Tim's, Inc. plans Cabin Fever Auction for Sat., Mar. 28 Tim's Inc. -- the big auction house with the unassuming name -- will hold its big 17th annual Cabin Fever Auction on Saturday, March 28, at the Litchfield Firehouse on Route 202 in Litchfield, Conn.
(Litchfield, Conn.) - Tim's, Inc. -- the big auction house with the unassuming name – will hold its 17th annual Cabin Fever Auction on Saturday, March 28, at the Litchfield Firehouse on Route 202 in Litchfield, beginning at 11:30 a.m. “We call it the Cabin Fever Auction because folks need a good reason to come out of their homes at the end of winter,” Tim Chapulis said, “and we give one to them.”
The Cabin Fever Auction is easily Tim's biggest and most important sale on its calendar. “It takes over a year of planning to pull off this one-day special event,” Mr. Chapulis said. “It's a must for collectors, dealers, investors, decorators and homeowners.” The sale will feature fresh-to-the-market items from area homes, estates and private collections. A preview will be held the morning of the sale.
“In these uncertain times, when people are looking for a safe haven for their investments, it's important that people take a good long look at quality antiques and collectibles,” Mr. Chapulis said. “They'll always be there, until they need to be liquidated ten or twenty years down the road, and they will almost certainly have appreciated during that time. The same can't be said for stocks and bonds.”
Over 500 lots will cross the block, in a wide array of categories. Items will include rare and vintage clocks; period furniture; antique lamps; coins and currency; rock 'n' roll memorabilia; artwork; music boxes, some of them quite rare; vintage clothing; vintage dolls; and more. A crowd of around 500 people (same as last year) is expected. Absentee and phone bids will be accepted, if pre-arranged.
There will be no online bidding component, and that was intentional. “We do things the old-fashioned way,” Mr. Chapulis remarked. “We sell to the room. We had success with that formula in the days before the Internet, and I see no need to change now. The idea is to get people out of their homes.” Images for many of the lots in the auction may be viewed on Tim's website, at www.timsauction.com.
Vintage clocks will include a rare, large “Excelsior” crystal regulator made around 1880 by the Ansonia Clock Co. and featuring silver-colored glass crystal regulator, huge claw feet and an ornate dial; a Waterbury “Augusta” oak wall clock in mint condition; a pair of oversize Black Forest cuckoo clocks with monumental carvings, one spring-driven and one weight-driven; two rare Howard & Davis clocks, #1 and #2, both weight-driven, made in Boston, the largest sizes manufactured and the ones most coveted by collectors; and a miniature Vienna eight-day regulator, with single weight.
Other clocks include a rare 9-tube Gothic mahogany Walter Durfree grandfather clock, sold by Tiffany & Co. and marked on the dial, 101 inches tall; an Elmer O. Stennes grandfather clock with formal case, inlay and designs, one of the last made by Mr. Stennes before his untimely death in 1975; wall clocks, by makers like Seth Thomas and New Haven; an E. Howard (Boston) Regulator
