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Dorshorst Auctions, established 1990

Deerfield, Wisconsin

Estate, antique, and farm auctions.

35+ years turning full houses, barns, and collections into settled accounts. We run about seven online sales a year from our climate controlled building in downtown Deerfield, 15 minutes east of Madison.

No sale is open right now. The last one closed Sep 21, 2026.

Sell with usWhen is the next sale?Browse the last auction

What we sell

Categories with real collector followings

An auction only works when the right buyers show up. These are the areas where ours already do.

Model Trains and Railroadiana

Train collectors are specific about gauge, road name, and box condition, so these lots get cataloged one at a time with photos of the details that decide the price. Online bidding puts a Lionel set in front of the collector two states away who has been hunting that exact car, instead of whoever happens to be in the room.

Lionel O gauge sets · Walthers HO kits · Atlas locomotives · LGB garden scale · Railroad lanterns · Depot and line signs

Farm Toys and Farm Equipment

Southern Wisconsin has been building 1/64 collections for two generations, and those shelves eventually come to auction. Sorted by brand and series rather than dumped into one box lot, a farm toy collection reaches the people who are filling specific gaps.

Ertl 1/64 tractors · John Deere farm toys · Tonka steel trucks · Toy combines and implements · Pedal tractors · Shop and shed equipment

Guitars, Amps, and Vintage Audio

Instruments and stereo gear sell on brand, model, and condition, all of which photograph well and describe cleanly. Receivers and mid grade acoustics have a steady national following, and with no buyer's premium the bidders put that money into the hammer price instead.

Martin acoustic guitars · Ibanez electrics · Kala ukuleles · Sansui receivers · Onkyo components · Polk speakers

Tools, Vintage and Modern

Two different buyers show up for tools. Contractors and homeowners chase the cordless kits and socket sets while woodworkers hunt the old hand tools, and putting both in one catalog is what keeps the bidding competitive on each.

Stanley hand planes · Disston handsaws · Starrett measuring tools · Craftsman socket sets · Worx cordless tools · Ryobi power tools

Coins and Currency

Coins move quickly because the market is well documented and bidders know exactly what they are looking at. Lots are described by date, mint mark, and grade where it applies, and the accumulation that sat in a dresser drawer for forty years is often the part of the sale nobody saw coming.

Buffalo nickels · Wheat penny rolls · Peace silver dollars · Silver certificates · US proof sets

Pottery, Advertising, and Wisconsin Prints

Wisconsin collectors chase Wisconsin makers, and pieces from the regional potteries have a following that reaches well past Dane County. The same bidders go after old advertising and breweriana, signed prints by Wisconsin artists, and the antique furniture and trunks that came out of the same farmhouses.

Rowe Pottery · Rockdale Union stoneware · McCoy and Royal Haeger · Coca-Cola and Pepsi signs · Charles Peterson prints · Lavern Kammerude farm scenes

Thinking about selling?

An auction turns a houseful into a settled account in weeks.

Downsizing, settling an estate, or clearing a farm shed. We handle the cataloging, photography, marketing, bidder registration, and cashiering. The sale can run from our building in Deerfield, or we can run it from where the items already sit.

How selling worksCall (608) 628-1631
Efficiency
One process, one timeline. We handle registration, cataloging, marketing, and payment, so a houseful becomes a settled account in weeks rather than months of listings and no-shows.
Reach
Online bidding puts your items in front of collectors well beyond Dane County. A model train or a signed Wisconsin print finds the person who has been hunting for it.
Competition
Two interested bidders set a price that no fixed sticker ever would. The competitive format is what separates auction returns from a garage sale.
No sorting required
Do not throw anything away before we look. The items people assume are worthless are often the ones that draw the most attention.

First time bidding?

Four steps, start to finish

  1. 01

    Set up a HiBid account

    Registration is free and takes a few minutes at HiBid.com. You will need a valid credit card on file, which is how invoices are settled after the sale. One account works for every auction we run, and you register for each individual sale before you can bid in it.

  2. 02

    Read the catalog, then ask

    Every lot has a title, a description, and photos, and everything sells as is, where is with no warranty of any kind. Read closely and look at all of the pictures before you commit. If a lot matters to you, call Marv at (608) 628-1631 and set up a preview appointment while there is still time to inspect it.

  3. 03

    Place a max bid and let it work

    Enter the most you are willing to pay and HiBid bids for you in standard increments, raising you only as far as it needs to go. Lots close on a one minute soft close, so any bid in the final minute pushes the closing time back another minute. Sniping does not work here. A lot stays open as long as people keep bidding, which means you do not have to sit at your screen to win.

  4. 04

    Win, pay, and collect

    Winning bidders get an emailed invoice once the sale closes. There is no buyer's premium. Cards are charged within 24 hours, with a 4% transaction fee on credit card payments and 5.5% Wisconsin sales tax where it applies. Pick up during the posted window at 113 N Main St. in Deerfield, or ask about shipping on small lots for a $10.00 handling fee plus the actual postage.

More bidding tipsRead the FAQ

35+

Years in the business

70

Auctions in the archive

31,661

Lots brought to market

Questions from sellers

What people ask before they call

If yours is not here, ask Marv directly. There is no charge for a conversation and no obligation after it.

Call (608) 628-1631
What does it cost to sell at auction?
Commission is set at the consultation rather than off a rate card, because sales differ enough that a single published number would be wrong most of the time. What goes into it is the size of the estate, what the items are, how much handling and hauling the sale takes, and whether it runs from our building or from the property. That first conversation is free and carries no obligation, and you will have the terms in hand before you commit to anything.
How long does the whole process take?
Most sellers are settled in weeks rather than months. After the walkthrough we set a sale date, then catalog and photograph every lot, which is the long part on a large estate. Bidding runs for roughly a week and ends on a soft close, buyers collect during a posted pickup window, and settlement follows once invoices clear. We run seven or eight sales a year, so if you are working against a closing date, call early and we will tell you honestly what fits.
Do you take single items, or only whole estates?
Both. A full estate is the most common, but individual pieces and single collections get consigned into a sale regularly, especially trains, coins, farm toys, tools, and instruments that already have a following. Call and describe what you have. If an auction is not the right route for it, we will tell you that instead of taking it.
What happens to items that do not sell?
Our sales run with no reserve: a lot that receives bids sells to the highest bidder. A lot can still receive no bids, and pickup or payment issues can occur. We discuss how unsold or uncollected items will be handled at your consultation, so you know the plan before the sale.
Do you handle cleanout after the sale?
Bring it up at the consultation and we will plan for it. Because the sale runs with no reserve, most of what is in the house leaves with buyers during the pickup window, so what is left is usually a small fraction of what you started with. How the last of it gets cleared depends on the property and your timeline, and we will settle that with you before the sale rather than after.

Where we work

South central Wisconsin

Dorshorst Auctions works out of Deerfield, fifteen minutes east of Madison in Dane County. Sales run either from the climate controlled auction building on North Main Street or on site at the estate itself when the property is too large or too fragile to move, and we travel throughout Dane, Jefferson, and the surrounding counties for consultations.

  • Deerfield
  • Cambridge
  • Cottage Grove
  • Marshall
  • Waterloo
  • Lake Mills
  • Sun Prairie
  • Madison
  • McFarland
  • Stoughton
  • Jefferson
  • Fort Atkinson
  • Johnson Creek
  • Watertown
  • Columbus
  • DeForest

Track record

Recent sales

All 70 past auctions