Donate Your Antiques to Our Traditional Live Auction

The FRIENDS of the Wisconsin Historical Society is currently collecting tax-deductible donations of antiques and vintage items for its 2024 “30th Star Benefit Auction”. While the live/gallery style biennial auctions at Old World Wisconsin’s historic Clausing Barn previously served us well, we have also had success with an on-line format. This enabled us to be your non-profit of choice and to become your year-round clearing house for resalable antiques and vintage items. We now plan to return to a live format for 2024, even though the Clausing Barn is unavailable. We are pleased to have Stone Fences Farm in Dousman as our new site.

Whether a traditional antique, a single collectible coin, a vintage rock or travel poster, or even a 1970’s home video game console like Atari or Pong, just one donated item will make a difference! We are seeking these types of personal treasures and jewelry, advertising pieces, rustic farm house items, doorstops, and more. Interesting antique and vintage items made before 1980 are being gathered from across middle-America, with tax-deductible receipts provided.

The inaugural auction, held in April 2010, was followed by five successful encores in April 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018, and May 2020. Thus far our proceeds from the six biennial auctions have provided important funding for historic sites in Wisconsin as well as for National History Day.  A grant from the Wisconsin Antiques Dealers Association continues their commitment as the benefit auction’s founding sponsors.

The auction’s now-legendary Preview Party included dinner, prizes, a speaker, silent auction, and good old fashioned fun on a night preceding the live auction. While we had to forgo this function in 2020, we reinvented the Party and traveled back to Old World Wisconsin for a meal and entertainment. We will next be combining the live and silent auction formats in a one day event, currently in planning for September of 2024.

Rich Ranft of Beloit Auction Service (www.beloitauction.com), whose many auctions you can follow throughout the year, will guide our endeavors.

For questions about the new-format “30th Star Benefit Auction” or to make a donation of an antique or vintage item, please contact Phil Schauer at 608-295-7240, pipsqkme@gmail.com or Pat Raap 262-893-1479, paraap@att.net. Thank you in advance for your generosity.