Sorry Auction

There's an auction coming up of a small manufacturer in a nearby town. I've driven through the town any number of times and would never have guessed this outfit was down the side road.

So I'm looking at the online photos from the auction house and it's kind of like looking through a photo album of someone's life. They apparently made farm equipment because there's crates and pallets of bearings, disks, bale spears, augers etc. But looking at the machines and tools is this odd snapshot. They've got one Bridgeport, but also a Cincinnati and a Hitachi Seiki horizontal. Interesting combination. There's a machine listed as a Brown and Sharp surface grinder, but it's really a tool and cutter grinder with a mag chuck bolted to the table and probably built in the 20's by the style. They apparently cut gears at one time because there are two gear hobbing machines, a Barber Coleman and some other and even a Barber Coleman hob sharpening machine. There's a decent sized Norton cylindrical grinder looking like it hasn't been used in years, various pedestal grinders and belt sanders and hand tools. They had some broaching machines and keyseaters. Oh, and a Warner and Swasey #5 again looking long unused but with a pallet of turret lathe tooling. Lots of hand grinders of various makes including some from Harbor Freight. And a pallet of match plates for casting odd gear or ratchet kinds of pieces

I was curious about measuring instruments and it's a real mixed bag. Micrometers up to 12" or 14" I think of various makes. Small mics of mixed parentage and a couple test indicator sets that look like Starrett.

An auction always seems to me to have some sadness hanging around it. Somebody's dream or business just couldn't make it. Somebody died and no one can carry on. The heirs fought like cats and dogs so the final resolution was just to cash out. The machines here seem to show a history of up and then down. They had some serious capability in house but products and demand changed. They could invest in equipment at one time but probably recently were buying the cheapest things they could find to keep their nose about water. Probably hundreds of similar stories around but you don't always get a sketch of history quite like this. And I probably won't participate to see so much going for scrap iron prices.

I went to an auction like that, but it was a big shop...probably 50,000 sq ft and it was full of many CNC mills, lathes, tooling, etc. Nothing shiny new but nothing worn out either.

I talked to a guy there...said the shop was owned by the guy who started it.....then his wife divorced him. He retained the business, but the judge was kind enough to give her the land it sat on. She raised his rent so high he went under and everything was being sold off to pay his debtors.

I don't go to a lot of Auction/sales but in the last couple of years most have been in the the Bay area.
Kind of different from the standard old time machine shops but still sad all the same.
Generally young people that started there machine shop business during the boom in the silicone valley and in most all incidents growth was fast and a lot of new equipment was purchased then came the bust.
Even sadder is when we are there picking through there equipment and meeting the husband/wife team that tried to make it happen.

I used to go to all the sales ...could always tell a business gone out backward........grinding wheels worn down inside the washers ,and lots of old worn out gear ,covered in dust......in the final throws ,these guys always end up as a welding repair shops ....very seldom see the young guys who bought the spiel of some CNC salesman .....because the machines were always repoed,and sent back to the original dealer ,to stop the market flooding with used low hours......I used to reckon late model CNCs at auction meant times were that bad the dealers were running scared.

TGTool said:

An auction always seems to me to have some sadness hanging around it. Somebody's dream or business just couldn't make it. Somebody died and no one can carry on. The heirs fought like cats and dogs so the final resolution was just to cash out. The machines here seem to show a history of up and then down. They had some serious capability in house but products and demand changed. They could invest in equipment at one time but probably recently were buying the cheapest things they could find to keep their nose about water. Probably hundreds of similar stories around but you don't always get a sketch of history quite like this. And I probably won't participate to see so much going for scrap iron prices.

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No mention of the company name, town, auctioneer, date, etc. and you probably won't participate.
You don't seem very sorry or sad that another business, another person's dream, livelihood has tanked, not to mention the employees that have lost their jobs.

I didn't much like going to auctions. The graffiti in the shop, pin ups on the wall, football team colours etc, all very sad.

