A Little More...

Two other recent finds....

Catching Up

It's been hard to continue my eBay/estate sale work now that I have REAL work competing for my time. But today, during this nice long weekend, there was an estate sale just a few blocks (toward the nice side) of my neighborhood. I headed over and stood outside before 9 with all the people who are starting to look familiar to me.

We are all people who would rather be pawing through someone else's moldy old belongings than at any store on "Black Friday". Happily I did no other shopping other than two estate sales. (Don't worry family, you won't get old stuff for Christmas -- unless I think it's perfect for you!)

Poodle Dog Trash Can. It's kind of dingy because it needs a good cleaning. But I'm just not interested in cleaning stuff!

For some reason, I keep finding these Dymo label makers lately.
I found one in its original box today.

Very pretty Ohio Art click gun. Joey has fallen for this big time.

Oh yeah.

OK the best part of the many gift boxes I got today (besides the fact that I can remember receiving gifts in very similar ones when I was a kid...) is the photo to the right. The item is a huge gift bag. I don't know which one of that couple is the receiver, but if I got a huge big package like that and it contained a wooden stool, I would not be a good subject for a Hallmark photo shoot! Plus the stool is about 1/3 the size of that bag....WTF?

Not too many photogenic finds lately. I found a bunch of golf balls at a big old rich person house, so am selling those. I bought some Crane's stationary paper there too.

I got the Coors Hat last weekend when I went to an estate sale with Dad --- why don't you move down Dad? Think of all the fun we'd have EVERY Saturday morning going hunting for goodies!! I also got ET bedsheets at the sale, but surprisingly, they aren't that valuable on eBay... go figure!

This Week's Goodies...

Vintage Salt and Pepper Shakers

1920s Playbill for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" at the Selwyn Theatre in Chicago

Crib Mobile that is just like the one I had as a baby!

Vintage Plush Toy named "Worry Wart" with Missouri embroidered on his side. Is that the Missouri state motto?

These are my "sellin' purchases" next post I'll brag on some of the "keepin' purchases" I've made lately.

This weekend's three sales included a nicely packed house in an upscale neighborhood, a faux Estate Sale which made me very mad--(Just putting your classified ad in the Estate Sale section of the paper vs. the Garage Sale section where it belongs will not make you my friend!), and the last sale was out at the lake. It was a Mega-McMansion hanging out over the lake (next door to the Oasis restaurant!). It was a divorce sale, so no vintage stuff, but I got great kids' stuff for pennies on the dollar. Including a Chia Pet for Emma, Keen Sandals, and something I'll post next time that I am keeping!

Here are the good finds from last weekend. This is a nice, funky martini shaker... looks like a bomb just prior to dropping..... either way you get smashed!!! haha

Then, I loved the little children's faces on this vintage straw package.

Reporting on a few prior items:

The vintage hose that I bought for a quarter a package..... I sold the six packages for $55!

The $3 vintage Baseball game sold for $53

The $3 vintage Ouija sold for $20.50 HOWEVER, I underestimated postage to Canada by eleven dollars...ouch! So I just about broke even on that.

I have had to cut back on my estate haunting because I got a new job. I set it up so that if I work really hard Monday through Thursday, I have Friday free for my obsessive shopping. So we'll see....

I do have to report that last weekend, at the second of my two sales, I had another scary experience. I went to a little shack of a house. Thankfully I had told two girlfriends where I was headed so if I had gotten locked in a basement they would have had a hunch where to start looking. Anyway, I wasn't nervous about the house, all houses are potential treasure chests. But when I opened the door on this one, there was a snaggle toothed guy about my age sitting on a stool in the middle of the living room. He had long stringy hair, a baseball cap, and numerous tatoos including one on his neck that I tried not to stare at. I just played it cool and asked about the vintage toys they were selling. Yikes! He was probably on parole and starting a new life in the glamorous field of Estate Sale greeting. Good luck! Snaggletooth!

Part of this Week's Haul.....

On Friday, my first sale was the worst ever. I drove waaaaaay South and got to the little house having the sale. There was no one else shopping there. I was almost afraid to go in. I knocked on the door, and the lady inside opened it. I got hit with a dense thick wall of stale cigarette smell. I went in anyway, to find that it was her house, lived in, and she just wanted to sell her things. No price tags, just make an offer on, her couch for instance, or her plants... I gambled that she wouldn't have any antique toys, asked about that, and used it as my excuse to get the hell out!

