On Assignment

Gnome bubble?

The gnome market just went through the roof. 10 of them just sold for $220; that's twice what they were going for this morning. A share of Google, by comparison, only went up 1.25 percent today.

Maybe Parish was onto something.

Thomas Jefferson gnome!

$140

Mrs. Claus and the elves gnomes!

$200

Fruit gnomes!

18 of them.

"A banana, an apple, a whole bunch of 'em."

$170

Slap happy

The auctioneer is going on six hours straight with hardly a breath, let alone a bite to eat. He's still got a brisk cadence on the prices, but his salesmanship is starting to lose some of its sheen:

"All right, a big painting -- three ladies in a garden playing instruments."

"Let me see Napoleon there. Oh wow, he's on his horse ready to charge off!"

"If I lived at the beach, I'd have to have a pair of those."

"Jeez, there's a bunch of cushions and things in there too."

Doing what he can

Roumillat, the auctioneer:

"It's a (crystal) faucet with a drip of water coming out of it? That's cool. That's what everybody should have. Do I have $100?"

Nativity gnomes!

Praise be.

14 of them. $140.

A guy swilling a beer wussed out at $130.

Record?

There's some chatter that the biggest Charleston auction to date grossed about $500,000. The haul on this one is approaching $2 million.

And the pace is still blistering:

four hundred

four-fifty

five hundred

come on five-fifty

five-fifty

five-fifty all in all done

six-hundred...

The judge grabs the gavel

U.S. District Judge David Norton, the man presiding over Al Parish's fate and freedom, just nabbed a tray of his cufflinks for $700.

Wonder if he'll wear them to Parish's next hearing?

Pirate gnomes!

Yaaarrgh!

Three of them. $140.

Animal kingdom

Just when you think it can't get more surreal, the auction crew starts modeling coats -- working the front of the room like a runway.

Linx.

Red ostrich.

Sheared beaver.

Waiting for the music

Word is, the famed guitars of Hendrix, Harrison and Richards won't hit the block until tomorrow. The auction crew is trying to close a $400,000 private bid before putting them up for bid.

Swing and a miss

The first Red Skelton painting just went up at a $6,500 opening price.

Crickets...

Nobody likes a sad clown.

Home run

David Dantzler, the Atlanta attorney who was hired to round a bunch of this stuff up, just dropped by. He said a lot of the items are going for more than retail -- particularly the pens.

"We're hitting a home run. The auction frenzy is just amazing."

Priming the pump

An uneducated opinion: the $6.25 cocktail price is a little steep. Most of the crowd is empty-handed and it seems like some booze would boost the bidding -- get those auction paddles swinging like an Olympic ping-pong match.

Schuyler made his contribution: $7.50 for a hot dog, chips and a bottle of water.

The hammer man works the room

"You're having a good time, just keep bidding. ...$2,200 -- you hate to do it, but you will."

With a tongue that silver, the guy could probably drum up some investment pools of his own pretty quickly.

Changing of the guard

Kyle Stock is taking the helm here. Schuyler just headed off to grab a hot dog and try on some sweaters.

Painting of some cows for $500. Going. Going. Gone

the Purple Jag

Al Parish's 2002 two-door purple Jaguar with a leopard skin pattern painted on the roof by local artist Steve Jordan sold for $31,500 to a male buyer who declined to identify himself.

The car, with 32,641 miles,  has had a bumpy past, going nowhere when organizers tried to sell it in eBay a few months back.

$1,000 bill goes for ...

Stick this in your wallet: a rare 1934 $1,000 bill with the face of Grover Cleveland on it sold for $3,400. It looked as fresh as a $1 bill minted yesterday.

A  Mont Blanc Black Widow pen sold for the one and only opening bid of $52,000.

$15,000 Mont Blanc

All pen bids were trumped by another gold Mont Blanc for $15,000.

Mont Blanc pen

A solid gold Mont Blanc pen called the "Andrew Carnegie" sold for $5,100 after starting off with a minimum opening bid of $3,500.

$6,000 rabbit sculpture

A large bronze rabbit as big as a barnyard sheep and valued at at least $30,000 sold for $6,000.

The rabbit was on display outside of Parish's mansion, in recognition of his address on Rabbit Run Road near Summerville. It was bought by one of his neighbors.

The funny pages

A 1953 Peanuts comic strip, an original black and white, sold for $4,600.

Al's Hot Sauce

A case of 29 bottles of Al's Parish's "Bottle of Death" hot sauce sold for $130.

John Lennon

A life-sized bronze bust of former Beatle John Lennon by Brett Livingston Strong sold for $ 14,500. Strong has a large following, in California.

Four Bugs Bunny cartoon cells sold for  $1,600.

Watches sold!

James Geiger, who operates an audio store on East Bay Street, paid a whopping $1.45 million for Parish's entire collection of 117 high-end watches.

The sale was one of the most competitive so far as phone bids competed with several people in the audience of more than 600.

Bids opened at $1 million and Geiger won the day. "I'm helping out a friend," he said afterward, adding he has a lot of clients who may be interested in buying some of them. He owns Fine Audio and Art.

Crocodile jacket

A black crocodile men's jacket cut in the style of a sports coat and valued at more than $16,000 sold for a paltry $950.

Donald Duck art

Four Donald Duck paintings by 1970s artist Peter Maxx went for $1,200.

A holy water bowl from the wreck of the Spanish ship Atocha, found off Florida, sold for $2,100.

Parish watches to be sold in about 30 minutes

Some of Parish's valuable watches are expected to be up for sale some time shortly before 1 p.m..

More Garfield

Four signed cells of Garfield, the cat, by artist Jim Davis sold for $300.

Four ball point pens by Mont Blanc sold for $175 each.

gnomes sell

The first box of pure gnomes with beards and pointed hats sold. About eight in the box went for $80.

Three photographs of sports figures like Michael Jordan playing basketball with Garfield figures went for $2,900.

Mayor Summey makes a buy

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey bought two Mont Blanc pens for $170 each.

He was overheard asking his wife for permission. "Dang, right," he said. "They are for her. I use throw aways."

auction countdown

There's less than a half hour to go before the Al Parish auction begins and rougly 200 people are walking around a meeting room as large as a basketball arena at the Charleston Area Convention Center.

If you're facing the front of the room, the items piled on the right hand side will be auctioned today, including Parish's collection of watches, pens and some of his gnomes, art work and other household furnishings. The Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards and George Harrison guitars could go today too.  Tomorrow, items on the left hand side will be sold, including TV's and other electronics.

More than 400 empty chairs are slowly being filled up in anticipation of the sale. Auctioneers are being coy on what will go first on the block. The stage is adorned with a purple and white floral print sports coat, and another jacket patterned with purple, green, orange and turquoise triangles.

  U.S. District Judge David C. Norton, who is overseeing the civil and criminal cases against Parish, has stopped by to observe.

Parish-mania

Post and Courier reporters Schuyler Kropf and Kyle Stock will keep readers updated on the auction of thousands of Al Parish' items and collectibles throughout the day Friday.