Lois Duffin Orchids Photo Resource

[stonedragonfarms]

Good Morning from the wet (but warm) PNW:
I know that a few of us on the Board purchased plants from the Lois Duffin Estate Auction; I ran across this when I was cleaning out my "no longer working/in business bookmarks"; unfortunately the names of the plants don't show if you hover your pointer over them (at least not on my Mac), but when you click individual pictures it will give you the entire name (and any awards) of the plant. Hope this helps; unfortunately there were none of the plants I bought on here--it's hybrid heavy, but pretty light on species--either way, they're fun to look at.
Adam

[Fairorchids]

Very helpful link. I purchased several lots of Cymbdiums, and found photos of several here.

Word of caution: Some of the labels in the plants, as well as photo IDs, contain mis-spellings. I recommend checking names against OrchidWiz, Orchids Plus or the RHS data base.

[stonedragonfarms]

Thanks for the caveat Kim; all I bought was Cat. intermedia, so hopefully I'm safe

[Dollythehun]

Adam, thanks. That is a great, fun resource.

[Leafmite]

They did an interview with her and her husband a couple of years ago. It is on you tube. What a really wonderful collection they had!

[stonedragonfarms]

If I had known about them when I lived in the midwest, I would have made a side trip when visiting friends in Pennsylvania...sadly, I didn't learn about them until I moved to the west coast. I used to get plants from Lois occasionally, always great stuff and great service.

[Dollythehun]

Pardon my ignorance here: they were obviously award winning hybridizers (according to a quick search). Did they also do mail order? I had never heard of them, sadly.

How does an auction of an estate this large work? Was this the auction agent who posted on OB recently?

[stonedragonfarms]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Pardon my ignorance here: they were obviously award winning hybridizers (according to a quick search). Did they also do mail order? I had never heard of them, sadly.

How does an auction if an estate this large work? Was this the auction agent who posted on OB recently?

Dolly: I don't know if Lois did any of her own hybridizing, but she did amass a large amount of AOS awards on her plants. Yes, they did mail order; on a previous incarnation of their site she had a photo gallery with base prices and lists (much like SBOE, though there was less detail on individual plants--you had to do your own homework on their history, parentage, etc.)
I would typically just shoot Lois an email when I ran across something of interest and she'd quote it, take a debit card number and send it via fedex.
The auction was held online, with plants grouped by alliance and in lots; some things that were specimens were listed individually, but most lots had 6-12 plants in them. Some of the lots were roughly broken down (ie 1 C. Love Knot, 1 C. Caudebec, 4 named hybrids...) and graded (ie Excellent, Fair, Poor); a picture of the lot accompanied each. The format was pretty much like eBay, though the higher that you bid, the higher the increments you had to outbid (ie if the bid was under $30, bidding was in $1 increments; if it was $31-$75, bidding was in $1.50 increments, and so on) You just registered with the auction house (provide a credit/debit card number, address, email & phone), and you were eligible to bid. Most of the lots were purchased by people in the area of the nursery; there were 15 of us that had plants shipped on, per the emails that we received from the auction house.
Yes, I believe that the posting noted was pertaining to the Duffin Estate auction, though I don't remember seeing a follow-up note after the original. It was also posted on the Orchid Mall site. I heard about it both on one of the FB pages that I am active in and from a friend on the east coast that tries to keep me in the loop--I knew that Lois' husband had passed, but I was unaware that she too had.
Adam

[Dollythehun]

Thanks, Adam.