Cabin Fever Auction slated for March 27 by Tim's, Inc. Tim’s, Inc., will hold its 19th annual Cabin Fever Auction on Sunday, March 27, in the Tim’s, Inc. showroom, at 1185 Farmington Avenue in Bristol, Conn. Online bidding via LiveAuctioneers.com.
News-Antique.com - Mar 09,2011 - (BRISTOL, Conn.) - Tim’s, Inc., will hold its 19th annual Cabin Fever Auction on Sunday, March 27, but not in the usual venue. In the past, Tim’s conducted the yearly event at the Litchfield Firehouse in Litchfield. But this year, a combination of factors led to the decision to hold the auction in the Tim’s, Inc. showroom, at 1185 Farmington Avenue (Rte. 6) in Bristol.
“For openers, we’ve had a simply awful winter, weather-wise, and I just can’t take the chance we’ll be snowed out at the firehouse,” said Tim Chapulis of Tim’s, Inc. “Transporting all that merchandise from our facility to Litchfield and getting it all set up, which takes more than a month to do, would have been a disaster if we ended up having to cancel due to the weather.”
For the first time ever, the showroom will have a large, 55-inch TV monitor mounted in the second floor, showing all of the lots as they come up for bid. Also for the first time, Tim’s, Inc., will utilize an online biding platform: LiveAuctioneers.com. “Even if the weather is bad, people will be able to bid from the comfort of their homes, at their computer,” Mr. Chapulis said.
The auction will feature something for just about everybody. The 400+ mostly fresh-to-the-market lots will include Part 2 of rare and vintage clocks from the collection of Richard Baldwin of Terryville, Conn. (Tim’s, Inc., conducted Part 1 of the collection in 2009), plus items from the historic Beleden Mansion in Bristol (to include wonderful Victorian furniture pieces).
The roughly 100 vintage clocks will comprise Part 2 of the Richard Baldwin collection, with many rare labels and makers represented. Mr. Baldwin was a direct descendant of Eli Terry, the renowned Connecticut clock maker (and after whom Terryville was named). Eli Terry was the first to mass manufacture clocks, in the early 1800s. Seth Thomas was one of his apprentices.
One clock in particular that's expected to generate an intense bidding war is a circa-1830 Eli Terry, Jr. transitional 30-hour woodworks clock in a stencil quarter-column and splat mahogany veneer (short) case. The exceedingly rare clock, made in Plymouth, Conn., features pillar and scroll feet, a full eagle in flight at the top and cannons and other armaments below.
The auction will also boast stunning bronzes, vintage lamps, at least eight music boxes (some by Regina), dazzling estate jewelry and several eye-popping treats, like an extremely rare cast-iron Victorian floor safe, three period stoves, a great folk art carved decoy from an estate in Chatham, Mass. (Cape Cod) and attributed to the renowned maker Crowell, an early ‘Buster Cherries’ slot machine, a 1950s-era Fender double-neck Stringmaster lap steel guitar, and an authentic signed photo of Babe Ruth, dated May 22, 1948, with the envelope it was mailed in.
The action will kick off at noon (EST) with one lot of over 40 gold and silver estate coins. That will be followed by silver coin sets from Star Trek and Disney (Mickey
