1/31/2015 Yard Sale Finds

Estate sale!!! This was a fun one 🙂 My dad and I went about 30-45 minutes earlier than opening. We were numbers 8 and 9. By the time it opened up there were 25 more people. Even at 8 and 9 I think we got some of the best stuff. We split up and made a pile and make sure you not only mark your stuff sold you guard it or have an employee guard it. While I was awaiting a total I chased off 7 people from going through my pile that had SOLD stickers all over everything.  Check out pictures of the estate sale below and some of my finds:)

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10/18/2014 YARD SALE FINDS

So I bet you are wondering what came of my yard sale day this Saturday. Such a long list I shared with you all. I did not make it to all of them, had to stop a little bit past half way through.

First sale showed a lot of promise in the craigslist ad but it turned out to be a dealer. You never know but you have to assume its not, just in case. My dad got a bunch of old plastic beer signs for cheap. I got a cool industrial thermometer, some antique photos, a 1950’s Relax-a-cizor which I just sold one of last week for $100 to the Gotham (tv show) Prop department for $100. I paid $5 for this new one.

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Next on the list was an estate sale. Had to wait in line for a little but I managed to get a large bin FULL of vintage Nintendo video game items. It was sitting off to the side just inside the front door, no one else saw it obviously. There was a NES system, N64 system, Gameboy color, an original Gameboy, about 15 Gameboy games, about 20 NES Game, and 5 N64 Games lots of controllers and some other accessories. I paid $50 for the whole bin, IF everything works its probably going to be worth $200-$300. Next sale got a box full of 1940’s games, puzzles and coloring/activity books for $10.

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After that was a moving sale, 2 elderly people selling off their unwanted things and moving out of the family house type deal. Not much there EXCEPT I just happened to see an old rolled up poster in the corner. Unrolled it to see and saw a pixelated Peach sign, mine- 0.25cents. It reads “March on Washington November 15. End the War. Get out Now!” This dates to 1969 and was a 500,000 Protest against Vietnam March, the largest up until that point. This has a value of $150-$300. Now that is a rare find indeed 25cents and worth a few hundred. Wow!

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Got some random things from other sales not worth mentioning. Went to a block wide yard sale for the final sale for the day and saw I large packed bin full of old dirty and very abused magazines. Started taking them out and going through the bin. Started to uncover some not so beat up and not too abused. I decided rather than go through the entire bin I should just buy then whole bin. Why not, it will give me something fun to do later! I am very tired at this point I think it was around 1pm. We negotiated to $17 for the bin. The lady told me these magazines had been in the house when she moved there. I will share various pictures of the magazines below, at the bottom of the page. All from the 1920’s, we have the following publications “Collier’s”,  American Magazine, Harpers Bazar, The Saturday Evening Post, Hearst’s International, and Vogue Fashion Bi-Monthly. After doing some research I found that the value lies in the Harpers Bazar and the Vogue Fashion Magazines. Had these been in better shape I would be looking at $100+ PER magazine for those. Because they are from the early 1920’s and they are Fashion magazines. I wont lie, I am bummed that I literally almost hit the jackpot for $17. The problem is those 2 publications are among the poorest of conditions, I really don’t know what they are worth. But I think I should be able to get around $500 because the insides are in good shape and a good amount of the Collier’s magazines are in decent shape cover to cover.

On the way home we stopped at another yard sale which was not advertised. I got 2 local 1887 newspapers for $2 and sitting on the table looking sad with an old feather sticking out of it was a sterling silver and cut glass vase $1, of course even if the glass is broken you should buy sterling silver because the value of the metal is worth more than $1.

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This was an awesome yard sailing day for me. Literally almost every sale had a great amount of profit to be had and I was lucky enough to snag some great bargains. Very exciting and yes a very long day. But so worth all the hard work I had invested and so very glad it paid off in the end. When I look back at this year, this will be one of the days I remember as a special one. It is quite rare and I truly value these moments.

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My pre yard sale rituals

For those of you wondering what it takes to hunt down the best deals on Saturdays, this post is for you.

It begins with searching through all the Craigslist ads for garage sales in my target areas on Friday. This can take a while if there are a lot, which there were this weekend. I pick out all the sales I want to go to and email them to myself. I then use MapQuest to make my yard sale route. There are many factors which go into making the route. Many sales have different start times although most begin at 8am some don’t start until Noon. The most important thing to do is figure out where to go first, and how early. This is part luck and part experience. If you know things to look for in craigslist ads, you know what to avoid as well. I also recognize dealers addresses trying to pass off their yard sales as estate sales so I know not to go there. I factor in all the start times which sometimes, including this week means I have to circle back due to late start takes. This is very frustrating. When I am finally done making the MapQuest route, I copy and paste the addresses and print them. From there I double check late Friday night again to see what new sales are listed. There are always late posters on Friday night. I pen those in on my printed list, if they are worth going to. I also pen in start and end times as well a a few key words to remind me what it is and what I am looking for.

All of this takes a few hours but there is no avoiding it and in the end the extra work pays off. This is what the final product looks like before I go to bed. Which I am going to now. Goodnight.

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9/13/2014 Yard Sale Finds

Hi all. This weekend I was lucky enough to be first at a house contents sale. The owner died and relatives hired a small company to sell it all off. Definitely a packed hoarder type of situation. But, if you are like me, you don’t mind the dust or clutter. It’s like a modern day treasure hunt.

