Garage Sale Adventures

I found this Yellow Ware Bowl stashed under a table at a garage sale. It's now available at 31 Marketplace.


You don't find the pot at the end of the rainbow every day, but you can still find some sunshine. This happened to me today. Still missing my little dog, I was struggling to get moving yesterday. Thankfully, 31 Club Member, Marsha, called me about noon and asked if I’d like to go with her to a few garage sales. I knew I had to get out of the house and helping Marsha would fill me with good cheer, so off I went.

At the first sale, It didn't take us long to realize that the sale had items from an emptied booth from an antique mall. The owner didn’t even bother to take her sale labels off the items. We looked and came away with a piece of Griswold cast iron for $5 that should bring $15-$20; nothing to write home about. But there was an Ironstone platter I wanted to get home and check out. It was very large for a platter and extremely heavy. After checking prices at home, today I’m asking Marsha to go back to the sale and buy it. The price was $100, and I feel sure no one will have purchased it at the asking price. If I’m right, we may even buy it for less than $100. I figure that it’s worth $400-$500.

The next sale was very interesting. The lady had some very unusually cat items which included jewelry, change purses and even a Garfield the Cat telephone. We were able to pick these pieces up for under a dollar each, and I figure they will bring at least $5 each, if not more so, we just added another $25 or $30 to our profits to fund other purchases. But, we weren't though with this sale yet. I spotted a great print from the Napa Valley. The asking price was $20, so we passed on it and headed out toward the car. One of the assistants was following us, and I was telling her about the 31 Club. Before we reached the street, I mentioned that there was a print we would buy for $10, but we didn't know the artist. “I’ll take that,” she quickly said. No, we didn't know who the artist was, but because they had bought it in the Napa Valley and were told it was a local artist, someone will know. So in our listing, we’ll just describe it as a local Napa Valley artist. It’s quite large and very well done, so I have no doubts it will bring $150.

At this point I knew that I needed to get back to work, but on our way back, we saw an estate sale sign that just pulled us like a magnet. I immediately recognized one of the gentlemen conducting the sale, so we talked awhile, then Marsha and I began browsing the sale. There were about 10 Royal Doulton mugs and a small figurine, so I asked what they would take for all of them. They wanted $130 which wasn’t bad. I offered $80, but they wouldn’t take it. It was late in the day, and I knew all the dealers who planned on coming to the sale had already been there. I also knew that this sales house reduces everything by half the second day, so we decided to take a chance they would be there tomorrow.

If these Doulton items are purchased, there will be at least $150 profit there. So, no real treasures on this day, but how did we do? We weren't looking for $5 items, but that was all there was to be found. When I total our future profit if the platter and Doulton are purchased, and we don't yet know what we may find tomorrow, there should be at least $625 profit, which isn't bad for a day.

Remember that poem from yesterday’s blog? Don’t Quit! The pot of gold is just around the corner when you persevere.

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