People don’t go to antique farm auctions to find things they can actually, you know, farm with.
“We just came here to socialize,” said LaDell Kettner of Springfield, sitting on an antique tractor and joking with his friends.
“You find things here you would have paid 50 cents for years ago,” said his friend, “Sliver” Bloemeke of Morgan. “Now you can’t afford them.
The first annual antique tractor and collectible auction, held at Gilfillan on Thurs., June 16, drew interested browsers from across southwest Minnesota.
“”I hate farm auctions,” James Mayer said. “Every now and then you see something you can’t live without, and that’s bad.
“I collect horse collars — and I don’t have any horses! I found a nice wooden walking plow, all ready to use as soon as I get some horses!”
Mayer, who farms near Winthrop, said he had four sheds of “collectables” at home. Most of it is what the uninitiated would call “junk,” but Meyer admitted he hordes it like Scrooge McDuck hordes dollar bills.
After surveying the items at Gilfillan, Mayer said he would probably end up going home with several antique wrenches he found in an old tool chest.
“You find all sorts of interesting things at auctions, then they disappear,” Mayer said. There’s a home-built mechanical loader on that tractor over there. It’s interesting! But I don’t know how I’d get it home, or what I’d do with it.”
Jim Hanson, of Boyd, drove out to look at an unrestored Cockshutt 570 standard tractor.
“It’s a Canadian brand, and not too many collect them,” said Hanson, who admitted he already has seven tractors waiting to be restored back home.
Eugene Faiman, who farms near Olivia, studied an old home-made child’s chair, painted John Deere green.
“”That’s going to bring in a lot of money,” he said. “Anything with the John Deere name on it is going to sell.”
Tony Mages of Morton couldn’t pass up several old toy trucks he bought for his children.
“It’s hard to find toys like that anymore,” Mages said. “You can’t buy metal trucks.”
Scraps drew some of the most ardent searchers. An old Ford Model T hood, a railroad rail aligner, a City Service Oil pole stand, and wooden spoke wheels were rock stars rather than trash at the auction.
Over 30 Smith Miller repair manuals were opened for bid, and attracted their own fans.
You wouldn’t think that old repair manuals would have what you’d call a “fan base,” but Neil Jacobsen of Sleepy Eye came to the auction just to look them over.
Other stars of the show were a 1965 John Deere 4020, a 1946 Farmall “M” High Crop tractor, restored, and a 1937 Allis Chalmers WC.
When the auction was over, did anyone walk away with something they really needed?
Technically, legally, financially, morally, the answer is probably no.
Emotionally? Yeah, they walked away with what they needed.
It was an antique farm auction, after all.