Well, I learned a valuable lesson this week. NEVER leave your pile of goodies unattended. I had several items taken from my pile. I was able to track down a few canes someone took and got them back but there was a lot of other things that were taken that I never saw again. I am thinking next time I am going to bring ribbon or post it’s which say SOLD. Not leaving your pile is hard for sales like this one where there is a basement and first, second and third floors. You cannot very well bring your things all over the house with you when you are a large volume buyer like myself. Anyways, I learned a valuable lesson and this will not be happening to me again.

BTW, the man who stole my canes would not give them back when I nicely confronted him, I had to go to the person running the sale in order to get them. Some of these Pickers are not friendly and will do just about anything including steal. I heard a local story awhile back where some guy ripped a piece of jewelry out of a woman’s hand at a yard sale. Some people are just not right, I will never be one of those people.

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9/06/2014 Yard Sale Finds

This week I found a nice little box full of old track and field athletic medals, some of which are from the well known Penn Relays event. Not all the medals are dated but most are from the late 1960’s. There is one medal which looks special/unique to the others, undated and I am in the process of trying to find history and age on it. I have tested it to be sterling silver. It looks to be a coin given to participating athletes of the special annual event. It is a large as well as thick medal about 1 3/4″. On the front it depicts an athlete and what looks like a roman holding a torch together with the world in the background. On the back it reads Oxford and Cambridge vs. Pennsylvania and Cornell – England. I know the name of the original owner to be William W. Wilson due to some of the medals having names engraved.

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7/12/14 Yard Sale Finds

Thank you for checking out my blog which is updated every week with my yard and estate sale finds from the previous weekend. Please feel free to explore my “Picks of the Past” page and also you can see all previous weeks since I began my blog. And believe me, there are some really great and surprising finds over the last few years! Also be sure to follow my blog so you don’t miss anything I find in the future. All items I purchase at yard sales are for sale, so if you see something you want email me and we will work out a purchase through Paypal.

I am just an ordinary young woman with a love for vintage and antique items of all kinds! I have been going to estate sales with my dad ever since I can remember. I fell in love with estate sales from a very early age. Starting with Susan Vitale Estate Sales on the Philadelphia Main Line, Pa. “The Main Line is an unofficial historical and socio-cultural region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, comprising a collection of affluent towns built along the old Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad which ran northwest from downtown Philadelphia parallel to Lancaster Avenue (US Route 30).”-Wikipedia

The very first 2 things I remember buying were a fun little polar bear and bird carved figurines from a Susan Vitale Estate Sale. Not knowing at the time but they are in fact Ivory, those are something I will always keep as a reminders of her wonderful sales. You could always get a bargain at ones of her estate sales. Sadly, she retired a few years ago and I think that really kind of ended a certain generation of estate sales here on the Main Line. There are Gunning Co. sales which there are possibilities, but rare to get a great find because they look most things up. There are also Sales by Helen but she is overpriced, in my opinion, and not very friendly to negotiations. She has also kind of lost the following of many of the regulars due to one reason or another.

Enough about all that, let’s get on with my great yard sale finds of the 12th of July weekend.

Here is an old leather doctors bag which was purchased at a Gunning Co. Estate Sale. Full of old instruments and medicine, even surgical scrubs. I believe the doctor was a Obstetrician. I have a medical collecting interest so I am keeping many of the contents but everything in pictures including the doctor’s bag, scrubs, Stethoscope are for sale and some of the instruments. (I already removed what I am keeping.)
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Now I paid a lot for this leather doctor’s bag with contents ($200+) but it came with some great items. And when it comes to items I collect personally, I don’t mind paying retail. But, I never pay above retail just because I hate over paying for anything. So here are a few pictures of what I am keeping out of the bag. Some of the items already have homes in my collection 🙂

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6/28/14 Yard Sale Finds

For this week I have a surprise to share. Well, an unexpected surprise for me. I purchased a big old medical book from the early 1900’s. Some really cool color medical images I have plans for in my house. I have an antique medical/oddities theme for one of the rooms in my house. Anyway, I was flipping through the big old 1000 page book and what came falling out?

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At first thought, I was thinking, this isn’t real. What are the chances? But, I looked up Abraham Lincoln Memorial items on google and there it was. A framed one sold for $375!! I am almost tempted to keep it, as I like holding onto rare things that have meaning behind them. But, I have so much stuff, I really cannot keep anything else. So, this is a Lincoln paper ribbon you would pin onto your coat for Lincoln Funeral Procession. How cool! Let that be a reminder to you, always check your old books! This is not the first time I have found something hidden in an old book, so it does happen!

5/24/14 Yard Sale Picks

This morning was calling for possible showers luckily none ever came. So it was a full day of estate sale hunting and yard sale bargain searching! We started the day off around 7am and went to North Wales, Pa for a sale that had potential. Well at least that is how it sounded in the craigslist ad. It was more of a retail price yard sale which is a big bummer when you plan your route like I do. Next we drove all the way about 40 minutes to our normal area which is the Main Line of Pa. Very well off area and yard sales every single week. Here we spent our day traveling my planned route from one garage and moving sale to the next. Finished the day off at a Gunning Co. Estate sale which is where they have been filming the reality Tv show. Cameras and crew were gone by the time we got there but I included some pictures of the estate sale for you to see anyway.
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So my finds for today: some stained glass windows and an antique carved wooden bed headboard (I think) dated 1911. Not sure what broken stained glass windows are worth but I figure someone maybe could repair them. Not all the windows are broken but still, very beautiful colored glass and lead glass window art! And the headboard is super super cool. This is so neat I think you could just hang it on the wall for a rustic focal point of a room. It’s very well made with heavy wood and iron support plates. Also features a Cross in the center on the front amist all the ornate carvings and the date of 1911. Really makes you wonder who this was for and where it came from. Take a look at my yard sale picks pics below:)

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