Jack Brodersen Findlay, age 90, of Herbster, WI passed away peacefully Sunday, February 6, 2022, at St. Luke’s Hospice in Duluth, MN. He was born June 17, 1931, on a farm in Harlan, Iowa, the son of Forrest and Regina “Jennie” (Brodersen) Findlay.
Jack grew up on the family farm at the tail end of the Depression – during which, as he would later make sure to tell his grandchildren, he ate lard sandwiches. Harlan, Iowa is also where he graduated from high school, after which he pursued his passion for baseball. His father taught him the game by playing catch for hours after farm chores were finished. However, it was the true practice of throwing rocks at glass insulators on power lines while walking to and from school that trained his pitching arm. At 6’5”, Jack’s presence on the pitching mound was bolstered by his physics-defying knuckle ball and circle change-up. He pitched not only in the U.S. Air Force, but he also played semi-pro in the minor league farm systems for the Cubs and Cardinals, both before and after his military service. It has been said that Jack could pitch a blueberry through a battleship.
Jack served for four years in the USAF during the Korean War and was honorably discharged. After his military service, he attended Iowa State University where he received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and mechanical engineering.
On October 11, 1972, he married Marie Jane Rondeau in Sioux Falls. Jack worked in sales throughout the agricultural machinery industry for over 30 years, supporting a region in the upper Midwest and Canada. He worked with Erickson and International Harvester, then joined Shank Power Products in 1973 and retired as their President in 1993. Jack was also licensed as a real estate agent and auctioneer.
He served on boards for both the South Shore School District and the Town of Clover, and he was a member of The American Legion, Herbster Business Association, Herbster Community Club, and the Wisconsin Auctioneers Association.
Jack was happiest spending time with his family during Christmas and Fourth of July gatherings at the house on Bark Point in Herbster, WI. He also enjoyed fishing, reading, playing cards, grilling, and watching all Wisconsin or Minnesota sports teams. Jack was a regular for breakfast at Pinecone Ole’s, and he spent his evenings enjoying the view of Lake Superior while sipping single-malt scotch or dry martinis and sometimes both.
Affectionately referring to him as “Big Jack,” Jack’s family will remember him for boat rides on Lake Superior, mowing walking paths through the woods of Bark Point, and reading hard copies of magazines from his faithful armchair. They remain grateful for the years they heard his familiar and hearty “‘Yello!” each time he answered the phone, as well as the customary “Dammit!” whenever Marie fed the Christmas pot roast to the dog under the dinner table.
Jack was steadfast, loving, hardworking and loyal: a salt-of-the-earth man who lived his 90 years well. He is loved, missed, and celebrated.
Jack is survived by his children, Jennifer (Sam) Heimlich, and John (Michelle) Findlay; stepsons Dierck (Melinda) Oosten and Dustin (Wendy) Oosten; daughters-in-law Catherine (Joel) Findlay and Margaret (Scott) Findlay; 15 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Jack was preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Betty Findlay (1991); his first wife, Donna Jean Petersen (Findlay, Mount) (1998), his second wife, Marie (2011); and sons Joel Findlay (2004) and Scott Findlay (2021).
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History of Auctioneering
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Truffles are subterranean fungi found in temperate European forests and command vast prices as much sought-after gastronomic delicacies. The most expensive one sold at auction was a white truffle (tuber magnatum pico) unearthed in Pisa, Italy, on 23 November 2007 by Cristiano and Luciano Savini (Both Italy). Weighing approximately 1.3 kg (2 lb 13 oz), it was bought by Stanley Ho bidding by phone via his wife Angela Leong (both China) for US$330,000 (£160,000) in a simultaneous auction between Macau, London and Florence, at the Grand Lisboa Hotel, Macau, China, on 1 December 2007.
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The most expensive watch sold at auction was a one-off stainless-steel edition of the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A, which achieved 31 million Swiss francs (£24,329,900; $33,649,500; €28,520,400) at the eighth Only Watch auction held at Christie’s in Geneva, Switzerland, on 9 November 2019. As this was a charity event, there were no auction fees or buyer’s premium.
