Carver says he's older than his antiques

PRINCETON — Gilbert Carver, at age 101, is older than some of his antiques.

The rural Princeton man estimates he’s bought and sold hundreds of antiques in the last 40 years, since retiring from hog farming in the LaMoille area.

On Saturday, Carver is letting go of about 500 of his antiques. The auction will be his fifth to scale down his collection.

As he went through the aisles of antiques at the Tumbleson Auction Service in Princeton, Carver stopped occasionally to admire the antiques, as if discovering them anew. Clocks, dishes, photographs, wooden tools, pottery, primitives, scrimshaws, guns, a buffalo hide scale, arrowheads and weather vanes are just some of the items filling the room. He remembers the place and time when he bought most of them.

The vast majority of his antiques were found locally, Carver said. He’s not been outside of Bureau County much, he added.

“There’s a lot of treasures in Bureau County,” he said.

Carver’s wife, who died in 2000, wasn’t as enthusiastic at first about his antique collections.

“She never knew what she was coming home with,” Carver said with a laugh.

Among his favorite items in Saturday’s auction collection are a couple glass canes, a table-top Ferris wheel, and a iron wheel-lock for a Model T car. He knows for sure he’s older than the tire lock, Carver said. The Ferris wheel still works and has been a lot of fun to have, he added.

Some of the antiques he hates to part with, but he understands it might be time to get rid of some stuff.

“It’s hard to decide what to let go,” Carver said. “You just make up your mind you’ve had something long enough, and you let it go so someone else can enjoy it.”

Born and raised in Bureau County, Carver said his antique-hunting days are about done. But that’s OK; he’s still got some more antiques at home. Four china cabinets, as well as the rest of the house, are still packed full.

On Friday, Tumbleson Auctions will host a preview of Carver’s items from 4 to 6 p.m. The auction is set for 10 a.m. Saturday.

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