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DALLAS — Antiques chairperson Leslie Horoshko is familiar with every inch of the old tool box she polished and the doll’s high-chair she painted.
She knows how the head of a vintage glass Santa Claus figurine twists off so you can put candy inside, and she can show you how to lift the cast-iron tail of a nutcracker dog so it will open its mouth and accept a nut.
But just how the old-fashioned cherry stoner worked — that has her stymied.
“You’ve got me,” she said, shifting the heavy metal contraption, the better to read a label that said it was patented in 1917. “It looks kind of lethal.”
Fascinating old items are just a few of the treasures organizers have collected for the 69th annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction, set for July 9 to 12 on the library grounds.
Here you’ll also find new goods ranging from lawn tools and jewelry to a painting created on the spot by local artist Sue Hand. There will be gently used items such as the remote control airplanes a friend of the library donated, as well as some items not-so-gently used.
We mean, how gentle are hockey players? This year’s auction will offer such Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins memorabilia as gloves used by Pierre-Luc Leblond and a helmet worn for a year by Simon Despres.
Surrounded by donations ranging from scooters to a hunter’s tree stand, auction chair Stu Kirkwood said a portion of bidding time will be devoted to sports equipment. Another portion will be devoted to such feminine accoutrements as designer purses. Picking up a bag with Vera Bradley’s name on it, he said, “This doesn’t mean much to me, but it will mean something to somebody.”
The grounds open each day of the auction at 5 p.m. and the bidding begins at 6:30 p.m., which gives people a chance to peruse the vendors’ displays. Children’s “bid-time entertainment” includes magician Keith Culver at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. July 10; a birds of prey presentation by Rebecca Lesko of the Endless Mountains Nature Center at 7 p.m. July 11 and Balloons by JustIncredible from 7 to 9 p.m. July 12.
So, let’s say you’ve always wanted an old-fashioned schoolmaster’s desk or a set of “ice-cream parlor” table and chairs. Maybe a piece of Villeroy & Boch china or an old-time wooden grain shovel would nicely accent your home. Maybe your children would love a remote-control toy truck or a certificate to their favorite restaurant.
You can find all those things at the library auction, plus maybe even a way to experiment with a century-old method of turning cherries into pie filling.