Canyou stand one more auction story?

[Dan T in MO]

I got this story second hand so I don't know all the details, but the source is reliable....

An older gentleman farmer was having a retirement auction. As items sold, he noticed the auctioneer would often make a remark about the lot if bidding slowed. You know the routine, "You'll never find another like it" or "That's a hundred dollar bill over at Orsheln's store." Well, the sale came around to an old tractor-perhaps 40 years old or so. The bidding started, then slowed. The auctioneer said something about how nice it looked and the bidding picked up. When it slowed again, he said, "She's a fine runner-plenty of power." Sure enough a few more bids came in. Finally, the auctioneer figured he'd squeezed as much commision out of the old tractor as he could and was about to drop the gavel when the old farmer chimed in with, "And I never had to even change the oil in her."
 

[jon f mn]

LOL, now that's funny I don't care who ya are!
 

[Larry NEIL]

That's good.
A number of years ago I went to an auction looking for a NH rake and a tedder. I bought some items for about $400.00. Before the auction, I had stopped on the way to price a new H&S tedder.
I bought the NH 56 rake and the auctioneer started on their tedder. As bidding slowed at $1900.00, He said, "where can ya get a tedder in this condition fer two grand, looking directly at me. I said, Buck Brothers, stopped and got a price this morning.
The guy that was selling came over and tried to chew on me for saying anything!, 'til the auctioneer told him all the stuff I had already bought.
 

[the tractor vet]

Ok here one i layed on a couple guys at a sale over in Chambersburg Pa. one time . I had taken over a I H 370 disc and a I H 470 wing disc. The disc's were in decent shape Except they were short on blades as they were under 18 inches , They had no welds on the frames and paint was real good all decals were clear . I was standing next to them and over heard the one guy sayen that the blades were shot and i could not help myself and chimed in and said Oh no them are the what the guys out west are now usen them SMALL BLADE that way they don't bring up the wet soil . when they started selling i stood back and watched the one guy bought the 470 and i hate to say this but made my day on what he gave and when they sold the 370 lets just say i tripled my money even with hauling them from Ill. to Pa. At a sale in Ind. that i never missed i was standing there at the first tractor to sell and it was a 1066 with cab duals quick hitch extra fuel tank loaded with weights and even the A/C worked The auctioneer tryed kicking it off for 7500 and hammered away for a good while and no bidders he backed up to 6 then 5 and finally said just what do you want to give for it and i said outloud 3250 and he took it and away we went till we hit 4250 and i owned it . I took my ticket and walked away as there was noting i was interested in in that row so i went over to the next row and sat down . A guy comes over to me and say to me i see you did not sell your 1066 , i said no i just BOUGHT a 1066 , Nah that was your tractor , AH NO but it is mine now . Well what do you want for it , Well i will take 9500 for it as it sets , OH thats to much i'll give ya 6 , Nope i'll just put it on the trailer and get it home strip off the duals the weights , quick hitch and ft weight bracket and fuel tank and when i am done it will make me around 105 to 11 . On the next row i bought 2 706 gassers for 27something for the pair and on the next row i bought a 1979 Massey 750 combine with 1850 org. hours with 6 row 1163 corn head and a 1859 bean head and cart for 2750 and again i was asked if i did not get it sold.
 

[Traditional Farmer]

Pretty common for the Jockeys in that area to take things to sales and bid them in.Ever go to Marion Auction?Ever heard of the Taneytown Mafia?
 

[ShadetreeRet]

Well, my luck never was as good as some of yours. About, probably 18 years ago, a local fencing contractor died and when they auctioned his equipment, there were two trucks, one being a seventy-something two ton flat bed. I was in the bidding, and everyone else dropped out leaving me with a bid of $600. which was a very good price for the truck. The auctioneer tried and tried to get another bid and finally, going once, going twice, and some danged fool started bidding again, and then another. I dropped out at about $900. and the thing finally went for over $1100! Needless to say, I was disappointed and just a little PO'd.
 

