
I went to an auction Saturday, and at some point an hour or so in, I thought I might just go home. I had been outbid in heartbreaking fashion a couple of times, and all I had to show for my frantic bidding was a cute typewriter - the box says it's not just a toy but a working typewriter, but I haven't given it a go - and I was feeling glum. But I stayed strong. In for a penny, in for a pound, I always say, and surely my luck would turn.

Slowly, it did. I got a shoebox full of Christmas stickers and tags.

I hauled in some Gurleys.

And some boxes of greeting cards. Since this was a family that kept everything, there were quite a few greeting cards. And quite a few of, well, everything. Like every piece of clothing they'd ever owned. Every toy. Every decoration. And before long, I heard my favorite auction phrase:
"Anybody got a buck for this?"
Which means the auctioneer is getting tired, and there is still a lot of stuff to go. This is the best part of an auction. You can feel the shift. The big spenders have left. The pace picks up. And the stuff that was going for $40, $50, $100 a lot earlier in the day starts going for only a few dollars. Sometimes one dollar. It's pretty wonderful when it happens.

Good thing I washed up this quilt as soon as I got home, since it came in handy on a rainy NFL Sunday. (Aren't they cute? My two boys.)

Lots of favor cups and candles and such.

These were buried in a huge mystery box of Christmas decorations.

Along with these. I like the ornaments and the paper mache boots.

The elf that works at shows in Las Vegas during the off-season, not so much, but he'll find a home with someone.

I assumed this was simply a cheap, plastic Christmas decoration made in Hong Kong, but I looked closer. I was drawn by the claim on the tag: "Quality. So real ... it even fools the bees." I cannot help but feel something was lost in translation here.

Fascinated, I read on, and found this. Yes, pieces like this date "back to the stone age." My first antiquity!
Tough as it will be to top this, there is a lot more stuff to show you from the auction. Some of it, I dare to say, is even more impressive than a Stone Age decoration, but I'll let you judge.