Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Apr 7, 2005
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
The Chair
It was a wet and horrible day as I pulled down the roller door at the back of my van. I had no choice but to go through to the auction that day, even if it was against high winds that I knew would just eat the fuel up on my van. It was at times like these when you started to wonder if being self employed was really a good thing but then again, in my case, I had no choice. I was only overseas for a few months working in Turkey, yet when I came home I was caught up in the biggest recession the oil industry had ever seen. So I suppose I had no choice but to utilise my assets which were a building with a commercial shop on the ground floor - the part which had been a café when my parents were alive.
I knew, when I bought that chair at the farm auction all those months ago, that it was worth serious money but I did manage to buy it cheap, probably because no one there knew its real value. Now it was time to test my theory. Things were tight, really tight. I had two houses to maintain until the renovations were finished and I could sell the other one but, until then, I was struggling to keep our heads above water. It wasn't a case of the business folding or anything like that really; it was just that we seemed to have got hit by a lot of outgoings at the same time. I had already started to utilise the van more by starting a small removal business called Van-Shift-It and that seemed to be paying off, as it kept me busy between running the second hand furniture business and attending the auctions.
Now the antique auction I was going to that day was in Inverness - some twenty eight miles away - and I had put the chair in the previous week. I remember Jimmy the porter saying, at the time when I took it in, that it would fetch a good price and that an antique auction was the best one to sell it at. A good price was exactly what I needed as, like I said earlier, things were tight. On the way through to Inverness the van was being tossed all over the road by the strong side winds and the fact that it was empty was not helping a lot either. Still I was hoping to be coming back with a full load of decent furniture for my shop. Even if I did not buy much that day, I still had a few items from the last sale that I could not get into the van last time I was there, so at least I had something to take back with me.
I arrived at the auction early that morning, like I normally did, to have another look round to see if there were any late entries and to find myself a good seat as it was going to be a long day. These antique sales normally were. A quick look round at the burger van while waiting for my bacon roll and cup of tea, told me that all the rest of the dealers were there, so I knew it was going to be a serious bidding day. That meant that I would have to keep an eye on them to see what they would be bidding for and try to find pieces that they might leave alone as paying too much for a piece cuts right into your mark-up when you go and price the item for your shop. We exchanged the usual banter, which was friendly enough, but we all know we were there to make money and being polite did not get you anywhere except being walked over - or stitched up! It was a tough business to be in and an antique auction was no place to do your training, as they were only two or three of these a year.
Things were going well for me; I managed to buy a few good pieces and lost a few as the bidding went on. Then I took a short break while the jewellery was being sold and went out for a smoke. I decided to phone home from the pay phone, just to see how things were going there, as I was expecting the plumber to arrive that day to do some work in the house. It was just as well that I did phone as he had, indeed, arrived and proceeded to flood our house out! I had to rush home straight away to sort that all out so I left some bids with my friend Jimmy, the porter, and asked him to keep an eye out for my chair just to see how much it fetched.
On the way back the wind was behind me, which was a bonus, and the van was a lot more stable as I had already put some of my purchases in it from the sale. Some were left behind as we could not get them out until the sale was finished, but I knew that Jimmy would keep an eye on them for me. He was a decent bloke and had helped me out a lot in the past. Upon arrival at the house the chaos was apparent! There was water everywhere and everyone, including the plumber, was mopping it up. When I asked what had happened he went on to say that he had forgotten to isolate the water to the bathroom he was working in and, indeed, was very apologetic about it all. The damage was not all bad considering we were still renovating and that we still had some floors to lay, yet I never mentioned that when discussing the new bill that he was going to present after this was finished. After all I did have to leave what was going to be a rather lucrative sale for me as regards to my business, so a new deal was struck, thus saving me a little more money.
At the end of the clear-up and the emptying of the van I was feeling very tired as I had got up very early that day and it had been stressful to say the least. Sitting down with a nice of tea, feeling relaxed, I gave my friend Jimmy a phone just to find out about my chair hoping, for at least, to have one thing to be cheerful about that day.
'How much?!' I had to ask him to repeat it as I did not believe what I had heard.
'Yes, that's right!' he said.
It seemed that two of my fellow dealers at the sale - and another one on the phone - all wanted that chair as they sell for a lot more if you have a set of them. They must have wanted my one very much as it went for £870! That was about double the price that I was expecting for it. I had put a reserve of £250 on it and the auctioneer had said, at the time, that I was being ambitious.
'You're up for drink the next time I come through!' I told Jimmy, 'And that will be in a couple of days when I come to pick up the rest of my stock.'
Jimmy went on to tell me that even the auctioneer could not believe it and that a few of my fellow dealers were shaking their heads! So I suppose it was worth the trip through on that wet and windy day and it just goes to show that the second hand furniture business can be a funny old game.
