Things that I hunt for at garage sales / thrift stores

[mojjax]

Old drop lights are a good find - I got this one for $1.00 - Vintage Drop Light Steampunk Wood Handle Cage | eBay

 

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[famous turtle treasures]

Old drop lights are a good find - I got this one for $1.00 - Vintage Drop Light Steampunk Wood Handle Cage | eBay

I would have jumped on that one in a heartbeat.

 

[jason4kstate]

So after my 1st season garage saleing this is what I have learned...

1. Any General Electric wood grain alarm/radio clock..typically I can find these for .50-$1 and sell them for $15 and up

2. RPG Games that do not require a key. Never ever buy anything without the key.

3. Old anniversary Hallmark ornaments with the date. I found a "Our First Anniversary" ornament for .25 and sold it for $30 BIN within an hour on ebay

4. Signed costume jewelry. If its signed Monet, Trifari, Sarah Coventry, etc and it has plastic gems or pearls they are almost always $10 and up. Most garage sales I go to that have these usually sell them in a bag or by the handful. It's also a really good way to find random sterling and gold pieces.

BTW does anyone else think its crazy when people just set there jewelry box out and let people rummage through it? I have been to 4 seperate garage sales where I have found several hundred dollars worth of gold and silver (not including the pieces that have more than melt value) that are literally just sitting out.

5. Retro clocks....my bad habit is that I keep most of them.

6. 35mm lenses and cameras..especially the Japanese made models

7. Name brand watches..I mostly find Fossil watches but also be careful for Relic which is a Fossil owned brand

8. Blue glass that was used for silver mustard/salt pot liners..ie Blue Glass Liner Silver Salt Sauce Mustard Cellar Pot 5 1cm x 2 5cm x 1 8cm 28 | eBay

I bought a silver mustard pot and found that the glass was just as valuable as the container.

 

[peavey5000]

Hey Turtle, I do the same as you do, And ya gotta love finding them silver rimmed glasses when you walk around the corner and you spot them....here are a couple more things to add to the list.

Vintage cameras and lenses
Fire king milk glass, or vintage coffee cups
fire king pie plates (blue sapphire)
wheel chair cushions
vintage kitchen wall clocks
vintage record players
always look at the art, cause ya never know
vintage toys, he man is a good seller smurfs also, even the plush stuffed animals sometimes
Speakers
And if you get lucky and come across a boom box radio...grab it
and the list goes on....have fun all and happy hunting

 

[peavey5000]

[quote Vintage Corning percolators - I have 8 of them, you can't sell them on ebay so if anyone is interested I sell them on my website /quote]

I was wondering why you can't sell them?

Thanks,
Bill

Bill try selling the Pyrex glass coffee stuff it moves much better

 

[desertmoons]

I guess I will be keeping an eye out for wee forest folk in the future.




Caspela building toys from 70s through 90s look good too.

 

[Ursus]

Reeds for musical instruments. I ran across a whole lot of them a couple years ago at a thrift store and did not buy. After checking on them when I got home, I quickly hopped in the car to go back and buy them. You know how this story ended ... All gone.

But I did find a single box of them last week for 1.49. They sold in a week for 19.98.

 

[mjlalt]

 

[mojjax]

I've been doing good selling vintage safety glasses - Wilson , American Optical , etc. - I sold these recently .
They had 37 bids . $3.00 starting price . Vintage Safety Glasses Wilson Box Green Lens Steampunk | eBay .
I paid $1.00 for them .

 

[mjlalt]

I've been doing good selling vintage safety glasses - Wilson , American Optical , etc. - I sold these recently .
They had 37 bids . $3.00 starting price . Vintage Safety Glasses Wilson Box Green Lens Steampunk | eBay .
I paid $1.00 for them .

I'll have to keep an eye out for those!
I'm 5 minutes from the old American Optical building and see AO stuff all the time.

 

[mkulltra]

Not sure if someone has said this but binoculars. They can usually be bought for $5-$10. Most decent binoculars sell for $30-$100 with really nice pairs selling for hundreds. Just sold a pair of Nikon Action 10x50 for $78.

 

[randazzo1]

If you happen to live in or adjacent to N.J. - anything at all from Olympic Park Amusement Park in Irvington N.J.. It's now defunct and Irvington is on tough times, but amusement park collectors go nuts for it. Ride tickets, entry tickets, skee ball ball tickets and other ephemera bring about 100.00. More substantial pieces bring a lot more. I've sold dozens of pieces (All paper) that were free or 10 cents - 1.00.

 

[Bassmaster96]

Thanks for the tips guys. I got a scrabble game today to try, along with some cell phones and other things.

 

[TreasureHunters]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BOLOThrifting/

 

[silverdollarbill]

I really hope that TNeters will NOT post to Facebook. Keep it on Tnet. Let's not ruin garage sale hunting like what happened to CRHing.

 

[GibH]

TreasureHunters, you have started a thread for this already. Bump that thread when you feel it necessary, but please don't start cross posting it all over the GS forum.

Better yet, you could always put the link in your signature.

 

[randazzo1]

TreasureHunters, you have started a thread for this already. Bump that thread when you feel it necessary, but please don't start cross posting it all over the GS forum.

Better yet, you could always put the link in your signature.

Agreed. It's a bit spammy.

 

[mojjax]

Keep an eye out for Starbucks Mugs -
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Collectible...=1&_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=starbucks+mug

 

[gino22]

Keep an eye out for Starbucks Mugs - http://www.ebay.com/sch/Collectibles-/1/i.html?_sop=16&LH_Sold=1&_from=R40&LH_Complete=1&_nkw=starbucks+mug

Incredible, thanks for the tip. I've seen dozens of "collectible" Starbucks items that I immediately wrote off as junk. Will check them out next time.

Kind of depressing how lots of intricately handcrafted items a century + old are worth peanuts relative to stuff like this, but if that's what people are willing to pay...

 

[gino22]

And within 24 hours, I have picked up 3 big Starbucks "City Skyline" mugs at $2 each, should do at least $15 shipped each. Ha!