Tallone
Hero Member
I stopped by a yard sale on Friday on the way to work because I saw this ceramic Christmas tree in the background of one of the pictures in their Craigslist ad.
These ceramic Christmas trees are very popular. Big ones like this sell for around $200. Some of them have a music box base and sell for upwards of twice that. I paid $30 for it.
Yesterday I went to the weirdest auction I have ever been to. The ad was strange in that they only advertised on Craigslist and the auctioneer provided a personal phone number for more info. When I got there to scope out what they were selling, I learned that this guy used to work for the IRS selling confiscated property but this sale was his wife’s parent’s estate. There wasn’t a whole lot of great interest (rather typical estate sale stuff) but there was enough for me to stick around and see if many people would show up and how the prices were going. Besides, they weren’t charging tax or BP.
One of the weirdest things about this auction is this guy sold almost every little nickel and dime item as a separate lot. Here are some examples of individual lots: a baggie of a dozen or so mixed pieces of cheapo stainless steel flatware, a group of three dish towels, a little planter with silk flowers, a small group of nondescript plates and cups. I mean this is the kind of stuff that probably wouldn’t even sell at a yard sale and this guy auctioned it. No choice tables, no large groupings (with one notable exception). He could have completed this sale in less than 2 hours but it took almost twice that long. One of the oddities was a sugar, creamer, and butter dish set of cheap silver plate. He tried to sell it as sterling. Nobody was fooled. It sold for $1.
Anyway, only about 10 people showed up and half of them seemed to be this guy’s friends. It became clear very quickly that this stuff was going to sell CHEAP. There were a few pieces I was interested in so I stuck around. Here is a pic of the scene (more stuff was on the back porch):
So here is what I got:
Sony home theater set for $45. This was one of the most expensive items of the day. Several of this model (without speakers) have sold on ebay for around $200. I’m going to try to sell it on CL first.
A nice space heater with remote control for $20. Not sure what this might sell for but it has to be way more than that.
Two metal nativity sets for $45. These were sold in the Bombay store years ago. One set (the smaller, 7 piece group) recently sold on ebay for $225. The weird part about this is, for some inexplicable reason, the auctioneer decided to sell a LARGE group of Christmas decorations (including these nativity sets) as a single lot. I didn’t want any of the other junk (ornaments, fake poinsettias, a fake Christmas tree, etc.) but I had to take that stuff to get the nativity sets. There was a lady bidding against me for this lot and after I bought it I approached her to see if she wanted any of the stuff I didn’t want. She too was mainly interested in the nativity sets but she did buy all the ornaments from me for $10.
These ceramic Christmas trees are very popular. Big ones like this sell for around $200. Some of them have a music box base and sell for upwards of twice that. I paid $30 for it.
Yesterday I went to the weirdest auction I have ever been to. The ad was strange in that they only advertised on Craigslist and the auctioneer provided a personal phone number for more info. When I got there to scope out what they were selling, I learned that this guy used to work for the IRS selling confiscated property but this sale was his wife’s parent’s estate. There wasn’t a whole lot of great interest (rather typical estate sale stuff) but there was enough for me to stick around and see if many people would show up and how the prices were going. Besides, they weren’t charging tax or BP.
One of the weirdest things about this auction is this guy sold almost every little nickel and dime item as a separate lot. Here are some examples of individual lots: a baggie of a dozen or so mixed pieces of cheapo stainless steel flatware, a group of three dish towels, a little planter with silk flowers, a small group of nondescript plates and cups. I mean this is the kind of stuff that probably wouldn’t even sell at a yard sale and this guy auctioned it. No choice tables, no large groupings (with one notable exception). He could have completed this sale in less than 2 hours but it took almost twice that long. One of the oddities was a sugar, creamer, and butter dish set of cheap silver plate. He tried to sell it as sterling. Nobody was fooled. It sold for $1.
Anyway, only about 10 people showed up and half of them seemed to be this guy’s friends. It became clear very quickly that this stuff was going to sell CHEAP. There were a few pieces I was interested in so I stuck around. Here is a pic of the scene (more stuff was on the back porch):
So here is what I got:
Sony home theater set for $45. This was one of the most expensive items of the day. Several of this model (without speakers) have sold on ebay for around $200. I’m going to try to sell it on CL first.
A nice space heater with remote control for $20. Not sure what this might sell for but it has to be way more than that.
Two metal nativity sets for $45. These were sold in the Bombay store years ago. One set (the smaller, 7 piece group) recently sold on ebay for $225. The weird part about this is, for some inexplicable reason, the auctioneer decided to sell a LARGE group of Christmas decorations (including these nativity sets) as a single lot. I didn’t want any of the other junk (ornaments, fake poinsettias, a fake Christmas tree, etc.) but I had to take that stuff to get the nativity sets. There was a lady bidding against me for this lot and after I bought it I approached her to see if she wanted any of the stuff I didn’t want. She too was mainly interested in the nativity sets but she did buy all the ornaments from me for $10.
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