From a $4.00 Chair to a $40.00 Chair

I saw a notice earlier this week for an online estate auction of "an absolutely amazing collection of antiques!" This particular sale bill brought back a couple of very distinct memories. I paged through all the photos of offerings and thought how once upon a time I would have been so tempted by what was available. But I did not see one single item that I find totally irresistible now. How times have changed - how I have changed!

My father loved going to auctions and I loved going through the boxes of treasures he brought home. (The ones my mom called junk.) I don't remember dad ever taking us girls with him on his forays - we would have cramped his style. But I have to wonder if it wasn't the thrill of the hunt through the stuff he brought home that helped form my own pleasure of attending auctions. What would I find? Would I find that perfect piece to add to a collection of crocks? Or would I bring home a piece of furniture for a pittance? (I did once buy a beautiful old buffet, in perfect condition, for fifty cents. And another time, a chair and couch set for $2.00.) But I digress.

As a young wife and mother back in the early 60's, I didn't have much for discretionary spending. Therefore auctions were not only opportunities to socialize, they were a form of entertainment, generally, cheap entertainment. At the most, I might spend five dollars. 

The first distinct memory I mentioned relates to one of the first auctions I went to on my own. I don't remember the name of the people the auction was for, but I remember where it was, west and south of Carbon. It was an estate sale for a farmer and his wife, who, if memory serves had been a teacher. 

There wasn't very much of anything there that I wanted until I saw an old captain's chair which was not in as good condition as the one in this photo, but I craved it.

I had a real desire to have one of these chairs. I think because it was like the teacher's chair in the one-room school I had attended. There was just something about the shape that appealed to me. 

"Antiquing" was becoming the rage at the time and there was one particular woman who went to all the sales and bought a lot of antiques. (The woman whose sale bill I mentioned in the opening paragraph.)

The opening bid on "my" chair was something like fifty cents. I put my hand up. The auctioneer asked for a dollar. The other woman raised her hand. It went back and forth in 50-cent increments until it got up to $3.00, her bid. I raised to $3.50 and held my breath. She bid $4.00 and got the chair. I didn't have the money to go any higher. I was so, so, so very disappointed. "Why did she have to be here today and why does she have to buy all the antiques?" I wondered.

Thirty years later and my fortunes had taken a big upturn. I didn't attend as many auctions as I once did but we were going to be down home for the weekend and there was a large auction advertised in Nodaway. Again, there was nothing in particular I wanted; it was just a fun thing to do on a Saturday in July. But once I got there and looked around, I saw a vintage Heywood-Wakefield chair that I fell in love with. It was pale green and in very good condition. 

I don't remember the opening bid, but I recognized my main competition for the chair - that woman who outbid me on the captain's chair! A couple of other bidders dropped out but the long-time antiquer and I went back and forth until the amount reached $40.00 and she quit bidding. I won! I felt pleasure in getting the vintage chair, but I also felt vindication in beating her. Petty, I know. Still .....

Somewhere I have a photo or two of the chair I bought that day but I don't feel like going through boxes and boxes of pictures to find it. I hoped to find one like it on the internet, but this is as close as I came. Mine was similar but without the ornate inserts between the legs.

I sold it when we had the farm sale and I was ruthlessly downsizing. Talk about things selling for a pittance, they certainly did that day. I don't know what my Heywood-Wakefield chair sold for - certainly not the $40.00 I paid for it; possibly not even $4.00.

But I had the pleasure of having it for many years.

And I've never forgotten the pleasure winning it brought me.