What'll you give me for it?

The population of Holbrook, Nebraska -- 225 -- grows by leaps and bounds and by the hundreds during the Lions Club's annual consignment sale Saturday. Matt McCann of Edison ran one of six rings of auction crews; his ringman, Dennis Long of Kearney, sold a Holbrook Co-Op advertising picture. Donnie Schamel of McCook leaned against a piece of vintage farm machinery, a "Wonder Grain Grader," that promises "good seed" and "increases in farm profits." It was patented in 1898 and built by Eureka Manufacturing of Lincoln, Nebraska. Across the auction yard, the Evans brothers of Cambridge, Bobbie, Jessie and Tracy, from the left, discovered the locked, hidden drawer in a nickel-plated National cash register, while 2-year-old Justin Chancellor of McCook "drove" a John Deere mower with the help of his cousin, Joseph Chancellor of Curtis. The auction attracted 850 bidders and 354 consignors. The sale grossed $162,604, down from about $325,000 in 2012, organizers feel because of the forecast of rain and strong winds for Friday during set-up, and then the plummeting temperatures and cold, cold winds that developed in reality Saturday afternoon. The Lions Club helps finance community improvements, charitable projects and scholarships with proceeds from their annual sale.