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I went to a bummer of a library sale yesterday about a half hour’s drive from me. The sale was completely disorganized, not even an attempt with piles of books thrown on tables in no discernible order, which was a first for me. The prices were extremely low (basically everything $1 or less) so the crowd was full of Amazon zombies. I spent all of $5 and got nothing I am excited about. Then I went to a thrift store about 10 minutes away which was somehow even worse. Nothing but old junk.
Fortunately I did some other scavenging this week. Spent $85 at two other library sales and came away with two bins worth of things that I like to sell. Highlights included some obscure DVD sets (James Burke’s Connections, duck carving, furniture turning), a few classical music box sets with thick booklets, a nice pile of books (my favorite is a signed copy of Free To Be You and Me by Marlo Thomas) and a New York Institute of Photography binder from the 1980s with a ton of course catalogues. Should be an easy $200 profit which makes the Saturday scavenging shutout sting a little less.
What did you find this week?
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I won several cool lots this week from a Maxsold auction. I found it at the last minute from an email they sent me. I wasn’t looking for more inventory, but the email has a picture of a Hawaiin print that looked enticing so I jumped in. The print ended up being a set of 6 menus from a cruise line designed by artist Eugene Savage in the 1950’s. All framed. I won the lot for $15 and hope to get at least $300. Prices are all over the place with some sets selling for over $1000.
The other exciting stuff from the sale was a lot of Singer sewing machines. I got two of the child’s “Sewhandy 20” sewing machines and one adult size. I paid a little more than I should have at $160 for the lot, but it had crappy pictures and I was a bit rushed. Still hope to get $600 – $800 for them all.
I’m picking up more books these days and this auction I picked up two lots that have some interesting collectible books and cookbooks.
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Nice finds this week @lukastreasuretrove
I signed up for maxsold at some point, but anytime I glance at their emails it all looks like junk to me. Same with Goodwill finds. Maybe worth a second look, though.
I don’t know why there is such a market for framed menus, are people hanging those on walls? But I looked up Eugene Savage menus and I have to admit, if you’re gonna spend a few hundred bucks on some old menus, his are pretty nice!
I have been feeling lately like the Amazon people make scavenging a little easier, which seems counterintuitive, but they’re all competing for the same books they can scan until they hear their dumb cha-ching sound. So the weird and unusual stuff is mostly untouched, or at least, that’s how it’s gone at most of the sales I’ve hit recently. It feels like a change from 3-4 years ago. Maybe I’m just describing scavenging, and this was also the case 10+ years ago before the rise of book scanning, and 20+ years ago when selling online was in its relative infancy. People flock to certain types of items and things slip through the cracks, and that’s where we come in.
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I signed up for maxsold at some point, but anytime I glance at their emails it all looks like junk to me. Same with Goodwill finds. Maybe worth a second look, though.
@Craig – In the DC area I’ve found Maxsold to be my most consistent source of inventory. I grumble sometimes about the poor picture quality but I think that works to my advantage often. I frequently find some gem of an item hidden somewhat. This lot of menus is a great example. The pictures didn’t show all the menus, only one was full view, no signature close up, and the description simply simply said, “pictures, framed, needs dusting”. I wasn’t sure what they were, but knew old Hawaii sells. I did a Google image search on the one full view and matched to Savage.The newer company to watch for it Ctbids.com. They seem to have taken a lot of Maxsold’s business lately in our area.
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You aren’t kidding about poor picture quality, this is like amateur hour. That is kind of charming in its own way though, and I can see what you mean about the potential for hidden gems. Especially compared to a lot of the other auctions in my area on the site, which are downsizing or seller managed. Even a few reseller auctions. I guess it’s good that they come right out and say reseller auction, though.
I may need to make checking Maxsold a part of my weekly scavenging routine, it kind of scratches that yard sale itch without as much time investment.
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OK, That one is particularly bad. If it was relatively close, I might still have to bid on the California Raisins lamp and some of the book lots, though. I could only find one comp for the lamp from 2017 where it sold at auction for $15.99. There are some crazy California Raisins collectors.
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Noted on the California Raisins stuff. I feel like I knew that already, maybe I sold a California Raisins CD at some point years ago.
I was looking at the book lots too, probably a no-go for space reasons right now, but definitely something to keep in mind for winter scavenging if I have moved into a larger place by then as I would like to
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On Saturday baseball games had a later start (and eventually rescheduled). I always up very early and my family wakes up very late, so I did something I haven’t done…pretty much ever – I did early bird yard sale-ing. I was the first shopper at several sales. Being the early bird does really get the best stuff it seems! The highlights:
- A stack of 1st party Wii and WiiU games for $5 each. Paid $80 and created the listings for $300. I also asked about consoles and left my number. They called me back yesterday and I got a complete in box WiiU for $30. The power of the ASK!
- A Buck Knife with case for $5. Unfortunately not really old so only about $50-60.
- Pair of Red Wing Steel Toe boots for $10 – will sell for $150.
- One of these complete in box: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=mr+christmas+stepping+mickey+&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&rt=nc
- I paid $5 for the mickey. Again, I was 1st shopper of the morning. Multiple people were ticked off they missed it as I was waiting to pay.
- And my favorite find of the morning – a tub of vintage Lego for $20!
- I LOVE finding cheap bulk lego at yard sales. Sure the money is nice, but I have a blast with my older kids sorting it, building complete sets, and lotting it up. I actually had fairly low expectations initially and was very pleasantly surprised. We spent all rainy day Saturday building and organizing legos. We put together multiple complete sets that sell for $50+ each. There were 3 complete spacemen and a helmet for the 4th. All together I have listings made for $250. The last listing will be the bulk leftovers that I will put on auction and will likely go for around $100 so $350 total.
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When I was in my early-mid 20s, a friend of mine gave me a pair of his old Red Wings. I’m in my mid 30s now and still have those boots, and they are great especially in winter. $150 is almost a bargain for how good they are, especially considering that same $150 only buys (1) Mr. Christmas Stepping Mickey. Disney people are great, though. Love em (and their wallets).
Some of the stuff that people build with Legos is amazing. Truly art. Like this stadium, for example.
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I bought a nicely-embroidered felt cutlery wrap for £4- it was embroidered with the German for knives and forks, but was in fact stuffed full of spoons. Most were from Sy and Wagner, Berlin, marked 12 loth, which is 75% silver. I went back to the thrift shop the next day to see if they had the knives and forks- no luck.
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I went back to the thrift shop the next day to see if they had the knives and forks- no luck.
Never works out like that, does it? I bought a nice 27 disc DVD set of Bergerac for a few dollars last week, only to realize when I got home that the set was missing 1 volume (3 discs). Went back to the shop this past weekend but all I found were some old workout DVDs and a dinged up copy of Starship Troopers.
Anyone have a story with a happy ending, a return trip where you found the item that was missing?
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/235019985013
The good news is I actually found some Catherineholm at a garage sale. The bad news is I only found the lids. Lids like this have sold for $60 though, not too shabby.
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