Wooden Fish Carving - Floyd Edwards - "Salmon"

Rummaging through a hay wagon full of items at a farm estate auction I came across this very nice wooden fish carving. I was surprised to see it was recklessly stacked in a pile with a bunch of other random stuff. It would have been a real shame if the paint had been scratched, or the wood chipped, but luckily it all seemed to be intact.

I put it into my mental list of things I wanted to bid on. It didn't take long to get to it either as the auctioneer began clearing the hay wagon first thing. Given that this was a farm auction I knew there was a chance the interest in art pieces might be low, as everyone was distracted by the tools and hardware.

For anyone who has been to an auction you know that the auctioneer often likes to bundle undesirable items with other things to make sure that at the end of the day everything is sold. That is exactly what happened with this item. Nearby on the wagon was a "Big Mouth Billy Bass", so naturally the 'pair' of fish were lumped together to be sold. 

The bidding started, and there was very little action. The asking price dropped and dropped as the auctioneer tried to get an opening bid. It was no doubt quite because people were too embarrassed to bid on "Billy Bass". When it was all said and done both fish were mine for only $5.

As the auction assistant delivered me my fish he accidentally triggered the motion sensor on "Billy Bass". The crowd had a good laugh as Billy started into his rendition of "Take Me to the River".

To my surprise I was soon approached by another auction goer who seemed to desperately want to buy "Billy Bass" because she thought it was hilarious. We came to terms, splitting the cost of the lot between us, and we were both satisfied with our fish. 

• Floyd Edwards is a coast salish artist from the Pacific North West Coast.
• He carves in Yellow Cedar
• All his carvings are his own designs

http://www.sa-cinn.com/flyodedwards.htm