An auction sale of family items
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325255)
Rockingham, Australia
February 4, 2018 1:00am CST
We’ve been away for two nights staying with my sister in Narrogin, Western Australia. The Lions Club of Narrogin organised an auction sale of my brother’s tools and machinery. Much of the furniture in the house was put up for auction too. They also took a number of items from ‘outside vendors’ including ourselves. The Lions Club will take 20% of the proceeds with the remainder going to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I thought I was okay with all this after the death of my brother in late September.
He had remained in my mother’s house after her death in 2014. But I found it a bit distressing to find so many of the things I was so familiar with being offered up for auction – the china cabinets which held my mother’s treasures, the desk my Dad had created by adding a top to two chest of drawers, one of his first bar stools and all the tools and ‘good sh*t’ that my brother had kept in case he needed them.
But the sale was very successful and it’s all over and done with now. The photo shows part of the four rows of items which were lined up in the paddock. The auctioneer went up and down each line knocking down each to the highest bidder.
30 people like this
32 responses
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
4 Feb 18
must be tough seeing memories and heirlooms being sold off but great to know it was for such a worthy important cause too @JudyEv
4 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
5 Feb 18
@JudyEv yes, with so much wilderness they are quite an essential service there
3 people like this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
5 Feb 18
@JudyEv great that they have such reponibilities - they are like our paramedics
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 18
@arthurchappell Once it was only for outback emergencies but the service has expanded and now any serious traffic accidents may be attended by a RFDS helicopter.
2 people like this
@allknowing (130067)
• India
5 Feb 18
I have begun to get detached as we all have to say goodbye to our possessions dear to us. I am in the process of reducing clutter - not exactly clutter but there are items we have no use for.
Ddid you not get the urge to go for any of those things from your late brother's collections?
3 people like this
@allknowing (130067)
• India
5 Feb 18
@JudyEv When I started building up I too eyed for those items that belonged to my in laws and my mother but today I am in the process of reducing useful clutter.
3 people like this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 18
@allknowing I say we're decluttering but as you say it's not so much clutter as things we don't really need and/or use any more.
3 people like this
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
4 Feb 18
Why do those things have to be auctioned?
3 people like this
@Maria24 (2661)
• United States
5 Feb 18
I'm having the same question @toniganzon
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 18
@Maria24 @toniganzon I've written more about it. We did keep a lot of things but couldn't keep it all. My brother left it this way in his will.
2 people like this
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
5 Feb 18
@JudyEv Yeah I read your new discussion about it.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157463)
• United States
4 Feb 18
I am glad it was successful. It sounds as if it was another grieving occasion all over again.
3 people like this
@thelme55 (76477)
• Germany
6 Feb 18
@JudyEv I have 2 brothers but it is always the task of the eldest child to do that. They have to wait when I come home in summer. I have to distribute the things they choose from my fathers things. The things are in my Philippines house anyway as my parents lived in my house.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118347)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Feb 18
Sometimes it's sad to see our family treasures get sold off, but sometimes it's necessary in order to pay the bills, or get on with our lives. Sad to see those family heirlooms gone, but I know you will still cherish all those memories in your heart.
I would have loved to have bought that scale off of you in the forefront of the photo.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118347)
• Gainesville, Florida
6 Feb 18
@JudyEv I don't know how common they are in the US, but I have seen them here before.
In our youth football league (American football), we have to weight all the players before every game to make sure they are still in the same weight classification (a safety issue). We use a digital scale, but the players keep breaking the digital scales. I guess that can be expected when you have 150 kids to weight every Saturday before their game! That's why I would have loved to buy that scale from the auction, as it looks like it is built tough and could withstand heavy use.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Feb 18
@moffittjc It would be slow going unless you had a maximum (or minimum) weight that everyone had to meet - or not! 
Otherwise it would be fiddly getting an exact weight for each person.
Otherwise it would be fiddly getting an exact weight for each person.1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29233)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
It must have been very hard to see those items that hold good memories sold off like that.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29233)
• Eugene, Oregon
5 Feb 18
@JudyEv I am sure it is hard to witness such a thing.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 18
We've been able to take whatever we wanted but of course there was much too much for my sister and I to keep everything. To see it all sitting out in the paddock was a bit of a shock although I knew that's what was going to happen.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 18
I didn't ever live there but we visited often and everything was familiar to me. I have many small keepsakes that I will treasure.
