[Michael Pikula]

I have been thinking about how I can do some greater good with the work that I make other then the satisfaction between just myself and the client. Talk is cheap now days and making a difference has to start somewhere so I am offering all in stock items up for a silent auction, I ask that the selling price be donated directly to UNICEF ( http://www.unicefusa.org/?gclid=CL6Z29iBuZ8CFQkIswodnwiz1A ) and then pay actual shipping by paypal. Help me make a difference.

Send me an e-mail: volundforge@hotmail.com with "Auction" in the subject line, and then the item number and the most that you are willing to donate. I ask a minimum of $50 per seax and the Kukri, and a minimum of $100 for the sword. Every bit will help the efforts. I will try to get another post up with the specifics on each piece when I get a chance, but I wanted to get the ball rolling. I will update the high bid daily and the auction will close on Sunday January 31.

If you are not interested in participating in donating I would ask that you help spread the word around.

Thanks!
Michael

[Scott Hrouda]

Outstanding idea. I admire your work and your thoughtfulness.

Email sent.

[James Head]

I lost some friends in the quake. Thank you so much for making this great effort to raise funds for the relief effort. I hope people bid high and bid often.

[P. Cha]

Well I got the word out to the SBG. I would love to do some bidding, but my bank account says no.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Good idea, I already donated to the Canadian Red Cross at my bank early last week so I'm not going to be participating on this one but it's hard to imagine a better use of some available funds.

[David Miller]

I'll be bidding on this one just to get the ball rolling.

[Jean Thibodeau]

The sword would seem to me to be something that someone wanting a Viking sword and a folded steel sword at what could be a relatively low price should jump on the occasion.

Don't know how the bidding will go but anything under $1000 will be a " steal " as I would normally assume a selling price in the multiple thousands of dollars ...... anyway, a good cause worth a little extra BUMP to encourage some realistic bids !

I wouldn't bid anything under $500 for it without feeling very embarrassed about not even being close to it's value at the moment or it's value a few years down the road when Michael's work WILL BE very much more expensive due to demand.

The other offering are also very worth it but would be fairly prices between $250 to $500 in my opinion.

[Mackenzie Cosens]

Posted to my living history group.

good luck

[Mackenzie Cosens]

Posted to armour archive

[Ben Mudd]

I just made a big donation a week ago . . . wish I'd waited and seen this.

[R D Moore]

I just sent in a bid on #2. It'll look great in my collection if I'm not out-bid!

[Scott Kowalski]

Michael,

This is a great idea and a good thing to do as well. I am going to see what I can scrape together and put in a bid on at least one of the items. Events like this really remind me of why I am so fortunate. It also does the heart good to see just how nice the people here are. Expecially Michael for doing this.

On a side note, I have to say that the sword totally rocks and the other do as well. Though I think Jean has under estimated what the true worth of that sword will end up being.

Scott

[Michael Pikula]

James, I am truly sorry for your loss.

Many thanks to everyone who has pledged/bid so far! Please excuse my not working back on getting back to everyone personally, I am working on it though. Here are the current high bids.

#1 - $560
#2 - $175
#3 - $100
#4 - $200
#5 - $65
#6 - $100
Also I have a floating bid for $150 for any item which I will assign at the end of the auction

So far we have $1200 pledged not counting the floater.

Thank you so much once again to everyone that is bidding, and to everyone that is helping get the word out!

[Michael Pikula]

Here are the current high bids on the auction pieces. Thank you once again for all the bids and helping to get the word out!

#1 - $900
#2 - $200
#3 - $100
#4 - $200
#5 - $75
#6 - $100

Which gives us a total of $1575 not counting the $150 floating bid.

Thanks again to everyone and I'm looking forward to next couple days!

Michael

[Zach Gordon]

hi, im not gonna bid, cause that's a bit high for my blood now. I just wanted to point something out that I saw, essentially Mr. Pikula is donating currently $1575, but if the high bidders donate directly to unicef Mr. Pikula doesn't get a $1575 tax write off! Why not have the high bidders pay to Volund Forge and then have Mr. Pikula donate to UNICEF so he gets the tax write off?
Z

[Robert Muse]

Hi,
I have a bid in on one of the blades and I think that it is a good idea that Michael gets to use the tax deduction
Robert

[Nathan Robinson]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Michael Pikula]

Thank you again for everyone that has bid! Here are the current standings:

#1 - $1000
#2 - $250
#3 - $100
#4 - $200
#5 - $85
#6 - $100

Which gives us a total of $1735 not counting the $150 floating bid!

I'll close the bidding on Midnight Sunday, central time.

As for the donation money being sent in to me to donate for tax purposes, I don't want to complicate things. Plus you take away the paypal fees from each bid, if you are from Canada the government will match your donation dollar to dollar, I would rather the high bidders donate directly, and I'll be in touch with my tax professional to see how/if I can work it in from my end. Thank you very much for the thoughts though!

Also I will be trying to stay on the ball as far as communicating the high bids between bidders in real time so please excuse the messages if they seem short and to the point, at least for the next 3 days.

[Jeroen Zuiderwijk]

I can't afford to bid on them, so I do my best to spread the word. I deeply respect actions like this!