Sublette County Auctioneer’s 41-Year Collection Fills Up House And Two Garages

Dave Stephens was just 6 years old when he had his first auction. It was a miniature auction on the fly before he really even knew what an auction was.

He’d been given a puppy earlier in the day and his grandpa thought he’d tease his grandson just a bit.

“Do you want to sell that dog?” he asked the youngster.

He had expected an indignant, “No!” But what he got instead was an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

“Well, how much you want for it,” grandpa asked, carrying the joke a bit further.

“I’ll take $15,” Stephens told him.

So, grandpa took the puppy, figuring his grandson would soon change his mind. The next day, though, Stephens was waiting for his $15.

“So we went to a bank, and grandpa then asked me if I wanted green money or silver,” Stephens recalled, chuckling. “And I probably didn’t know the difference at the time, but I had my choice, so I picked silver.”

Those 15 silver coins are now part of a large and eclectic collection that’s taken over part of the Sublette County man’s house and two garages over a 41-year career as an auctioneer.

The collection isn’t just coins, though, it’s guns, old oil cans and signs, historical Wyoming artifacts and more.

Among the best-loved items though? It’s one that’s not particularly valuable to anyone but Stephens.

It’s a record by Leroy Van Dyke with the singer’s chart-topping single, “The Auctioneer.”

It’s His Calling

He kind of made an impression on me,” Stephens said. “I grew up real close to where he lived.”

In Van Dyke’s song, which was written about a brother, the auctioneer is always in trouble with his parents for skipping school to hang out at the sale barn.

So they send him off to auctioneer school and, by the time the song ends, he has become a globe-trotting auctioneer.

Stephens was never in trouble for skipping school, but he did love hanging out at sale barns with his father and grandfather. And just like in Van Dyke’s song, Stephens parents did help him go to auctioneer school.

Seriously Fun

Stephens’ first auction was right out of high school when he was “as green as green can be,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

He was pretty nervous, it being his first, but the crowd knew he was new and everything seemed to quickly fall into place for the young auctioneer, who knew from then on this was the career for him, no matter where he lived in the world.

Stephens is one of few left who do live, in-person auctions in southwest Wyoming, and he’s got no plans to change his style.

“So many people now have gone to online auctions,” he said. “But I think it’s nicer to do a live auction. You can go ask the owner about the items, like, ‘What about that tractor? Is there anything wrong with it? Or something I should know?’”

Live auctions are also more fun, Stephens said.

In fact, it’s the job of the auctioneer to make sure that is so.

Stephens takes that part of the job pretty seriously, too, and he goes all out to make sure his sale will be a hit.

He’ll line up a food truck for the day and will handwrite personal invitations to longtime auction-goers he’s met over the years, announcing a sale he thinks they’ll want to attend.

He always sells the guns around noon, so those who are interested in that know about when to come to the affair.

And then he just keeps up a nice, snappy patter throughout the sale to keep people laughing and engaged.

“I usually get a pretty good crowd,” Stephens said. “I’ve had two or three auctions where there’s been over 1,000 people showing up. I even had one action where there were people from seven states.”

The Strangest Things Can Happen

The auction with people from seven states is the Gilligan auction, and it’s one that people in the Sublette County area still talk about to this day.

“He was a doctor for the Union Pacific Railroad,” Stephens said. “He delivered the babies there where they had all those Chinese working.”

Because of that, there were oodles of silk scarves in the auction, and lots of other cool things. That auction, in addition to being one of his largest and oddest, is also one of the only ones where he made a mistake he regrets to this day.

“I wished I’d have opened that one up to the public a week before, so people could have come in to see what it all looked like,” he said. “Because it was like a movie set.”

There were five bunkhouses, two houses, a blacksmith shop and a monster barn.

“All of the furniture in the bunkhouses was painted, green for this one, blue for that one,” Stephens said. “And even though it was 113 years old, it was just all so neat and clean.”

