A neighborhood sale around Lake Phalen had about 30 homes participating. There were another 9 or so in an alley by Lake Nokomis. Add in a few sales in between, and it was a very productive weekend. Or, should I say, great. It was beautiful both days, and Janie came along on Saturday.
[A little background for first time visitors to these posts: Janie and I have the yard sale bug bad. We live in one of the best yard sale cities there is - Minneapolis/St. Paul, and we buy almost all our clothing, cookware, electronics, furniture, etc., at a fraction of actual value. We resell to used book stores, retro stores, the scrap yard and people I just happen to know are looking for something in particular. A lot of what we find goes into our own mega-garage-sale we hold every year in Ouray, Colorado on the 4th of July and subsequent weekends. Some things we buy just because they're so fun they have to be in our sale! The true gems we set aside for the opening inventory of our own shop. And, we have one heck of an Ebay-someday box.]
Best of Show
Navajo bracelets (the larger signed by M. Thomas Jr.), turquoise ring and earrings
Price - $50 for the lot; sold.
She wanted to sell them to me for less. I insisted on giving her at least some of what I'd be making on them. The larger bracelet will likely bring $250 or more. I was giddy the rest of the day Friday.
She also wanted to sell me her gold, but I had no good way to weigh it. At this point I told her not to sell the gold to anyone before she'd taken it to a scrap dealer I do business with. I probably could have done well, but it's so hard to know what a little ring weighs that I couldn't have offered her much, and would probably not have paid her near enough. Now, does this mean I need to carry a little, highly-sensitive scale? Absolutely. Lesson learned.
Other things we did or didn't buy
Kokapelli pin and fresh pearl ring
Price - $5 and $10, respectively; sold
I offered $5 for the pin. She said $10 for the ring, and even though it's not marked sterling or 925, I think it was a great buy.
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Sterling bracelet
Price - $1; sold
This was from another sale. I don't have my kitchen scale, but I'm guessing it's an ounce.
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Halloween mummy
Price - $40; no sale.
Lawn. Art.
Light table
Price - $3; sold.
It needs a new plug. As you may know, it's for doing noncomputerized graphic art. The legs detached quickly for storage and transport. Someone will want it either for it's purpose, or a repurpose.
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Pipe and such
Price - $1; sold.
There's at least $4 worth of brass in there, and almost all the fittings are new old stock.
3
cracked
crocks
Price - $30; sold.
Janie and I have a weakness for cracked crocks. They often get tossed because they're not worth a handful of twenties, but they still have value, darn it, if you just take some strong string or wire and shore them up. A wash didn't hurt either. So, here all you need is a round plastic trashcan that will sit inside any of these, and how much cooler can you get than that?
Oh, yeah. Two of them had lids . . . chipped lids.
Old plane
Price - $6; sold.
It was a bit of a stretch for me to go $6, but it was one of those make-an-offer sales. I couldn't help but make an offer. So, now I notice it once had a nob that broke off. I think if I can find a really cool wooden nob, I might just bolt it on there, provided it's from about the same period. Or, I may sell it before then.
Large fishing lures
Price - 25 cents each, or all for $20; I took all.
After I got them untangled, the count was 81. Ever untangled lures? If you like puzzles, and you like extreme sports, it's for you.
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Tools
Price - $4 for what you see; sold.
Little chisels and files
Price - a quarter each; sold.
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Jewelry hooks
Price - $1.25; sold.
These are actually really nice stainless and hardwood.
Craftsman electric chainsaw
Price - $5; sold.
I ran gas chainsaws for 6 years. I have very limited experience with electric saws, but I already swear by them. Could I have my hearing back?
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8 ball mits
Price - $11; sold.
I balked a little (if you can imagine), but I did a quick check and they're all but one Raleighs, Wilson's etc. I won't feel bad charging $3 for these, and if I had the luxury of waiting, I'd charge $5.
S
C
R
A
P
Price -
$11.25;
sold.
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50s Murray tricycle
Price - $10; sold.
I've never bought a tricycle before. It just jumped out as having everything original and great wear just where you'd expect to find it. The "tires" are amazing.
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Okay, and finally . . .
Waring blender without carafe
Price - free; sold.
The economy is officially looking up. I've felt it coming, but here someone broke the glass part, and because she used it every day, and couldn't bear to wait the three weeks for the $35 replacement to arrive, she just went out and bought a new one. That's consumer confidence as the concept was first put forward.
Mark my words. Before the 4th of July, I will find a Waring blender carafe for 50 cents, or in a free box, because someone had finally burned out the motor.
So, was this a banner weekend or what?
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Comments: 39
All that turquoise and silver is perfect for your mom's store!
Love the crocks!
My stepdad had hundreds of fishing lures...we found so many and after dividing some among ourselves, we sold the rest..
Are you a member of Freecycle in your area? You can probably place a WANTED post for the Waring glass carafe and get it for free...
For now, I have two motors, and I can give one a rest while I finish what I'm doing. It's always that second half of the cycle that seems so hard on blenders.
Soun' lak I'm tawking homeboy...
I have some boxes in my garage that look like that box of old pipe and plumbing stuff.
I have been going through some of them and just setting them out at the curb.
They are always gone in a day.
$4 for all those tools? Yep, I’d do it because, strange to say, I need that weed digger.
As much experience as I have with power tools, I’ll say that Craftsman is tops -- usually. The one really crappy chainsaw I ever had was a Craftsman. I would have passed on that one.
That tricycle looks so very much like my first one that I would have bought it just to have around.
For the lures, there’s no untangling -- you just use a pair of wire cutters to get rid of all the fishing line.
From what I've been able to tell, all small electric chain saws are the same. But since they can't vapor lock, they're a joy. And this is from someone with a lot of cutting experience. I just would like to have a really big one, and see how that works.
Nostalgia is what I'm counting on for the tricycle.
Now the lures. There was no fishing line. The actual triple hooks were what was tangled, and there would be four different lures with their hooks locked into the same tangle. It was particularly nasty, but I got through it.
I use to do storage sales as well. But than the tv shows came out on that and everyone in their mother turns up and bids are crazy..i have seen enough to know why I seen people selling things for more than they are worth...they got ripped off at the storage auctions.
I don't go to sales as often as ! used to. Only sometimes, now, I go and love to find the bargans. :)