Estate Sale Finds Of the Week

I’m finally starting to get out to the sales again. You know, I was trying to get my stock under control by putting it out there… somewhere… for sale, but not seeing anything new is driving me nuts! Shopping yard and estate sales and, for many, thrift stores, flea markets, etc., is an addiction. We’re never truly cured, no matter how long we go without a fix. So two weekends ago, I went to the sales. Here are my estate sale finds of the last two weeks.

Came up with two of these:

Pagoda candy dishes. Made by Chase in Japan in the 50s-60s, I’d think. 

I did not buy this:

Which actually goes against what I preach. “Buy what you love and what you hate. Everything else is mediocre.” (I also go against what I preach and buy a lot of mediocre stuff.) I think it’s hideous which means someone else will love it. However, I didn’t think it would sell in the booth and I DID NOT want to try to ship it, so it stayed at the yard sale.

Second day, I bought an air compressor that Ricky flipped the same day on Craig’s List. That quick flip to make some money was a happy, but otherwise, it was a pretty boring, yard sale weekend.

Spent a good bit of time last week finalizing the preparations for the latest estate sale. That sale turned out to be the best one we’ve ever done. I’ve said before how hard it is to see other people come in and buy the things you’ve had your eye on since the beginning, but we do not pick a sale before it starts. If we did, we’d get all the good stuff and no one would want to come to any of our sales. So, I took money for and bagged up quite a few things I would have loved to have had, either for myself or resale, but oddly some of the things I wanted did not sell. Or maybe not oddly. You might wonder why in the world I wanted any of this. Ha. We swoop in when it’s all over. When everyone has got what they want and are reveling in their precious purchases at their house. Yeah. We swoop. “Do you want this?” “I’ll take that.” “I can’t believe nobody bought this for a quarter or half that on the second day!” 

So, here it is in all it’s collaged glory:

The chalk, bride, groom and preacher set is so cute! But, the groom has a hole in his head. His head had been shattered and lovingly glued back together. Guess his lovely bride hit him up side da head with a frying pan to get him to the alter. But joking aside, it must have meant a lot to the previous owner to have glued him back together and keep them in a cedar chest all those years. 

You can buy the yellow and orange coffee set here: Retro Kitchen Coffee Set

But there’s more:

 

Nobody wanted these white, Hull planters?? If you’ve ever been to one of our sales, you know we’re not your normal estate liquidation company. We price to sell. People love our sales. At the end, 99% of the house contents have been sold. We believe strongly that we get as much for the family – or more – as does any company who tries to get such big prices and ends up with half the stuff left. It’s a fine line to not “give it away”, but still price it at an irresistible price. Anyway, these were very reasonable. We know that type pottery is common and doesn’t command a high price. Still, you’d think with white being the in color these days these would have been snatched up. So, they’ll go to my booth. (With postage prices, I’m trying to sell lighter weight things online.)

Wait! That’s not all!

Okay. We might have priced this a bit on the high side because we thought the case was so cool. Not to mention, that case is extremely hard to find! 

More:

There must not have been any vintage Tupperware collectors there. Those doilies? Plastic Tupperware! Who knew? I got three of the large ones and several, unopened packs of the smaller size. Also a booklet of games to play at your Tupperware party.

Still more:

These may be my biggest head scratchers. Nobody wanted vintage Christmas houses or napkins?? What’s wrong with these people?! LOL

Another:

A vintage, Cincinnati Reds bobblehead. So, okay. We live nowhere near Cincinnati, but did our dealers not check these out on eBay??? Granted, those are usually in much better condition, but even at a fraction of the price they’re selling for would be a nice profit from where we had it priced. This little guy is even on the cover of Warman’s Bobbing Head Field Guide!

And one last thing:

Palmer’s Penmanship Budget from the 1920s. Someone actually had this in her pile, but changed her mind at the last minute when she ran out of money. I liked it from the first moment I saw it in the bookcase. I didn’t picture all the lettering and penmanship pages. However, I had no idea of value. That is, until I came home with it and did a little research. At the moment, I’m seeing it start around $140.00! Boing! (That’s the sound of my eyes popping out of my head. Like on the old cartoons.) Now, that may very well be a hoped for price rather than an expected price. I won’t try to gouge. I’ll keep it affordable. Unless I learn that it does actually sell for that. That people are eager to pay that much for it. A bit more research is called for here.

I’ll be working on adding most of these things and more to the site shop and Etsy in the coming days weeks.

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We’re having another yard sale this Saturday. I’m beyond frustrated with all the surplus crap around here. Even if we sold everything in the sale, I easily have enough to have six more.