Ya never know what you might find at an auction.

MinerJohn · #1 01/05/08, 11:15 PM

This is one of my most interesting finds. I hope you will all share your stories too. My wife and I were attending a rural Indiana estate auction a few years back. We had bid on and won several interesting items including a 10" Pinecone Roseville vase for 7.00! As the auctioneers worked through the stuff they came to two hay wagons piled high with items. On one of the wagons was a 55 gallon metal trash can with a lid. I won it for a 1.00 and left it sitting on the wagon until the end of the auction. When it was over, I jumped up on the wagon to grab the can and to my surprise it weighed a ton. I popped open the lid and saw that it was filled to the top with old books and maps! I was elated to say the least. After going through it at home we found a leather bound bible from 1812 with the complete birth, marriage and death history of the family that owned it hand written on the inside covers and blank cover pages. We also found a huge leather bound US foldout map from 1881 printed on linen instead of paper. To think, this stuff was discarded as trash.

PS. We did tell the auctioneer what was in the can and he said you bought it, you take it.

Ravenlost · #2 01/05/08, 11:32 PM

Wow...that's cool! The 1881 map is a great find!

Lindafisk · #3 01/05/08, 11:37 PM

Wow, what a deal! I have some maps ( not very old!) from the 60's and 70's that an aunt had collected and they are lots of fun to see! She collected postcards too and I still have a few of those.
I have found lots of goodies in the trash, I found a old table with leather inlay and sold it for over $100 in my antique booth and I found an old leather salesmans bag- complete with the sample of a battery or something (the casing of it I think) and all the paperwork and neat old advertising items! I have kept the bag because it was such a neat thing to have.
I buy quite a few older books too and I love to find little newspaper cuttings or poems or notes from the previous owners.
Dh and I once looked at a house that was owned by two older ladies and I guess something had happened to them because the house was selling with their stuff still in it. Weird, but that house was filled with all sorts of neat stuff that would have been fun to go thru.

mdharris68 · #4 01/06/08, 05:35 AM

I bought a box of old books at auction once knowing very well they were as old as dirt. The jewel inside one of the books was a sales brochure for a 1913-1914 International Harvester Touring Sedan. This brochure was embossed with the eagle perched on the globe. Almost like new. It fetched thirty times what I paid for the books at another auction.

leoaloha · #5 01/06/08, 06:04 AM

I would be interested in the family name of the geneology

L

dixiemaiden · #6 01/06/08, 08:42 AM

Wow! I would love to find a treasure like that. I love old books and can't imagine that people would just throw them away!

SunsetSonata · #7 01/06/08, 10:33 AM

Amazing find!!! I would try to track down the family to give back at least the Bible if that were me - that's a priceless treasure and a shame if no family is interested in such an heirloom. What a thrill to find all you did.

Cheryl in SD · #8 01/06/08, 10:39 AM

Oh, how cool! That is an incredible find. If your family was here in 1812 there is a real possibility that you have a record of your ancestors. (Doing genealogy we find that most people are related once you get back 150 years.)

MinerJohn · #9 01/06/08, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunsetSonata

Amazing find!!! I would try to track down the family to give back at least the Bible if that were me - that's a priceless treasure and a shame if no family is interested in such an heirloom. What a thrill to find all you did.

We asked the grandchildren if they wanted it. I went to school with them. They said they had no use or interest in it. Difference in generations.