Aurora of the New Year: Antiques and an Auction

New Year’s Day is a good time to take down the Christmas tree — out with the old! It’s not convincing that you have to keep it until the Epiphany – trees have nothing to do with it. New Year’s is also a time for “in with the old” and so the year both ended and began with a trip to the Oregon town of Aurora known for antiques.

McLaren Auction Services held an auction preview on December 31 and a New Year’s Day auction. The lots included several impressive furniture and decorative arts items with one of the top lots being a carousel ostrich.

This handsome marble “turtle-top” table was labeled as French but could be American. It seemed to be a bargain at $325 plus premium (it’s easy to spend that much at the grocery store these days).

Of course, when you win something at auction, it’s best not to waste time picking it up. That meant putting the sauerkraut and black-eyed peas on simmer during another quick drive to Aurora.

Beyond the allure of a good auction, the town of Aurora is a great destination. Aurora Mills is filled with architectural items and other goodies including advertising memorabilia, hardware, and some furniture like this drafting table.

The town also has a handful of antiques stores mostly housed in 19th-century buildings, including a lamp shop in the Aurora Depot.

Figural lamps. This figure was likely reproduced from an earlier mold.

Here’s a fun phone find. It would be great if someone would make a USB or Bluetooth adapter so these old gems can be used with modern devices. This one was priced at $65 at Back Porch Vintage.