Auction Hunters: Season 2, Episode 19: “Rodeo Ton.”
Haff-Ton team drove to Anaheim, California. They were not going to Disneyland, however, buying storage units at auction can at time feel like an amusement park.
Fact: Anaheim’s population boomed after the completion of Disneyland in 1955.
Allen’s weather forecast for the day was sunny with a chance of beautiful storage units.
Fact: More than half of Anaheim Hills residents make over $100,000 a year.
Expensive Unit
Mattress, air conditioner, lemonade juicer, suitcases, and boxes marked expensive. The duo won the locker for $425.
Allen unpacked a silver serving tray from one box. Unfortunately it wasn’t solid silver. He also found an old table and bad china. Crap! Ton discovered some old clothes. More crap!
Fact: In 1996, a silver serving tray sold for a record $10,287,000.
Allen dug through a box. Found hunting clothes, a duck decoys to train dogs to hunt, and a duck caller.
Fact: Native Americans created the first duck calls out of canes and reeds.
Ton retrieved an antique banjo from the 30’s from inside of one box. Inside another box he found vintage duck decoys. All hand- crafted and one-of-a-kind.
Fact: In 1924, archaeologists found 2000 year old duck decoys in a Nevada cave.
Haff-Ton team took the ducks to Mike, a decoy collector and a personal friend of Ton.
Mike knew right off the bat from the paint and shape of one particular duck, that it was mad
e by the Dodge Decoy Company. Dated back to 1880.
Fact: Jasper N. Dodge produced decoys between 1883 and 1905.
One duck decoy, Allen christened as the ugly duckling, was appraised at $3,000. No so ugly now. Another duck decoy was made by Janson and valued between $5,000-$6,000.
Fact: “Fresh-Air-Dick” Jason carved all of his decoys by hand, between 1920 and 1945.
Retail value of the whole flock? $15,000.
DUCK ME!
Fact: In 2007, an antique duck decoy sold at auction for a record $856,000.
Mike offered them $3,000. Ouch.
Allen wasn’t happy. He threatened to put one of the ducks in the water if Mike didn’t up his price. Now Allen, it’s not nice to harm innocent little ducky in your negotiations.
Mike raised his offer to $8,500. Sold!
Quack! Quack! Quack!
Roping Steer Unit
Cow skull for steer roping practice, statue, cooler, and boxes. There was a big space in the back, but the duo couldn’t see what was back there. Haff-Ton won the unit for $675.
Ton found a DVD player and a GPS. It was going in the bread truck!
Duo cleared away all of the boxes. WOW! Allen found a mechanical bull in the back. It reminded him of Urban Cowboy (a movie starring John Travolta and Debra Winger).
Fact: To prepare for Urban Cowboy, John Travolta installed a mechanical bull in his home.
Haff-Ton took the mechanical bull to a cowboy bar owner named Kenny. Mechanical bull model was an
El Toro. It dated back to the 70’s.
Fact: The original El Toro only had two speeds: off and on.
Kenny explained that mechanical bulls originally were used to train bronco riders. They became popular in clubs after the movie, Urban Cowboy.
Fact: John Travolta did all his own bull-riding stunts in Urban Cowboy.
Kenny picked Ton to test it out. Ton weighs about 300 pounds. The mechanical bull can toss 300 pounds. That’s a lot of bull between man and machine. Allen made a side bet with Kenny. For every second Ton stayed on, Kenny would pay a grand.
Ton rode the bull for 5.5 seconds. Kenny was true to his word and bought the bull for $5,000.
Auction Total:
Paid $1,100
Sold: $16,600
Profit: $15,500
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