I went to two auctions on Tuesday the 6th with a crowd of only 15 at the first one and five lockers up for sale. Of the 15 buyers, five were regulars....all with enough money to make it a contest. Only one of the regulars bought a locker as the better ones (but not great) went for twice what they should have.

A promising 5 x 10 showed a guitar case up front, two old record players and neatly stacked boxes which might have held other older items. I would have gone $300 but it went for $575. Turned out the guitar was not in the case.

*****

Second place the crowd had grown to 25 with same 5 regulars in the mix. Six lockers with the best one saved for last. It had 3 interestings rectangular (larger than foot locker) boxes squarely wrapped in blue or silver tarps. Looked like they wanted to protect those from the elements.

A regular got it for $350 and was nice enough to let me watch him go through it.  The largest trunk revealed a top level tray with.....old linens but nothing worth selling. The bottom contained....more blankets, etc. I guess the tarp was to keep all this crap dry.  Also contained two large artillary shells with carved figures...."trench art" but they were from 1975 so perhaps not as valuable as WWI or WWII.  Small jewelery box contained....6 audio cassettes! So pretty much a bust.

Next wrapped box was a standard size footlocker which contained ..... not too much. One sterling sugar bowl, forget what else, but not valuable for the bulk.  Two more footlockers....nada.  One of those contained legal documents from decades ago...guess it was importnant to the former locker owner.

One large hand-made box with maybe 10 rolls of electrical cable of some kind with connectors on each end. Turned out it was for a solar system. There was a "disconnect" breaker box which takes the electric company panel out of the equation when the solar system is engaged. No solar panels in the locker.

Miscellaneous tools, chop saw, old washer/dryer....he'll do ok but I was glad it wasn't me that got the locker. The mystery boxes were a bust.

No - that someone Travis is running also?

No, in regard to "pickin'.com"....as Travis woiuld say ...."just kidding".  Travis commented elsewhere that he would do it if he didn't have so many other things going...including buying lockers again.

A couple of days late getting this started, but August isn't going anywhere soon, so here it is.

This month holds a fair number of local auctions for me and I'm looking forward to ONE that was put on hold two months ago due to a listing issue. I'm hoping some of my regular associates won't remember this one, but since 4 of us spotted this special unit when it first came up, hope is slim that they will ALL forget about it.

Looks like a lot of people on eBay are putting bright paint jobs with pictures of flowers or cows on them and asking $100+.

Well, not totally accurate, some are asking $30.  More importantly....here's what they are actually selling (or not selling for)....the completeds...


http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=metal+milk+jug&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc

Am considering opening an antique/collectibles mall/coop with a friend and running some numbers.

Mudville....

Are you in an antique mall situation yet ?

Still plugging away at the auctions within 15 miles or so of my home and went to one about 5 miles away yesterday.

Good crowd....maybe 30...9 or so regulars.  None of the regulars bought any of the 11 lockers. Value just wasn't there. Quality of goods at auctions I go to has been LOW for a good 9 months to a year. People who are about to lose their lockers (with better quality stuff) are coming up with payments and clearing out. Meanwhile the marginal lockers (yes, I know you can still make money) are the prevalent kind available.

The prices at the auction were within reason...I guess...but the fact no regulars bought any is a sign. Maybe in my area things are starting to "normalize".

I talked to one regular who had bought one elsewhere for $1,700 and felt good about it. I saw half a dozen large items on his cList offerings and quality was there.  ON THE OTHER HAND, I talked to another regular who has a store who was AT THAT AUCTION and said he didn't see $1,700 in value there. Only time will tell on that one and the  buyer is an honest, regular guy who has admited to his mistakes before...unlike other buyers who have NEVER bought a bad locker or broken even.

You re-sold a unit you had already scanned over? Seems unethical.

What?  Just because he took out all the best stuff and left the rest for someone else?

Actually, there would be a market for the leftovers, but it would be marginal compared to the goodies that were removed. I didn't look  at the ad but if it wasn't misleading in either text or pictures, it is just another locker up for sale and the fact it was offered online is just another negative in my opinion.