Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ll buy other people’s junk–ahh, garage sales. But sometimes it isn’t junk–it’s quite a deal.
This was inspired by the “Littermaid” thread–I found one, brand new in a sealed box (with all warranty and pertinent info inside), for $20 at one sale from a woman who said it’d been a gift.
Some other finds: a Welbuilt bread machine (the ones that look like an R2 unit) that I got 8 years ago–when they were $150–for $8. The original owner had bought a new, fancier model, and was offering this one at $10. I talked her down to $8. Hee!
A hammock swing–ever seen those?–for $10.
A Breyer model horse set (collector’s item) for $7. The woman didn’t know what she had–I turned around and sold them for $75.
A Yamaha classical guitar, in excellent to near new condition, that just needed new strings–$10.
About two months ago, I picked up an electric piano for $10. It turned out to be a rare Wurlitzer rock piano (listen to the opening of ‘Bloody Well Right’ by SuperTramp), and in almost-new condition. I sold it for $800.
Got a whole set of Phaltzgraf dinnerware for $8 (in awesome condition with extras like a gravy boat, sugar and creamer, etc)
Got a bunch of Carters Onsies (sell in our stores for $12 each and up) for 50cents each. In perfect condition- look brand new.
Got a Brita Pitcher for $2
Got a Safety Can Opener for $1.50
Got a Bentley 8mm home movie cam set with projector for $5. Re-sold it on E-bay for $45.
I LOVE GARAGE SALES!!!
Some mornings it just doesn’t seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps.
Emo Philips (stolen from matt’s webpage)
Picked up a beautiful 18th century pewter porringer for $1 marked down from $5 at a garage sale last month.
And at a rainy day estate auction I picked up a 35 mm camera with case and flash pack for 50 cents. It works, too.
I don’t cruise garage sales much, but not because I don’t enjoy them. I just don’t have room in my house for all the stuff that I know I will buy.
I’ve gotten a couple of good deals, too, but nothing like that Wurlitzer. My goodness. That was amazing!
I once found a set of brand-new Playtex baby bottles, 12 of them, unused, for $3. And a child’s snowsuit, worn twice, no stains or tears, for $5. Garage sales are so great for kid’s clothing & stuff.
My Aunt Lois is the luckiest person I know when it comes to garage sales. I shouldn’t even tell what she’s found because it sounds like an urban legend. But here goes:
She’s an artist and she once bought a painting just for the frame. She intended to take the painting apart and use the frame for one of her own works. However, when she took it apart, behind the painting was another. A (wait for it…) Picasso. She had it appraised and it turns out it isn’t an original, but a copy. A copy made by Picasso himself, though, so it is still worth something. She gave it to my sister without telling her how much it was worth and under the condition that she must never get it appraised or sell it (my sister is forever in debt and selling everything she owns, buying more stuff, getting in debt again, selling everything she owns). But I haven’t seen it in my sister’s apartment lately, so unless she’s just storing it, it’s probably gone.
The other item of note that Aunt Lois found is a statue. It was being used as a doorstop and wasn’t originally for sale, but she talked the owners out of it for 50 cents. Turns out it’s a piece of South American Indian (I forget, Incan or Mayan, maybe) funeral art, probably stolen out of a tomb. I forget how much it’s worth; $1500 or $2500? Though I’m sure it’s priceless to an archaeologist.
I once bought a hardback copy of Elmore Leonard’s “Maximum Bob,” for $1.00, and then I sold it for $1.00. So I broke even. < shrug >
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
Just recently I bought a 1940’s silver plated Weltklang tenor saxophone in mint condition for $200. Turns out it’s worth more than $1000!! Unfortunetly, it’s costing me $400 to restore it (pads, cork). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining - it’s a great find, especially since the sound is FABULOUS.
I am a second generation garage saler. I have learned to do a drive by check out of the sale in question to see if they have anything decent. ( Also, if my garage sale vibes go off, I drive up.)
Here are some of the things I’ve bought:
All my baby clothes 0-5 years of age.
( Most in excellent condition with no stains.)
A complete set of golf clubs for $20 including the bag, matching umbrella and those club condom thingies you put on the woods.
All my son’s toys.
A rocking chair for $3 that I sold for $50.
A ton of childrens books.
