# Cool garage sale/estate sale finds

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-garage-sale-estate-sale-finds/834478>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 24, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-garage-sale-estate-sale-finds/834478 "2019-05-24T20:42:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-garage-sale-estate-sale-finds/834478/21 "2019-05-27T23:28:38Z")

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> [@Balthisar](#):
>
> I’ve never really gotten anything cool
> 
> (snipped)  
> Oh, avoid “private sales”; if they’re not run by an estate sales company, they’re usually garbage.
> 
> While not a cool find, my best find is my dining room set. It’s an approximately $10,000 set that I picked up on a half-off Sunday for a cool $1200. With two extra leaves, it extends from the dining room into the parlour and seats 14 people on those special occasions that demand it.
> 
> I hope my kid can get $1200 for it when we die.

I think that’s pretty cool! For me, whether a private estate sale is “garbage” is like any other garage sale - it totally depends on the people, what they have, and whether they know what the sale’s real purpose is.

There’s one estate company whose sales I avoid because they so massively overprice everything. Mass-produced silverware for $2 each? 1960s paperbacks for $5 each? Nope. There’s another one that specializes in higher-end neighborhoods, but if I Google the address and it’s a condo, I avoid it because it will just be furniture and clothing, which are things I don’t buy at these things.

My absolute favorite is a company that specializes in middle-class estates, and yesterday, I filled my trunk for $15 at two different sales. It didn’t hurt that when I walked into the first sale, this was on the radio:

followed by this:

When that song was popular, I was about 10 years old and thought it was about a bar down the road from my grandmother's house called The Oasis. It was just a dive bar in a quonset hut off the highway, and this is why I remember that it even existed.

🆒

I’ve walked in at the end of their sales, and they know I will make an offer on things nobody else wants (in yesterday’s case, vintage women’s magazine) and haul them out, so they don’t have to.

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**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-garage-sale-estate-sale-finds/834478/22 "2019-05-28T03:34:49Z")

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Not a yard sale find, but a few weeks ago I was at Goodwill and scored an Allclad 6qt saute pan for $7.99. It was a little warped so I wrote to Allclad, since they have a lifetime warranty. They sent a call tag and I sent it in. They sent back a brand-new $300 pan with lid (I didn’t find the lid). Same store, different day, I found a like-new Pendleton jacket lined with Thinsulate for $6 that fits perfectly.

StG

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-garage-sale-estate-sale-finds/834478/23 "2019-05-28T13:24:06Z")

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At a yard sale in Idaho, I bought a copy of [this book](https://www.amazon.com/Among-Grizzlies-Living-Bears-Alaska/dp/0345426053), by “Grizzly Man” Timothy Treadwell. Price was 50 cents.

I later saw that it was inscribed and signed by him. I eventually offered it on eBay, where it fetched $65.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-garage-sale-estate-sale-finds/834478/24 "2019-05-31T21:59:25Z")

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Those are both terrific finds! 🆒

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