Idora Park, Just for the fun of it!

Idora park was the entertainment Mecca in Youngstown, Ohio. It was the place to go. It was where you went for fun, music, baseball, swimming, picnics and just about anything else that would create a lasting fun memory for you. It was the home of the Spring Fling, rodeo's, the circus, Eddie Feiner, car shows and most importantly Walter Menning.

Walter Menning? Who in the world is Walter Menning? Well, guess what, I'm going to tell you.

I was first introduced, posthumously, to Walter in 2001. It was a strange introduction to say the least. I had received a phone call from a man who was looking to sell the contents of a home that he had purchased. Since I really like to make money, I accepted the invitation and scheduled an appointment to see the household. I arrived at the home early and immediately became concerned. The house (as we are calling it) was a little run down. It started with twenty years of overgrowth, it continued with a Herman Munster looking washed out rotting wood lapboard and yes, of course boarded up windows / doors. If all of this was not enough it came with a companion house that sat directly facing it (on the same lot) that was even more terrifying than Walter's house. So there I was sitting in my car in what most people would designate a very bad neighborhood, on a very hot late August afternoon, thinking to myself, "I'm getting the hell out of here before I end up dead!".

My fears were compounded by the fact that I though I saw a ghost (or maybe it was a puttytat) go running across the yard (it was really a finch). My heart pounding, my overactive imagination flying made me decide that this one just was not for me. I proceeded to write a little note to put on the door when I had second thoughts. The second thoughts came due to one (and only one) observation, metal venetian blinds on the second floor window. American Pickers would have been proud of me. Two inch wide metal venetian blinds are a sure sign of one thing, old folks. Young kids use plastic, poor people use sheets, the loony tunes use newspaper, the rich use exotic cloths and old folks...METAL VENETIAN BLINDS. Oh yeah, old folks kept these blinds forever.

So, I tore up the note. Pulled out my phone and called the now very late owner of the property. He had forgotten about me. This happens all of the time. Most of the time I just ignore it because, well I still like to make money and the only way to make it in this business is to have the items that people want to buy. The owner was very nice and immediately left to meet me at the house. Fifteen minutes later he arrived, screw gun in his hand. One by one the screws on the well placed plywood dropped to the ground. A little bit of prying and off it the board came, what I saw next, is to this day one of the most unusual sights that I have ever seen. The house(s) were absolutely perfectly preserved. It seems, according to the owner, that Walter had left the house for a nursing home, over 20 years prior to this hot summer day. That's right! This home had been boarded up for over 20 years and not been touched.

Pretty cool! Just to add a little more to this cool is the fact that Walter Menning had been born in the house and lived there his entire life. Here are some other great things about Walter.

• Walter was an avid photographer
• Walter was only 3" tall.
• Walter NEVER through anything out.
• Walter also had a sister (Tillie) who was 3" tall and had a masters degree.
• He was the school mascot for The Rayen School
• He was a writer.
• He marched in the holiday parades in a vintage oil cloth Mickey Mouse suit.
• He became a household name in our home. To the point that to this day we speak of him with great respect.
• He worked at Idora Park.

These are just some of the things that we know about Walter. He unknowingly left a tremendous history of his life. So today, I am going to start Walter's story, I will tell you about Idora Park and the simple man who should go down as one of its greatest employees. Since this is probably going to be one of my longer posts it will take a few days for me to finish it. Today, part one.

Part One

Walter's House(s)

An antiques dealers dream! After the plywood came down, the door unlatched and with only the dim light of a fading day I first observed Walter's domain. The living room, old mohair sofa, upholstered rocking chair and pole lamp. A stand with an ashtray, glasses sitting where they were last taken off and surprisingly only a very light covering of dust.

The dining room, great massive 10 piece Berkey and Gay dining room set. Fancy enough to sit in the finest homes of the day. The china cabinet was amazing in that everything was placed as it had been used only yesterday. The neatly laid doilies on the sideboard. The chairs place appropriately around the table. Walter must have been a perfectionist.

