Vain vanes

Got a spare $1.2 million?

The wind was blowing in the right direction for Northeast Auctions on Aug. 5, the day the New Hampshire auction house sold an antique weather vane for $1.2 million. No, that isn't a typo--the sale marked a record price for an object of this type and signaled the market's heightened interest in antique American weather vanes.

I love the look of the vane, and my son who is into all things train-related would love to have this so he could destroy it. But it's just a little bit out of my price range. Oh well, one man's junk is an auction-house's moneymaker.