Garage/yard sale finds

Congrats on the bargain.... I guess you'll only have to do laundry four times a year now!

 

There is a business locally that specializes in buying stuff from insurance claims. I have bought a really wonderful electric guitar (worth over $400 at least) for $100, a Gitzo tripod that sells for $400-500 for $75, and a wonderful front -surface silvered mirror from an otpometrist's office for $5.

 

Second hand sheets *faints*

 

That's awesome, and for such a good deal.....amaizing

We are getting ready for yard sales, like next week. So excited, I get to get rid of all my junk and people think they are getting treasures, lol I have a few things I'm looking for too

 

:surprised:rofl: really, really old :rofl:

 

I don't go to yard sales but occasionally I find interesting things left by the dumpsters at the apartment complexs I work at. My co-worker got in trouble for taking some chairs once though. Fortunately I just look at the novels and text books that people are throwing out.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

The build them that way for optometrists and ophthalmologists so that when you're looking at the mirror seeing a reflection of a chart, distortion is minimized. I used mine to build a nice accessory for my binoculars - a mount above (and slightly to the rear) of the mirror holds my binoculars so that I can sit comfortably at a picnic table and star-gaze while looking downward, like through a microscope. No more kinked neck when looking at objects high in the sky.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

I don't do garage sales. None that I stop at ever have anything that nice. It's usually pretty much the old junk you'd expect at a garage sale. I probably would completely overlook something valuable because most of that really valuable old stuff just looks like old lady junk to me.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

Why would I have ever done that?

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

Some of the old glass (especially from Mount Washington and Sandwich glass works) is very valuable. Mount Washington's pieces are generally quite decorative and are more complex in implementation than Sandwich, which tends to be molded in colors (transparent red, blue, yellow, green, etc). Much of the Sandwich glass is clunky-looking with mold-marks etc, and you'd walk right by it - missing perhaps thousands of dollars in the process. My wife and I went to an antiques group-shop quite a few years back and I saw a tiny vase priced at $3. I picked it up and she asked why I wanted it - I said I'd tell her later. It was a hand-blown vase with an acid-etched surface. The color (top to bottom) went from clear to peach and back to peach, and the pontil (bottom surface) was un-polished. I showed it to a glass expert a few weeks later and he appraised it at $250-300. It is a high-quality piece and the modest price reflects the fact that the vase is unsigned.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

That vase reminds me of a triffid.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

I'm on the look out for guitars. I have guitars, ranging from ok to very good (my baby is a Gibson SG Faded), but there's always the chance that someone will sell a good one cheap because they don't know the value. For example, I know a guy who bought a very good bass guitar for cheap because one of the strings was broken and the people selling it didn't know you can replace them.

 

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How could I find such a business in my area? Have any of you gone to an estate sale?

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

You could do a search on the words "surplus" and/or "salvage" or perhaps contact a commercial insurer to see who they deal with when a store is damaged by flood or fire and they have to liquidate inventory after paying the claim.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

I don't even know what an estate sale is. I think it is when the people of the residence die and their stuff is carted off, by others for a fee of course.

I bought a book page holder for 50 cents. It was tarnished but after rubbing it with a cloth, I found that it was silver. It is quite weighty for it's size. I'll post a pic if I get the chance.

edit: I think I lost it/ it's somewhere around.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

I WISH I could find a nice guitar at a garage sale...

My garage/yard sale, thrift store (yeah, I'll include it, bite me) finds:
1986 Yamaha Razz that we were able to score for $10.
45 LBS Bear recurve bow, for $7 which would be easily $200+ new
Hmm, surely other stuff, just can't think of any now.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

My best guitar find was a sunburst Epiphone Les Paul for $100. It was covered in smoky residue with dead strings, and when I plucked the strings, I could feel the body resonating. That was a killer. Best guitar for Duane Allman slide. Second-best was a Fender Esprit that I bought for $300 - look up the Robben Ford custom model and see if you would pay that. His original guitar was an esprit with aftermarket pickups - easy upgrade. My best amp buy was from an old fellow who was moving to Florida with his wife. It was a cherry, almost mint black-face '65 Fender Champ for $100. What a little screamer.

BTW, I'm not just pushing some of the cheaper instruments I have found in the belief that the quality could be consistently good. I earned my way through college playing frat parties and horse-trading guitars and amps. One time, before the vintage guitar craze took off, I traded a '59 Strat for a new '70 Gibson Les Paul Custom and $300. I thought I got a pretty good deal until I tried playing the LP at a frat party and my fingers got sweaty. The LPC "fretless wonder" was crap if you were trying to play deep bluesy bends with sweaty fingers and kept missing the bends. Ditched that and started playing a Tele.

 

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I'm confused. Why would the things be marked for a monetary value when a person dies?
Is it because the person has no will?

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

Instead of making detailed wills, when some people reached old age, they engaged in estate planning. In essence, their homes, property, belongings (aside from things that they wanted to specifically give to others) were auctioned off and the proceeds could be divided among the family, or perhaps be donated to a school to provide seed money for a scholarship. It's quite common.

 

Re: Garage/yard sale finds!!

Nothing specifc , just seeking great deals ; especially with respect to the more expensive items such as cars furniture technological items e.g. HDTVs etc........