SHIPSHEWANA, Ind. – Shipshewana, a small but well-known town in northern Indiana was a great setting for the Chupp auction featuring early farm equipment, country store items, and early advertising.

A salesman’s sample two-row horse-drawn corn planter found several interested bidders and sold for $7,500 while a metal corn crib saw a final bid of $1,000.

It doesn’t seem that ox yokes and stepladders would be items for which it would be necessary to have a salesman’s sample but there were even samples of these. The ox yoke was made of brass and walnut and was adjustable and sold for $1,000. The stepladder was very simple and sold for $350.

Other salesman’s samples included: a fodder chopper with lots of brass that sold for $1,300; a roll-over slip scoop from the American Clay Machine Co. that earned $650; and a Walter A. Wood hay mower complete with the book and manuals that crossed the block for $2,400. A sliding farm gate sold for $500; a furnace saw $350; and a dining table - a beautiful little piece - crossed the block for $500.

The beautifully restored two-seat open sleigh was complete with pole and shafts and could inspire you to go out and buy a horse, gather the family together, get a camera, take a picture and order the Christmas cards. This sleigh sold for $4,100. To go with the horse when the snow was gone there was a restored two-seat open buggy with a canopy that sold for $2,750.

Other wagons, more for work, included a Turnbull wagon with its original seat and drop tongue that sold for $900; a primitive double-seat Stop & Go wagon with early red paint and a stenciled horse that earned $1,000; and a triple-board Weber box wagon with a drop tongue from Sharpesville, Ind. that crossed the block for $2,900.

Wagons for the kids were also available. A primitive child’s buckboard wagon with early paint sold for $300; and a versatile two-person child’s goat/pony cart saw $400. The two seats in this wagon could face the same way, face each other (guess you have to depend on the goat/pony to know where it was going), or one could face front and the other face back (probably when the kids weren’t speaking to each other!).

Among the many fine, collectible butter churns a floor-model churn stenciled The Wonder Churn sold for $650; and a ten-minute churn from the Butter Churn Co., Evansville, Ind. earned $300. If you have to peel potatoes for a large number of people it would be convenient to have the cast iron J.D. Hoover pedal-powered potato slicer that earned $1,600.

Before the days of the electronic scale with the automatic price print-out you would find scales of various types in the meat market. For the large pieces there would be a hanging scale. The country store hanging scale here sported a bull on the top, was made by Simpson computing Scales, Elkhart, Ind. and sold for $1,000.

For use out in the garden there was a primitive horse-drawn Keystone corn planter with a cast iron Keystone seat that sold for $1,600; a J. Herva Jones double expansive hand corn planter that earned $1,100; a primitive Little Wonder push garden seeder that earned $350; and a walk-behind Oliver cultivator that crossed the block for $425.

The first known patent for a hog oiler was issued in 1902. Hog oilers were developed as a means of combating the problems of hog lice and hog cholera. The oilers would be filled with medicated oil. The hogs would rub against them and thus the oil would be distributed over their skin. Early hog oilers would sell for $4 and up. Today the cast iron ones are especially collectible as many were turned to scrap during World War II. A Chemical Co. upright hog oiler earned $2,100; The Bullet hog oiler saw $1,200; and the Dexter hog oiler, made by the Marsh Mfg. Co. crossed the block for $1,100.

Old signs provide us with a glimpse of the past. Some are straightforward - simply provide the basic information with a few words; some are more detailed - some could pass for art, others provide additional information either by the use of artwork or additional words. A Diamond Horseshoe sign measuring 23 by 25 inches and depicting horses with a wagon sold for $2,100; a very large (24 by 72 inches) porcelain two-sided John Deere Farm Equipment sign saw $3,200; and a metal two-sided Yorkshire Hogs sign with the hog depicted crossed the block for $1,400.

A very large (12 by 95 inches) wood and sandstone reflective Oliver Plows sign saw $2,300; a 20 by 20 porcelain Blue Seal Grain sign depicting a horse, cow, and chickens earned $1,250; and a 20 by 32 inch cut-out porcelain Allied Mills sign shaped like a bag sold for $425.

One portion of the auction was devoted to blacksmith items of all sorts. There were anvils, blacksmith hammers, nippers, hoof knives, etc., etc. Notable among the anvils were: a 410-pound Hay Budden blacksmith anvil that sold for $1,100; a 165-pound Trenton anvil with a no-clip horn that earned $500; and a 156-pound Hay Budden anvil with a pritchel crease that saw $800.

De Laval items, attract many collectors. A 1933 De Laval calendar advertising the Golden Anniversary cream separator sold for $900; a windup Coca-Cola wall clock earned $525; and a cast iron duck-shaped boot scraper crossed the block for $200.

An early goat/dog cart with early paint sold for $225; a circular dog treadmill saw $775; and a horse-powered treadmill with early blue paint and stenciled GB Tardif, Plaisseville, QB found a new owner when the gavel fell at $4,500.

For the country store items collectors there was an early country store spice display/dispenser that sold for $800; an early Boye Needles display that earned $250; a display case for the Edwin J. Gillies & Co. Fruit Extracts that saw $275; and a large wooden country store Shield Coffee bin that crossed the block for $625.

For the kids there was: an early child’s push carriage that sold for $220; a child’s swan cart from a carnival ride that earned $600; an early Farmall 450 pedal tractor with power shift by Eska that saw $450; and a station wagon pedal car that crossed the block for $425.

A scale model Olds hit and miss engine was declared sold at $1,900; a tabletop fanning mill, The Chatham, manufactured by Manson Campbell Co. earned $300; a wooden Louden knife sharpener on a cast iron stand saw $450; and a very unusual-shape early ice cream scoop crossed the block for $600.

There was a fine selection of tractor seats, none of which looked very comfortable. They were popular, however, with collectors with a New Combination cast iron seat crossing the block for $2,000.

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