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Your best estate sale score?

STAG15

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
422
Location
Fort Collins, CO
Hi all!
Here's a question for you...
What is your best estate/garage-sale score? What did you pay vs. what did you sell it for (if you sold it at all)?

Also...if you find old silver coins at these sales...like morgans or halves...what do you offer for them? Do you start at spot or lower? Have you ever gotten into a bidding war with for an item with another estate-saler?

I tell ya I think next time I go, I am not pickin up any silver unless it's got a clear stamp on it.

Weather is supposed to be good this weekend...hope full I can get in some swing-time. :-)
Happy Hunting all!
 
One of my other hobbies is restoring and refinishing antique furniture. I bought a small oak table for $5 once and restored it, sold for $225.
 
I have found all sorts of things. Was given an old victorian chair with carving and purple velvet, because it looked like junk,Swapped it for a Mazda rotary engine car. Bob
 
Model 1850 Officers sword. I took it to a local appraiser and had it valued at $1700.00

The appraiser had a very big collection himself and had the same sword, but said mine was in better shape than his. I told him I paid $400 and he said I got a great deal. I replied that I felt like I was on antiques road show.

Probably the best and only good thing I'll ever get. I haven't sold it, but got offered $900 at the last local civil war show we had.
 
I got this coin ring for free at A yard sale. My wife wanted A picture frame they had for $5. I asked if they would throw in the ring and they did.
 

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84 pc Sterling silver set forks,knifes, spoons,sugar tongs,butter knifes,Lg serving spoons etc.Got last year at a estate/yard sale.Current value in melt $2600+ with silver being so high.I paid $250.Also brought a shoe box of old soda bottle caps for a $1 sold them for $876.51 on ebay.Coins are tough everyone thinks they have the rarest coins and ask to much.I have brought a few jars of wheat cents for a good price.
 
Bought an English/Scottish Perthshire paperweight for $20. When I was showing my condo to potential buyers a lady spotted it and offered me $75. She didn't buy the condo but she got the paperweight.

Dusty
 
Probably the best deal I made was the ambrotype of a Confederate soldier that I paid $2.50 for and sold for $400.00 or the Daguerreotype of a hunter with his shotgun and dog that I paid $50.00 for and sold for $800.00.

Doug
 
I haven't been to a lot but my favorite buys were four 40% halves for a buck each and a case for projector slides for 50cents. The cardboard coin covers are the same size as a slide. Ha.
 
I picked up 2 Ouija boards from a garage sale. Person I bought them from used to work for Parker Brothers and said he got many games for free and these 2 were in mint condition from the mid 60s. Apparently these were a very rare edition, but I got them for .25 each. I sold both on eBay - 1 sold for $305 and the other for $328. Pretty good return for 50 cents!
 
I picked up (3) police scanners for a total of $12.50...turned around and sold them on ebay for a combined total of over $180.00

I buy a lot of hotwheels cars...have done well with those too!
 
Years ago in the late 80's I bought a box of books that had an encyclopedia set in it for $5.00 that I wanted for the kids to use for school. When I got home I found some other old books that I sold to a book dealer for $50 and then there was also an old stamp album in the box with a 1936 duck hunting stamp that I sold for $50 and then I sold the rest of the stamps and album for $100.
 
Where do you find estates sales? You are not speaking of yard sales and garage sales are you?
 
If you search Google with the name of your town and "estate sale" I am sure you will find a bunch of listings in your area. People hire companies to liquidate these estates and the companies post about them.
 
My first real big find that got me into the Fleebay kick back in 2001. Went to a huge fishing tackle auction in a remote lakeside town. Afterwards went cruising and stopped at a garage sale that was packing up. Sitting on the table was a huge instrument case, inside was a dented up Saxaphone. Asked how much, they said $10.00 we don't want to haul it back up to the attic. Took it home put it on Fleebay, shoot the bidding went crazy. Sold it for $1100.00. I was sold on garage sales after that.......

It looked similar to the one below.
 

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handheld / tabletlop electronic games were my bag in the late 90's. I'd cruise yardsales and buy late 70's / early 80's mattel football, etc, coleco mini arcade games........ I seldom paid over a buck for mattel games, they routinely sold on ebay then for $30-$75 depending upon condition. Also made some bux on transformers toys. I bought a plastic bag full of transformers a year ago at a thrift store and sold em' individually on ebay for a few hundred.:yes: Older plastic model car kits have been good to me as well.

Found some valuable near mint Hot wheels redlines cars for .25 each, turned em' over into over $200 once.

$700 Cannondale mountain bike for $35 - needed to have a wheel trued, then good to go.

Lots of little scores over the years, but generally only one "big" score a year - and I doubt I ever broke even on the gas / time / effort. But still more fun than my best days at work!
 

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Once purchased a book for 1.99 called something like carolines book of treasures or something like that. Turns out it is extremely rare, sold on eBay for 280$
 
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