Going once, going twice, SOLD!

We tried something new on Saturday, and went to an auction! I saw it advertised in the Buyer's Guide (free publication delivered to our house once a week), and looked up the web page. They had a couple of dough bowls advertised, which I've been keeping an eye out for awhile now. My friend Marge had one in her New England cape-style home. During Christmas she would put some fresh boughs and apples in it and it looked so great. I've always wanted one. Anyway, so I did some research, found out how crazy expensive they can be, and hoped for the best.

Our Mapquest directions got us ridiculously lost on the way there. They were terrible! So we were late. Walking into the auction was super intimidating, because I couldn't make out a word of what the auctioneer said at first. I didn't know where I was allowed to walk, or if it was okay that we brought a baby along, but I pretended to know what I was doing because I figured I should keep my game face on. A friend of mine gave me a few pointers:

1) Set a top price in your head
2) Don't make it a contest
3) Pretend it doesn't matter to you whether you get an item or not
4) Don't bid on the auctioneer's first price, wait until he drops it down

As time went on I was able to kind of decipher the auctioneer and understand how it all went. I got my little number card and "practiced" on some things I liked but didn't care whether I got. When the first dough bowl came up for bid I was distracted by Ava. She was being pretty good but I was feeding her some puffs or something. So I didn't get in on the action when I could have. But anyway it went for above our limit. So I didn't hold out much hope for the bigger more primitive dough bowl.

We stuck around. Mr. Wonderful ended up getting a set of books called "The History of the World" (sounds like some heady reading!) Finally, the other bowl was up for bid and I was ready this time. I didn't bid on his first price, I waited for him to drop it down. Somebody else bit first, I held up my number high for the next price, but I wasn't the only one. I got it at $40, and then I made a rookie mistake: I double bid. The auctioneer even had to say "ma'am I already got you at $40." Embarrassment! Somebody got it at $50, and I thought I was done, but the guy behind us said "c'mon, are you going to let that get away????" So I bid $60! And the guy who was clearly a dealer ahead of us bid $70 and I couldn't keep going. SAD!

We stayed for a little while longer. They put this foot warmer for a carriage up for bid, (you would have put coals in it to keep your feet warm back in the day) and nobody was biting, so they added an enamel coffee pot to the lot. I happen to heart enamel, and I thought it was cool, so I bid on it and got it! Here it is:

It's actually pretty huge. Here is a little perspective:

So the auction was a lot of fun! I highly recommend it, but as a warning it was really addictive to bid. And even though we set a limit in our heads, it was really tempting to raise that limit. Do I really want to lose this item over a measly $10? $20? $30? But that's part of the fun. I see many more auctions in my future this summer!