SHIPSHEWANA, Ind. - A dairy farmer with a love for Ayrshire cattle drove the bidding on a sign at a March auction conducted by Chupp Auctions. The distinctive red and white cattle are known for their vigor and efficient milk production.

The sign offered at the auction was simple in design and declared Ayrshire Cattle on This Farm in dark blue and orange. Three phone bidders joined those in attendance in bidding for the sign, but the eventual winner with a final bid of $3,700 was in the audience. As one might guess, the winning bidder has a herd of Ayrshire cattle and he plans to display the sign on his farm.

Jersey Island is where you can find Jersey cows so the porcelain cutout Jersey cow sign that came from Jersey Island was especially desirable. The winning bid of $950 for this piece of history was placed by a representative from Penn State University.

A cast-iron horse tie with an embossed horse on the top also attracted lots of interest. A gentleman from a museum in Wisconsin, for which it was eventually purchased, said that it was like none that he had seen before. The final bid for this unusual tie was $1,100.

A hinged Century hand corn sheller was bid to $3,750. Other hand corn shellers included an F&F Co. slip-handled example selling for $350; cast iron marked Fisher, Canton, Ohio, $875; a solid brass pan-handled marked POPS-1924, $850; brass-handled, $750; and a hand corn sheller with an 1879 patent date that sold for $350.

Signs found at car dealers today are pretty plain compared to those years ago so it was not surprising that there were several bidders interested in the pre-World War II porcelain and neon Pontiac sign with the black background and the Indian head. This sign had new neon but the porcelain was all original resulting in a final bid of $6,750.

An old cribbing halter drew a lot of interest and sold for $1,400. Halters such as these prevent or discourage horses from cribbing, which is when a horse grips the edge of something such as a wooden fence, a stable door, arches his neck and swallows air.

A wooden 6-gallon butter churn with a porcelain bottom elicited spirited bidding and found a $1,300 selling price; a wooden pump churn from E.H. Funks Champion Churn Works, which was located in nearby Sturgis, Mich., sold for $700; and a wooden oval butter churn with a patent date of 1877 that had been manufactured for two years at a company in Goshen, Ind., crossed the block for $275.

De Laval items seem to always garner interest. A new-old-stock De Laval agency sign from 1920 that measured 26 inches by 8 feet and sold for $2,100. A 12-foot long wooden De Laval sign earned $600, while a 1905 calendar that featured a girl with a bucket of milk sold for $150. A 1912 calendar featuring Jersey cattle saw a final bid of $200.

An early advertising picture from C. Aultman & Co., Dayton, Ohio, for a Buckeye Binder earned $1,800; while one from the Deering Harvester Co., Chicago, for a Deering Ideal binder saw $1,700. A sign promoting John Dodds, Dayton, Ohio, featuring an early Taylor no. 4 dump rake had a final bid of $2,000. A self-framed sign for Ebbert Wagons from 1906 sold for $1,500.

A 1947 tin sign from the Millbern Hardware store in Bourbon, Ind., advertising Oliver tractors crossed the block for $1,400 while a porcelain sign declaring Another Oliver User saw $1,700.

Porcelain signs included a double-sided D-X sign in a steel frame that sold for $700; a framed IGA sign that earned $550; a double-sided McCormick Deering service sign that crossed the block for $1,600; and a 27-inch by 93-inch Massey-Harris sign that had a final bid of $2,250. A bid of $500 took home a framed Goodyear Tires sign; an Oatmeal Stout sign from 1910; and a large round Oldsmobile Service sign. A small round Dr Bull Cough syrup sign with a bull earned $800.

Four metal signs featuring animals sold for $500 each: double-sided Yorkshire Hogs sign, double-sided Hampshire Hogs sign, tin Durocs Hogs sign and a double-sided metal Holstein sign.

A cast iron EZ Super chicken/turkey beheader sold for $215, while a hog slopper earned $700. A primitive goat wagon crossed the block for $500; a splash-proof crock chicken waterer with great stenciling saw $300; and a Taylor and NG bull-design butter print found a final bid of $400.

From 1902 there was a interesting walking cane. This cane had a cap detonator in the tip of the cane. This piece sold for $175.

From Hazelton, Pa., there was a patent model coal sifter from 1879 that sold for $850; and from 1850 there was patent model no. 7007 cotton cordage machine with the original papers that earned $250. A 1796 patent model of the James Salers sawmill sold for $2,250; and a model of an electrified house, complete with people, made by General Electric earned $600.

A Fairchild wooden washer with a good wringer sold for $350; a round wooden Queen washer with an Anchor brand wringer saw $250; and a Knoll double washer saw a final bid of $500.

Among the salesman’s samples was a two-way corral gate which was designed so that it could be opened from either side without the driver or rider having to get on the ground. It sold for $1,300. A salesman’s sample farm gate earned $1,000; and a Jim dandy horse collar by Scheffer & Rossum Co. crossed the block for $250.

For the kids there was an early small tin Minnehaha wagon that sold for $200; a Planet Jr. summer sled that saw $300; and a Wyandotte Fire Department sit-n-ride fire truck complete with siren that crossed the block for $225. A Ford 8000 pedal tractor sold for $200, and a Farmall 560 pedal tractor earned $225.

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