Galoots,
         I may have missed this post by someone else, but yesterday I 
was "speaking" with his son about an eBay auction item.  I'm now 
saddened, so let me ramble please.
         John P. "Jack" Bittner died January 18, 2006 at his home in 
Springfield, VT.  Now, I don't expect more than one or two of you to 
know of whom I'm speaking.  And, while Jack Bittner wasn't a Galoot, 
he was indeed an original old tool galoot.   Consider this: "'Jack" 
then retired to Derby, Vt., where he continued with his auctions, 
selling on eBay and creating reproductions of antique cupboards, 
wooden bowls and buckets, Shaker boxes and other woodcraft items.
         I hope when Martin Donnelly gets some time he'll chip in 
with some thoughts on Jack.  But I first was introduced to Jack at 
one of his famous antique tool auctions in Keene, NH.  I believe we 
all owe Jack a thank you for being the first to start selling at 
auction only old tools.  And while he was soon followed and battled 
by Crane's auctions, Jack was, IMHO, the best.
         What a nice guy.  Fair and fun to be around, a fast 
auctioneer and he could pull the last dollar out of a bidder as good 
as any I've seen.
         I have to tell this personal story about the last time I was 
with Jack.
         The very first auction we did for PATINA at the Damascus 
Fire Hall - a major leap in scale for us - we "hired" Jack to be the 
auctioneer.  He arrived the morning of the auction from Vermont with 
Rachel, his lovely wife of 60 years.  His arm was in a sling.  A day 
before at home he had an accident, severely cutting the arm.  It was 
infected and the infection was in his entire body.  Fever, weak and 
tired, Jack stood there and auctioned lot after 750 lots!
         That was one side of his character.
         Here's another wonderful side.  He knew me by name and 
sight.  With his style and character, I viewed him as a "friend", but 
I understood I was just one of many folks he knew.  He also knew I 
worked on the auction and when he couldn't get a bid for a super 
clean and nice USSR boxwood ruler, he sold it to me by asking me to 
raise my hand if I thought the price was too cheap.  I raised my 
hand.  "SOLD!", he said and called my bidder number.   He laughed, 
the entire room laughed, I laughed.
         And another appreciated side of his auction persona:   I 
also had a good number of junk, ah, err, old tools in the 
auction.  One lot was a Stanley #6 (Jeff- Jack Plane).  I had 
"linished" it (what Stanley does to the  bottom and sides, but we 
call it belt sanding) to remove the rust.  I had stripped  all the 
paint off and re-painted and baked new DeRusto onto it.  I had buffed 
the nickel (well bare steel, but it looked like nickel when I 
finished).   Up close, it looked redone, but a great user.
         Well, we had two spotlights shining so that when the handler 
lifted a tool to be auctioned the lights shined on the item.  Mine 
just sparkled.  It glowed.  Jack looks up from his auction list and 
glances over at the item.  "Wow" he exclaimed, "That is the best 
looking #6 I've ever seen!"   There us a twinkle in his eye, a brief 
wink and he does what he did at times - started the bidding at an 
absurd amount.
         Now, this #6 in that day should have brought $25 
maximum.   But Jack had set a different 'tone" for it.  As the 
bidding passed $25, I began to smile, as it passed $35, I began to 
squirm, and as it hit $65, I exclaimed loudly that it was too 
much.  He got $67.50.   A character indeed!
         Embarrassed, I asked the buyer if he was happy and he 
was.  So, one can say it was Jack Bittner who created the tool 
cleaning monster I became.  Thank's Jack, you helped pay for my 
Florida golf course home.
         And Galoots, thanks for letting me ramble.  Jack deserves 
better from other galoots than what I can say.  He was pioneer, a 
galoot, a character, a skilled auctioneer, a friend, a husband, dad 
and city councilman.

***********************************************
*   Karl W. Sanger                               *
*        Desperately seeking antique       *
*                    Machinist Tools!!!           *
* (Email: sangerkw@m...)   *
*     in the Nature Coast area, Florida    *
***********************************************  

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