip to Minneapolis and the subsequent mandatory resetting at Second Hand Rose I did not get to the auction until 3 hours after it started. There wasn't too much left to sell, but for some reason the auctioneer had left the furniture for the end of the auction. The selection of furniture was marginal, but there were a few interesting pieces.

The leather love seat and chair sold for more than I can resell them for at the shops, so no bids there. The iron and glass tables were OK but just too heavy and too fragile, at the same time, for my interest, after all the locker dancing. There was a decent 2 drawer library table/small desk. It was not an antique, but it was solid, clean and resellable. So I bid on it. Most of the attendees had left the auction by then, so there was little competition for this piece. I got it for $35. Then one of the strangest occurrences happened.

The auctioneer moved on to the next couple of pieces. A guy, who had been at the auction since the start, came up to me and asked if I had bought the library table. I said yes. He asked me "how much"? I told him and he contemplated my response. Then it happened. He said "I'll give ya $50 for it".

I said "I just bought it, why didn't you bid"? He responded with a story about a trip to the bathroom. Oh well. Now what do I do? I sold it to him. I had the clerk change the number of the sale and he gave me $15.

So in the course of 5 minutes I made 40% on my potential investment. I never actually handed over any money. I never even touched the desk. No lifting, cleaning, dancing or resetting of the desk. Now that was a strange auction event.

Mr. Flannery