Regards Tyrone.

reggie_obe said:

No mention of the company name, town, auctioneer, date, etc. and you probably won't participate.
You don't seem very sorry or sad that another business, another person's dream, livelihood has tanked, not to mention the employees that have lost their jobs.

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Do you wanna go? It's a long way from NJ, but I guess their online auction would work.

I won't go for a couple reasons. First, there's nothing they have that would really add to my shop capability so it would just be impulse buying like that $80 K&T that's now sitting in the carport. Second, it would just be a downer knowing that some interesting old machines that are dying for a little love are destined for the scapper and there's nothing I can do about it. What had once been our industrial strength in machine tools is now lying there with dementia, incontinence, and covered in crap that the wind, mice and birds blow in mixed with the oil and chips they quit cleaning off. And yes, there's the ghosts floating around of once strong and proud dreams and people who once earned a decent living from their specialized knowledge and skills. I suppose I should be sorry too for the guys who used to work there just manning the saws, sucking up the grinding dust and sweating their butts off because they blew off an education and can't pass the piss test to work in a better environment.

But hey, the auction's on Tuesday. Fly out and I'll go along with you.

TGTool said:

Do you wanna go? It's a long way from NJ, but I guess their online auction would work.

But hey, the auction's on Tuesday. Fly out and I'll go along with you.

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Still no mention of details that could be useful to anyone.
My auction calendar is full for the next couple of weeks, but that doesn't someone else wouldn't have been interested.

reggie_obe said:

Still no mention of details that could be useful to anyone.
My auction calendar is full for the next couple of weeks, but that doesn't someone else wouldn't have been interested.

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Yeah, okay, here's the place. I suppose it's unfair projecting my disappointment on others who might be quite excited so I'll be interested in hearing from anyone who found just what they were looking for there. My opinion? Read it and weep.

dana gear said:

I don't go to a lot of Auction/sales but in the last couple of years most have been in the the Bay area.
Kind of different from the standard old time machine shops but still sad all the same.
Generally young people that started there machine shop business during the boom in the silicone valley and in most all incidents growth was fast and a lot of new equipment was purchased then came the bust.
Even sadder is when we are there picking through there equipment and meeting the husband/wife team that tried to make it happen.

Click to expand...

You mean Silicon Valley........Silicone Valley is a lot closer to Malibu......


I've been to a lot of auctions over the years, some a bit more of a downer than others. One local I recall years ago, where they listed a Dumore tool post grinder as a "sharpener" and I was the winning bidder at $50. Same sale, I spotted what looked like a $50 bill folded up on the floor. I'd seen business cards in the past with the back side printed like that. I walked over and stepped on it. Looked around for the culprit waiting to have a laugh, no one looking. So I picked it up, stuck it in my pocket and walked out side away from the group, carefully took it out......unfolded it and discovered it was real. My day was a lot less sad at that point.

I get that it's sad seeing something like this go but the owners could very well have made a good living off this business. Put their kids through school who are doing even bigger and better things.

Looks like a few decent machines, lots of flea market material. The little Fosdick radial drill would be nice, the Cincinatti Bickford radial drill would be nicer, but it would never fit in my shop, alas all too far away from me.

You know, you can't take it with you. And heirs may not be interested in it. An auction's proceeds can be used to pay bills, and it can give someone else an opportunity at an affordable price.

I don't find them sad at all.

Mobile phones killed the auctions .......a new breed of spiv started turning up ,wising up prospective owners just before machines came up ......that was the end of the sleepers,massive bargains,new truck spares for scrap price....and the end of the good old ring .....massive fortunes were made at the big government auctions in the 60s and 70s .....cheap stuff in quantities that would make any taxpayer pale......of course ,not many regulars at the auctions were taxpayers .

if you go can you post up a few pictures of the barber coleman machines ( cutting machine and hobb sharpener) and list what they got for them please?