Antique lady strikes again

By Heather Murray
Guest Columnist

Besides finding antiques, in antique stores, they can also be found in second hand stores, flea markets, on the Internet, garage sales and at auctions.
Let’s talk about antiques at auctions.
Has anyone missed out on a really good collectible item or items at an auction? Frustrating isn’t it? The problem with auctions is you can be out bid by someone else.
Let me tell you about one auction my husband and I attended.
Before the bidding begins one has a chance to look at the items up for auction. As my husband and I were looking, I came across this beautiful ink and pen set, which had been placed on a pile of boxes. The pen and ink set was complete and was in mint condition. I had my heart set on getting it. It was as I imagined a vintage Canadian pen and ink set would look like.
My husband and I took our seats. While we waited for the auction to begin we noticed two or three other people looking at the same pen and ink set.
With my mind I tried to wish them away (oh no, it didn’t work). They kept coming back to look at it. All of a sudden I felt a sinking feeling, you know the one that says, “It isn’t going to happen today.” I tried to push the feeling aside but it did not leave. Even positive thinking didn’t work.
Every auctioneer has a patter that he or she uses when calling out the amount. Some may say, “give me” or “the thing.”
The auctioneer at this auction said, “the thing.” When it came time to bid on the pen and ink set we thought the auctioneer said the whole bundle was up for bid, meaning the pen and ink set as well as the boxes it was sitting on. I think more than one mouth dropped open. My heart dropped. How could they sell a collectible pen set together with all the boxes. Well, guess what I didn’t get? — the “thing.”
One good thing was at least I was able to see it.
Now, I know there are a lot of collectible pen and ink sets out there, but for some reason I had my heart set on that particular one.
For some reason it reminded me of the stick pen and ink sets we used to use in the 1950s before they came out with the fountain pens. I always seemed to get more ink on my fingers than on the paper.
As I step through the portal of time once more I’ll keep my eyes open for another one that draws me to it like this one did.
* The antique lady will return.