A lifetime of collecting goes on the block

RALEIGH -- It took three pickups, three vans and three trailers to haul the treasures out of Brady Jefcoat's basement: the 1948 Wurlitzer jukebox, the Black Forest cuckoo clocks, the Edison Model A Oxidized Bronze phonograph with a 21-inch mahogany horn.

The auction house in Yanceyville took only a slice of his collection - just a sample of the 12,000 antique butter churns, pump organs, washing machines, pig oilers, air rifles and assorted pieces of Americana that Jefcoat collected over a lifetime.

It hurts to part with these jewels. But at 95, weakened by a stroke, Jefcoat can't take proper care of a collection that, once, might have fetched $1 million. So in three auctions over three days - this Saturday and June 24 and 25 - his babies all go to the highest bidder.

"All of it," he said from his room at Morningside assisted living. "All of it."

Born to sharecroppers, raised poor in the Depression, Jefcoat never guessed he would amass a stockpile so large and valuable that Sotheby's of New York would come to inspect it.

He never collected for money or prestige. He was a handyman, a do-it-yourself fix-it specialist who grew up on a farm and liked to make old things look new.

When his wife died young of cancer, his hobby turned to therapy, so he scoured flea markets and auctions on weekends, grabbing up rarities by word-of-mouth and tinkering them back to life. He could spend all night with his arm in the guts of a Wurlitzer, working so long that his body would shake. His work is even more impressive when one considers that he lost the use of his right hand in a car accident at 16.

Now, some of the choicest lots are piquing interest as far away as Switzerland. Catherine Winstead, who owns the auction house in Yanceyville, guessed conservatively that Jefcoat's gems are worth $500,000, and she's getting requests to advertise the sale in London.

"Huge," she said. "Huge. I've been dealing already with people in Dallas and Florida and Kentucky and New Jersey and Maryland and Tennessee. It's just getting started."

But when Jefcoat says all his collection, he doesn't mean literally every piece he has gathered over 40 years.

The museum is full

Much of what he restored now belongs to the Brady C. Jefcoat Museum of Americana in Murfreesboro, which opened in 1997 - the last time Jefcoat got worried about a suitable place for his stuff.

Two hours northeast of Raleigh, the museum spans 17,000 square feet, all of its contents pulled from Jefcoat's house one truckload at a time:

More than 1,000 irons, the largest collection in the world.

Washboards that date to the 1600s, and a wooden washing machine powered by a dog on a treadmill.

A brass four-poster bed that dates to Tudor England.

The museum would love to take more. There isn't room.

"We're grateful for everything he's given us," said director Colon Ballance. "People come through and can't hardly believe what they're seeing."

So when Jefcoat, reluctantly, decided to part with his collection, he donated the loveseat from "Gone With The Wind" and a few other favorites. But the museum is for the most part full.

Choice items being sold

The choicest, priciest items all went to Yanceyville, where collectors from around the country will assemble Saturday. The next two events, on June 24 and 25, will be at Jefcoat's house in Raleigh. Those auctions are geared toward people who knew him, would like to keep a little piece of him, or who want to develop their own shrewd eyes for care-worn, auction-house beauties.

All of the money goes to Jefcoat's estate, which will be donated to charities. He and his neighbor, Rock Johnson, speculated about its worth while going over last-minute details.

"I ain't got no idea," Jefcoat said with a growl.

"At one time, it was a million," Johnson said. "Is it worth that much now?"

"Couldn't say," Jefcoat replied.

"At the time you had your stroke, it was worth a million," Johnson said.

Jefcoat sighed. "Yeah."

But Jefcoat's real purpose is putting his prizes into good hands, somebody who will tend them and be proud of them. He wants someone who knows how to buff the shine back into discarded things and to make a trophy out of junk nobody wants.