“Christmas in April” - Daryle Lambert

Photo thanks to www.comstock.com

It is almost time to store those snow boots and get ready for the fun of garage and house sales. But what will you be searching for is the question? Yes, all the items mentioned in my many blogs will help you but there are other factors to consider.

I always look for treasures that may be out of season for the seller but to the collector never go out of season. The best example that I can think of is Christmas items. Who is thinking about Christmas in April? The answer to that is me. Often people want to sell their Christmas items rather than store them for another year and these are the people I am searching for because I have many collectors just waiting for the items I find, regardless of the season.

The best part of the off season is when you go to a sale these items will usually be in the basement or garage and you will have the territory to yourself as the hordes scour the pickings in the rest of the house. I have been able to make more money from my finds in these areas than if I had bought everything on the upper levels of the house.

I once found a large box completely filled with glass Christmas ornaments. Believe it or not there was one of Santa worth $500 in the mix. I asked what the price for the box full was and the answer almost knocked me off my feet. “Would $5.00 be too much?” I thought for a moment but not too long because I didn't want others to see what I had just bought so I said “I guess that will be all right.”

This same approach will work for Easter or Halloween and you should become knowledgeable on the particular items from these holidays that bring big money. However, you can buy bicycles, snow boards, wave runners, lawnmowers and golf clubs all out of season and they will prove to be very valuable to someone.

Vickie, my wife, was having her hair done and I got impatient so walking through the neighborhood I spotted a garage sale. To help you understand, it was late fall. In the garage in the corner was a golf bag filled with clubs. Picking it up I saw some of the strangest putters that I had ever seen, plus a complete set of persimmon staff woods. These clubs must have been from the 40's or 50's and I knew they had value.

The lady approached me and asked if I was interested. I wanted to spend more time examining what was in the bag so I said “Yes, in just a minute.” I knew at that time they would be mine but the question was at what price. I signaled her back over and said yes, I was interested and asked the price. What I haven't told you is there was what looked like brand new shoes sitting beside the bag and they were my size. “Would you pay $25 dollars for it all”? My answer was, “Yes if you include the shoes”. The deal was consummated and I walked away very happy. I still use the clubs myself today and also the shoes. But what about the putters, you’re asking. After some research I discovered I had purchased about $800 worth of putters, some that were signature ones. Here are the other bonuses: almost 40 new gold balls, hundreds of tees, an umbrella and three gold gloves still in the package.

I was already a golfer but after this buy if I hadn't been I would have become one.

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Daryle Lambert: Ti's the Season to Buy

Thanks to Flicker


Everyone knows that the best time to buy is after Christmas when everything is on clearance. But how does this give us a special opportunity to make money? The same principle that applies to stores selling their inventory after a season ends can be seen in how people sell items at the end of seasons like Christmas and Easter. You will find that rather than store trees, ornaments and other decorations after Christmas, people place them in house or garage sales and often without regard to their collectibility.

So if this is true then what should we do to take advantage of this opportunity? First, I would suggest that before the season is over, you obtain the knowledge needed to distinguish between the true Christmas collectibles and the rest that carries no real value. There are many items that are used for decorations at Christmas but only a few are sought after by the collector. I have been to sales after the season and found ornaments that had been in the family for nearly 100 years but the family had gotten tired with them and decided to purchase all new ones. You can bet I was more than glad to take them off their hands. Old figurines of Santa and antique Christmas toys often end up in these after season sales so when others are saying I'm not interested in these items are losing a great opportunity. This also limits your competition of some great buys.

Toys like the Santa jumping out of a box made of wood might reach $5,000 if its condition is near mint or how about the Santa's sleigh pulled by pigs made of wood from around 1900 conservatively valued at $2,500. I am still looking for that “bicycle built for two” ornament made by Dersden around 1890. That might be the golden fleece of ornaments and if I found one, the price it would take to pry it out of my hands would be $15,000.

My first memories of Christmas were in the 50's when bubble lights were all the rage and ornaments of airplanes and spaceships were just becoming popular. Never did I think that these items might sell in the future for thousands of dollars (but they do).

This is the greatest time to attend house and garage sales because the weather often keeps your competition away and the prices asked for items are usually lower in the winter than the summer. So get out there and make yourself some money and don't let these opportunities pass you by.

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Daryle Lambert: Antiques Question [Did you know ?]

Thanks Flicker.com



Did Christmas trees start out as trees? What do you think? If your answer is yes then you’re wrong. In fact, people first decorated what looked like a tree made of feathers with all types of decorations. These were replaced by the real thing. People even placed candles on the trees which proved a real fire hazard and many homes were lost this way. Remember, in the 18th and 19th century, families didn't just up and go to the store to buy what they needed. They simply used what they had. Strings of popcorn plus ornaments carved by the family made each tree a personal joy.

Just like many other things in this country, many states claim the first Christmas tree. Pennsylvania in 1774, Massachusetts in 1832, Illinois in 1833, Ohio in 1838 and Iowa in 1845. Even back then we didn't seem to be able to agree on much. But the one thing that we did agree upon was that Christmas was important to this country and we were founded upon Christian principles that were the backbone of the earliest day of America. I still remember the laughter and joy of the whole family pitching in to make the tree as perfect as it could be.

The progression of the Christmas tree to where it is at times today, a totally artificial expression of what it once was, reminds me that perhaps things aren't better than they were. The family has definitely changed. Decorating the tree used to be a family event but today the women often do most of it while the children watch TV or work on the computer. Dad occupies the couch watching his favorite sports channel and usually no neighbors are to be found. The hard times that are upon us today may make these events popular again and I surely hope so.

The first glass ornaments came from Germany in about 1860, followed by electric lights in 1882. One of my favorite new decorations were the twinkle lights of the 1950’s. A string of Queen Victoria, Puce, by Hearn Wright and Co., 1890 may bring $1800 today. The most collected decorations for the tree are ornaments of course and a Bicycle built for two made by Dresden in 1890 could fatten your bank accounts by as much as $10,000. This is an area where the collectors number in the thousands and they are eager to purchase anything that isn't yet a part of their collection. Let’s help these collectors by searching our those pieces that they are searching for and by doing so move ourselves up the path to personal success.




Learn to Grow Your Bank Account Trading in Antiques & Collectibles. Register for the 31 Club. Daryle's 220 Page Book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your Membership.
Plus You Get FREE MENTORING with Daryle.
Join Today!