There
was so much stuff to sell, the auctioneers planned to have 3 rings going
on simultaneously. However when they only got slightly over 100 attendees,
when they were expecting more like 600 (gee, I wonder why?) they decided
to hold only two rings. Still this was going to be tricky because
no doubt Murphy's Law would come up, meaning the few plates I actually
wanted would be auctioned off simultanously. Fortunately for the
most part this did not happen - only in a couple of instances did I miss
getting some plates I wanted.
I got up nice and early
and had a good breakfast. It was a nice sunny day as I drove into
the convention center parking lot. I couldn't help notice that Delaware
was across the street - too bad we didn't have the auction there, so we
wouldn't have to pay the 5% Maryland sales tax! Anyway, I wisely
brought food (a couple sandwiches and chocolate bars) into the hall
because this was going to be a long day! That was incredible foresight
because there was no way in **** I was going to pay what they were charging
at the canteen for sloppy joe crap, not even fit for a dog. Anyway,
as soon as 9 o'clock struck the auction was off to a flying start.
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| Ron Brittingham works in Ring 1 ... | While Andy Pang uses binoculars to get a closer look. | Porcelain PA plates being auctioned off - definitely some of the better plates here |
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| Dave Lincoln and Wayne Tyler. Incidentally that 1909 Delaware pictured on Dave's sweater is worth almost as much as the entire Brewington accumulation. Goes to show you what good plates are worth over junk. | One of the best plates of the day, a pretty decent 1914 Vermont porcelain auctioned in Ring 1. | Now auctioning off Rusty Maryland plates in Ring 1, and they were definitely going cheap. Boy, I sure wish these were all motorcycle plates. This young auction assistant probably found this auction of plates quite interesting, wondering why some plates were going for more than others, when it all looks like junk. |
When the two rings were well underway, I, along with others, found it advantageous to stand right inbetween to watch for anything interesting that might come up in either ring. Usually there was no conflict - for example, when Delware plates were being auctioned off in Ring 1, I had no interest in the Michigan plates being auctioned off in Ring 2. Or whatever was going on in Ring 1 was of no interest to me, when I was there in Ring 2 bidding on West Virginia plates.
One problem did come up when
Ring 3 got underway at noon. When that occurred they were auctioning
off booster plates in Ring 1 that I wanted because there were a couple
with Tigers that I wanted. But I could not miss Ring 3 because they
were going to start with the Canadian plates first. So I was in a
mad dash from one end of the hall to the other hoping not to miss anything.
It was no use. The Tiger booster plates were obviously hidden in
the bunches they held up so I had to take pot shots hoping to snag them.
I had to immediate toss the booster plates aside, hoping for the best and
get ready to bid on the Canadian plates. Later when I found I had
time to go through the pile of boosters I bought, it was nothing but junk.
Stuff like "If it Ain't Country, It's Ain't Music" and car dealership advertising
boosters. I was furious because I missed some good Canadian plates
while paying attention to that crap, including an interesting box of nice
Ontario bus plates all in pairs. No doubt those Ontario bus plates
were given away, as I can't imagine they went for anything more than $10
for the entire box. But I missed them, and I was cussing under my
breath.
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| Judy Landino takes over in Ring 2 when the going gets tough. | When the Delaware plates finally came up in Ring 1, there was much interest. Pretty much everybody flocked to this table! Needless to say if you had interest in plates in the other ring, you pretty much got them for a song. |
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*Groan* I knew I should have ridden my motorcycle. Or on the reverse side of the coin, maybe my other vehicle shown at right. The temptation to buy too much junk when it is all going so cheap is just too great. Chuck Sakryd once told me that was his problem at auctions. I should have remembered this. Anyway the stuff is bought, the damage is done as they say, so now I have to haul it all home A lot of which I wish I hadn't bought! |  |
After everything was loaded in the car, I then had dinner at the buffet across the street with Mike McEnaney and Pete Bergmann. We had a nice long chat, about license plates and the Extra Miler Club of which Pete is a member. So is John Northup of licenseplates.cc.
Well, I was definitely too tired to head back at the end of the day (you'd be exhausted too after such a long auction!) Especially a 300 mile drive. So, I decided to stay another night, and take the chance to visit Ocean City....
Page created Mar 28, 2003
Page updated Apr 9, 2003