The ongoing hunt for a card catalog

For some reason that I can't fully explain, I want (really, really WANT) an old wooden card catalog from a library.  It's sort of like the joke about asking a dog what it will do with the car it's chasing if it catches the car.  Where will I put it? What will I use it for? No clue.  But I want one.

The problem?  They are wicked expensive.  Also, hard to find.

The university had a nice one in a surplus auction a couple of years back.  Unfortunately, I had a dentist appointment that day.

I was this close to having one last month.  One popped up on Craigslist not far from my sister in Colorado, at the make-me-faint price of $125.  But someone else emailed first, and anyway, my sister kept finding excuses for not being able to drive 20 minutes to get it.  Oh well.

A week later, three were on the government-surplus auction site, in Champaign Illinois.  Nice ones, with a leg/base section, three 15-drawer sections, and pull-out shelves.  Just the kind I'm wanting.  They were under $200 when I started watching, and I was looking into ways to get them here (Greyhound takes small freight.  Who knew??).  And then in the last half hour, the three shot up to about $650 each, plus whatever it would cost to get them here.  

The surplus auction had another one pop up this month, although it wasn't quite a library catalog.  The drawers were 3 different sizes, and the labels were very un-library-like - things like anthrax, cholera, Legionnaire's disease, and chick embryos.  Had a legged base, pull-outs, and it looked sectional.  Hmmmmmm.  But, I went on Tuesday to the viewing hours and had a good look at it.  It would have been workable, although the drawer bottoms weren't solid - they were all missing a strip down the middle for the metal card holder (I'm sure there's an official name for that thingy). 

And today I sucked it up and went to the auction.  Signed up for a bidder number, and stood around an unheated, cold building for 3 and a half hours before they finally got the the cabinet.  It blew past my upper limit ($150ish) by the third bid, and ended at a whopping $1,000.  Plus tax. 

I was not the only person there interested in it, just based on the other three people who left right after the bidding ended on it. 

And then I skipped my other two errands, because it was 1:00, and came home for a lunch of PB&J on week-old bread, because I somehow botched the grocery shopping over the holidays, and the bread is off-schedule.