ADVENTURES AT AUCTION
Follow two antiques experts’ surefire tips on how to navigate the exciting world of auctions.
Two longtime antiques experts share their surefire ways to make the most of a day spent browsing and buying at auction.
Amy Nolfo was just 5 years old when she made her first purchase at auction. “It was an old cigar box full of pens and pencils,” she remembers fondly. Amy developed her love of collecting while growing up in southeast Michigan, where she often accompanied her father to farm and equipment auctions and her mother to events selling art and antiques. Even today, she still recalls the excitement of her successful bid and says that first auction treasure has inspired her ever since. “I got it for $1,” she notes, adding that afterward she “was absolutely hooked.”
Years later, Amy still is enamored with antiquing and has parlayed that into a business. Now co-owner of Butter Beans Antiques and The Butter Barn in Ottawa Lake, Michigan, she attends auctions on the hunt for both her personal collections and those of her fans and customers, who flock to her highly anticipated barn sales. Amy and her husband, Brad Bingley, started the sales when inventory outgrew available space. “I had too much stuff,” she admits.
While some goods are meant to be sold and shared, others are too precious to part with, such as Amy’s beloved quilts. She began building her now sizable collection of pre-1930 quilts at country farm auctions while living in Indiana in the early 1990s. “They were a passion for a long time,” she explains. “I used to buy one for me and two for the shop,” she says of her early days selling antiques in Indianapolis. Firkins, blueand-white swirl graniteware, and other examples of primitive antiques were also frequent purchases, many of them found at auctions. As for her firkin collection, “I think I had about 100,” she admits.
Adding to her auction-buying experience, Amy even spent time on the other side of the gavel, attending an auctioneer training program at the Missouri Auction School in the early 1990s and learning the ins and outs of the business. “It made me appreciate a really good auctioneer,” she says.
This dual-purpose expertise makes Amy the perfect guide for new collectors who may be wondering where to start. Although the world of online auctions may have put more treasures than ever at buyers’ fingertips, Amy says few things can match the excitement of attending an auction in person and finding a fantastic piece. Furniture is among today’s best deals, she advises. “There are a lot of great bargains out there!”