His kitchen was old, oaken cabinets filled with Homer Laughlin china, water glasses with multi floral motifs, brightly colored bowls and drawers of everyday flatware. Next, one scary room. The scary room was attached to the home as if it were an after thought. It wasn't a garage nor was it ever intended to be a family room. It could be appropriately described as a huge mud room complete with mud (no flooring). It also seemed to contain a multitude of local miniature animals. Rats? I don't think so, but it definitely had bats, mice and one large groundhog. All of this combined with an outgrowth of flora and fauna, that was ironically growing in the dark, gave the room a very creepy feeling. Thank goodness that whoever had this part of the house added on knew enough to put up a strong door. A door that I kept closed and never reopened.

The second floor must have been Walters haven. A dark room contained hundreds, no thousands, of his photo's. A bedroom that was simple and well lived in. Guest rooms that looked as if they were waiting for friends and family to arrive. This was Walters main home. As dark as it was, it was full of life. Its history preserved through his photography, his life preserved preserved by the trinkets and treasures he kept. This place, this man were getting ready to tell me a story that I will carry with me the rest of my life.

Part 2, Same bat time, same bat channel...later this week!

Bleeding Tools, bloodletting tools

Bleeding although seemingly barbaric by today's standards, was a common practice in the 1800's. These bleeding tools actually have a reasonably high degree of collectibility in today's marketplace. They are typically brass and some type of tool steel. They can come with single blades or multiple blades. And I have seen them show up just about anywhere. Keep an eye out for them because they are definitely a cash it it item. They will sell quickly for around $60 for a very simple one blade tool and can reach into the hundreds for good condition multiple blade tools. Provenance can also add to the price. Identifying the original owners can add to the price.

Roseville Sunflower Vase

Roseville pottery is widely collected, very sought after pottery. Most Roseville pottery is marked. This makes identifying it very easy for the novice antique dealer collector. It is usually a simple matter of turning the piece upside down and looking for the Roseville markings. USUALLY, but not always. Some of the most desirable pieces of pottery contain no markings whatsoever. So how do you identify it?

Books, books, books. You can learn by trial and error, you can learn by asking a lot of questions to people who hopefully like you or you can break down and buy a book. This is a case of needing a book with a great number of good photo's so that you can begin to identify the elusive unmarked pieces. Sunflower is a line of Roseville that is often to always not marked. The only way you will really know is to have seen a piece of it previously, best place, a book. Second to the book is the Internet. Once you know a line name, go to ebay to further your education.

This little piece of sunflower would sell quickly in the $400 range. It could easily be missed by someone with an untrained eye. So invest in good books. My library currently consists of over 300 books on subjects from cookie jars to slot machines. Average cost of a new book $40.00. Average cost of not educating yourself, priceless.

Ludwig Snare Drums

Ludwig snare drums like any musical instrument enjoy a strong demand in the resale marketplace. Collectors will snap up the older versions, the newer versions will go directly to use, with students and musicians. So what do you look for? What is important?

As always condition is going to be one of the strongest determinants of value. On drums, especially the older ones you can get away with the drum needing new heads (the part that you hit with the sticks). On the newer ones unless it is very inexpensive I would shy away from the ones that need repairs. The drums should be free of any major dents or damage. Cases can add value for students that will need to have the ability to transport them from place to place.

Value? Good used, playable drums will sell easily in the $75.00 to 150.00 range. Older drums can sell for prices reaching the thousands.

Geroge Roman Auctioneers, Kiko Auctioneers, Byce Auctions, Baer Auctions, Boardman Auction Gallery, Jeff Anglin, Paul Bassinger...and more!

Locally these are among the most active auctioneers. These auctioneers typically run at least one auction a week and many of them run multiple auctions every week. Each of them is unique in how they conduct an auction and each, in my opinion, exhibit a high degree of professionalism.

Recently, there has been a rash of postings on Craigslist on how expensive, corrupt and unprofessional auctioneers are. In addition the writer(s) have complained about buyers premiums and misrepresentations of items being sold. So what about all of this? Are they all corrupt? Do they charge too much? Are they unprofessional? The answer to all of these questions is a categorical no.

