an auction house in the Midwest

My mother-in-law owns an auction house in the Midwest, and many interesting things come through on a weekly basis. I was able to pay her a visit a few months ago, when I took these photographs. Even on a slow week, which it was that particular week, the things I saw were just leaps and bounds better than what I might find at a secondhand shop. Truly old things, real antiques. Some came on consignment, others were remainders from garage sales, or a buyout of an estate. 

You could really get the sense of the people behind their collection of things. It can make you a little bit melancholy, actually. I remember in particular sorting through what seemed to be a box of stuff from a young boy, disjointed Batman figurines and McDonaldland toys and foreign coins and baseball cards. Most of it would be considered worthless in the current market, and I kept thinking about the little boy who collected all these things that probably meant a lot to him at one point. Now he has grown up and left these things behind.