a mystery solved!

I blogged recently about an auction I'd been to - and yesterday had a reminder of another auction (which I've now realised was over two years ago) where I bought a box of brass bits and pieces.



Some pieces I sold on ebay, some I use, and some I upcycled by knitting flowers to put in them - one of these even made it into Period Living, a national UK magazine!



Inevitably though, there is still a box of leftover brass bits.



Yesterday in the Town Hall I saw a display containing an item similar to the ones that I've circled, so I now know it's a tastevin.



Wikipedia says this: "A tastevin is a small, very shallow silver cup or saucer traditionally used by winemakers and sommeliers to enable them to judge the clarity and color of wine that was stored in dim, candle-lit wine cellars. Tastevin are designed with a shiny faceted inner surface. Often, the bottom of the cup is convex in shape. The facets, convex bottom, and the shiny inner surface catch as much available light as possible, reflecting it throughout the wine in the cup, making it possible to see through the wine."



Sadly they're not rare or worth a fortune :-( but I'm glad I now know what it is!

Going, going...gone!

We were sad when the local auction house went out of business, and it's taken us a long time to find another one. Today was our first auction - and we won one of the two lots we wanted.



It was listed as a sewing basket, 2 occasional tables and a jardinierre. I only wanted the sewing basket, but as the whole set ended up being under £30 ($45) including buyer's commission I'm happy!



The top drawer has little cubbyholes for cottons and scissors and what-have-you



and then the deep drawer is lined in felt and is roomy enough for the day's knitting and yarn and stuffing and wires and everything else to be hidden away.

I am confident I'll be tidy for at least the next couple of days!

We missed the excitement of the early part of the auction. There was a box of Indian paintings, estimated at £10. Turned out 2 bidders knew more than the auctioneer and the owner. One of the painters was apparently a big name - and the lot fetched a staggering £8000. I've looked in my loft though ;-(

Charity Auctions Sue Ryder

The winners of the Folksy Upcycle competition have been announced and t is now time to BID BID BID!

This is how Folksy described the competition: Upcycle Christmas is a competition for people to take second hand / charity stuff and make it into something ‘new’ and desirable to be sold at an online auction starting on the 7th December. All proceeds from the auction will go to Sue Ryder Care, the healthcare charity, our partners on the project.

Right now many of the auction lots are going for way way less than the charity shop could have sold the materials for (in my opinion).

Hopefully this is because people are hanging back to "snipe" at the last minute - but these auctions are for CHARITY, so please bid now, bid often, and push those prices up!

In case you're wondering about my motives, I didn't enter this time - but I am currently winning at least 6 of the auctions so have my fingers crossed I'll get outbid!

Sue Ryder Upcycle auctions

Why do some parents...

take their kids to totally inappropriate places? We went to our local auction house today and bought a table to go under yesterday's shelves, in the hope that I leave the dining table clear. Fat chance! Annoyingly we paid more than we could have done last month, when two tables went unsold at £5...but I didn't know I wanted a table then.

To get back to the title - both last month and this month (and I suspect, every month) there has been a posh-looking young woman with a child of about 2. She's obviously not short of cash - last month she bought a garden seat at £150 and an art deco thing at over £200 - yet instead of getting a sitter she brings her poor child to the auction where he frets and yells and cries because he's bored stiff. It doesn't exactly enhance the experience for the rest of us, either.

You're probably all thinking I'm a miserable old child-hater, but I'm not (honest!) I just don't understand this modern thing of taking small kids everywhere. She can't possibly think the child will enjoy going to an auction ("Look at the nice antique, darling")

OK - rant over. And tomorrow I pick up my table woohoo!