In addition to its one-off steel casing, several other features made this watch unique, including golden opaline and ebony-black dials and an inscription on one of the dials of “The Only One”.
Of the total CHF 38,593,000 accrued at the eighth Only Watch charity auction, 99% of the proceeds went to funding research into muscular dystrophy.
This beat the previous record, also held by a Patek Philippe & Co. timepiece, of 23.22 million CHF (£15.1 m/$24 m), including buyer’s premium, paid for the unique Henry Graves Jr Supercomplication, a gold, double-dialled and double open-faced, minute-repeating clockwatch (pocketwatch) crafted by hand between 1925 and 1932 by (Switzerland). This was sold at the Important Watches sale at Sotheby’s in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 November 2014.
This also beats the previous most expensive wristwatch: a Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytona, aka the “Paul Newman” Rolex, which sold to a private telephone bidder for $17,752,500 (£13,520,300), including buyer’s premium, on 26 October 2017 at Phillips Auctioneers in New York City, USA.
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The most expensive potato is an exclusive variety of potato bonnottes de Noirmoutier, grown on the island of Noirmoutier, off the west coast of France, which were sold at auction in Paris, France, for £;2,000 ($3,050) in April 1996. Grown in a special soil mixed with seaweed, only 20 tons were produced that year. The successful bidder took 4.5 kg (10 lb) of potatoes home with him, worth approximately £33 ($50) each.
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At Christie’s auction house in New York, USA, on 11 May 2015, Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s 1947 work L’homme au doigt (Pointing Man) was sold for $141,285,000 (£91.4 m), the most ever paid for a sculpture at auction. The 180-cm bronze statue shows a man – tall and spindly (Giacometti’s trademark style) – with one arm extended in a pointing gesture. It is believed that the left arm was originally curled around a second figure, which Giacometti subsequently removed.
Created at short notice for an exhibition in New York in 1947, L’homme au doigt was reportedly made in a single night between midnight and 9 a.m. Giacometti produced a total of six casts of the piece, most of which are in museums around the world.
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The most valuable jacket sold at auction was the black and red calf leather jacket with winged shoulders worn by singer Michael Jackson (USA) in his renowned 1983 Thriller video, which was sold to Milton Verret of Austin, Texas, USA, for £1.1m ($1.8m) at a sale organised by Julien’s Auction in Beverly Hills, California, USA, on 26 June 2011.
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The most expensive crab sold at auction is JP¥5,000,000 (US$45,838.33; £35,711.47; €41,439.09), purchased by Kanemasa – Hamashita Shoten Co., Ltd. (Japan), sold at Tottori Prefectural Fisheries Cooperative Karo Branch, in Tottori, Tottori, Japan, on 7 November 2019.
The crab was Chionoecetes opilio, also known as snow crab, although it is called Matsuba crab in the region, its shell was 14.6 cm wide, weighed 1.24 kg. The price is the bid price at the auction excluding tax. The buyer paid 5,400,000 JPY including 8% of Japanese consumption tax. Tottori Prefectural Government brands their top quality Matsuba crab as “Itsukiboshi” (5 shining star crab), having strict criteria. Matsuba crabs are only available for 5 months of the year, from November until March.
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In 1952, Emma Bailey became the first woman auctioneer admitted to the National Auction Association. She held her first auction in Brattleboro, Vermont, on May 12, 1950, as a way to supplement her family’s income. She continued auctioneering for nearly 20 years and wrote a book about her experiences, entitled Sold to the Lady in the Green Hat (1962), before retiring in the late 1960s.
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Göteborgs Auktionsverk is an auction house founded in 1681, when the magistrate in Gothenburg sought permission from the government to conduct the auction business. It is the world’s second-oldest auction house in operation after the Stockholm Auction House founded in 1674. The auctions relate antiques, art, modern design, and crafts.
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Uppsala Auktionskammare was founded in 1731 and is the third oldest auction house in the world after Stockholms Auktionsverk and before Sotheby’s. It is also the third largest auction house in Sweden and organizes international quality auctions with Dutch & Flemish Old Masters, Russian, and Chinese art.
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