Maybe Some Money is in South Dakota Too

After the Iowa fiasco I was sure that all the money was now in Iowa. Well I went to a farm auction in South Dakota and either Iowa is leaking or some of that money made it to SD too.

The auction was just north of Sioux Falls and just west of Pipestone, Minnesota. The farmers were out picking corn and combining beans on both sides of the route there. Lots of big equipment harvesting lots and lots of grain.

The house was a South Dakota farm "mansion". Built in 1901-2 by a very successful farmer for his family which consisted of 17 children. It had over 6000 square feet on 3 floors. The house has suffered over the years from neglect and disrepair. The house, to be moved or stripped, was one of the items on the auction bill.

The same family that built the house still owns it 110 years later and the auction bill promised that the 100 years of accumulated stuff would be available for sale. The stuff did not live up to the billing. It appears that the best stuff was sold off to pickers over the past 20 years or carried off by the family members in anticipation of the auction. (17 kids in 1900 can produce a great number of off spring in 100 years).

The house was interesting, but definitely not a mansion by Summit Avenue standards. The moving rights to the house were bid to $30K but did not sell. The stuff was interesting, but definitely not the untouched accumulation of more than 100 years in the same house. And the crowd was there to buy. Again, for the second time in a week, the prices were crazy buyer prices. I bought a few things, but nothing close to justifying the 380 mile trip.

My favorite item, I bid it to $2000 but did not buy it. Its a cast iron fountain with a crane center piece and a base that had frogs, turtles and other pond life cast into the edge.

This tufted leather fainting couch sold for $1950.

And the similar chair did $900.

The frames and pictures along the fence did way too much for me to even consider bidding.

The interior of the house had some nice woodwork, but nothing to swoon over. Looked like the Sears high end interior from 1900.

The metal cove moulding and original wall paper were nice.

And the fretwork between the parlors was very good.

The stick and ball decoration on the 6 gable ends was saleable.

The house was very long with dormitory like bedrooms lining the halls in the back half of the 2nd and 3rd floors.

I guess that I will add southeastern South Dakota to northern Iowa on my don't bother to drive that far for an auction list.

Mr. Flannery

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

Another Industrial Light

Its been a hell of a month here on the tundra. I am fighting with my home owners insurance coverage about the flooded basement. And it took them 7 weeks to adjust the basement (they won't pay) and the garage (they will pay). Now I get to pursue them through arbitration.

My real work has been picking up too. I have been on the road and working more days than usual.

I have a couple of projects going for the October sales. I bought 6 of these industrial lights at an auction a couple of weeks ago. I am building a double light drop out of electrical and plumbing parts. And 2 of the lights will be a single drop light.

The lights are not completed, the bar will sit higher above the fixures, but the photo gives a good hint at what they will ultimately look like.

I had to buy many of the parts new at the hardware store. I almost died at the cost of the pieces. So the last two auctions I attended I went through all the basement and garage boxes looking for electrical and plumbing parts. So far I have 3-4 rolls of wire (at about 2% of current retail) and some fittings. I hope that the next lights will have more recycled (and cheaper) parts and fewer new parts bought at retail.

Mr. Flannery

Solid Pallet Center Island

I made up another center island/work table from one of my vintage pallets today. This one is firmly set on an industrial table base. Its all pressure washed (after these photos were taken), sanded, stained and poly'd. I like this one as much as the one on the wire shelf base. The heavy steel underpinnings give this table a real look of solidity.



Mr. Flannery

Ready for Second Hand Rose in September

I have my space ready for the September sale at Second Hand Rose in Buffalo, Minnesota. Unlike the blending that we do at Gypsy Lea's in Sauk Rapids, I have an assigned space here. I have sole responsibility to fill my space with my items. The good weather has made that task easier because I've been able to work on projects on my driveway. My space is filled with primitive and industrial style items that may be a little different than the bulk of Second Hand Roses normal inventory. Its like an entire Hog pen full of stuff placed in a field of roses.

I still really like this center island. I made it from a vintage hardwood and metal pallet (not a stapled scrap wood piece that they use for pallets now). The base is a restaurant grade Metro style wire shelf unit on proper casters. (The damn thing is strong enough for me to stand on it. A fact that was ascertained when I was putting a hanging light above it).

This is the top of a beautiful floor torchiere that I purchased from a funeral home auction.

Someone really should need this fancy drum set.

The keyboard from the pump organ is hung over the doorway above the White Seal Beer sign and the City Limit sign.

The top doesn't quite fit the base on this cake plate.

A perfectly shabby chandelier.

Teachers prep books from 193o sit on the old work bench under a really heavy and ornate mirror.

One of my favorite pieces. A porcelain advertising comb sterilizer from an old barber or beauty shop.

Two church flower urns filled with organ stops.

White Seal Beer - Little Falls Minnesota aluminum sign.

My fish trap hanging lamps.

The maple top work bench will make a great counter or center island.

Mr. Flannery

Its Hard to Imagine - I Finished Two Projects

Its hard to believe but I actually have completed two of the projects that I was going to get right to 3-4 months ago. The first is making hanging pendant lights from these Rocket Automatic Fish Scalers. The second is a work bench that is now a counter/center island.

I really like the shadows that these lamps cast.

This maple butcher block top counter/island/bench was poorly covered with a 1/4 inch thick coating of poly. It was globbed on so thick that there were poly icicles growing from the bottom edge of the counter.

This is a "during" photo after I had sanded off the awful poly.

Both pieces are going to be in Second Hand Rose for the September sale.

Mr. Flannery