Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site

    My mother used to call it “junkin’.”  She and a friend used to “go junkin’” on a regular basis and after she died, I inherited some beautiful glassware.  Mom knew a good piece of glass and she kept track of what she spent and what it was worth.  When my sisters and I had an estate sale for Mom and Dad’s lifetime of accumulation, we first called in an antique dealer who was a friend of my parents and asked him for appraised value of the pieces.  We kept the good stuff in the house and the junk in the garage.  It was an exhausting yet fun couple of days and we got rid of a lot of things.  (We also took home a lot of things).

Mom’s been gone 18 years and Dad 17 and I have a houseful of stuff of my own.  But still I was talked into attending an estate sale yesterday with a friend.

I had no idea what I was about to encounter.

Our little estate sale didn’t hold a candle to the one I attended.  1120 Winona (over by the Champlin mansion if you’re from Enid) was a huge, fabulous old house built in the early 1900s and I was only allowed in the downstairs area.  There were rare books (some in Greek and Russian), handmade rugs, glassware from the ages, and art from around the world. 

The owner of the home was from Russia but had lived in California, Oklahoma, and exotic places around the world.  Her daughter lived with her for a time and was the US Ambassador to Tunisia. Her mother accompanied her on that tour.  The mother outlived the daughter and stayed in her house in Enid until she died at the age of 103. As world travelers, they had filled every nook and cranny with treasures. 

The basement was finished with hardwood floors and a fireplace.  The upstairs had beautiful oak floors and woodwork and a butler’s pantry where the glassware was stored.  There was a downstairs bedroom with a fireplace and a sunroom next door, and the garage had the old-style steam heat radiator up against the wall.  There were fireplaces on all floors that I could get to on both ends of the house.  And the most intriguing thing were the bright turquoise walls.  The lady from the estate sale said that was the Russian influence.  I’m sure if the house was mine, the turquoise would have to go.

I spent $21 and both things I bought were for someone else.  I’m cheap and kept asking myself where I’d put that thing I was holding in my hand once I got it home.  I wanted a glass sangria pitcher, but my china cabinet is full now.  So, I left it for someone else.

I hope the home goes on the market and I can tour it when they have an open house.  All proceeds were going to a couple of charities. Those charities were about to receive some huge checks.

Someday my children will need to clean out my lifetime of treasures.  I doubt my estate sale will be as glamorous as the one I attended yesterday.