Submitted Photo
This Farrand organ that’s around 100 years old will be on the auction block Friday night at Cross Creek Country Club as part of an annual fundraiser for the Shepherd’s House.
Submitted Photo
A Foster & Company piano built in 1927 will be available as well.
Anonymous donations of both a vintage organ and piano are music to the ears of organizers for a Friday night auction planned during a fundraiser for the Shepherd’s House homeless shelter.
“They were just donated by people in the community,” Shepherd’s House Executive Director Phil Goble Jr., said of the 1927 Foster & Company piano and a turn-of-the-20th-century Farrand organ.
“These are just two classic pieces of American music,” Goble said Tuesday of the items that will go on the block during Friday night’s event at Cross Creek Country Club. “It just gives us some unusual items that we’ve never had before.”
The auction of the two instruments described as examples of “musical Americana” will be just one of the highlights of the annual fundraiser to benefit the homeless facility in Mount Airy.
Also, a much-anticipated “Mad Money Drawdown,” offering $10,000 in cash as the top prize this year, can be won with the purchase of a ticket costing $100.
In 2012, the fundraising event at the country club raised more than $50,000 overall to support the homeless facility that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has served more than 1,200 people.
Along with the drawdown and live auction, the event will include music by the band Mediocre Bad Guys, dinner, a quilt raffle and a silent auction with $1 tickets.
Doors open at 6 p.m.
Historical Instruments
In addition to the organ and piano, a 2004 Ford Taurus will be up for bidding led by an auctioneer from Rogers Realty.
“The piano and organ are exquisite pieces of American history that would be perfect additions to any home,” Goble added. “The car (white with a gray interior) had just one owner who put less than 11,000 miles a year on it while keeping all the maintenance done and the interior in spectacular shape.”
Other choice items to be sold are a custom mink coat from a business, a football signed by players for the Atlanta Falcons, a beach vacation and a granite countertop, among others.
More than 50 silent-auction items, donated from local vendors, also will be up for grabs. The $1 tickets for the silent auction will be sold throughout the evening. In addition, a raffle for a quilt handmade by Karen Springthorpe is planned, with tickets costing $5 each.
All proceeds will benefit the Shepherd’s House.
Of all the items to be offered, Goble seemed most excited Tuesday about the organ and piano.
With Farrand Organ Co. having gone bankrupt in 1915, the organ is known to be at least 98 years old — possibly older. Instruments made by Farrand “were known to be of very good quality, and were generally of a higher grade overall,” according to one Internet site consulted.
Meanwhile, the Foster & Company piano that is available was built in 1927. That company was founded in 1890 in New York City, based on information from another website. After various mergers and other moves over the years, it went out of business in the 1980s.
The serial number for the piano puts it among just 200 built by the company in 1927. No Foster & Company instruments were made after 1931, according to another source.
Contest Rules Tweaked
The annual drawdown is the most-anticipated part of Friday’s gathering, though a ticket holder is not required to be present to win the $10,000.
Only 800 tickets are available for the drawdown, which will involve numbered tickets being selected from a large container during the course of the evening, and marked off a corresponding grid placed on the wall. Tension builds as tickets are eliminated and the number dwindles to a few leading to the final draw.
“We are adding an interesting twist this year,” Goble said of a rules change in which the first ticket pulled will not be eliminated, but put back into the drawing. That also will be the case at other intervals during the drawdown, giving affected ticket owners an incentive to stick around.
A practice in place for previous drawdowns also will be in effect this year when the drawing reaches the nine-ticket point, involving an auction being held for a 10th one.
Tickets will be available for the rest of this week.
“They can buy them all week long and even at the event,” Goble said of those interested. “They will sell the $100 drawdown tickets until we draw the first ticket.”
Tickets or more information are available from Jenna Jordan at 755-6649, Claudia Bryant at 786-4200, Berta Glenn Springthorpe at 789-5033, Traci Haynes at 755-8832 or Rhonda Crossingham, 687-0944. Tickets are also available for purchase at the Shepherd’s House, located at 227 Rockford St. across from the Andy Griffith Playhouse.
Reach Tom Joyce at 719-1924 or tjoyce@civitasmedia.com.
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