You find these at every garage sale

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I had a mini sale (just put out a few things). One man stopped and asked if I had any books, I showed him what I had. He didn't even look through the boxes before asking if there were any first editions of Shakespeare or Dickens or any books printed before the 1600s. Then he asked about coins. I showed him some buffalo nickels and wheat pennies. Not interested - he wanted gold coins. Then he moved on to art. I guess my picture were not up to his standards - he wanted original "Old Masters". He seemed to want very high-end stuff - not what you would find a garage sale - even mine. I wonder if he ever finds things like that at tag sales?
 

My son does that sort of thing though a bit more subtlety. He inquires of ladies in their late twenties and thirties if they have any old or broken jewelry that they want to sell. That age group of younger women have invariably had a few bad romances and are glad to rid themselves of junk gold. Older women consider their jewelry keepsakes and are usually unwilling to sell it.

He carries a pocket jewelers scale, a loupe, and cash. He does very well over the summer netting over a $1,000. every year. Some of the jewelry is so mangled (by angry women?) as to be nearly unrecognizable but the carat markings are usually visible. He sells to a scrap gold dealer back east. Some of the prettiest he sells to older women friends at a slight markup.
 

I think he might but it is rare. Every once in awhile you read about an item someone found at a tag sale that was worth a small fortune. Today it is so easy to research items than before the computer age.

When I was buying to sell on Ebay a few years back people seemed to like brass bells. I went to a garage sale and saw a group of bells and bought several. One I got for 25 cents. It didn't have the piece in it that makes it ring. I figured I'd put it up as is. One very nice person saw it and sent me a private message. It seems it wasn't a bell at all but an original mouth piece for a trumpet. A man named Rudy Muck invented it and it was suppose to make playing the instrument easier on the lips. I put it up in the music section and got over $85.00 for it. Some people don't know what they have. In my case it was the seller and me the buyer. You never know.
 
Camper6 said:
They know exactly what they are looking for and they really don't waste your time.
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Ah, but it is wasting time when their first questions are so general. You end up hauling out things in which they aren't interested before they get down to specifics - which I wish they would do right off the bat. Back when my mom had sales, a young couple stopped and asked if she had any plates with flowers on them. After bringing out dish set after dish set only to be told, "Uhhhh...that's not really what we're looking for.", they revealed they were looking for Spode china. Why didn't they just say that to start?
 
Lord spare me from the antique dealers who show up at garage sales, usually a half hour before the starting time. They paw through your stuff like a tornado has hit, make rude disparaging remarks about the quality and desirability of your goods and then lowball you til your eyes bleed.
 
debodun said:
Ah, but it is wasting time when their first questions are so general. You end up hauling out things in which they aren't interested before they get down to specifics - which I wish they would do right off the bat. Back when my mom had sales, a young couple stopped and asked if she had any plates with flowers on them. After bringing out dish set after dish set only to be told, "Uhhhh...that's not really what we're looking for.", they revealed they were looking for Spode china. Why didn't they just say that to start?
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Why don't you ask. "Exactly what are you looking for?" before hauling out stuff.
 
jujube said:
Lord spare me from the antique dealers who show up at garage sales, usually a half hour before the starting time. They paw through your stuff like a tornado has hit, make rude disparaging remarks about the quality and desirability of your goods and then lowball you til your eyes bleed.
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The ads in my neck of the woods say. No Early Birds allowed.
 

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