At country auctions, many treasures are in the eye of the beholder

Before the Ashburn area became developed, Tillett knew people by their names. Now, bidders use cards with numbers and register by showing a driver's license before getting a card.

"That started in the early 1980s," Tillett said. "A guy just walked off [without paying], and he was a D.C. policeman."

At a recent auction, Tillett hefted larger items above his head before he started the bidding. Other items were in boxes or on tables. He quickly decided to sell some items in lots, or by twos and threes. When the bids started, Bryan Damewood, the bid spotter, held up the items as Tillett pointed to the successive bidders. Damewood urged on bidders with half-cries of "Yes, yes." He looked about to see whether Tillett had missed anybody.

Bids go up by 50 cents. At auctioneering school, Tillett said, he had to patter to 100, back and forth at 50-cent intervals. "99.50, 99, 98.50. We sometimes raised a bid by a quarter before the '90s."

Two handmade cane-bottom chairs were up for bid.

"They need work," Tillett warned potential buyers.

They sold for $5. A clerk recorded the buyer's number. Fixed up, they'd sell for $100 each, I reckoned.

Linda, from Manassas, bought a set of pink, green and yellow German china. "Ninety dollars, and it's just got a teacup missing," she said, as I carried the set to her car trunk. "Ten, 20 years ago I was an auction groupie," she said. "Went one, two, three times a week with my kids."

In her trunk were some pictures in frames and a small pile of tchotchkes. She gave me a knowing look and said, quietly, "I got those earlier."

Maybe she's not cured yet.

Auctions at Tillett's Auction Barn, 21768 Belmont Ridge Rd. in Ashburn, are at 5 p.m. first and third Wednesdays. Times for Saturday auctions are announced in advance.

Eugene Scheel is a historian and mapmaker who lives in Waterford.