SecondMoonshot

Probably one of my best auction purchases! Misery loves company. John

I was looking through my latest lot of LPs I purchased at auction and came across this gem! As a child, my parents loved watching the Carol Burnett and once I saw Helen, I was smitten. We had a close friend of Zabrina over at the house a few months back and we were reminiscing about her and started watching some of the clips from Carol’s show on YouTube, the flame was reignited.  Well, now that I have this album, I figured I would do something creative with it, I am going to frame it (ok, not terribly creative for me), no damage to the album, cover or anything and make a standard offering for framing your most cherished LP albums. I will go with a black standard wood frame, glass glazing of course and probably a mat boarder around it maybe 1.5” or so. I will post pictures back on this blog when the maiden frame is completed and estimated cost. I may have variations to do 2 albums together and 4 albums together in a grouping, but we’ll see about that later to see if I can make this ...

Sometimes I am an irrational, emotional, blubbering, competitive, vengeful, stupid auction bidder…or that’s how Zabrina put it to me during our Friday drive and hike SecondMoonshot retreat and reflection. That’s how it sounded to me at the time anyway. It all started when I had the bright idea to give thoughts and feedback on our (ok…her) lot selection flaws and how we (ok…she) were picking too many low value boxes producing low profit listings. She clearly had no room for feedback and instead turned the tables on me and gave me three (just the first three) opportunities that I had to improve my (not “our”) bidding, lot selection, emotional state and restraint. She broke this down as follows (he words, not mine)..I can’t recall what the gas pumping reference was about, but sure it wasn’t good and probably just something I have blocked from memory, but subconsciously knew it was important to include…guessing it was moments of excessive flatulation on my part. So, to prove my intelligenc...

2 weeks ago, Zabrina and I were coming back from Rummage Warehouse in Wilson, NC where we sometimes go around and look for hidden treasures. On the way back, we passed an exit for Spring Hope, and I remembered that every Saturday, they have an auction outside at 3pm and then an inside auction at 5p. We missed the 3p, but made the 5p and spent $12 and came back with 3 or so very attractive pieces. So, we decided to go again today and this time we made the 3pm for an outside auction and spent about $65 which was a very nice lot of pictures, some of which are of no value, but the frames were great, some dishes and some nick-nacks. Then we went to the 5pm portion and spend another $60 or so for more signed / limited edition prints, a few Ansel Adams prints and more that were primarily for the frame. We got a “Bag of hats and stuff” for a few dollars, an old antique picture I have to do some research on, a pair of what I think are African fans. The coolest item though was the vintage “Billi...

We had a small debate as to go to an Artz estate sale or to a JMS and decided the JMS would have more item to our profile (small, Asian, pictures, books, etc). I think we made the right call and ended up some some awesome finds and a Koto Digital Rice Cooker/Steamer for ourselves (actually, quite a bit more items for ourselves, but that’s another story). John as usual drove a hard negotiation and easily resolved, albeit mostly I think in my favor, but he knows his business and knows he will get more back in future dividends - Zabrina had us swing by Foster’s and pick up some Whopper’s cookies for the JMS crew. The calligraphy set was especially nice and the 2 Stetson hats were a pleasant surprise. This should keep me posting listings well into next week and maybe some of it can translate into the 1st of the month peak I normally see. Zabrina already has 7 bells on magic carpets, so not sure how much of this sale will translate into SecondMoonshot dividends, we will see. The leather “ma...

Hoy Auction had a good auction with some items that I thought I would bid on. Ended up bidding on a number of items and ended up with 7 lots. Most notably is the 4 production art drawings and cels for 60s/70s/80s cartoon commercials (Cap’n Crunch, Nestle Quick Rabbit, Lucky Charms Leprechaun, and Charlie the Tuna / Starkist. 3 of the 4 have COAs but the rabbit does not…silly rabbit. Also got an artist proof of a sketch or engraving signed by artist probably from mid-60s or so is my guess, probably will reframe it and give to my daughter as a gift, she likes black and white art, so she should like this. Did get a large 23” vase, although probably will end up letting Zabrina use it as a plant stand, probably payed too much for it, but should make the money back on the cels. All in all, not a bad run and Hoy folks great as always, pleasure to do business with them. John

Last weekend I bid on a large number of lots at a large estate sale mega auction held by a local auction company, Hoy Auction out of Wake Forest, NC. I generally shy away from online auctions unless I can see the items first which Hoy allows.  I ended up with winning bids on three pairs of high end new in box cowboy boots which were just stunning, one pair of Lucchese Black Cherry Ostrich, one pair of Stallion Zorro Blue Python and one pair of Stallion Red Stingray with matching Belt. These were probably the single largest single item purchases I have made to date.  Two of the Stallions are now listed and were flawless, just wonderful boots, although the Lucchese had a tear in the leather inner handle so won’t be listing those until I get them repaired (and depending on the quality of the repair).  If you haven’t figured it out by now, you can see that I am a sucker for anything with an original box…and new high end unique cowboy boots with box, what choice did I have. I ...

We went to the Gander & Gavel Auction Co. estate sale today in Wilson, NC. We got there a few minutes after 7:05am to get our number (13 and 14) for an 8am start, so a respectable attendance overall. Found a few items, although the Columbia Family Scale/60 lb was snatched pretty quick by the #1 person as the first item…one of the key items I was hoping to get. Got a few good items pictured which I will get listed this week on eBay. Got a large box of recent books, must have weighed 100 pounds and now hurt my back carrying it - buying it was shall we say…against my better judgement and donations should be for a portion of them. We’ll list some of them in smaller related lots and make a small (albeit painful) profit, but luckily it worked out…Zabrina was committed to make it work. Organization of the auction was OK, and Stephanie and Andrew, owners are very nice and accommodating people. If I’m not mistaken, retired Air Force….I met him early in the year doing an online auction durin...