Miscellany: A Long-Expected Auction

I'm taking Art Law with Professor Price (the Associate Dean of the Library) this semester, and one of the assignments listed in the syllabus that we received on the first day of class was to attend a local auction - the Turkey Creek Antique Auction in Citra, Florida. It was an interesting experience, so I think it's worth a blog post.

Citra is fairly out of the way - half an hour from Gainesville, in the middle of a rural area of north Florida. The auction house itself is like a giant barn, and the auction is being held at night - with great pitch black swathes of countryside surrounding the activity inside. For a moment, the universe consists of this out-of-the-way barn and the people inside.

The auctioneer is funny and personable, with the frenzied voice you might expect from someone who literally calls out bids for hours at a time. The buyers are mostly older folks, including a lot of area antique dealers. All sorts of things are being sold - jewelry, furniture, old knickknacks, a vintage Marilyn Monroe calendar (featuring the image that would eventually be used for her memorable Playboy centerfold photo).

Heck, they're even selling some old shotguns. These are ratty guns from some attic, not serviceable by any stretch of the imagination. One sells for $45, another pair of broken "as is" shotguns sells for $25.

If there is any decent art for sale, I sure as heck don't see it. Some tacky Tiffany-style lamps, some cut glass bowls, some dark oil paintings of the Stations of the Cross; it's like all the farmhouses and estates of northern Florida vomited out their contents into the back room of the auction house. It's no surprise when I leave empty-handed.