Martin's Carriage Auction

[goodhors]

Did anyone else attend? We got the chance at the last minute, so off we went for the weekend.

There was a great variety of vehicles in the cataloged section, with some amazing appointments being sold. The field session was also quite interesting, with a good amount of vehicles, and “stuff” to be found.

I think prices were way down, even on the good quality things. There were a few times when two people both “needed” this item, so it went for a good price. Just that overall, prices were pretty low.

We got a carriage, which I would call a Dogcart, 4-wheeled with slats under the back seat. Rolls VERY nicely, has what looks a remodeled under carriage with wider wheels and an adjustable pole, though not sprung like modern vehicles. Nice paint on it, ready to go driving.

Our friends also got some carriages, so we had quite the load going home. All of us are excited to try out the “new stuff”.

Weather was perfect, sunny, warm, so there was a good amount of folks attending. Lots of happy faces hauling the “loot” home. We did get a fair amount of the loot! Found some things I had been searching for, iron mangers for our tie stalls. You never find that at home. Got a HUGE tack trunk, which should (after cleaning) hold ALL my wool saddle blankets. Those blankets were taking over my closets!! Just can’t resist buying them at tack sales. Got some nice whips to remodel into 4-in-Hand whips, so I will have more than one on hand if husband decides this is a good year for Tandem! Need that length of lash to touch the Leader with. And the puppy spent a lot of time happily meeting folks, getting petted, working on his leash manners, though he sometimes needed to look stuff over twice, before going forward. He was an excellent traveler, mostly sleeping in the truck going down the road. Good qualities in a dog!

[awaywego]

Definitely agree on the “two people needing the same thing” - otherwise prices were very low. Did you get the dog cart with yellow wheels?

[goodhors]

It had red wheels with grey pin striping. Red under carriage, red pole, red slats on black body. The sale number was 46. Checking the catalog on-line, they call it a Presentation Carriage. Here is the site for the Catalog, you can view the various photos if you like. Since it is a zip file, it takes a couple minutes to load for looking.

http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/showimage.cgi?lid=1751360&type=at&in=2

[blue_phlox_farm]

I also went. And I also was a party to the two people bidding wars on Saturday. After I saw the beautiful Carriage Machine Country Gig go for two grand I decided to go for the pony village cart in the tent. (I sold my Country Gig, same color, paint not as nice, wicker not as new looking for $2500 five years ago when the market was really bad) Trouble was someone else wanted the same cart. I went up to $1700 and folded. Oh well, always more vehicles at the next auction.

Did anyone notice the difference in the food service? I noticed right off that there weren’t any doughnuts in the morning, but thought “oh well”. Then when we ordered our lunch, it settled in that it was a new group behind the counter. I don’t think the pulled pork was as good, but the french fies were still as good. I didn’t see the veggies and dip plates and some of the other regular offers. I miss the moonpies and the regular slices of pies and cakes. Their prices on the cookies were outragously high. I hope this is not the future of the food at Martin’s. Half the fun is eating at the tables watching all the armloads of “stuff” being carried by the buyers. Now I feel like waiting to eat on the way home.

All in all, I agree the prices seemed depressingly low on vehicles for the most part. The “small stuff tent” didn’t have as much as usual but there was some really good buys going on. My only regret is not knowing how much the giant “revolver” barbeque grill sold for and who actually bought it?

[49_er]

I was there…my first time. I had the excuse of looking for a shetland pony sized carriage for pleasure shows. I was not really expecting to find anything and had no way really of getting anything home. I would have bought a leather harness if I had found one with chrome fittings rather than brass. Seemed like almost all of the harnesses were brass. Anyway, found 3 carriages on Thurs., all back to back traps and 2 sold on Fri. The first I bid $1200 and it went for $1800. The second one I really liked tho it was a little brite with yellow wheels and maroon upholstery. I bid $2800 and it went for $3500. Sat. I went out to see the remaining trap and there was another carriage (not a trap) out there that had not been refurbished, but was in pretty good shape. Naturally, it sold before the redone trap. I got it for $1000. It has red wheels and black box. Wendy Ying was there and was going home empty to Florida so I did have a ride for the vehicle. I did not stick around to see the 4th vehicle sell as I was afraid I would be sorry I had not bid on it.
I did stick around Fri. evening to bid on some western silver (very 0ld) and a couple of western bits. They sold for way too much in my opinion. Missed out on a pair of silver spurs that I did not see. They sold for $55 and were a real deal if they were sterling, but I could not tell so did not bid past $50.
Very enjoyable weekend.

