Bobcaygeon’s Boyd Estate Auction: The End of An Era

Originally Published in the North Kawartha Times, November 2, 1983

Although to some the Boyd Auction was a sad affair and represented the end of an era, to the 20 year seasoned auctioneer it was a learning and enjoyable experience and no one can begrudge him that. When asked what the four-day Boyd auction meant to him, auctioneer Orval McLean of Lindsay said, it was a ‘gratifying experience and a confidence builder.’

The last day of the auction held Saturday on the Boyd estate grounds attracted from 3 to 4,000 people said Mr. McLean. The highest bid on Saturday went for a buggy which sold for $7,000 to a museum in England. At the three day auction held October 19, 20 and 21^st at Mr. McLean’s sale barn, the highest bid was $52,500 for a painting which was sold to someone in New York.

Mr. McLean said it was gratifying to know he had the facilities for such a large auction. His new 25,000 square foot sale barn was only opened this spring and without it, Mr. McLean says, he would not have been able to hold the sale. Seating for the three day auction was supplied for 450 people.

Usually for organizing his auctions he has eight to ten people, but for the Boyd auction, Mr. McLean says, he hired 30 people. The auction he said brought everyone together and with his two sons and two daughters helping out, Orval McLean said it was nice to see that the youth could take right over and run the auction.

When asked what made the Boyd auction different from any other, Mr. McLean answered, ‘the phone calls from Europe added interest. We had calls from Germany, England and Texas who were bidding on the painting.’

Approximately 1500 articles were auctioned on Saturday which Mr. McLean terms the biggest day of the four day sale. Everything from lumber stamps (which went for approximately $290 each) to a four man fire pumper, which sold for $1,200 were sold at the eight and a half hour sale on Saturday. From the family’s end, the Boyd auction has been a long process, Mr. and Mrs. David Boyd of Victoria, British Columbia have been in the area since last June dividing articles among family members and cataloguing those items to be auctioned.

Today the question still remains as to who will purchase the house and the grounds. The heritage of the Boyd estate began in the 1830s when Mossom Boyd, a worker at Thomas Need’s saw and grist mill purchased the three room cottage from Mr. Need. As the family’s affluence and power expanded with the growth of the Boyd lumbering industry and their horse and cattle breeding ventures, so the house was enlarged to accommodate the growing family. At one time 15 family members resided in the home.

A focal point of Bobcaygeon, as three generations of the Boyds grew up in this Victorian mansion, the Boyd estate is a replica of Canada’s history. It represents the home of a young man who at the age of 19 started working in a grist mill and from there he worked to become the manager and never looked back. The history of the Boyd family includes all facets of Canadian life from railways to cattle breeding. Where its future now lies and if the Boyd estate has a future are all questions which still remain unanswered.