I have been attending auctions for over 35 years now. I can tell you that at times even I questioned whether an auctioneer was on the level or not. The truest answer is the people making these outrageous statements are most likely uninformed or bitter because they did not get an item that they desired.

Uninformed, anyone attending an auction needs to know that the auctioneer is not working for the buyer. Their primary responsibility is to obtain the highest prices possible for the seller. Do they always get the maximum...NO! Is it possible to get the maximum on every item being sold? No, not really, but they are required to try. So whenever you get the feeling that the auctioneer has something against you because he is calling the bid for so long, you need to understand that it is his responsibility to do so. Again, he works for the seller, not for you.

Do auctioneers ever make misstatements about items being sold? Sure, no one, not even me, the acknowledged expert, knows everything. I make mistakes every day. Auctioneers are human, they miss marks, they miss chips, they miss cracks and yes they occasionally describe an item as being one thing when it is actually another. The bottom line is BUYER BEWARE! Its not that they are trying to deceive. It is the buyers responsibility to check the items prior to their purchase. Virtually all auctioneers (definitely all that I have listed) have previews where you have 1-2 hours to look at all of the items being offered for sale. If you don't look at the items it is not the auctioneers fault it is yours. In spite of all of this, many of the auctioneers will take back items that were not as described and resale them. DON'T COUNT ON THIS! They don't have to resale the item even if they described it wrong. This being said it is always to your advantage to have a good relationship with the auctioneers and their staff. Bottom line if you don't know, don't bid.

Tied bids. There is no such thing as far as the state of Ohio's auction laws go. The item is considered sold when the auctioneer makes a clear indication that it is sold. If one of his helpers has your bid and the auctioneer has someone Else's bid, guess who looses, YOU. So if you don't think that the auctioneer has your bid, ask. No one will ever be mad at you for making sure that you are on the bid.

Missed bids scenario two. Winkin, blinkin and nod. When there are over 200 people in attendance at an auction it can be difficult to catch bids. Physical distractions, changes in shade and light and people milling about are only a few of the reasons that bids are missed. Trying to be discreet in your bidding is foolishness. If the auctioneer does not see you winking than you are just shit out of luck. You are far better off to jump up and down naked to get his attention than to wiggle your nose in the hope that he will catch it and your competition won't.

Buyers premiums are the result of increasing costs, lower prices realized and in actuality are part of the contractual agreement between the auctioneer and the seller. These changes have made it very difficult for auctioneers to conduct auctions the old fashion way, without any premiums. The reality is that very few auctions can be conducted by charging a seller the traditional 20% that was the standard for years. If you take a typical auction grossing around $6000 this is how it would fall out. At 20% commission ($1200) the auctioneer has to pay help ($350), advertising ($650), signs ($100), supplies ($30) and a variety of other expenses. Simple math on even this very easy example shows the auctioneer making a whopping $70. Not bad for three days work. Would you do it?

The contractual agreement between the auctioneer and the seller essentially moves a portion of the selling expense to the buyer. That 10% means that the auctioneer will be able to eat and live another day. This is important to him because if he doesn't worry about it no one else will. Now instead of making $70, with the additional 10% he makes $670. Wow! Almost $15 per hour. How will he stand the prosperity. And still none of this takes into account the other expenses. Licensing, computers, insurance, taxes..........

Just so you know I am not writing this a a complaint. I am writing it so that all of you realize the relative difficulty auctioneers have to make a living. It is hard work and comes with low pay. The most productive auctioneers do not make a living selling household items and antiques. They make a living by being very diversified. Real estate, cars, appraisals and just about anything else they can pick up to supplement the sales. So whenever you feel about complaining about how auctioneers are ripping you off, I would recommend taking a proactive approach to your complaints, CHOOSE ANOTHER HOBBY. They really don't need or want you. Just go away.

Finally, if you have a complaint or problem, talk to the auctioneer. Most of the time these minor issues can be fixed with little or no problem. The licensing division will ultimately take care of the true "bad apples" in the auction business.

