Misc items I'm donating to a silent auction!

[Doug W Swanson]

Hey all,

Here are some items that I am donating to our church's pre-school fund raiser. Each year they have a carnival and silent auction. A few years ago I donated a pepper mill and 2 weed pots. Last year I donated an end-grain cutting board. These are the items I'm donating this year:

Pot Pourri bowl/dish:
Padauk with WOP, 4.25" x 2.25"

I was hoping to do some texturing on the side but it did not turn out the way I had hoped. In order to save the piece (and not start over) I did the grooves and burned in the lines with some wire.
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Pen and letter opener set:
Olivewood with Enduro finish

These came from the same piece of Olive wood.
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Wine Stopper:
Maple burl with Enduro finish

This started off as a small block of wood I picked up at Rockler a few months ago.
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Since they always ask me what the retail price is on my items what should I say? I've never sold anything so I'd like to have an idea of what they should sell for in a shop (everything I've made has either been donated, given as gifts or used in my house).

[John Keeton]

Doug, quite a nice selection of items! I just bought a few chunks of Padauk, and you certainly did a nice job with the pot pourri bowl - makes a nice use for the Padauk.

Usually, at charity auctions, the idea is that if the bid is over the retail price, then the excess can be claimed as a donation. I suspect that is why they are asking for a retail price - that, and having some idea of how to present the piece for bid. Unfortunately, I am no help to you on pricing.

[David E Keller]

Nice of you to make the donations! Prices vary from place to place, but I can tell you what I might get for those things around here +/-... $35 for the potpourri pot, $45 for the pen and letter opener combo, and $25 for the bottle stopper.

If I'm not mistaken, you can deduct the full sale price of the items as long as you don't receive any compensation in return for the donation.

Good luck at the auction.

[Steve Vaughan]

I really like the bowl. Beautiful color and you did a great job on your lines.

[Jonathan Spool]

The last time my wife and I donated things for a charity auction, I donated a really nice Koa bowl, and she donated a cheesecake. The cheesecake went for $125, and then the purchaser auctioned off 10 individual pieces for $15 per piece. My beautiful bowl went for $45, about the cost of the blank!

[Jim Burr]

All great pieces Doug! I like the burn work on the pot!

[Greg Just]

Doug:

I think David is about right on his suggested prices. Hopefully you get a receipt for your donation with the retail price listed for tax purposes. You pieces are very nice and should bring a good price for the fund raiser.

Greg

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice items and good of you to donate them. I pretty much get about the same as David K. gets.

[Doug W Swanson]

Thanks for the comments and input.

Our church generally starts the bidding at 1/2 of the retail value so it's nice to know what to tell them it should be worth. One of these days I'm going to try making a bunch of stuff and get into selling it. Then I can hopefully get sucked deeper into the vortex!

[Baxter Smith]

They are all nice looking donations!

[Reed Gray]

For your church auctions, you could, in advance ask the preacher to ask the parish if any one has some old wood lying around that could be donated to make some thing out of. Chances are that some one has some pieces that 'Grandpa had and we didn't know what to do with'. Because of the sentimental value, the prices could go a lot higher.

robo hippy