Auction tool scores

[OldKooT]

This past Saturday I felt a bit burned out from life, so my wife and I decided to kill some time at a farm auction.

I will get pictures at some point for you all but we scored a small handy little belt sander on a stand, a bench grinder also on a stand, and a 5/8th chuck 12 speed drill press. We also snagged some hardware/bolts/bins and assorted other goodies.  We got all the above, some crafty antique junk for my wife to make yard art with, and a 42" cut 24hp Craftsman riding mower for a grand total of  $198.  I then got the riding mower running and sold it to my oldest son for $250, and now he can stop borrowing my Exmark LoL

So a $52 profit and free tools. My kind of Saturday.

[Flyin6]

That drill press a good one?

[TexasRedNeck]

Nice finds.  So where do you look to locate farm auctions?

[OldKooT]

Well around here farm auctions are a weekly event pretty much. Auction billings are posted in places that people frequent. Around here that would be gas stations, diners, and sometimes even the court house or post office. Most are available online, and also the local papers. But most billings are just a general listing....hardly a complete list.

Auctions are a form of entertainment/income/social gatherings here. You can buy almost anything at a sale of a older farm. People attending will range from just average folks   looking to snoop through someone junk/belongings, to scrap dealers, to other farmers, and then people like myself and my wife.


 

[OldKooT]

Warning a small book to follow:

It occurred to me that many folks may have never attended an auction, much less a farm auction, and a small explanation/story might help some avoid surprises, so here we go.

As I mentioned in a earlier post, farm auctions are attended by many types of people. Around these parts you will find people from all walks of life attending a sale. The ones you need to be keenly aware of are folks like my wife and myself. We consider an auction " a good sporting time"  A bit of a cross between entertainment and battle, combined with personal amusement and treasure hunting. I will just share an auction experience with you, and let you gather from that.

We attended an auction last fall of a large farm estate that had everything from antique furniture, to modern grain drills. We had a pre-sale agreement we were going into this one for pure profit. (after all we have to fund our bad entertainment habit) So we brought the trailer, the flat bed pickup with the lift gate, and had the kids "on call" in case we needed more man power/a semi....or who knows what.

My wife always dresses so she doesn't blend in with the crowd at all. In this case it was largely a "man sale" so she wore a mid thigh summer dress and some cowgirl boots. She wore some diamond ear rings, a real pearl necklace and in general presented herself as a well dressed classy farm wife. I wore bibs, a greasy hat, a old torn T shirt and hadn't trimmed my beard in 5 days. We made sure no one saw us together...

She always gets her own bidder # and in this case made a big show of studying the antique furniture. Most had her pegged as a big city gal intent on buying some antiques to possibly resell.

You have to KNOW what stuff is worth in your local market. That's the key to working a  sale and understanding what if anything you want/need is of value to you.

This sale I had noticed a old sleigh that was in exceptional shape for it's age. It was a 4 person model, and built around the early 1900's. I figured it worth about $8k.... So as it came up for bid, we did what we do. Now, she had already selectively bid and bought some items of a small nature to establish she wasn't afraid to spend...My wife positioned herself so most the crowd can see her and almost on top of the auctioneer. She had been watching the crowd all day and had a good idea who was interested and intended to bid. She made sure she was between them and the auctioneer.... I always stand where I can see her face, I like to  remain distant usually behind someone. She and I over the years have a good communication system, we don't need to talk we know what the other is thinking/doing.

Bidding starts, she eagerly jumps in with a $1200 bid while the auctioneer was trying to get a taker at $700. This flushes the non serious bidders immediately... the guy or woman who thought it might be cool to own, they drop off fast with aggressive bidding even when its far below the objects value. At this point she also appears to not have a clue how an auction works, that will also flush the vultures. Predictably a antique dealer was all over that and jumped it to $1300. She made a face, shuffled around a little and bid $1350. This shows she's not sure of what she should spend. I let this go on for a while and eventually with much hair tossing, and facial expressions she's still in at $2400. At this point it's the dealer and her pretty much. Then I step in and from my seat on a old tractor 40' away I get the auctioneers attention and nod my head. My wife turns to look at me, shows complete irritation and worry and the antique dealer jumps the bid to $2650. She then gives me a defiant look and bids $2800. I then counter immediately with $3000 and smugly stare at her with complete indifference as she bids again and I wave my hand casually and up the bid some more instantly. The dealer is out, he's not getting in a bidding war...he can clearly see I am prepared to pay whatever, and she is emotionally intent on owning it...at which point she shakes her head, bids once more, I counter quickly with arrogance... and she walks off annoyed as the auctioneer makes his last call. On to the next item we were after, a very nice Ford 9N.....

There is a "art" to working an auction and it would take a book to explain all the in's and outs of really knowing how to do this. But as an example, that auction was worth about $15k in profit, and we had a load of fun together. That profit funds us attending other sales and enjoying them. Sometimes she is the disapproving wife scowling at my bidding on items, sometimes she's the stunning farm woman just trying to buy crafty items, sometimes she's just carrying small items I buy, googling model numbers, and keeping track of the expenditures. And sometimes she does all the buying while I just smile and watch her enjoy the sport. We have been doing this for many years, we have lots of fun and it's cheaper than a movie date.

[JR]

Cool, a "family" event with profit.

[KensAuto]

That is cool.

[OldKooT]

It is kind of a family event now that I think about it. Our oldest son often times "flips" farm machinery mostly for sport. I once bought 45 Dana 60 CUCV front axles in the crates at a mil surplus auction.  $50 a pop, that was a good pay day. I still have two actually LoL

I have one simple rule, if I make at least $1 profit I am happy. The downside.... I have a barn full of junk I don't need, and have not yet got the motivation to sell.

Don...the drill press is a "Ram Machinery" model. It's a large "mid bench" style with a 5/8 chuck, a 3hp motor and built I'd wager 1970's. It's not a fancy delta or anything but I fired it up today and drilled a nice round hole through some 1/2 plate like butter. So it will work until I stumble on that big delete ram press I want.