THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070551
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 138 lines
DRAWN BY CURIOSITY and the chance to bag a bargain, hundreds of people came to a quiet Bennetts Creek neighborhood on a rainy morning.
Vans and pickups clogged the suburban streets as treasure hunters crowded an estate auction sale. An antique bed, rocking chairs, a rototiller, punch bowls, even a house, would go to the highest bidder.
Some items, like the golden oak washstand topped with a lyre-shaped towel rack, were in mint condition and captured the interest of several shoppers. Others, like the small table that dropped a leg when it was held aloft for bids, had seen better days. Undaunted, the auctioneer's helper neatly retrieved the lost leg and used it to point out the table's remaining virtues.
``Come on folks, bid like hell and pay later. This is an auction sale!'' Calvin Zedd, veteran auctioneer, exhorted.
The aroma of hot dogs floated over the crowd and tempted hungry bidders to munch on sandwiches, chips and soda sold from a hot dog wagon that had pulled up to the front yard.
Antique dealers, neighbors, auction buffs and folks hoping for a good deal on one or two special items registered to bid and browsed through the merchandise, the former household belongings of Della Greenfield. She died at the end of September after living in the home on Hazel Croft Drive for 27 years.
Ron Thompson, a Churchland resident who manages a medical supply firm, had his eye on the rototiller but was open to a good deal on some of the antiques Greenfield had collected.
About three months ago, Thompson, 45, attended his first estate auction and walked away with an antique desk/secretary for less than one-fourth of its appraised value. He was hooked on a new hobby.
``Crying the auction'' is auctioneers' jargon for their lightning-paced spiel that raises the bid from $5 to $10 to $15 in seconds. Holding a wooden mantel clock high above the crowd, Zedd cried the price up to $85 for the limited edition timepiece.
``Bid higher,'' urged Thompson's wife, Fran. ``That is my bid,'' Thompson answered as Zedd pronounced ``going once, going twice, sold!'' and pointed to Thompson.
Thompson has learned a lot since his first auction, where his casual gesture of scratching his head was misinterpreted as a bid. He has been reading antique guides and also has learned to recognize and watch dealers who frequent auctions to replenish their shops.
A bright red jacket lettered across the back with ``We recycle yesterday's treasures'' was a big clue that Tom Darden is an auction regular. Primarily interested in glassware to resell at his antique business in Franklin, Darden doubted that he would find any real bargains in Bennetts Creek.
``We have got a lot of people here who have never been to an auction before,'' he said. ``I don't think you will get any steals here.''
Holding a blue pottery milk jug that he had just bought, Darden explained that he had bought it for himself because he liked it and his $70 bid was a fair price, ``But no steal,'' he said, shaking his head.
Too many dealers was a bad sign for Angela Nagle, a newlywed from Portsmouth, and her sister, Susan Rawls, from Suffolk. Nagle was looking to pick up a few small pieces to complement the family antiques that furnish her Shea Terrace home, while Rawls had fallen in love with the antique oak bedroom set.
Rawls was not optimistic about her chances, however. ``The dealers know the real value of things and can outbid you,'' she said. ``What you need is a lot of luck.''
Shirley Burton, a real estate agent from Western Branch, counted more on experience than luck to help her find a bargain. She also had admired the bedroom set. ``It is gorgeous,'' she said. ``It comes from a different time and is in such good shape.''
Burton enjoys antiques and spends every Saturday night at auctions. She has learned to preset a limit on how much she will spend. ``You have to or you will go crazy,'' she said.
Janet McDaniel, a 30-year-old Suffolk resident who is a firefighter in Portsmouth, had come to the auction with her own spending limit and a specific goal - the house. The neighborhood was just what she was looking for and the back yard would be perfect for her puppy, Buster, but the house would have to go for less than $80,000.
Across the front yard from McDaniel, Bob and Shirley Mebane had mapped out their own bidding strategy. Currently, the Mebanes live in a large home in Point Harbor and are ready for something smaller. The Greenfield house, set in the Bennetts Creek area that used to be home to the Mebanes, would do nicely for their retirement.
When bidding on the house started at $75,000, McDaniel's dreams faded and then crashed when the bids quickly escalated up to $92,000. Mebane was the final bidder, gratified that he was able to buy the home for a little less than his limit. ``I would have gone one more bid, probably, and then that would have been it,'' he said.
Selling houses at auction is an alternative method of moving real estate that recently has gained more popularity but is nothing new to Zedd, who has seen almost anything go at an auction.
When he was out of a job 38 years ago, Zedd took up auctioneering. ``No experience, I just learned to talk fast,'' he said. Since then he has worked in 38 states and is proud of knowing all the tricks of the trade.
Now Zedd shares the auctioneer's duties with his 22-year-old son, Stephen. ``Graduated first in his class at auction school in Kansas City,'' Calvin Zedd said proudly.
Estate sales make up the bulk of the Zedds' auction business. ``Sometimes we see really sad situations,'' Calvin Zedd said, adding that he has refused more than one auction because the surviving relatives were squabbling so badly over the deceased's possessions. ``Sometimes they call us before the funeral has even taken place,'' he said.
Frances Jones of Danville stood in the crowd and occasionally wiped tears from her eyes as the auction moved on. She is Della Greenfield's sister and an executor of the estate. Greenfield's two heirs, her daughters who both live in Alabama, were not at the auction.
``We thought this was the better way to go ahead and get this over with,'' Jones said. Jones and a handful of other relatives were bidding on a few pieces that held sentimental value. ``All the money will go into the estate and we have to bid like anyone else,'' she said. ``But we need to get it done and get this in the past.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Auctioneer Stephen Zedd works the crowd for bids at an estate
auction on Hazel Croft Drive in Bennetts Creek.
Left: Judy Colwell lets this round of bidding pass her by as she
sits and rests at the Greenfield auction.
Below: Shirley Burton sits in a rocking chair that she bought and
continues to participate in the auction while enjoying the comfort
of her purchase. Burton, of Western Branch, spends every Saturday at
auctions. She always sets a limit in advance on how much she will
spend. ``You have to or you will go crazy,'' she said.
Graphic
ON THE COVER
Stephen Zedd conducts an estate auction in Suffolk as items such
as a vase are held up and sold. Staff photo by John H. Sheally III.
by CNB