Close to 2,000 lots of mostly advertising items, all taken from the single-owner lifetime collection of the late Bud and Sally Bassett, will be sold without reserve the weekend of October 3-5, 2014 by Showtime Auction Services. The auction is to be held at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Everything in the collection will be sold to the highest bidder, with tens of thousands of items coming up for bid, many in bulk multiple lots.

The collection is broad in scope and tremendous in volume. Offered will be many Western-related advertising signs, to include cowboys, cowgirls, Native American and horse-themed signs, more than 100 serving trays (mostly beer and brewery related), and vintage Halloween and Christmas items (papier-mâché figures of pumpkins, Jack-o-Lanterns, Santas, candy containers and more).

Also sold will be early military medals, including Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I. These would seem to be an unusual sidelight to the Bassetts’ collection, until you factor in Mr. Bassett’s remarkable military career. He was the most decorated serviceman in the state of Arizona, having collected an amazing 32 medals during his years served in Korea and Vietnam.

Around 2,000 lots will come up for bid over the course of the three days, almost all of them from the Bassett collection. The bulk lots in the Bassett collection will comprise tens of thousands of California fruit labels, cigar labels, grocery can labels and more – approximately 50,000 items in all. These will be sold in large bulk quantity lots.

Internet bidding (available all three auction days) will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. Flyers will be mailed out the first week of August and catalogs will be ready by the first week of September. People should be able to start bidding around Sept. 5, when the virtual catalog is posted online at www.showtimeauctions.com.

Showtime Auction Services is based in Woodhaven, Mich. The firm is always accepting quality items for future sales. To consign an item, an estate or a collection, you may call Michael Eckles at (951) 453-2415 or e-mail him at mike@showtimeauctions.com.