Among the guests at the sale was former Secretary of State James Baker, Stephens said.

Bidding War

Regardless of the size of a sale, one can never predict what’s going to happen, or when a bidding war is going to start.

One of the most unusual bidding wars Stephens can recall was over something he didn’t think that valuable.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever seen branding books,” Stephens said. “But the older ones are about the size of your hand. And they have all the brands for everybody in Wyoming, their names and their brands.”

Stephens had 13 of these books, and he wasn’t anticipating much interest in them.

But within about two minutes the price had shot up to $1,500.

Stephens ultimately sold all 13 branding books for that price, which was close to $20,000.

Then the strangest thing of all happened. It turned out the books were not for the woman who had bought them at all. She was giving them away to the local museum.

“So that was kind of nice,” Stephens said.

Collection Blossoms

Auctioneering, of course, didn’t hurt the size of Stephens’ personal collection at all. In fact, it’s taken up quite a bit of space inside his home and has spilled out into a building two garages wide.

In addition to the 15 silver coins his grandfather gave him, he’s got the Stevens Crack Shot gun he was given when he was 8 or 9 years old, a gun he shot so much he wore it out.

He’s also got a life-sized portrait of the world-famous Marlboro Man, the late Darell Winfield, who lived over in Riverton.

Stephens is still looking for the sheepskin coats that Winfield made so famous, and he’s also chasing after oil and gas industry memorabilia.

He’s got saddles and dozens of chaps, ammunition of all kinds, books, cast iron skillets, sleds, clocks, china and one of those coin-operated bucking horses, all arranged in a man cave that he likes to go and hide away from the world.

He’s also got vintage vehicles in this garage, as well as dinnerware and silverware from the GP Guest Ranch that used to be on Green River Lake.

The ranch no longer exists after the federal government took that area over, Stephens said, so those items are likely all that remains of what was once a historical Wyoming homestead.

That’s not the only historical artifact he has, though. He’s also got a pristine program from the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show, dated 1898.

“I called the museum up in Cody, and even they don’t have one of these,” Stephens said. “There were only about 1,000 of them made.”

Hanging on one wall there’s also a painting he believes could be an original Charles Russell print. It was found hidden behind a wall beneath a newer wall of sheetrock, covered over with old newsprint and wallpaper.

“You know, I still have my senior class ring, and I’ve got the receipt that went with it,” Stephens said, chuckling a bit. “My kids are probably gonna say, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’”

It’s Been A Wonderful Life

In Van Dyke’s auctioneer song, the young auctioneer grows up to be so successful, he has to buy a plane to get around.

Stephens has never bought an airplane, but he certainly does get around the southwest Wyoming region, and just one look at his collection shows that he’s led an interesting life.

The curiosities together cut a wide swath through all of the history Stephens has lived and been an eye witness to.

Even though he’s been slowing things down a bit with his auctioneering business, he still anticipates a busy season this year, and he really wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The crowds I deal with are just super good people,” Stephens said. “And it’s just been a time of fellowship and having a good time. I’ve just been so fortunate too. I’ve made so many friends.”

Yet, even after so many years of doing auctions, Stephens can still be surprised even by the people he knows so well.

Like at a recent pie auction in Marbleton.

A woman bid $300 for a turtle cream pie that had the recipe attached.

Someone in the audience accused her of just wanting the recipe. She laughed, and said, “You betcha!”

She ripped the recipe off and sent the pie right back to the auction.

Stephens rolled with the punches and sold that pie without its recipe for another couple hundred bucks, making the pie worth $500 in all for the Marbleton Senior Center.

It was a perfect example of what Stephens has loved about auctioneering over the years.

No matter what’s for sale, or where it’s for sale at, people can still surprise him in a good way. And as long as everyone’s having a good time for a good cause, it’s all good. It’s all part of a wonderful life — and there’s nothing like that feeling in the world.

Contact Renée Jean at Renee@cowboysatedaily.com

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.