Weird & Wonderful Antiques at Mooney's Auction House
Note: Mooney’s has relocated to Freehold. My original article about their East Durham location follows:
A two-seater carousel and colorful cropped sweater greeted us at the door of Mooney's Auction in East Durham. Inside, worked our way through a maze of green vinyl chairs (at right), vintage signs, lamps, framed photographs, and wood furniture piled to the ceiling. The items pictured here have probably found new homes by now, but there's another auction coming up this Friday, July 15 and you can see a preview of the items for sale online. I wish I could be there to see who takes home this Coffins & Caskets sign, this 1950s comic book rack, and this very fancy Art Deco scale. I'd bid on this slightly creepy owl lamp for Archer.
During our visit, I was looking at an old bulletin board displaying photos and signs from Durham's old Auction Barn. When someone from the Mooney's staff came over to check on us, I told him that we had a poster from the old Auction Barn on our dining room wall. I used to love going to auctions there as a kid and I remembered the auctioneer in the photos. The man introduced himself as Al Cardamone and said, "You recognize that guy? That's me."
And in that moment, I recognized a fast-talking childhood hero standing right in front of me. You can see a recent photo and old photo of Al side by side here.
The items we saw inside were being held for an upcoming auction, but there were plenty of things to buy at the sidewalk sale outside, from artwork to armchairs to vintage tools.
If you get to this week's auction, please write to me in the comments and let me know how it was. I'm hoping to make it to one soon!
