I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I have a "one that got away" story, and I was early to the sale!
I was on a road trip and rerouted to Denver for Saturday night in order to go to a rare Sunday morning sale. It was five young guys who had purchased a dilapidated house with all the contents in order to renovate it as their first rental. As they pulled up to the house in their various vehicles at around 630 in the morning, they noticed me sitting in my vehicle and said I was welcome to come into the sale even though it wasn't scheduled to start until 7 AM. The foyer of the house had some tables and a small bookshelf set up FULL of jewelry. Most of it was in jewelry boxes.
One of the young guys told me that the jewelry was a dollar a piece, regardless of what it was. Now, I still kick myself to this day, but for some reason that still baffles me, instead of immediately saying "I'll take it all", I proceeded to wander through the house, picking up the odd item here and there and taking my sweet time. The house wasn't very big, but I am the type that wants to dig in every nook and cranny. Around 25 minutes had passed by the time I made it back to the foyer. There was a new arrival rifling around the tables; a woman with a 5 gallon bucket basically using her forearm to sweep the jewelry boxes and loose pieces off of the table and shelves into the bucket. I squeezed in and managed to snag just a few pieces before she got to them.
Out of the three pieces I grabbed, two were pretty elaborate Joan Rivers costume jewelry that I sold for $30 and $40 respectively within the week. The third piece is a marked 14 karat yellow gold ring with a green stone. I have that tucked away for my "rainy day fund".
Anyway, I guess my point is, whether late, early, or Johnny on the spot, the nature of this hobby is that some deals will haunt you. Missed opportunities, bad buys, the list goes on. I need to heed WarBaby's words of wisdom - The next one is right around the corner.
