Auction Adventures in Columbia County, NY

We came up to Columbia County for the weekend to visit two auction previews.

Copake Auctions is a new find, referred by a friend who has a house in Columbia County. He 'warned' us that it was at the lower end in terms of quality, but we like that! We love the hunt.

 

It's a real country type auction and they seem to have a regular selection of quilts, old farm equipment, country furniture, and at the top end for prices, weather vanes.

I loved the horse in the middle which was estimated at $3,000 to $5,000. We're not knowledgeable enough to spend that kind of money on a weather vane, but this one was quite beautiful.

The photo on the left gives you some idea of the type of furniture you will find, and the quilt in the right photo is just one of a half dozen or so that they had available.

We did not bid on anything this time, but we will definitely go back. It's the kind of auction that will unearth a find or two at some point.

We combined our outing with lunch, of course. We went to The Greens at Copake Country Club. Very nice atmosphere, good views, good food, and diner type prices. Worth a revisit for sure. The area around there is breathtaking, and worth some extra time just wandering around in the car.

 

 We drove back to Hudson to see the preview at Stair Galleries for the Modernism auction coming up next Friday. We got very excited. There are lots of interesting items in the sale.

 

The furniture on offer is mostly deco through mid-century. We liked the chandelier, among other things in this view. It's estimated at $400 - $600, which, if it goes within the range, is a bargain for a nice ceiling light.

This is one of a pair of chairs that we thought looked even better in person than in the catalogue. They are estimated at $400 - $800. They are actually fairly comfortable, which is an added bonus!

We found that attending the preview was critical in this case. Some of the furniture looked much more interesting in person than in the on line catalogue, while others did not meet the expectation of the photo at all. 

We plan to attend the auction Friday and have a list of definite bids and another list of opportunistic bids. The results of the last Stair Exposition auction made us kick ourselves for some missed items that went for well below the estimates.