The post belong is from the yolk: A Blog Theory. Read the whole thing. It's a wonderful meditation on an estate auction, moving in part because the author's grandparents' things are up for sale.
After a long, hot, exhausting day in the auction warehouse I have come to some conclusions about the allure of the auction. In the crowd there are people drawn by excitement, a good deal on laundry detergent, their online business, but most importantly, a chance to touch the aura imbued in others’ used stuff. An elderly woman bought my Oma’s collection of porcelain flower figurines. She packed them in packing paper she had brought from home for that specific purpose. I began to see the encouraging light side of auctions. Trinkets and things of all sorts were each being given new lives. Auctions represent a sentimental, encouraging type of recycling.
I once bought a faux leopard skin ottoman at an estate sale. It is now in the gallery, the word we use for my daughter's attic playroom and art center (she has posted operating hours as well as a supplied a small gift shop). As I walked through the tables of goods, I learned that the ottoman had belonged to a single school teacher. She also collected rhinestone pins and biographies of Republican women. Many of the pins, quite elaborate, seem to have been designed to be worn on the 4th of July. I didn't buy any and I passed over the books. But I'm happy about the ottoman.
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