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Keith Shimada / Special to the Sun
Karen Bornsend bids on an item during an antiques auction at the Boulder City Antique Mall.
Friday, April 3, 2009 | midnight
Boulder City Antique Mall
Some come with their eye on an old violin or a stamp collection, but most show up just for the sport of it. At Darwin’s Auction in Boulder City, lighthearted goading between friends is more frequent than bidding wars.
A crowd of regulars shows up every month for auctions at Boulder City Antique Mall on Nevada Highway, a sprawling trove of books, oversized Western movie posters, jewelry and furniture. Darwin Bible, who owns the store, auctions off antiques every month in the back room.
On a recent Thursday night, a crowd of about 50 people bid on a Civil War-era drum, old pocket watches, stamps, ceramics and coins.
“Eight interesting books,” Bible announced early in the 430-lot auction, to laughs.
Bible turns off his motor-mouth sometimes to chat with his regulars, some of whom he refers to by their names instead of their bidding numbers. An auction card doesn’t cost anything, so some just come to watch, Bible said.
“Probably 90 percent come for the fun of it,” he said. “We always have fun.”
As a child, Bible’s family packed picnics and spent Saturdays at farm auctions.
“They’d sell everything in the farm house and everything in the barn — chickens, cows, pigs, ducks,” he said. “I absolutely loved it.”
In 1978, Bible, a real estate broker, attended the Missouri Auction School, where he learned how to value items and practiced tongue exercises to learn to speak quickly and clearly.
Patrick McManus, an amateur auctioneer, said he never misses Bible’s auctions, where he not only casts bids, but picks up auctioneering tips.
“Darwin’s a real expert,” he said. “He’s so professional. I learn so much here, it’s like going to school.”
McManus, who ended up buying some stamps, a doll and a scooter, said he sometimes spots items he previously sold at other auctions.
“Sometimes for more and sometimes for less,” he said. “It’s a gamble.”
On this day, the 2 1/2-hour auction netted about $18,000. Two years ago, the number would have been double, Bible said.
“The economy’s so bad, it brings a lot of people selling through the auction, and also people looking for buys,” he said.
Mike Mikhael lives in Henderson and is on Bible’s mailing list, so he knows what’s being sold at every auction. He bought a violin for $50 for his children, who play in a high school orchestra. He’ll have to take it to a specialist for tuning, but it was still a bargain, he said.
Barbara Haskett sells antiques from Bible’s mall and helps with auctions.
She bought piano rolls for a player piano she’d previously purchased at auction.
People have fun at the auction and walk away with something they never knew they always wanted, she said.
If you want to see an unethical auction this is the place to go. I went to buy some Morgan cc silver dollars. There were about 5 in the auction. The auctioneer did not like the first bid so he refused it, threw a $100. bid in for each dollar, for himself, and then closed the bidding. A Carson City Morgan silver dollar is worth anywhere from 150.00 up in good condition and these were in excellent condition. There were two of us wanting to bid on them but he placed his own bid and then with his head down so he wasn't even looking to see if anyone wanted to bid, he closed the bidding and took the silver dollars himself. That is NOT the way an honest auction is run. This should be illegal, to not accept a bid is not ethical. I had taken an old frame there for consignment and he told me there is NO MIN. bid, which, in that case he should have accepted the first bid on the silver dollars and run the auction from that bid. This auctioneer is one of the Boulder City good ole boys and directs his auctioning to his buddies in the gallery. He hardly ever looks away to see if anyone else wants to bid. He cuts the bidding off after the second bid when it's a friend of his bidding. He actually stole 5 Morgan cc silver dollars last night at the Auction in Boulder City from the gentleman who consigned them to him thinking he would get a fair deal. He not only got the silver dollars for practically nothing but he will also charge this man a selling fee, thereafter getting the dollars for about $50.00 a piece. These coins should and would have sold for around $200.00 and up each. These coins and many, many more were consigned to his auction by an old man who is liquidating his collection and apparently between the auctioneer and his friends no one else won any of the coins. I watched him for an hour and a half and saw so many questionable and unethical happenings I can't believe he has anyone, except his friends, coming in there. I was going to buy a round oak table and chairs today for $500. But I won't give him a penny of my money ever. My advice is to stay away from the Auction Mall on Nevada Hwy, also known as Darwin's auction. Over and over I saw him "miss" bids and send the item to a friend in the gallery. How do I know they are all friends? He seemed to know each one by first name and joked around all through the auction with them. No, Mr. Darwin Bible should read the book his name comes from.