Press Release

Macon, GA -- Preston Evans has dropped hints in the past that the next auction on his calendar would be his last, but there was always a longtime friend’s estate that needed liquidating, or a major consignor would beat a path to his door that he couldn’t turn away. Fate always conspired to keep him in the game, a game he’d been playing for decades. Only this time it’s different.

The legendary Georgia-based auctioneer – who was featured on TV’s American Pickers and whose property is home to a veritable museum of rare and highly collectible items in a rainbow of categories – will finally sail off into retirement following one last hurrah: a two-day monster auction planned for October 10th and 11th at a former church building Evans owns in Macon.

“My motto has always been, ‘Where Rare is Common,’ and at no time will that be more true than in my farewell auction event,” Evans said. “My wife’s been after me to do this for years, and I finally gave in. It’s time for other folks to enjoy what I’ve been holding onto for a long, long time.” The venue is located at 8964 Thomaston Road in Macon, just off of Highway 74.

To say the merchandise mix is eclectic would be a gross understatement. The more than 1,100 lots will include relics from MGM Studios dating to Hollywood’s Golden Age; movie posters from the 1930s and ‘40s; vintage cars and motorcycles; coin-ops and music machines (to include arcade games and jukeboxes); antique automatons; boat motors; carousel animals; and records.

Day 1, starting at 9am Eastern time, will be live-only; no internet bidding. Items will include jukeboxes and speakers; coin-ops and Coke machines; tin toys; boat motors; and some (but not all) of the carousel animals. Day 2, also at 9am, will feature the big-ticket items. Online bidding will be available, through LiveAuctioneers.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted.

The MGM items, now owned by Evans, were previously owned by Volney Phifer (1898-1974), known in the movie industry as Captain Phifer and world famous for being the chief wrangler of most of the animals used on a vast array of MGM films from the silent era up to the late 1950s. After he died in 1974, his collection went to his sister-in-law, who put it up for auction through Mr. Evans’s firm, Preston Opportunities. Evans purchased many of the items for his collection.

The MGM items include the following:

- A life-size statue with plaque of Leo the Lion, whose roar to this day still signals the start of an MGM movie. Leo was the most famous of all the MGM animals, even more famous than Cheetah the Tarzan ape and Toto from The Wizard of Oz. Captain Volney traveled widely touring Leo the Lion around in a caravan to trumpet the latest MGM film.

- A life-size mechanical elephant whose stomach moves as he “breathes” in and out and his ears wave and his tail wags. A surefire conversation starter!

- A lobby display statue of actor Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan character, shown swinging from a vine.

- Many negatives from the photographs Volney took as he traveled the world on MGM tours.

To learn more about this very important two-day auction planned for Friday and Saturday, October 10th and 11th in Macon, Ga., visit www.prestonopportunities.com. To inquire about purchasing a brochure, or for any other matters, send an email to presto434343@yahoo.com. or kdbraswell01@yahoo.com. Preston Opportunities can be reached by phone at 478-461-4931.

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