Scott,

You weren't supposed to give the secret out....Although I saw the ad for
this at the MJD auction, so others know about it, too. Thanks for the
reminder. Do you happen to have Bill Baxters email adress, or do I just
email Mike with questions about the auction? Seems kind of odd to have the
preview Friday night after the 1st day, I'm guessing that is Thursday
night.

I was originally going to an antique tractor auction with FIL on the 11th,
but this looks a lot more interesting than looking at stuff I can't buy. If
nothing else, I'd like to see a Hetchel and a Crandel in person.
If anyone is going let me know. It would be nice to put a face to a name. I
should be there all day Saturday.

Thanks!

Gary Maze

Who is filling out his plan of attack now.

                                                                           
             Scott Stager                                                  
             <stagers@m...                                             
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                                                                   Subject 
                                       [OldTools] Visited a MAJOR tool     
             11/01/2006 10:03          collection                          
             AM                                                            
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           

Well, guys, I was blown away by what I saw.  Visited doesn't describe
the experience.  Immersed would be a more appropriate term.

Executive Summary:

Tool dealing buddy of mine from St. Louis called on a Sunday morning
a few weeks back and basically said Help! I went with him to help
catalog a major tool collection in Louisville KY in preparation for
an auction.  Collectors name was Tom Fuller, longtime MWTCA member
and major collector of not only tools, but knives and duck decoys.
Upcoming auction is at Baxter's Auction Gallery in Lawrence
(Indianapolis) Indiana on Nov 10 & 11th.

Mike has details and photos at:

http://homepage.mac.com/ratdaddy/Fuller.htm

Details:

Where to start.  Mike Urness called me and requested my help in
cataloging Tom Fuller's collection in Indianapolis.  Now I live in
Columbia MO which is 2 hrs West of St. Louis where Mike resides, and
Louisville is a good 4+ hours drive East from there.  I hesitated,
but he made it sound like something I would never see again, so since
I had a few uncommitted days, I agreed.  Drove to St. Louis by early
afternoon, and we headed for Louisville.  Arrived late, hit a motel,
and were up by 6 a.m. Monday morning.  Mr. Fuller's residence was in
an old residential neighborhood close to downtown Louisville.  House
was reported to be as old as 1860.  Narrow two story, like most on
the street.  Nothing special, but when I walked inside I was amazed.

Mr. Fuller passed away 18 months ago, so the house had been somewhat
cleaned out in the intervening time.  His duck decoy  and knife
collections had already been auctioned off, with the tool collection
remaining.  Front room was just some miscellaneous stuff laying
around with the entry hallway cluttered, including a large toolbox.
But, upon going up the central stairway (gorgeous walnut wide
railings with massive baluster) to the second floor I encountered the
tool load.  One room was piled with wooden plane, boxed up in a
previous trip Mike had made (650 planes many from local to the
Louisville area makers).  Another small room was jammed with yet to
be sorted tools.  On the other side of the upstairs was a large room
full of tools.  Boxes of boring tools of all sizes.  A small ante
room had something like 150+ axes, hatchets, and adzes.

I spent three 12 hours days with Mike going through photographing and
cataloging these tools.  The wooden planes had been previously
photographed, so we didn't even touch them in those three days.  I
saw tools I couldn't begin to recognize.  Some I knew about but had
never seen before, and some that neither Mike nor I had any inkling
about.  Huge routers or hub augers for old wooden wagon wheels.  Old
wooden wagon jacks.  Coopers tools of every sort.

Mr. Fuller was 91 yrs of age when he died, and had been collecting
since he was a teenage.  Mike remembers having been outbid by him at
an auction in the past.  While my complete awe at this collection is
due to my not having seen any major collections before, Mike has been
around the oldtools world for years, and was also amazed at the
extent of the collection.  He had planned on about 6 days organizing
and cataloging, but has had to spend 18 days or more dealing with it
all.

I am seriously considering traveling the 350 miles from Columbia to
Indianapolis to attend this auction.  There will be stuff for both
collectors and users.  I have my eye on a couple of pieces, so if it
is something I want, please don't bid against me :0).

Even if you can't attend the auction, spend some time going through
the photos.  I guarantee you it will be a treat and a learning
experience.

--Scott

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Scott Stager
Columbia Missouri

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