Featured Finds Thread

Love the bee skep decanter set!

~Cheryl

 

Several years ago I went to the annual rummage sale for a private school. The sale started at 7am - I got there about 8:30. There were several women looking at the jewelry table, holding up items, seeking each others opinions, occasionally trading off a piece or adding a piece to what was obviously a "stash" for buying. There were several other women standing a few feet back, looking over their shoulders and muttering a bit. The woman in charge of the table announced that it was 8:45 and the tempo picked up a bit, sort of like at closing time, and they started to finalize their picks and pay for them.

I asked a friend of mine who was one of the organizers what that was all about. He told me that they had been having trouble with a few dealers who came in, swept the jewelry table, grabbed things out of other people's hands, then made a low ball offer for the lot. They had been thinking of dropping the jewelry table entirely when someone came up with this solution. They priced the good stuff at low retail, and for the first two hours didn't make any deals. This gave the collectors a chance to add to their collections without having to fight the dealers for it, and gave the school top dollar for the items someone really wanted. After two hours they cut the prices in half but no bulk deals - at this point the dealers moved in but had no incentive to grab everything, just the stuff they knew was worth it to them. At 10am they opened it up to offers and bulk deals.

I expect this worked for them because they had some serious collectors who didn't mind paying a good price for the school, so whenever anyone complained or tried to beat the system there were sufficient others to oppose them, not just the organizers. And because they had a fairly well to do base of supporters who donated enough good stuff that the dealers still found it was worth their while, even after it had been picked through.

 

I was at a church sale once a few years ago, and was one of the first in the door to a large jewelry area. I made up a pile of stuff, handed it off to the table staffer to hold for me, and checked for more. Only to see my entire pile walking around in someone else's hands. Roof. Hit. I rarely lose my temper in public but this time I let rip. It was some gray-haired woman who darned well knew better, although she tried to play innocent. She gave it back and tried to look offended; she was only offended that she'd been found out. After that the sale started handing out plastic boxes and baskets to put your finds in. I've since taken to bringing clear plastic ziplocks to rummage sales; the sellers can see what's in the bag, I can't drop things, and the thieves have a harder time pilfering.

 

Hi,
I had a sale and this mother and daughter team, ran through the sale grabbing every piece of glass and made a huge pile behind my grape arbor.
I noticed but was busy with other customers. When I came back a little while later, they had pulled out six or seven Gene Florence's books and were going through the pile checking the book. I walked over and said "Okay, lets get you added up", They started to spudder we are not ready yet. I said in a very loud and angry voice. "This sale is not to educate you on buying glass. If you want lessons, I will be glad to have classes for you at my going rate. Now please take your asses and silly books and get out."
At that point I remembered them as coming the night before the sale and wanting to go through stuff since they were taking the husband/father to the nursing home the day of the sale and would miss it. Then I really lost it and screamed nasty comments chasing them down the driveway. I thought I made an ass of myself until I got back up and there was a scattering of applause and good for you from some dealers there. It turns out that they did that to several other people.
greg

 

A word of caution to all who may frequent in-house moving sales.

I was in the kitchen of a nice home looking at some cooking items/utensils. The house was nice and clean but something I picked up had a slightly sticky residue on it so I went to the kitchen sink to wash my hands. There was a solid-color plastic liquid-soap dispenser pump bottle sitting beside the kitchen faucet. I put a couple of "pumps" of the fluid in my hand and started rubbing my hands together but something felt and smelled wrong about the "liquid soap."

I was rinsing my hands trying to get the "slick" liquid off when the owner walked through the kitchen. I asked her what kind of soap was in the hand-soap pump-bottle. She said (honest, folks), "That's scented oil for a lamp."

I continued to run water over my hands at the kitchen sink while telling her that she might want to move it away from the kitchen sink faucets and label the container as "lamp oil."

 

Ah yikes, that's scary! I find the area down there in general to have a lot more aggressive people, not just the yardsalers. I guess it's just the result of how much population there is.

It always took the fun out of holidays for me - standing in the mall line, ten people deep, and tempers start flaring about how long the cashier is taking or how slow the person in front is.

Just not my idea of fun. Though I do miss all the fun things to do living near a city.

 

Wow, 3 to 8k! I think the most we ever did was a couple hundred $$!

 

Hi,
I would rather have two root canals than go to a mall and stand in line, unless it is an antique mall.
I hate this time of year since family comes over and says "Get in the car, Greg". I ask why and I'm told we are going to the mall since I have handicap access.
greg

 

Hi Tie,
Did it for two reasons, one the money and two for moving stuff. I got rid of over 300 banana boxs one weekend. The yard sales down here are pitiful except for jewelry. I am starting to look at stuff now. I learned a lot from you "joolies". Some of you are here but since I do not do ebay much, I am afraid I have lost a lot of knowledge.
greg

 

What a good idea!

 

Lol! Yeah you should've.

It seems each time I go through these lots I find or see something new. Those bracelets were found in one of my "dump" piles. Maannn, I can only imagine what I've given away so far.

I couldn't find much on them any way (bracelets) so I scraped them to my jeweler for $100 and his old used tester. It works just fine.






Here's a crown similar to mine but in gold: http://www.ebay.com/itm/161471432457?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Someone had a thread on Polish amber and silver. Here's a small Polish silver snuff(?) box with an amber cover.

 

Yes it is!

The aggressiveness I'm use to, it's all the other crap that's very worrisome. I mean,.... who has to be "strapped" when going to a yard sale, flea market, estate sale, auction, etc. etc..? but one has to do what one has to do to protect herself. Just saying...

 

It never hurts to learn about what the other guy collects. First, you might stumble on something in a place someone else's holy grail has no business being. Second, it's fun. I deliberately keep my eyes out for certain things I know interest other dealers, so I can trade them for things that interest me.

 

I was pretty astonished when I cleared over 2 grand in my Denver moving sale ! Of course,I passed by several thrifts twice a day going to and from work,so it was not unusual for me to come home with more "collectibles". I was flabbergasted how much I had crammed in a 2 bedroom apartment . My late partner used to get so MAD at me ! LOL!

 

WOW,great finds and very funny stories. I would share some but I am under the weather at the moment. Had a good laugh though.

 

As you all probably know by now, I do most of my shopping at the Goodwill. I found this FB Rogers Silver plated hot water urn 1883. There were three people reaching for it at the same time, I had faster reflexes. The other two eye balled me all the way to the register. I paid $8 for this. It has no dents. It will look really nice once it's polished up. The only thing it's missing is the burner that goes underneath.

 

When I was in high school, I had a friend who wouldn't help his mom with doing chores. I showed up one day after school and seen the pile of dishes next to the sink. My friends mom was getting ready for work while my friend went to his room to strum away on his guitar. I took the road and decided to clean the dishes. They had no dishwasher, so it was all by hand. I looked for the dish soap and found a bottle of lemon scented soap under the sink. I love lemon scented soap, so I opened it and took a BIG sniff!! To my surprise, to my nose and throat, she had replaced it with ammonia. I still did the dishes but felt very queasy in the process.

 

I bought an old 22 inch chinese tobacco pipe off a friend.
Before selling it he wanted to see if it was clear and still had a good draw, as this would affect the price....upwards.
He put it to his lips and gave a heavy suck on it..........
He got a mouthful of old dust and grime , and came up coughing and choking on whatever gunk he had just breathed in !
I couldn't help laughing........hard !
I paid him for it ............still laughing..!

 

Look how those enamels just pop...




Original early-20th C. oil on board ad for...




Some bits...