Time is catching up with Ray and Vi Young, owners of 83 Mile House Farm Equipment Museum and Historic Site.
After five decades of collecting antiques and 11 years of displaying them for the public, the two are ready to retire.
On June 16, their entire collection goes up for auction and that means more than 1,400 large pieces, including farm equipment, wagons, buggies and cutters will cross the block along with countless smaller pieces, such as wind-up gramophones, gold scales, milk cans and many household items.
“The collection has gotten too big and we’re selling off everything,” Ray says. “It won’t hit until everything is gone.”
About one dozen buildings, including a few historic ones, house many of the items and several acres outdoors are covered in old farm equipment. He and Vi have been dedicated collectors, having once brought back two semi-truck loads from Saskatchewan.
They haven’t sold much over the years, Ray says.
“It’s like a disease. Once you start, you can’t quit, really.
“I’d hate to admit how much I’ve spent over the years. I’ve done it all my life. “It’s one of those things you’re brought up with and I took an attraction to, and this is what it ends up like.”
He notes it’s getting harder to find the old stuff these days, but people like to collect it because it brings back memories.
“During the Second World War, school kids did the farm work. When you were eight or nine years old, you were farming and that was the way. They put you on a team of horses and told you to go.”
The auction gets underway at 10 a.m. and is being conducted by BC Livestock Producers Co-Op. Its location is 83 Mile House on Highway 97.
