Going once...going twice...SOLD!

I don't even know what started my recent obsession with auctions.

I think it was probably that I want a few "new" pieces of furniture, but am feeling financially oppressed. However it started, I have been obsessively stalking auctions in the Atlanta area on the web for the last week.

I did find one site, here, that really fueled the fire. I was looking at their prior auctions, and the selling prices seemed super reasonable (check the months prior to May, they are behind in updating their prices). Naturally, they hold the auctions every two weeks, and I found the site the night of their auction. That meant that I have been waiting not so patiently for over a week now.

Mercifully, AuctionZip.com enabled me to find an auction that was being held yesterday in Loganville, GA. I didn't even know where Loganville was, but it turns out it is about 30 miles east of Atlanta.

I drove out there yesterday afternoon, for a 5 o'clock auction, and had a great time. There was a little bit of everything, from really expensive furniture, to boxes of random crap. I was a little bit surprised by the prices, since some of the things I thought would bring high bids went for very little, while some of the things that I disparage as 'collectible crap', went for huge sums. Takes all kinds, I guess.

This does mean good things for my quest for additional furnishings. Now I just need to find a truck.

I am hoping that I don't fall victim to the Diderot Effect. Diderot was a French writer who wrote an essay called "Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown." He had been given a fancy new gown, so he got rid of his old one. He then realized that his worn furnishings didn't fit with the new gown. He found himself replacing tapestries, chairs, desks, and bookshelves in an effort to conform to the luxury of the gown. Eventually, he found himself financially depleted, uncomfortable amidst his new possessions, and resenting the "scarlet robe that forced everything else to conform with its own elegant tone."

Realistically, I understand that replacing the $10 nightstand that I have had for over a decade with something from an auction costing less than $100 (my personal limit for nightstands), is hardly the apex of a slippery slope. But you never know. I don't want to wind up with a scarlet dressing gown.