“One man’s junk is another man’s treasure” – AUCTION REPORT

Once again, the club took a deep breath and rustled together a day of model tossing, kit tipping and glue sniffing.  Wait, no that was … never mind – there wasn’t any glue sniffing!  Instead, 22 intrepid local model hobbyists gathered together and dug through the closet cleanings of thirteen of their cohorts, battling to win under the capable gavel of club Secretary and Auctioneer Ed Rose.  The Auction followed the format from previous events, with doors opening at 10 am for folks to register with the auction ‘catalog’, get a ‘paddle’ and complete their lot sheets.  Prior to the noon start, there was plenty of opportunity to browse the sale items and catch some cheap but tasty lunch fare (full dressed chili dogs, chips & a drink for $2) but soon thereafter was a riot by the restless natives… nope, again, that was another occasion.  No riot, just a mugging…  Anyway, seriously, items set alone or in bunches to create ‘lots’ were arranged ready for Ed to kick off the action and then at 12:20, like a finely tuned machine, Ed and his “runners” chewed through the ninety-two lots in short order, averaging less than a minute apiece.  Even with a fifteen minute break, the auction was soon done, accounts settled and kits dispersed, then the church was cleaned up and all done by 2:30 pm.  Until next year…
Now here are the stats:
There were twenty-three participants (22 folks present – one was for ‘club’ kits), 13 sellers and 15 who won bids.  Average number of bids won was 4.1, average number sold was 7.5.  Average bid cost was $8.16.  Percentage of the 92 lots sold was 63.3%.  The “Award for Best Organized Seller” went to Scott Bregi for his pre-bagged and labeled lots, coming in the door.  All in all, a fun event and, as Roland Audet always says, “better any day than mowing the lawn!”