Auction Fever

The object of my auction desire.

The past three days auction fever has hit my family. We've been inspired by the reality TV series "Auction Hunters" and "Auction Kings." On Friday, RJ, CJ and I went to a storage rental building that had five units up for auction. Turns out we aren't the only ones watching these reality TV shows. The place was packed -- we counted about 80 people.

The rules are simple. Once the unit door is opened, you can look in to check out the contents. No touching anything inside the unit, no crossing the threshold of the unit. You bid on what you see: "As Is." An auctioneer keeps things on track. Our auctioneer was a young, 20-something who informed everyone that we could throw our cigarette butts in the back of his pickup truck if we needed. Let the auction begin!

I hung back for the first two auctions with CJ and didn't get to look inside the units. The crowds were intimidating. But for the third unit, I let RJ carry CJ and I made it to the front of the unit. This one had children's toys (how sad that someone was unable to come back and claim their stuff) and some four-wheelers. The four-wheelers made the bidding too rich for us.

As we headed to the last unit, the owner of the storage facility offered CJ a ride on his golf cart. I jumped at the chance. CJ and I whizzed past the other auction goers and headed to the final treasure hunt. Unfortunately, the last unit only had a couple of pieces of rolling luggage. Our adventure at the storage units was done.

But, the thrill of auction hunting had just begun. Next, we dropped CJ off at the grandparents and then headed to a large auction gallery. I figured that hours of sitting still looking at old things that aren't toys wouldn't be CJ's idea of a good time. RJ and I staked out our seats and went to look at the items up for sale. It was just a few minutes before I spotted a crystal penguin that needed to be mine. Unfortunately the penguin was a Lalique. RJ said that Lalique makes Waterford look like K-Mart crystal. I'll take his word for it. While I loved the penguin, I hate paying more for something just because it has a name brand attached to it.

It took awhile for the penguin to come up for bid. RJ and I had decided on a low price we were willing to offer. We didn't even get a chance to bid. The opening bid was $50. The penguin went for $700. I think I could get a real one from the aquarium for that money. Guess I'll have to wait for the next auction to get a treasure.