ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605210016
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: 60 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
What was to become the Near-Blizzard of '96 had already begun to fall outside. But inside the Custom Catering Center in Blacksburg, some 200 auction-goers weren't going to let the beginnings of nearly three feet of snow spoil their fun.
That January morning, I saw firsthand the whole phenomenon of an estate-sale auction: spectacle for some, obsession for few, fun for many and an interesting way to get your blood pressure up.
See the men from Roanoke celebrating their new take of kitschy household goods and a fake fur coat; watch the spectators checking out the firearms while eagerly awaiting that midday portion of the sale; see the sturdy auctioneer's employees holding up the boxed lots of miscellaneous goods and, later, effortlessly suspending substantial hunks of furniture as the auctioneer solicits bids.
The scene is repeated frequently across the New River Valley, though usually without the snow this time of year.
But we're not talking Sotheby's and $574,500 for JFK's walnut cigar humidor. Local auctions can be much more the haunt of the bargain hunter, whether it be absolute auctions of entire homes and their contents, often held outside on a sunny Saturday; businesses liquidating lock, stock and barrel; government surplus sales at the universities; or farms and timber tracts being sold in rural areas.
There's even the occasional high-profile auction of local historic interest, such as the winter's auction of items from the estate of the former owner of the Yellow Sulphur Springs resort. The valley has its share of locally famous auctions and auctioneers (Ken Farmer, Larry Linkous, Carl McNeil, Frank Sale, Joe Stewart, et al.), specializing in everything from livestock to autos.
But half the fun is just seeing a small display advertisement in the back of the New River Current for an auction and going out on a warm Saturday morning to see what's there. One friend of mine stayed nearly all day at a winter auction this year to buy a box of old tools. Most of them were worthless old clunkers, but in their midst lurked a beautiful old-fashioned level you wouldn't find in a hardware store today.
Another acquaintance found his dream home - an old 150-acre farm in eastern Montgomery County - at an auction. And a co-worker recently walked away from an auction of surplus Virginia Tech property beaming because he'd found a piece of photo-mounting equipment for a steal, at just over one-tenth of its cost new.
Myself, I've had no such luck. I'm an auction novice. I'm still prone to wave at a friend I see walking into the auction while the auctioneer is soliciting bids. Fortunately, I haven't inadvertently purchased that box of old hats yet. So far, despite attending a half-dozen or so auctions in the New River Valley over the past six months, I haven't bought anything.
Call it auction-hesitation, or pre-bidder's remorse. As Linkous, the auctioneer who held that blizzard-blessed event in January put it, "You need to get your hand up in the air."
So that's my spring resolution: to discover more auctions and to come across that dream set of dining-room chairs, or antique couch or old radio. Or maybe even a low-budget walnut cigar humidor for $10. Or do I hear $15?
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Auctioneers field bids during a familyby CNBestate sale in Christiansburg.