Tucson Auction 2004
by Michael Blood
This year's Tucson Auction was held at a new location
in the VFW Hall on N. Beverly, just off Speedway. The
general location is very easy to locate, though identification
and access to the actual building as a tad bit tricky the first
time. Everyone seemed to find it though, and the venue
provided a far more congenial atmosphere than the previous
location, complete with table seating for everyone, not unlike
a night club, which many attendees emulated after several
trips to the bar at an attached portion of the building. Of
particular good cheer seemed to be the table accommodating
Geoff Notkin, The Original Steve Arnold, the Hupe brothers
and a gaggle of others who were clearly celebrating mood
and by the conclusion of the activities had Steve Arnold
yelling his now familiar, "I bid one dollar!"
This year I provided four very large, low display cases which
easily housed the majority of specimens in the auction, though
did not come close to containing the larger members up for
bid. No problem; the general arrangement seems to be quite
effective in keeping the lots in general order by number
while breaking up the visual with some very impressive larger
specimens on the table for the touchy-feely members of the
audience.
People, for the first time, seemed to arrive "early," giving them
the time to socialize and view the specimens of interest to them
in the catalog as well as see the last minute arrivals, of which
there seemed to be no shortage in number or quality. Regardless,
I did hold the number of lots down this year and for the first time
the auction did not seem to run long. Likewise, check out went
MUCH faster than ever. Buyers, as always, were taken in order of
arrival but somehow payments went very quickly. Sellers went
particularly quickly, partially because many of the sellers simply
had me mail payment to them, which was a good thing, as many
more of the buyers than in the past chose to utilize credit cards
this year.
Mark, "The Big Collector" and Dean Bessey helped with wrangling
the meteorite specimens and preventing stampedes, while,
unfortunately, Rosemary Hackney was ill and missed the Tucson
Show, altogether. As always, my buddy, Cecil, kept track of
bidders and purchases. Thanks, guys!
Unfortunately, a death in the family prevented Paul Harris from
attending Tucson this year so his partner in crime, Jim Tobin
(the other half of Meteorite Exchange) was flying solo….. well,
only partly so, as he showed up with Alan Gayda. They both thought
they would give me a jolt impersonating the auctioneer by wearing
tie dyed T shirts. But to me, they just looked like nicely dressed
dudes with good taste. Unfortunately, Cindy Gayda was not with
them. I bet she'd look great in a tie dye.
A couple of irregularities occurred this year, including the auctioning
off of the bag of belongings of "Captain Chondrite" by guest auctioneer,
Geoff Notkin, newly arrived Tucson "local." This sale generated
proceeds going to the IMCA. Another oddity this year was a
mysterious phone call from PROUD TOM, himself, who sent several
T Shirts to be auctioned off – again, with the proceeds going to the
IMCA. These were secreted to me in a plain, unmarked, brown paper
bag. Unfortunately, though I tried, I could not identify the voice of the
caller and the bag, as apparently intended, gave no clue.
My favorite of the shirts was one with PROUD TOM, himself,
pictured on the front with the title, "Number One Proud Tom Fan."
While I wanted this shirt badly and would have bid vigorously to
get it, it was, alas, a "medium" – utterly hopeless for a double extra
large guy such as myself. The shirt, instead, went to the young Jason
Utas. I was delighted to see he seemed every bit as enthusiastic
about winning this purchase as he had been last year winning the
main mass of Taza!
Lingering friends at the auction helped clean up, making it go very
quickly, so that in 5 minutes the room was spiffy, the mike was
turned in and within moments I was on the road with my wife in
the motor home headed for Gila Bend to make Sunday an easy
driving day on the return to San Diego where I had a class to teach
Monday. After sleeping in to 11 AM, Angel, my beloved wife, made
an absolutely killer breakfast of pancakes with real maple syrup and
two pounds of bacon wile I walked Slipper Snatcher and Mugwai
Von Munchkin, our delightful Shi-Dzu dogs.
Whadda trip!