You gotta look at every single piece.

[batcap]

I stopped in our local auction house this afternoon and poured over the table lots. There was a shoe box with 22 pieces of flatware. Pictured below is the 3rd piece I picked up. There were 16 pieces of silver plate, 5 pieces of stainless, and a 59g sterling ladle.

As I sweated out the start of the auction I was sure I saw at least a half dozen other people hovering around that box, making sure the ladle was still there. I figured I could still profit a bit even if it cost me $40. Any more than that I'll just let it go. When my shoebox came up, I bid first at $5. All of those "hovering competitors" just waited for the auctioneer to award it to me, so the next item could come up for bid. Nobody bid against me. I walked away with nearly 2 oz sterling for less than $7 after taxes and buyer's fee.

The funny thing is that this happens all the time! Not "happens to me", but just happens across the country at auctions, yard sales and flea markets every week. The only difference between me and everyone else standing around that table was that I didn't assume it had already been thoroughly searched.

I don't want you to compete with me, but Tnet is spread across the country and the world so I guess I'm safe. Every time I see a big box of costume jewelry, a stack of silver platters, or a shoebox full of flatware; I have to spy hard. I recommend the same to you. No, you won't find treasure every single time, but you will find it more often than you'd imagine.

[redfish76]

Sweet find!!!! or should I say buy!!!!

[apush]

Nice find . . . and great advice! Waiting for my first auction!

apush

[diggummup]

I gotta find a local auction house to check out.

[creeper71]

I gotta find a local auction house to check out.

here ya go Digs..

http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/au...0&month=&year=

[diggummup]

I gotta find a local auction house to check out.

here ya go Digs..

http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/au...0&month=&year=

Yeah I got that site saved in my favorites and there is a local auction house a few miles away but for the most part it's just modern junk or if there is a decent antique or collectible it ends up being way overbid for my taste. People are like piranhas down here.

[creeper71]

I gotta find a local auction house to check out.

here ya go Digs..

http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/au...0&month=&year=

Yeah I got that site saved in my favorites and there is a local auction house a few miles away but for the most part it's just modern junk or if there is a decent antique or collectible it ends up being way overbid for my taste. People are like piranhas down here.

ok sorry I tried...lol

[diggummup]

I gotta find a local auction house to check out.

here ya go Digs..

http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/au...0&month=&year=

Yeah I got that site saved in my favorites and there is a local auction house a few miles away but for the most part it's just modern junk or if there is a decent antique or collectible it ends up being way overbid for my taste. People are like piranhas down here.

ok sorry I tried...lol

Appreciate it!

BTW- Nice score batcap.

[batcap]

I gotta find a local auction house to check out.

here ya go Digs..

http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/au...0&month=&year=

Yeah I got that site saved in my favorites and there is a local auction house a few miles away but for the most part it's just modern junk or if there is a decent antique or collectible it ends up being way overbid for my taste. People are like piranhas down here.

ok sorry I tried...lol

Appreciate it!

BTW- Nice score batcap.

Thanks diggummup. I do want to clarify that the auction house does have several display cases where they put the stuff they recognize as valuable/desirable. That's not what I mean. Everyone pretty much knows what's what in the display cases. That's pretty much just determining who'll pay the most for it.

I'm talking about what they sometimes call box lots or table lots; the stuff that for the most part belongs in a dump. The treasure is hidden amongst the Beanie Baby collections, chipped dishes, beer and soda collectibles, baseball cards, junk drawers dumped into cardboard boxes, and all the stuff that got rusty under the kitchen sink before they brought it in to sell. The treasure is hidden there.

The first step is finding the treasure without letting on to everyone else what you found. It helps if you can get a good long look at this stuff as early as possible - hours or days before the auction starts if you can. The people that get there 1/2 hour before the auction starts are faced with a sea of junk and people that they have no chance of getting through. Their eyes glaze over and they wait to be shown whats up for bid. You, on the other hand, know there's a 14k chain buried in the old sewing kit, or that the beanie babies are piled on a sterling platter, because you put them there.