Saturday, I went to an farm auction sale. Tabiner Marshall was a collector
for many decades and seemed to have one of everything. He'd buy anything
at an action if it was a bargain. He died from a heart attack about a year
ago. He was 67. Tabiner was a farmer and also ran a saw mill on his place
near Charlottesville Virgina. He had three barns full of "stuff" stacked to
the ceiling. Also sold was approximately 30 to 40 thousand boad feet of
rough sawn, stacked and stickered lumber, all under shed in the dry. It had
been stored at least a year, since that's how long he's been dead. Although
it was mostly pine, there was a considerable amount of oak; maybe a third?.
There was also as advertised 200 bf of walnut in one lot and 700 bf of
walnut in another. I seriously estimate that all of the pine and oak
brought less $1,000 total. I saw stacks of 8" to 12" boards, 16 foot long,
stacked 16 feet high sell for $75. Others 8 to 10 feet high go for $50.

I was interested in the walnut. Of course that brought a hefty price. The
200 bf lot, was made up of 8' lengths, about 8 4X4 post, and approximately
20 1" boards 8 to 12 inches wide. Beautiful lumber. That 200 feet sold for
$575, which I think is not too bad for nice air dried walnut. I didn't buy
it.

The 700' of walnut was mostly culls with a lot of bark edging and irregular
shapes. Still there was a heck of a lot of good wood in that lot. It went
for $50. I wasn't present when that lot was sold, SWMBO was and told me
what it sold for. Sure wish I had jumped on that.

Several times Saturday I thought, Tabiner must be rolling over in his grave,
all that hard ass work given away. Rest in peace, Tabiner.

Gary

The 700' of walnut was mostly culls with a lot of bark edging and
irregular
shapes. Still there was a heck of a lot of good wood in that lot. It
went
for $50. I wasn't present when that lot was sold, SWMBO was and told me
what it sold for. Sure wish I had jumped on that.

I would have bought it as firewood for $50; and if there was some usable
lumber mixed in...

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 02:37:43 GMT, "Gary" wrote:

.... snip
brought less $1,000 total. I saw stacks of 8" to 12" boards, 16 foot long,
stacked 16 feet high sell for $75. Others 8 to 10 feet high go for $50.

I was interested in the walnut. Of course that brought a hefty price. The
200 bf lot, was made up of 8' lengths, about 8 4X4 post, and approximately
20 1" boards 8 to 12 inches wide. Beautiful lumber. That 200 feet sold for
$575, which I think is not too bad for nice air dried walnut. I didn't buy
it.

The 700' of walnut was mostly culls with a lot of bark edging and irregular
shapes. Still there was a heck of a lot of good wood in that lot. It went
for $50. I wasn't present when that lot was sold, SWMBO was and told me
what it sold for. Sure wish I had jumped on that.

Several times Saturday I thought, Tabiner must be rolling over in his grave,
all that hard ass work given away. Rest in peace, Tabiner.

Gary



Some kind of lesson there I suppose. A lot of folks work hard all their
lives collecting things with the notion that "someday it will be worth a
lot of money" and that they or their heirs will then reap the benefits and
enjoy it. Sad thing is, more often than not, such collections get sold by
the heirs, not knowing the real value and/or effort that the collection
entailed and wind up selling it for pennies on the dollar.




+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

toller wrote:
I would have bought it as firewood for $50; and if there was some usable
lumber mixed in...

You do realize that burning walnut is a hangin' offense. After a fast
trial of course. %-)

Dave in Fairfax
--
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.patinatools.com

"Mark & Juanita" wrote in message

Some kind of lesson there I suppose. A lot of folks work hard all their
lives collecting things with the notion that "someday it will be worth a
lot of money" and that they or their heirs will then reap the benefits and
enjoy it. Sad thing is, more often than not, such collections get sold by
the heirs, not knowing the real value and/or effort that the collection
entailed and wind up selling it for pennies on the dollar.

Were that always the case ... and that's why I mostly disdain "collectors"
of any stripe, but particularly those who collect items designed to
facilitate human creative endeavors, like musical instruments, where the
items sole purpose is subverted to feed someone's greed, never to be used
for its intended purpose again..

Many, if not most, of the fine pre WWII acoustic instruments still in
existence are stored in Japan in some damn collectors vault, _far_ beyond
the means of most of today's talented musicians.

Upon my demise, my wife has written instructions to seek out and _give_ my
61' Fender Jazz Bass, currently worth (artificially, and ridiculously so)
about $10K on a good day, to a deserving musician, with the proviso that
he/she do the same ... and being a musician herself, I have no doubt that
she will not cause me to haunt her to her dying day, a deed which has been
promised if my wishes are not followed.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 5/14/05

"Swingman" wrote in
:

snip

Upon my demise, my wife has written instructions to seek out and
_give_ my 61' Fender Jazz Bass, currently worth (artificially, and
ridiculously so) about $10K on a good day, to a deserving musician,
with the proviso that he/she do the same ... and being a musician
herself, I have no doubt that she will not cause me to haunt her to
her dying day, a deed which has been promised if my wishes are not
followed.


And you probably take pretty good care of her now, so that the $10k won't
be a serious temptation...

What happens to your tools?

Patriarch

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 02:37:43 GMT, "Gary"
wrote:

I live in charlottesville and happen to have a bunch of 5 yr old air
dried walnut in 6-8" widths, up to 2 1/2" thick and some pieces 10-12'
long. Email me if you are interested. Also have aromatic cedar and
some cherry

Saturday, I went to an farm auction sale. Tabiner Marshall was a collector
for many decades and seemed to have one of everything.

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 13:13:53 GMT, Dave in Fairfax wrote:
toller wrote:
I would have bought it as firewood for $50; and if there was some usable
lumber mixed in...

You do realize that burning walnut is a hangin' offense. After a fast
trial of course. %-)

Who gets the tools in that case, exactly?

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 21:16:42 -0700, Mark & Juanita wrote:

Some kind of lesson there I suppose. A lot of folks work hard all their
lives collecting things with the notion that "someday it will be worth a
lot of money" and that they or their heirs will then reap the benefits and
enjoy it. Sad thing is, more often than not, such collections get sold by
the heirs, not knowing the real value and/or effort that the collection
entailed and wind up selling it for pennies on the dollar.

True. The ~500 B.F. of black walnut that I bought at a local auction,
for (mumble - let's just say I suck) a few years back, would have gone
for 4 times as much if the family had just called the local hardwood
dealer and sold it to _them_. Ah well.

Beautiful stuff. Cut in the 1960's, stacked & stickered well and in a
loft for 40 years. The guy who bought the pile of oak did well too.
We didn't actually _arrange_ to let the other have each pile, but it
worked out that way.