All In and All Done

Last Saturday was the big estate auction.

My husband's cousins were liquidating their parents' household items.

It was a rather chilly and somewhat gray day, but lots of folks turned out.

Aunt Ginny had a lot of nice things, but this is what I was most interested in.

I did not have a nice set of china. In 2002, when James' daddy and Aunt Ginny had the estate sale for Grandma, I lost the bid on her rose china and have kicked myself since. However, I won the bid for Aunt Ginny's china.

Aunt Ginny collected a lot of antiques and had many nice things.

The auction went on until well after dark.

People stood around and sat around, waiting on specific items.

This is Alan, one of the cousins.

I saw many neighbors and friends.

I would have liked to have purchased one of these paintings, but I did not.

I imagine my house full of stuff would look like this if yanked outside.

That's Ken the auctioneer. People are bidding on that little blue glass basket.

Some things sold for thousands of dollars. Others, not so much.

 

One of the cousins' wives in the corner of this photo.

There was a lot of furniture to be sold, too.

The line of parked vehicles went for a very long way.

Aunt Nancy came in from Georgia just for the sale. She bought several things, including a quilt rack that her husband, Uncle Courtney, now deceased, had made for Aunt Ginny. I could understand why she would want that.

Another cousin, Ann Ashley, drove up from Raleigh.

My husband stayed for the entire auction, except for when he came home to eat dinner.

Aunt Nancy and my mother-in-law.

Another shot of all of the vehicles that were lining the driveway and the road.

In the end, we bought that set of china, a chainsaw, and a bucket of hammers. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Bill had nice things but we are trying to downsize, not add stuff. As it is I have nowhere to put this china, but I didn't really want to see it go out of the family. Plus I need to have something with which to entertain the President of the United States when SHE comes to tea.

If nothing else, maybe I will pass it along to one of the nephews one day. Or maybe I will buy a china cabinet and display it and enjoy it.

(Oh, and in case you have never been to an auction, "all in and all done" is what the auctioneer says when he is closing out a bid on an item.)