By Althea Travis
As the New Year began, a conversation with GNYR member Caudieu Cook became the inspiration to schedule another Chinese Auction. Like many of our club members, particularly after the holidays, Caudieu was looking forward to bringing some items that he did not need to the Chinese Auction, and then, perhaps, to find some treasures that he really wanted. Long scheduled by GNYR as a winter meeting, the event was not held. Now, it seemed, it was time to put the event on the calendar again. Pat Colligan, who chaired the Chinese Auction for many years, became a valuable resource as she shared details about what it takes to run the event. Thank you, Pat.
As has always been the case, members contributed items to the auction. Then members bought tickets and placed the tickets into the cup adjacent to the item they wanted. The new owner of the item was chosen from the tickets in the cup and President, Mike Sussman, announced the winner.
A new part of the auction was the addition of the 50/50 auction items. In other words, if you had an item, perhaps one that was nearly new and a high value item, you might want some money for it, much as if you had sold it at a garage sale. Members placed their bids for the item by writing their name and their offer on a list next to the item. The highest bidder became the proud owner of the item. The donating club member received 50% of the winning price and the club got 50% if the price.
One treasure that caught the eye of many members was a collection of books brought in by Alan Blay. Each book focused on a particular antique vehicle. Alan was willing to give inividual books to the person with a special interest in a specific car. It goes without saying that there was phenomenal interest in the books and they were quickly adopted by their new owners. Thank you Alan.
In addition to Caudieu, Pat and Mike, Special thanks to those who served on the auction committee: Robert Baer, Neal DeLeo, Joel Adelstein, Kathleen and Dennis Healy, Helen McCoy, Bill Sic and Alice Warnowicz. Thank you to Keith Gramlich and Artie Finnegan for getting the word about the event out to our
members. Thank you also to our members who supported this event. We hope that you enjoyed the night. Your contributions to the club were considerable and provides us with funds that help us to run other events.