[DiyDave]

Is the taneytown mafia still connected to McScrew?
 

[DiyDave]

One more from me. I was at byler's mud sale, in PA, one muddy february day, bought an AC WD disc. This one was like none I had ever seen, heavy wasn't the word, we are talking about like a ton of metal, with that long snap coupler tongue sticking out. Truck I had at the sale was a cabover Isuzu, with a dump insert, so I could only fit the disc in sideways. Plus, I was waiting for the forklift, so I sat down on another implement, thinking what did I get myself into??? A guy walks up, and says have they sold this row yet? I said yes, he said didja see who bought that disc? I said I bought it, Long story short, he had come a great distance, had to have it. I coulda made more, but I let him have it fro $100 more than I paid for it. Hit Hoss's diner, on the way home, ate like a pig, and still had enough to fill up the truck! It'll never happen that good again, with these gas prices!
 

[W_B]

It happens... you get excited about a new purchase at a bargain price and someone pull it out from under you at the last minute. Happened to us many times when we were in the antiques business.

The ones I hate are when you see a real bargain and don't have the money available to bid on it. Saw a couple of newer tractors go pretty cheap at a consignment sale this past fall... a nearly new Kioti from an estate and a gently used '04-'05 JD, both in the size I'd like to have, albeit without loaders.
 

[Pops1532]

Many years ago I saw an ad for a general merchandise consignment auction about 2 miles from home. I told my wife I was going to buy the Bear alignment rack that was advertised. Her first question was why? Her second was what is it going to cost. I replied $1. Auction day arrives and SWMBO "suggested" we take the car. For some reason she thought that would deter me from buying the alignment rack. We get to the auction and saw some friends were there. They asked what we were interested in. I told them I was going to buy the alignment rack......for a dollar. Everyone (except me) laughed. Ran into some other friends....same story. Of course others overheard the conversations and they laughed as well. A few hours into the sale it was time for the alignment rack to go one the block. The (female) auction who we know pretty well started off trying to get $1000. No bids, so she dropped to $750. She was standing about 2 feet away and could tell I was interested. No bids, so she dropped to $500 to open. Then $400. No bids. She said I know you want it, what are you going to bid. I said ONE DOLLAR. EVERYONE except the auctioneer and consignor laughed. She declined to take my bid. She then tried to get $300, then $250. No bids. She looked at me. I said ONE DOLLAR. She said NO!. $200? No bids. $150? No bids. $125? She looked at me and said $100. I said ONE DOLLAR. She said NO!. $75? $50? $35? $25? She looked at me and said $25. Before I could reply she said DON'T SAY IT. I said it. ONE DOLLAR. It was worth more than that for scrap but the crowd was getting some entertainment value out of the exchange. The auctioneer asked, more like begged for $10. No bids. $5? No bids. She said surely you'll pay $5. I said ONE DOLLAR. She said NO! $2.50? No bids. She looked at me. I said ONE DOLLAR! She said she wasn't going to sell it for a dollar. I said, we'll see. $2? No bids. $1.50? No bids. By this time she won't even look at me. $1.25? No bids. She said will anyone else give me a dollar so I won't have to sell it to him? No bids! With a defeated expression on her face she looked at me and said $1? At this point I briefly thought maybe I should say 50 cents but figured someone else would bid a dollar. I bid a dollar. She (half ? ) jokingly asked if anyone would bid $1.01? She said Sold for one lousy buck.

The alignment rack was disassembled and sitting on a dovetail equipment trailer. I told my wife I was going home to get the truck. When I got back she said the consignor had offered to deliver it for $20. I declined. He stood there and watched as I backed up to his trailer, got some roller pipes under the rack and rolled it onto my truck slick as could be. The consignor then walked up and introduced himself and said you're killing me. He said he had some pneumatic jacks at home that had been accessories to the rack and asked if I was interested in them. Sure, how much? You can have them. He even delivered them. We're good friends now.