As difficult as it has been, I have stayed away from yard sales again this week. I’m not sure how much longer I will be able to suppress the urge to grab my yard sale cash and hit the open road. Well, probably for the next two weeks anyway since I’ll be otherwise occupied. We’ll see.

Today my YSCE, who I think is secretly jonesing for some yard sale action as well, wanted to go to an auction at an auction house run by a long-time friend of ours. I had been to one other auction at this location, but YSCE had not. We arrived about 30 minutes after the auction began and had to park in the wilds due to so many attendees. I signed in and got our number and cozied right up to the table that had some Haviland dishes.

The best part about an auction is the randomness of the items and how they are presented. When they held up this little guy, YSCE and I exchanged glances and I bid. He is just the type of odd thing that attracts our attention.

He is a Bozo puppet produced as a promotional item by Capitol Records in the 1940’s. Of course, we didn’t know this when I was bidding. We just liked him.

However, we will not be watching any clown-based horror movies as long as he’s in the house.

The YSCE is an avid comic fan. He has read comics since childhood and still sighs heavily when he thinks of the many, many comics his mother trashed while he was at college. I’m told (over and over) that these were worth quite a bit of money in today’s dollars. Since he has quite a collection amassed (again), we don’t normally search out comics at yard sales or auctions. Today we made an exception.

There were about four or five flats of comics. As we stood watching the bidding progress, YSCE had an opportunity to peak over at the flats. He also watched as a man took the Batman comic shown above, which had been placed at the top of the stack, move it into the middle of the stack. YSCE knew this was a valuable comic and so, apparently, did the man. We decided I would bid and what our maximum would be. Once the bidding got around to the comics, I bid and was high bidder and the bid was per box, winner’s choice. So we had our choice of the five boxes and could have taken each box at the same bid amount had we wanted. We wanted just the box with the hidden comic. While YSCE was perusing which of the boxes he wanted, the man who hid the comic tried to block him from access to that box. The nerve! YSCE was not deterred. He chose that box. That’ll teach you, buddy. Don’t mess around with a man who is holding a Bozo puppet in his hands.

I also won a pair of pictures. I thought I was bidding on something else. Yikes! Thankfully, this was just a $3 bid and not a $300 bid. The frames will make good practice for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint some day.

I didn’t win a lot of newer Blue Willow dishes, shaving mirror, pewter dinner plates, Clark’s Thread storage box (ooh, I wanted this but not at $175), and a kitty teapot. YSCE actually bid (his very first live auction bid!) on a vintage Mattel Wrangler gun in holster with original box. Another childhood memory that ended with a bid that was over our price limit so it went to another bidder.

We had a fun time together clownin’ around at the auction so I’m sure we will be stopping by the auction house again. We’ll be spending more time together this week as we research the comics to see how we did!

This week I hope to stop by Knick of Time’s Knick of Time Tuesday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm, Today’s Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality, Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove, and The Penny Worthy Project at Hey, What’s for Dinner Mom?

Tammy