[goodhors]

Husband thought he wanted the “gun grill” and would have a great time hauling it home on the open trailer. Of course he would haul it backwards, so on-coming traffic would see the barrel facing them! He even suggested putting dry ice inside, so it was always smoking!! Our truck and trailer are already “over the top Redneck” so a giant smoking, gun grill would have fit right in! Luckily he missed when they sold the gun grill, so it was NOT among the loot we brought home.

We ate out of our trailer, so I only hit the food place once for some fries. As you said, I saw no difference in them. I did see veggie plates, pie slices, on trays in the windows. Maybe they just had run out when you went thru?

I also missed the tent vehicles, was watching the field stuff I wanted. Too bad you couldn’t get the one you wanted.

Glad you made the Sale 49’er. It is a cultural experience you won’t see anyplace else! The pony Traps were cute, but you have to LIKE yellow on a vehicle, to buy one painted that way. Otherwise color will just bug you until you repaint or sell the vehicle. The Western silver stuff was cool, but I couldn’t use it on any equine I own, have already got a LOT of bits hanging on my walls, so I didn’t bid on it. Those silver trimmed spurs were cute, but nothing I ride needs spurs, so they would be more stuff to hang on the wall. I did buy a 4-in-hand harness for my friend who couldn’t stay any later. Was a real bargin for the price of $350, appeared complete, just needed a bit of conditioning. It was LATE on Friday night, so not many buyers left then. She was real happy to get it, has 3 of her future Four to wear it.

[49_er]

That might have been the harness of Diedre Pieri (SP). I heard people talking about it the next day.

[goodhors]

I think the one I got was her daily harness, had webbing on the breastcollars. Her Presentation harness went earlier, and it was NICE. Leather felt like satin to touch, in very good condition. They sold it as a Four, then had a second lot of bridles, neck collars, some misc. stuff. That second lot got sold THREE times, because the first two buyers didn’t listen to Auctioneer, that it wasn’t a complete set for Pairs. Just parts that matched the first four harnesses. We got it on the third sale, and husband is real happy to have it for the price. Lovely bridles and great collars, which should fit our horses.

I think the carriage we bought was also Deirdre Pirie’s, just seems to fit. She drove tall, big horses, and this carriage would have fit them. It will fit our horses, one of the few larger horse vehicles we saw that would work for our driving goals. I was going to look in some old magazines, see if I could find a photo with her driving it.

There were a number of other misc. items from her stable out in the field, all nice stuff. Holly Pulsifer was helping Deidre get things sold, told us this bunch was the last of it. Have to say quite a bit of her things have made their way to Michigan! My friend has her Marathon carriage, along with other items from previous Martins Auctions.

She was quite the Driver when she competed, did things with a lot of style!

[49_er]

My friend that I was with had the second bid on that harness. I think Wendy Ying might have gotten the presentation harness.

I had a friend from California, Trish Lewis, who went with Diedre to Europe in the 70’s or 80’s. She was an English groom who came to Canada and then California and then married the trainer she was working for, Gene Lewis, a jumper trainer. Very small world.

[SPF10]

We went our first time, just dipping our toes in, OP gun grill went for $185, I think every guy in the place had their eye on it:) Was your puppy the black and white one?

I got a nice used condition meadowbrook as a Mothers Day present, this is our first cart ever, horse knows more about driving than we do, haha, so lessons will be in order once harness is purchased. It surely was a fun experience and a lot of lovely carts to look at!

[goodhors]

VERY glad husband missed the gun grill, he had that much money left to “shop” with when it sold!

Yes, we had the black and white puppy, Cowboy Roy. He was real good for all the stuff being new to him. Must have been a bit overwhelming, but he was game, real forward to see new stuff. Not very shy about any part of it. He did stop and lay down for getting a better look at times, but was willing to be coaxed along so we didn’t need to carry him. Laid quiet by the chairs during the selling. Cowboy took several naps in the trailer, recharged his batteries! No better place than Martin’s to keep a dog socialized, with all the people wanting to pet them.

Congrats on your new vehicle. Sounds like you have a good starter horse, with plenty of experience to help you learn.

[blue_phlox_farm]

Damn, for $185, I would have bought the revolver gun grill to give to my son who is a gun collector. He would have had a hoot telling friends to stop over to see his new revolver his kind mother bought him. Now I regret leaving before gun sold.

Goodhors, I would have loved seeing that big monstrousity of a barbeque grill going down the road smokin’ from dry ice, pointed at the cars behind. Priceless.