About Wilford

I met Wilford for the first time about 10 years ago. Wilford was 87 years old, spry as a cat, sharp as a whip and just about as cool an old man as you would ever want to meet. Wilford had a dog that I swear was twice as old as he was and the two of them traveled regularly to Florida to visit relatives. Wilford called me because he needed to get his basement cleaned out. It really didn't need cleaned but as he said it "I just don't want to leave any messes for my family to deal with.". This was not the first time that I had run into this type of thinking, so I did what I do best...bought all of his junk.

It started in the living room with some little figurines. It next proceeded to the bedrooms and dining areas for, guess what, more figurines. Finally we progressed to basement and this is where the story really begins.

The basement was filled with what most people would call junk, I wouldn't characterize it as junk but, well, it really was junk. So I looked, pulled, and pried out all of the items that Wilford wanted to get rid of, and after about an hour or so it was all unceremoniously piled up in the center of Wilford's basement floor. I shook my head, Wilford looked depressed and after a few minutes we set a price. I then carried all of it out the door and into my truck.

Since most of it was in fact pretty worthless I did what I always do with this type of stuff, and that is try to make it someone Else's problem. So I sold almost all of it off to some unwitting fellow who was selling his version of antiques at a local flea market. The only thing that I kept were a couple of figurines and a large box of letters. The letters and figurines ended up at my house and guess what, into the basement they went. A direct line from Wilford's basement to mine.

Seven months passed from the time that I purchased these items to the time that I actually looked at them, I should have looked much earlier. As it turns out these old papers were actually documents from a partnership that was formed in the 1830's to operate a toll bridge in Western Pennsylvania. It was really cool stuff. Everything from the actual partnership agreement to financial information on how much the bridge earned from operations. Oh yeah, there was one other interesting thing, Wilford's ancestors and my ancestors were the partners on the bridge!

As incredible as it may seem, there it was in black and white (well really yellow because the paper had aged and changed color), Wilford's great great great grandfather who's last name was Fasset was in business with my great great great great great great great great (I'm really not that young) grandfather Dangerfield.

After realizing what had occurred I immediately contacted Wilford to tell him about my discovery. He was as shocked as I was. We had a great time looking at all of the papers and talked for a couple of hours about what we new about our families migration to Ohio and then to the Youngstown area. When I originally purchased these correspondences I had no idea what history I had discovered. I did the right thing, I offered the papers back to Wilford. He looked at me and said that it was as much my history as his and that I should keep them. I said thanks and we once again went our separate ways.

It has now been quite a few years since this happened. I was never really sure what ended up happening to Wilford and his old dog, but some years later I did see that his house had been sold to someone else. I still have all of the documents tucked away in a safe place, who knows maybe in another 175 years one of Wilford's great great great great grandchildren will randomly come into one of my descendants lives to once again rediscover this great family history.

Graduation Day!

Tomorrow I will be doing something that is highly unusual for me. I am taking a Saturday off. There won't be any garage sales, no auctions, no flea markets. No digging through box lots, no haggling for a better price, no hours spent driving from place to place. I haven't purchased three newspapers, I haven't planned my routes, I haven't checked and rechecked auction zip and craigslist. None of my normal weekend rituals have been set into place. This weekend has been reserved. It has been reserved for over 22 years. It is the day that Rachel, is finally graduating!

Five years ago she first expressed an interest in pursuing a degree in art from Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD). At first she had a lot of detractors. Was she crazy? Why go all the way to Columbus to get, of all things, a degree in art? Who needs a degree in art anyway? Can't anyone draw a stick man?

Well she wasn't crazy. In fact she was more than sane. I have to say with a great degree of pride that watching here grow in her chosen career has been simply, "a blast". Her determination and drive has just been amazing. Her accomplishments, far beyond expectations. Her skills phenomenal.

So, today I am officially taking a day off. Every parent out there wants to see their kids succeed. So far I am 6 for 6. I tell everyone that I see that there is no such thing as luck. I am going to stick to that...except on this one issue. I am truly lucky to have the kids that I have.

Rachel, great job, congratulations on accomplishing what at times probably seemed impossible. It is my greatest hope that whatever you choose to do good health, success and happiness follow your every step.