Zero For Three. I Am SO Done With Auctions. Status: Why Even Bother / Fail?

I spotted this fantastic Jere "Birds In Flight" sculptural piece in the pics for a local estate auction. Nearly nothing else at the auction seemed like it related to this piece or it's style and the auction was on a Thursday morning so I was hoping there wouldn't be many other bidders for it. Pphhhh...whatever.

Ok...so I didn't have to get up (or like not go to bed at all) at some stupid hour and stake out

a sale to get a shot at this but I still had to get up at 8am. Wait wait...look at what time I normally

post. I don't jump right into bed and fall directly to sleep afterward either. So 8am is kinda early

for me. Hell, 11am is kinda early for the Mr. But anyway, I didn't have to get up Real early but

I did still have to wait around all day. It took FFfffffoooorrrrreeeevvvveeerrrr to get around

to the birds! Obviously I don't mind spending some time on acquiring an item but usually the

time spent means that I have the privileged of the first shot at buying said item...and at a

reasonable price!

You've probably sussed out that I Did Not have the highest bid on the Birds. I was at that stupid

auction from 9:15am to 1:10pm waiting to see if I was going to be able to pick that sweet sculpture

up. I wasn't even trying to get it for a song. I figured it would get some action, sure...but Mr.

Modtomic bowed out when the bidding hit $350. My highest bid and my limit was $300. This

is a lot of money to me. Yes, I know these go for about $500 on eBay. I do not go to estate sales

/ auctions / flea mkts or anywhere I shop to pay RETAIL. Apparently I am in the minority. Like

I said I bowed out at $350 and the bidding continued as I walked out of the room (the

BATHROOM...who puts a C.Jere "Birds In Flight" above their tub?).

There were some other mildly interesting items at the sale. Nothing I was even lightly moved

to bid on though. If this Bang and Olufsen wasn't half taken apart and obviously ganked up /

forlorn I would have totally been all over it. But look how much dust is on it. See that black

plate on top of it...that's the bottom cover! Sigh...too bad.

Eh...blue chair. Whateve. Orange sofa...you're worn and look like you belong in a dorm room.

And this was the stuff I thought I should take a picture of!

Neat scale. Not too shabby. It was kind hard to get too excited about much of anything

knowing I had to wait and wait and wait and wait and wait for an opportunity to buy an item.

I think the head thing went for $25. It was hollow or at least sounded hallow when the

auctioneer picked it up.

There were a cool pair of swivel club chairs but they were in sad condition. The front of the

arm rests were worn through and thread barren. Not anything I wanted to deal with. Too

bad. They were solid a swiveled like very expensive chairs. Did I mention this was the third

Strike Out / Fail at the auction thing? The first was way out in Troy Mo. and was another

all day affair. There was nothing at that auction that I was interested in except a large set

of Franciscan Starburst dinnerware. What was so great about that set was a large serving /

salad bowl and a covered butter dish as I recall. What I do remember is hitting my limit

pretty quick and then upping it a bit before bowing out. That was a 9 hour day for nothing

but a bitter story. The second was a New Years Morning auction of a house full of vintage

modern excellence in south county. I looked at all the pics provided and figured out what

I wanted to bid on. I did a little "sold for" research on eBay and got my limits on the items

I wanted. When all the items were hitting the "sold for" numbers I had been seeing on

eBay I realized there would be no success at that sale either and just left after a couple

hours. Well, as I've said all along...auctions are for suckers...at least those in my area and

for the items I'm interested in. Why would anybody pay retail at an estate auction? I'd

rather take my chances with eBay. What are your experiences with auctions? Any luck

in your neck of the woods?