Second sale, hopes high. I drove up and there were tons of shoppers. It was the type of sale where everything was priced really low, but there were a few nice surprises. My best find there were 6 packages of vintage Sears Cling-alon Garter stockings. The homerun came when I got home and found they were quite the thing on eBay. Especially since they are size "Statuesque" for people up to 6'2". I think I know my target audience for that.... I also got cool 50s TV trays, and these AWESOME placemats and napkins....


The third house was waaaaay North. Another house of weird little stuff. I entered through the garage this time to find OLD GAMES! I got the 1930s Ouija Board for $3! and the Baseball game for the same price! I got "Game of the States" from the 60s. There were lots of collector dolls, and after coming home, I thought I should drive back up for a better look at the dolls. I ended up taking a gamble on one.... I probably shouldn't have, but I'll write about that tomorrow...

And the door opens...

So here's what an estate sale feels like to me....

Sometimes there is a line out front, because the house is little and they are limiting entry. Sometimes there are numbers in a little box before the sale, and so the people in line are arranged in numerical order. Sometimes I get there a little later and I walk just in. The suspense is greater if I have to wait, but so is the frustration. I usually spend the time trying to assess the people in front of me. Are they looking for my stuff? There is usually "The Tool Guy", "The young family looking for sheets", "The old couples who just walked up after their 7am walk around the neighborhood". The ones I worry about look just like me. I know I'll see them inside with my funky stuff. If they have a baby in tow, I usually prevail, because they are half aware of what's going on.

So now I'm next in line, and finally, IN!. First, the smell. Old house, someone else's house. It is funny how many houses in Central Austin feel the same, with similar arrangements. Usually the front living room has the good stuff, china, things in display cases like jewelry, watches, tiny spoons. (If you are a tiny spoon collector, go to estate sales!). Usually the good furniture has all been pulled to the front. I bypass that room.

I generally head to the hall with the bedrooms. I glance inside each and stop at the one most likely to have toys. There is almost always one that has office type stuff, one that has all the linens, and one that has the little knick knack junk and toys (if any). That is my room. I scan high and low, grabbing things I'm going to consider. Looking low is important, because under the tables are some good things.

After that room, I generally look in the other rooms for paper goods like old stationary, Peanuts stickers like my grandmother used to put on our greeting cards, old children's books. I look through tables of vintage table cloths, I look at clocks on the wall, I look at luggage. I look for old Girl Scout stuff. I look for old holiday stuff, especially Halloween. All this time I'm moving pretty quickly.

Then I break into the den, another good spot for me historically. Weird stuff gets into the den, postcard collections, sometimes some cool framed things. I always have the "oh no" memories of past sales. Once I half heartedly flipped through the first few picture frames in a box on the floor. They were mostly old diploma frames, but as soon as I gave up, and a lady flipped through she found the most awesome tiny print, for a dollar or something. It was wonderful. That smartened me up.

The thing I missed in a garage once was an old pencil box like I used to use in elementary school. So now I'm heading generally toward the kitchen and garage end of the house. Now I'm looking for mid-century Tupperware, serving dishes, Nambe!, clocks on the wall. I'm on a mission for covered baking dishes, aluminum ones which have a lid that slides on and off. I'm going to give one to a friend when I find one. (Hi JH!)

Then I'm in the garage. Often this is a place for old toys, but since "Old Tool Guys" and "Fishing Lure Guys" hole up here, I'm safer to let this place sit until the end. I've found great toys in the garage, but often they are dirty and more beat up. For erector sets, that's not so much of a problem. I also look here for camping stuff. Old pots for my Girl Scout troop. Camp stoves.

Then depending on the time, I stroll back through again. Generally I've seen it all the first time. I take whatever I've found to the check out person. There are several estate sale companies who run sales in my part of town frequently. So I half know the crew running the sale. I look at what my competitors picked out. I lust for the things I missed the first time through that they got, but that doesn't really happen much.

Then I get to the car and try for another sale.