The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day 10

On the 10th Day of Gheorghe-mas, Gheorghey Gave To Me:

10 Awesome Auction Items and Much Much More!
Nine things worth dancing over
3 Genetic Tests on day 8.5
Eight Things I'm Thankful For
Seven Books for Reading
Six Top Episodes of Ted Lasso
Five Beers and Tunes
Four Resolutions
Three Gheorghemas Gifts to Give Yourself
Two Stones of Weight Loss (Your Mileage May Vary)
and Running Gags with Quatro Kitties

We are now a year removed from 2020 which sucked we can all agree. Lots of badness including the death of both of the 'rents, but off to a better place they went. Pretty sure anyway. With all that came with it, there was much to figure out for my sibs and I during the latter half of the year. Nursing homes, check. Hospice care, check. Med dispensing machines, check. The value of my mom's OCD and how maybe we shouldn't have given her so much flack for it over the years, check. 

Pantry - organized to military standards. Closets - same. Belongings of value had corresponding receipts in a designated file. Wall prints had been labeled behind the frame with date of purchase and which child was to take it home after everything was said and done. Ditto on jewelry. So though it was annoying AF growing up (because she was always cleaning, organizing, being busy), it sure did make things easy upon their passing. It was a great lesson - my bride & I are fairly buttoned up but my mom & dad's standards which are of HOF ilk, we're on the JV team.

They lived in a pretty small home for the last 15 years or so. Collecting things was not their m.o....exactly the opposite. But even then and after the kids leaving with their respective heirlooms, there was still an abundance of anything you'd find in and around a house. Furniture, televisions, tools, clothes, a car, tchotchkes, and more tchotchkes, food, liquor!

Loads of clothes, which by comparison standards weren't "loads", shoes, were put in bags and given to Hospice or Goodwill. I sold what I could on Nextdoor - fridge, freezer, grill, a few rugs. I sold that car I mentioned, and a riding lawn mower with all the fixins. But, even after all of that, I am here right now to tell you that there were still a few truckloads worth of housewares - big, small, and in-between.

In the months leading up to our d-day, one of my sisters and I did our own exploratory research on options. She gets the pat of the back for identifying a good one. Should you live in or within a drivable distance of Northern Virginia and have a need to downsize or get rid of everything in your home or god forbid, a parents', or if you are one of those folks that likes to surf auction sites or pop in to flea markets, do I have the site for you. GTB'rs...COME ON DOWN!!!!

As a seller, there is a $2500 minimum commitment to the auctioneer, or a %'age of the value of the sold items, whichever is more. They will come to your house, photo everything and I mean everything, label it, and catalog it on their site for auction time. The auction is like everything else these days - online. They set a date and a timeline of say 6 hours. A pick-up date and time window is also set, for ours it was a few days after the auction. 

We estimated we'd sell enough goods to recoup that minimum, barely. And we did. But frankly, if the worst-case was coming out of pocket a few hundred bucks or even a thousand for them to come and take care of the aforementioned, it would still have been a non-decision for us. If you've ever held a garage sale, you learn quickly that those possessions you hold near and dear to your heart and may at one time have been relatively valuable go for pennies on the dollar.  

We did search other avenues to get rid of everything, and yes we did give plenty away if anyone is giving me a judgmental stink eye right now. Sure there were still some things left to give away, throw out, or take home but all in all, this process given all else that had to be dealt with - was close to blissful. 

Since that time, I've been a frequent visitor to the site. If you are registered, which I am as a past seller, you can elect to receive updates on upcoming auctions via text. For you NOVA-ites, I'd hop aboard - you just might find some good gets. 

On Friday of this past week, EZBidders sent out a notification of an auction to begin that day from an estate in Leesburg. I checked it out - it was billed as "Best Auction of the Year!" - and it was and still is, not ending until Wednesday. Whether you bid on anything or not, it's worth a 30 minute surf. 

I'm sure one of you vintage audiophiles, Mr. KQ perhaps, has been looking for one of these old TV/Radio/Cassette jobs...well, if you had been an EZbidder registrant a couple of months ago, this could be sitting in your garage or in a basement corner at this very moment. Somebody picked this up for for seven bucks.  

Many of these items shown above & below were all a sold at a Manassas estate sale a couple of weeks ago. You could have been there. I acknowledge the samples here may not whet the whistle of our discerning GTB'rs, but if you become a frequent visitor you will for sure find something right up your alley. Often times you will find record collections, speakers, turntables, guitars, piano's.

Pat Buckley Moss (artist) fan? Never hear of Pat Moss? We grew up with her sorta. My mother had a couple dozen of her prints including this one below. I don't know how the hell she became such a super fan of hers but she was, and we sold several of the old prints on the site. Of course at least one each was relegated by Bevvy, to her kids. That is what she wanted, and I have mine hung in a room that collects all the old prints and hangings that don't fit anywhere else in the house, but do have some meaning. 

Plentiful and wicked affordable manly items - toolboxes, yard tools, ladders, electric flashlights, hoe's! rakes, air compressors, weed eaters, nails, screws, nuts AND bolts!!!!...Crazy Eddie says prices are....INSAAAAANE!!!! Had I known of this site years ago before accumulating garage wares, I'd have been all over it. 

Ever see a $1.00 piano? Now ya have...

Did someone ask, "well what about hats for an entire little league team?" I'd say...."sure thing!" Eleven tan baseball hats asking $11.00. 

Nazi Helmet? Got it!

How about this mid-century James Bond'ish decanter set....

As mentioned, just about very auction has without fail plenty of records, audio equipment - turntables, cassette players, speakers, CDeez, and the like....I hope this site reaps some fruit for some of ya's...

I've been partial to the guys here...is it too late to 'pologize? Silverware, Jewelry, hair dryers. The Leesburg auction is a must visit for the ladies, or if one of you mates wants to take a flyer on an anniversary present. The seller I imagine to be an international woman of mystery with discerning taste and the means. State department/CIA perhaps. Loads of art, gold and diamond studded jewelry, shoes, sunglasses, watches. These shades are Fendi's...Perhaps Mrs. Russell would appreciate? Opera glasses - I'll say these are a first for me at EZbidders. With this auction ending at 7pm EST this evening - you may be able to get the pair here for about fifteen clams. 

This is just one of a few shoe lots listed by our Leesburg lassie...

Artwork...sure...plenty, including this keeper, "Antique Oil Painting of Nobleman" - Relined Canvas. $31 at this writing.

Am looking forward to hopping on here later tonight to see what fetches what. In the last hour & minutes prior to close time, and as you'd expect, bidding wars commence though in very small increments.

While in these wormholes, you'll get to know a little bit the sellers. I can't help but put a story together with each, and that story normally involves some pain and suffering. Like with the Leesburg lass, my take is that she's alive & well but ready for the next chapter in a smallish home or condo. If she has children, and I don't think she does, she does not want them or another loved one, perhaps a sibling, to have to deal with all of this unexpectedly. Regardless, she's acknowledged that "it's time". 

Most of the other auctions were like ours I believe - children getting their parents out of their home and into something manageable, or worse. Regardless, I can hear the person or persons picking up each item and having the conversation with himself or with his sibling - "Are we really going to get rid of this...This was insert reason why it was important or sentimental here." And the answer, sometimes a little more gut wrenching than others, is "Yes".