Calling the shots After getting long-awaited license, Marianne Hunnell revives Westland Auction
Marianne Hunnell is reopening Westland Auction and will host an auction every Friday night.
Items from a Carmichaels estate were part of Marianne Hunnell’s first auction at the Westland Auction house. Hunnell posts photos of the items on her Facebook page the week before the auction so buyers can see a preview.
WESTLAND – Marianne Wass was 4 or 5 when she attended her first live auction. It wasn’t her choice.
“I had to go because we had a really mean rooster,” she recalled. The Wasses, a farm family, decided to sell the cranky bird at the weekly Hickory Auction. Marianne carried it there inside a cage.
When bidding began on the rooster, the young girl turned chicken. “I started crying. Then I realized the more I cried, the higher the bids went. So I cried some more.”
She laughed at the recollection from decades ago, which she may have embellished somewhat. Marianne Wass Hunnell was speaking from the perspective of a grandmother with entrepreneurial sense last week, as she recounted a girl who was in genuine grief.
That evening, she acknowledged, was memorable for another reason – a most pleasant one. That was the beginning of a nearly lifelong passion with auctions.
“Once it gets in to your blood, it gets you,” acknowledged Hunnell, who has transformed her avid avocation into a vocation. After assisting at various local auctions for years, she became a licensed auctioneer in October, and is now the impetus – and voice – behind the revival of a local tradition.
The Westland Auction is back. It returned Friday from a four-year hiatus, with Hunnell calling the shots, supervising the proceedings. She plans to have one every Friday at 5:30 p.m. in its old digs, a former company store on Route 519 in the Westland section of Mt. Pleasant Township, about a football field from the Chartiers Township line.
The first was an estate sale last week, featuring the property of Jessie Louma of Carmichaels, which began at 5 p.m., a half-hour earlier than usually planned because of the large volume of items. Hunnell already has scheduled events for a number of consecutive Fridays.
She was working feverishly Wednesday, preparing the auction house for its rebirth. Hunnell had a number of large items neatly stacked and organized for bidding, with more to be arranged over the next two days. Someone had already phoned in a bid on a round, retro Pennzoil sign.
Actually, family members and supporters had worked feverishly over the past month, prepping the place. About 200 auditorium-style seats, courtesy of Fort Cherry High School following remodeling, were cleaned and repaired. Behind and to the side of the seating is Crystal’s Café, where Crystal Glover will be preparing food.
Hunnell, of Greensboro, is relying on the help of family members and help and advice from veteran auctioneers she has known. A daughter, Marianne Boris of Hickory, is the clerk for Westland Auction. A granddaughter is a “runner” there. Stephanie Chechuck, a cashier at Hickory Auction, is performing that duty at 404 Western Ave. Robert Bourne, a retired teacher, assists with storage. Gary Freeland, Randy Shook and Steve Yilit are among the auctioneers she has befriended.
Freeland, who became an auctioneer at 17, launched Westland Auction in 1978 and ran it for 34 years. He recently retired from that work.
Eventually, Hunnell said, the auctions will be shown live on local TV, Aurora in Hickory.
The second auction, this Friday, will feature beekeeping and wine- and beer-making equipment from a Hickory family that is downsizing and relocating. An estate from Masontown will be the featured attraction the following Friday.
Promoting the new Westland Auction hasn’t been an issue, Hunnell said. She relies on word of mouth and on a Facebook page, MarianneAuctioneer. She also can be found at auctionzip.com.
Word of mouth may be formidable, for Hunnell is familiar to those on the auction circuit. She said she worked at the Hickory Auction for more than 20 years, and since gaining her certification, has overseen a number of auctions in Southwestern Pennsylvania. She does online auctions as well.
Hunnell also is a lifelong local resident. She grew up on a Burgettstown horse farm, lived in Hickory for a while and now resides in Greensboro. “That’s my serenity,” she said of her current hometown.
That sentiment applies to her new career as well. Hunnell said she wanted to get an auctioneer’s license “30 years ago,” but for various reasons, didn’t. Then she took classes last fall and passed the exam. She proudly shows off her diploma, acknowledging her auctioneering certificate from the Venango College of Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
“People have asked if I’m nervous,” Hunnell said. “I say no, that it just feels right.
“This is my dream. I’ve always seen myself up there. I’ve always thought I’d be an auctioneer.”
Now she is, and the Westland Auction is back.