Tons of romance novels that I pay pennies for and turn around and trade them into the used book store for credit.
My mom is a genuis at garage saling.She’s bought a cuckoo clock, nothing wrong with it, for $1.00 and had it appraised at $700. Various chairs for under $5, stripped them, repainted them and sold them in consignment shops for more than $75 a piece. Lots of antique stuff that I know I will inherit when she dies. She’s an artist and buys 99% of her frames at garage sales for her art work and turns around to sell her peices ( gross underpriced, IMHO) for about $100.
Here is something you didn’t need to know but it’s fascinating anyways. I was watching on CBC ( Canadian Broadcasting) a couple of guys who buy the garage sale artwork from pocket change to a few bucks and then display it in an art gallery marked up modestly. Most of the artwork is just dreadful, but they sell it because somewhere out there there is someone who will like it. They’ve been in business for over two decades. I think they are in Alberta somewhere. I think this is a great idea.
The majority of my children’s books came from a combination of dumb luck and good luck. I was wandering at a sale and notices some really cool children’s encylcopedia’s. I asked how much for the books and the guy said, " 10 bucks" I just meant what I was pointing at, he meant for ALL the kids books. ( About 400.) I took them all and a case of new tennis balls for $1 for my dog.
Of all the books, I weeded out only a handful that were useless and one book that may be a collectors book from about 1910.
Oh, and soemthing I picked up the other day, a double stroller ( front to back, not side by side) for $20. Only used a couple of times by the woman I bought it from. Woo hooo.
Does anyone else watch Antiques Roadshow on PBS? Some of the really valuable stuff people bring in, they bought for a couple of buck at a garage sale.
Not me though, I buy the junk. Typical purchase: I found this fabulous swanky wool coat for about five dollars…just what I was looking for at the time. I get it home and once indoors, it REEKED of mothballs to the point that I had no choice but to donate it to the Salvation Army.
I love watching the Antiques road show when I can remember it’s on. I love seeing the people’s reactions when they think what they have is worth a fortune isn’t worth squat and the look on the faces of others of something that has been in the family for 12 generations in an attic be worth $25,000.
What I wouldn’t give to turn crap into big cash.
FYI every now and then one of the guys who is an appraiser, Frank Boos of Boos Gallery in Birmingham Michigan is the father of my old girl scout assistant leader. A six degrees of Kevin Bacon brush with fame for me.
I don’t live in a very good yard sale area, can we count thrift stores? I find some of the best clothes with the tags still on them that I assume people got as gifts or bought the wrong size or just decided they didn’t want it any more. I got a long-sleeved Emporio Armani polo for like $4. I also like to look for sports team wear that is sooooo expensive if bought new. I picked up a Starter Yankees jersey that would’ve cost about $120 new, for around $5. Same with an Oakland A’s winter coat (It was missing the zipper pull, which I could live with.) Aside from the clothes I get a lot of stuff for the house, kitchenware and what not. The occasional knick-knack, I got a round brass horn that I polished up and hung in the den for like a dollar. Oh, and I have to wear a nurses uniform to work, I get those for a couple bucks and they usually cost around $50 and up if bought new at a uniform shop. Nothing that was a spectacular steal though, but I’m patient and persistant, so I pick up many a good deal and hardly buy anything new anymore it seems like.
there is a book called ‘Thrift Score’
for $12 paperback, that covers this sort thing, including tricks shoppers use to get
cheaper prices [hiding stuff till its half off, etc, lol]
My best deal… $45 for a fur coat that was appraised at 2 to 3,000. The lady liked me and she’d gotten a new coat. So I have a three-quarter length beaver coat in a town where it almost never gets cold enought to wear it!
The reason gentlemen prefer blondes is that there are not enough redheads to go around.
I got a copy of the Beatles “Introducing the Beatles” amongst a pile of records for $2. It turned out to be the real deal (that album was the most bootlegged Beatle record ever, in fact there’s a website dedicated to it!) and worth about $80. YIPPEE!!
Once, I went garage saling with a friend. I had 10 bucks. At the end of the day I had:
I set of walky talkies that worked up to about 100 yards
a bowling ball
a Commodore 64 computer
50 different items of bric-a-brac and clutter
2 AA batteries (the most expensive thing all day, from Osco’s, for the walky talkies.)
