“Going
once, twice, sold!” patters the auctioneers as he transfers ownership of an old
wedding ring quilt to a buyer as the crowd moves from the flatbed display wagon to let the
woman who purchased the heirloom retrieve it.
As soon as she moves back into her place, the crowd around the temporary
sales booth realigns itself like some giant amoeba shifting and reforming. Many become one on a sunny morning on the
prairie.
One of
the pleasures of living a country life is attending country auctions. Normally isolated lanes fill with more
vehicles than the road has seen in years;
neighbors see neighbors they haven’t seen since church on Sunday or
maybe the last auction, and they begin catching one another up on their latest
news while they sort through another
neighbor’s lifetime or multiple lifetime collections of “stuff.”
In the
background, scents of French fries, grilled hamburgers, and hotdogs from a
concession stand brought in for the day tease sensitive nostrils that can
ignore the pervasive smells of fresh mown grass, bug spray, and sun block.
Attentive ears pick up sounds of children’s laughter as they play at the
auction’s edge supervised and ignored by everyone attending. Some folks bring their dogs either in large
purses or on heavy chains depending on the beasts’ sizes. Fashion includes everything from country club
golf wear to often-washed overalls with ball caps advertising everything from
John Deere to the latest fishing equipment.
Once at
the auction site, it’s like going to a three ring circus. The auctioneer created a perimeter of farm
equipment that could be a museum in terms of showing the evolution of plows,
planters, wagons, grinders, and other farm implements. Inside this show ring, another ring of
popular distressed furniture waits for new homes. Folks stop to examine a lovely ornate iron
bed piled with odd pieces of metal sitting atop an old flatbed truck. Nearby, distressed cupboards, dressers, and
tables stand like soldiers at attention awaiting new homes. Some furniture makers today spend a great
deal of energy to create new furniture that looks as worn and well used as these
pieces that served multiple generations of this farm family. Included in this secondary ring of the auction
circus is a row of wonderful old cars and parts that reveal the early evolution
of the automobile. An old Model T
catches everyone’s eye as they walk past and makes them pause for a moment to
either regret how cars have changed or to make them say thank goodness the car
changed.
Inside
these rings of larger items, auctioneers
piled four or five large flat beds with dishes, pottery, toys, pictures,
tools, and assorted ephemera of decades such as calendars, advertising pens,
and other collectibles. Some items are
still in the boxes they came in and others have separated from some of their
parts requiring buyers to pay close attention, which is hard to do when so many
people crowd into such a small space.
On a
personal level, these auctions are a chance for neighbors to gather, buyers to
stock antique mall or e-bay shelves, collectors to find that perfect piece to
add to their collection. For a
sociologist or historian, these country auctions are a textbook study of
generations of life of the Plains. It is
easy to see the how farm and household equipment changed and how family members
adapted outdated pieces to new roles.
The discerning can see where the
family shopped and how they repurposed flour sacks and other textiles into
beautiful quilts, tea towels, and pillows.
Some artful craft man turned old wood and other items into clever doll
furniture for a lucky little girl. Pictures and other wall hangings unveil the
family interests in Indians and the out of doors. Collections of calendars, equipment manuals,
and grocery store give-aways tell of years past.
What initially seems a festive
occasion and still is in terms of friends gathering and reconnecting is
actually a farewell to a changed way of life.
Just as funerals offer closure to families and friends of deceased loved
ones, these country auctions offer closure to those either clinging to or
saying goodbye to a well-loved past.
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