My Estate Auction Secret...

I am always getting comments about what wonderful deals I get at estate auctions, and the people that leave these comments are right, I do feel like I get great deals.  I have a couple of secrets to my successes in these great finds to share with you.

1.  The mid-century style bug hasn't caught on in my area yet.  Most people want new things, not what they view to be old "junk" from the mid-century era.  This works in my favor, although many people think I am crazy for wanting some of this stuff.

2.  There are several auction services in my area.  I tend to follow auctioneers that have a smaller following.  Usually things at these sales go cheaper because there are fewer people attending the sale.  I would estimate that there were no more than 40 people at the auction that I went to on Saturday where I got the great finds.

3  I tend to buy things because I like them, not because they were made by a big-name company.  This gets me some great finds for low prices, because when there are mid-century buyers present, they want the big-name items, such as McCoy pottery.

One auctioneer that I like to follow will sometimes have mid-century buyers, but that is the only auctioneer that has any kind of mid-century following.  They did the sale where I got the brass and marble lamp with the velvet shade that I shared recently.  I still was able to get great deals there.  This auctioneer recently conducted an auction that was more crowded than I have ever seen, and they sold the most amazing pair of 1950s table lamps.  They were around 3 foot tall and had amazing 3 tier fiberglass shades with a design printed on the inside so that it would show through the shade when the lamp was turned on - the pair sold for $125.  Needless to say, I didn't stay at this sale long, as a mid-century buyer from out of town came to it.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some!