By Roxanne Liddle

The Fisk auction business is bursting with consignments. The response from people in the community has been wonderful. My husband Lee and I are trying to be selective as to what we sell. We are always looking for quality antiques, fine art, unique and/or designer pieces.

We have been marketing Delaware County as a place to buy all of these items, including our three antique stores in Andes, Bovina, and Delhi, in keeping with the flow of traffic for antiques on the Route 28 corridor. We were fortunate that Harold and Linda Cole were ready to sell their barn while we were looking for  such a structure in that location. It was a perfect fit for us to advance into the auction business.

Our auctions are held in the hayloft, which had a few other businesses in it prior to us. It was a tavern, a maple syrup production place, and handled equipment rentals. We have our next sale on January 29, 2011, at 11 am. This sale features a painting by William Powell Frith, dated 1850, as well as many pieces of art pottery – Rookwood, Roseville, Weller, and Pewabic, to name a few. We also have several decoys, period furniture, handmade rugs and unique items.

The Andes School has been providing us with snacks and drinks (coffee is free) as part of a fundraising effort for their upcoming events.

Our auctioneer’s name is Dean Doin. He’s from Malta, NY. Lee describes the piece as Dean sells each item. Along with live bidding we have phone bidders, and “left” bids, from individuals who preview the sale and are unable to attend in person. In the future we may do internet bidding…but for now we’ll keep it simple.

We have a full time employee who researches, photographs, inventories, and catalogs the items. His name is Russell Burnham. He also brings his three sons, Jonathan, William, and Beau, on sale days to lend a hand with the sound system, cameras, and computer systems. In addition to Lee and myself we have about a dozen other people to direct and park customers, register bidders, hold up items for display, contact phone bidders, and assist/carry merchandise to vehicles. Most of these people work during the week in our construction and painting company, Second Nature Construction.

We also operate a bed and breakfast, The Fisk House, taking in travelers year round. All of our businesses work together to service people. We are fortunate to have great employees and terrific clients and customers to support us in our endeavors. Lee and I have worked seven days a week since I can last remember…

We enjoy the challenges of opening our fourth business in Delaware County, and look forward to what’s around the corner in 2011. ~