It all started with a phone call. A lady asked if I would be interested in going to Missouri to handle an inheritance of theirs. Two sisters had inherited the estate of their Uncle, Henry Sanders. Uncle Henry had worked for C W Mars in Chicago for years and retired to a remote town in Northern Missouri named Milan. Mr Sanders was an antique collector. the town is about 50 miles from Kansas City in the middle of nowhere. I had a connection in Kansas City and inquired what would be better.... to sell the stuff there... or bring it back East. It was a toss-up. The remote location didn't present much hope of selling the stuff on site; moving it back would cost money. I was doomed. The heirs advanced me $5,000 and paid for my flight and expenses to Milan. I stayed there for five days packing all of the goodies to be shipped East to West Brookfield, Massachusetts. I was overwhelmed with my assignment!
It was in the heart of Winter and the temperature in Missouri hit 14 below zero. I got up at 5 every morning and worked until midnight packing the goods for overland transfer.The Town of Milan comes out of the 1950s. Nothing is new in town as the Interstates are far, far, away. There were hundreds of Hummel Figurines, a Norman Rockwell Plate collection, Mustache Cup collection, nic-nac collections, cookie jar collection and more. It seemed Uncle Henry had bought up the Town of Milan's antiques and collectibles over the years!
Before I got on the scene an Estate Appraisal was made. The value was given at $60,000. This was a bad appraisal and I advised my clients "beware of high expectations." Little did I know what lied ahead of me.
Planning for the auction required some thinking. Because I had so much small stuff I called in my "older friends" to include Ray Lenti, John Murphy, Walter Reynis and others. I figured the collective wisdom of these men would help me plan the auction. Well, it was agreed to have a big estate auction in Sturbridge in two sessions: Session I ran from Noon to 4. It included all of the antique furniture, antique lamps, clocks, etc. Session II was for the Hummel collection and all other glass collections. The die was cast. Forward March!
I had a good crowd as I recalled. One person I remember in the crowd was my friend Grace Stachowicz. Wouldn't you know it THE ELECTRICITY WENT OUT! For one hour the Sheraton Hotel was without any lights! And the generator wouldn't start. It was unreal. So I lit the kerosene lamps and romanced the crowd of buyers. Unbelievable. Unparalleled in modern times You don't get a second chance at at an auction. It was awful. Finally the lights came back on so we could finish Session I. I was "wounded in battle!" Never had I the experience not expected the lights going out. Never.
The Second Session went okay but the prices were low. There was a glut of glassware in the marketplace.
Paying my clients was another story. One of the ladies had 'high expectations" and the gross of $30,000 didn't make them happy. The expenses were very high, however, I got paid for my auctioneer services. the moral of the story is I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't. The hotel rebated me much of the rental fee to ease my pain... but the memory of aHorror Show Auction lingers on!
