Live Free or Die Auction ?

[JSpill]

M. Donnelly had his annual auction the past three days at his Avoca NY headquarters. I've attended it a few times but not this year. I'm wondering if any Woodnetters went to it and what they thought of it. Each time I attended I left disappointed. Prices were very high. It also seemed like certain bidders left with truckloads of items. It felt difficult for an individual to outbid so many dealers. Just wondering if this years auction was like that.

[Tony Z]

I forgot all about it this year! Seemed earlier than usual.

[Ricky]

Do they have a parking lot/flea market sale like they do at the Nashua, NH Auction?

[JSpill]

Yes, they do have a number of vendors, some international, that sell tools in an area set up for these vendors.
Tony, I think the auction this year was a week earlier than other years.

[JClark]

I just got back from MJD's Acova auction/festival. I spent four days up there and it was a blast. It's mostly a tool auction but he's diversified to include a lot more general antiques (maybe 20% non-tool) in the 3200+ lots so it draws a more diversified crowd which makes it more interesting.. It's not just the same old tool folks we see everywhere else. While the auction is the main draw, and it's certainly a lot of work, it's more like a festival, with a pig roast, beers at night by the fire, and lots of good folks.

The auction itself was 3200 lots spread over three days. This auction usually includes much of the lower-quality items that don't make the cut for the other auctions. This time around the quality was very high overall, at least as far as user tools were concerned. Some lots went really high, some were absolute steals, but on average prices were, well... average. There was money to be made if you were willing to buy huge lots (50 planes? 100 chisels?) and put work in. There were great opportunities for users to pick up tools for reasonable prices if you were willing to be patient, look carefully, and pay attention. There were the usual hidden gems, and the odd lot that slipped through for next to nothing, but those were few and far between. When they did come up I did my best to catch them . In the end I bought a bunch of tools, had a great time, but I'm glad to be home.

Ricky said:

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Do they have a parking lot/flea market sale like they do at the Nashua, NH Auction?

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Yeah, there's a tailgate sale on the upper lawn with a lot of dealers, but not nearly as many as Nashua on a good Thursday or Friday.

Josh

[Tony Z]

Sad to say, that the week after Father's Day, while returning from a customer, I drove through Avoca (didn't go back towards "the compound") and made a mental note to either be there or submit bids via the web.

The past ten days (until Saturday) found my wife, youngest daughter and myself, first in Asheville, NC and then down to the coast. It was sometime on Friday afternoon that I recalled the auction. It is generally the Donnelly auction to get worker tools or as Martin calls them. "opportunity boxes". As Josh has said, the box lots generally offer bargains, and I've done very well with them.

This year, I suppose I'll just wait until Josh gets some of his goodies posted up for sale!