Auction fun...

It's been a busy bit on the small, strange auction front. A reasonably good eye and some good luck can be great fun at these small auctions. Even at these little, off the beaten path auctions, high points in good condition often go for what they are worth. Every now and then, you luck out (I just picked up a very clean copy of the Wyeth signed/limited Drums at a surprisingly good price)...but is is by chance and luck.

On the other hand, I have had a great time finding slightly/very unusual pieces for a song, as it were. These are the things I really enjoy having. Books with a strong and interesting back story. While it will be much easier to sell the Drums, the wee memorial volume, created for a young man who died while at Oxford and inscribed by his mother (a minor noble) to another woman (an American aristocrat) at the death of her son, in hopes it would bring her solace, is just a "better" piece. Harder to sell, but more interesting, I think.

There is no doubt that a very sexy bit of eye candy will sell with relative ease and a reasonable margin, but it is just more fun to find a lovely copy of the The Lives of the Chief Justices that was in the collection of Ambassador Jay, a direct descendant of the first Chief Justice, John Jay. Moreover, finding the "right" person...the one who covets the book for its association and history, is so much more fun than selling nice books to nice collectors (admittedly, this is also very nice).

Anyway, I am going back to cataloguing the 59 volumes I just picked up. What a great way to spend the day.