Library volunteer and antiques chairperson for the Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction Karen Boback holds a vintage handsewn quilt. She is seated on an old-time ‘fainting couch’ and surrounded by other donated items.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
… and Back Mountain Library Auction will have plenty
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The large-billed wooden bird opens up to reveal a storage compartment. A toy accordion and a Snoopy telephone are among other treasures you’re likely to see if you visit the Back Mountain Meemorial Library Auction, set for July 11-14.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Look closely at the figurines on the right side of the photo. One card player is secretly passing a card, stuck between his toes, to another.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Inside the Back Mountain Memorial Library you’ll find a whimsical ‘fairy’ built from books and folded paper, companion to a unicorn with a curly mane.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Preparing for the 78th Annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction are committee members, from left, seated: Karen Boback, Tom Mosca, Andrea Mosca, Pat Peiffer, Lee Lawrence, Dave Bradbury, Jane Balavage. Standing: Melinda Gaus, Diane Johnson, Vicky Grzyboski, Karen Schuster, Bill Peiffer, Sarah Pryor, Don Berlew, Carol Sweeney andJen Perch, children’s librarian.
Submitted photo
How cool would it be to have an honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned spinning wheel add an accent to your home?
Or — even if you don’t expect to faint anytime soon — maybe you would like to add a “fainting couch” to your decor?
Perhaps a planter that looks like half a bird cage would look great on your wall. Or a telephone featuring everybody’s favorite cartoon beagle, Snoopy, would brighten a desk.
Those are just a few of the many items antiques chairperson and long-time library volunteer Karen Boback — yes, the retired state representative — has been sorting as the 78th annual Back Mountain Memorial Library Auction approaches.
The auction is set for July 11-14, but workers have been getting ready for weeks.
“It’s fun to look at treasures,” volunteer Jennie Valick-Kopacz said, listing one of the perks of helping to clean vintage items.
Indeed, even a quick glance at some of the items Boback and Valick-Kopacz were handling revealed fascinating details.
The maker of one hand-sewn quilt, for example, seemed to have filled each block with a different nursery rhyme character.
“This looks like Little Jack Horner,” Boback said.
“Yes, he put in his thumb and pulled out a plum,” a bystander added.
The quilt was marked with the year 1927, hinting it was almost a century old.
And a porcelain figurine that features three young men playing cards is so detailed it apparently showsa bit of surreptitious cheating, as one of the players passes a card, tucked between his toes, under the table to another player.
Visitors to the auction will see Boback has sorted various donated goods into categories ranging from “Christmas in July” to “lakescape” items suitable for decorating a boathouse to “man cave” items ranging from parts of a vintage erector set to a framed display of coins and bottle caps.
“I’ve got a lot of wicker,” Boback said. “And these Adirondack chairs are handmade. And someone donated a Maytag wringer washer; it’s in great shape and I’ve heard people like to use them as planters.”
Boback proudly showed a reporter a picture of the washing machine; it did look clean and shiny.
But some other items might need a bit of touching up, Boback said, and she would be grateful for additional volunteers.
“Can you rewire lamps, make gentle repairs, paint or refinish furniture?” is the request posted on the library auction’s Facebook page. “Now is the time to show your support! Please share your talents and support one of the great Back Mountain institutions. Call the library at 570-675-1182 and leave a message for Karen.”
In addition to the antiques/home accents Boback is handling, visitors to the auction can expect jewelry, raffle baskets, odds and ends, gently used books, children’s activities, visiting goats, plenty of food and more.
And while some visitors might spend all their time outside on the library grounds, if you stroll through the library you’ll be rewarded by the sight of a “fairy” constructed from books and standing in a particularly imaginative corner, next to a “unicorn.”
“I really think we have to give him a darker mane,” volunteer Vicky Grzyboski said of the unicorn who, underneath his unicorn trappings, appears to be a Fiberglas mule from the 2003 Miles of Mules public art project, sponsored by the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. With a mane made from bright white material, she said, “he looks like an English judge.”
While Grzyboski enjoyed helping to build the “fairy” from books, she said, “Don’t say I did it alone. It was a whole crew.”