Some things at Garage sales people need to be aware of.

[Gare]

I do quite a few garage sales. The main thing I look for is books. You people need to be aware of old books. I always ask the sellers if they have any old books that tell of the area around them. You would be amazed the information you CAN FIND IN THESE OLD BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS. They tell of old picnic grounds , PARKS FAIRS Race Tracks, Ball fields . If you do SALES BE SURE to ask the sellers. Do not tell them to much info you might stop them from selling

 

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[traveller777]

I do quite a few garage sales. The main thing I look for is books. You people need to be aware of old books. I always ask the sellers if they have any old books that tell of the area around them. You would be amazed the information you CAN FIND IN THESE OLD BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS. They tell of old picnic grounds , PARKS FAIRS Race Tracks, Ball fields . If you do SALES BE SURE to ask the sellers. Do not tell them to much info you might stop them from selling

Great advise, Gare.

 

[Gare]

I also forgot to mention Look through the books some times i have found old paper money let in them so turn the books upside down and leaf through the pages.

 

[TerraKacher]

If you find money in the books, do you offer it back to them, or keep it?
Another thing to ask about is old pictures of your state. Back in Washington State, I met a lady whose mom had passed away. The family said she was an avid photographer and had boxes of slides and old pictures. They were trying to clean out the house and find a home for the pictures. I ended up with a small box of slides. Most of them were from overseas. But a few were locally from the era of black and white.

 

[ArfieBoy]

I also forgot to mention Look through the books some times i have found old paper money let in them so turn the books upside down and leaf through the pages.

You gotta be careful when you turn old book upside down that you don't break the spine and make pages fall out. I you do you might have bought a book you don't want!

 

[Red-Coat]

I also forgot to mention Look through the books some times i have found old paper money let in them so turn the books upside down and leaf through the pages.

You gotta be careful when you turn old book upside down that you don't break the spine and make pages fall out. I you do you might have bought a book you don't want!

Good advice on both counts... and don't forget to look in the gap between the spine and the binding when you open up the book. It was a favourite place for tucking away notes (including banknotes), maps and paper mementoes.

 

[CreakyDigger]

If you find money in the books, do you offer it back to them, or keep it?
Another thing to ask about is old pictures of your state. Back in Washington State, I met a lady whose mom had passed away. The family said she was an avid photographer and had boxes of slides and old pictures. They were trying to clean out the house and find a home for the pictures. I ended up with a small box of slides. Most of them were from overseas. But a few were locally from the era of black and white.

I buy and sell old books for a living. If I sell a book and there is something inside it, it belongs to the buyer. It is my mistake for either not knowing it is there, or my gift if I do. No need to return it.

It's like buying a used couch and finding a 10 dollar bill in it. It's yours.

Many years ago I bought a good book of local history from a dealer. I found a bank note from the 1840's or 50's in it. I contacted him and he said it went with the book. That has always been my policy as well.

 

[Gare]

I usually do not offer it back to them. i look through the books when i am home not on there property

 

[Keith Jackson]

I buy and sell old books for a living. If I sell a book and there is something inside it, it belongs to the buyer. It is my mistake for either not knowing it is there, or my gift if I do. No need to return it.

When my father collected books years ago when I was little we had a deal. He got the books and I got whatever was stuck in them. Got a number of postcards, advertisements and newspaper articles.

 

[Gare]

When my father collected books years ago when I was little we had a deal. He got the books and I got whatever was stuck in them. Got a number of postcards, advertisements and newspaper articles.

Keith i totally agree with you LOTS of things are stuck inside books besides money. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL What you throw away . Old post cards for example can be quite valuable

 

[dejapooh]

I do fairly well with books. I list them on Amazon. I rarely pay more than $1, and get all sorts of prices for them. My best was a hard cover copy of Sites of Maui. Paid $1 for it and it sold for $900.

I do well with art books, Gay and Lesbian books, religious books, and some others. It's a great gas payer. I sell enough every week to pay for the Gas to go to garage sales.

 

[airborne1092]

I do quite a few garage sales. The main thing I look for is books. You people need to be aware of old books. I always ask the sellers if they have any old books that tell of the area around them. You would be amazed the information you CAN FIND IN THESE OLD BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS. They tell of old picnic grounds , PARKS FAIRS Race Tracks, Ball fields . If you do SALES BE SURE to ask the sellers. Do not tell them to much info you might stop them from selling

I bought a great book written in the 1920s, Sergeant York and His People from a little bookstore in Coeur d'Alene, ID a decade ago. When I flipped through it, I found several articles from a Spokane, WA paper reguarding Alvin York's death. It was pretty rad, to have that little piece of history included!

 

[pepperj]

In mid 1989 I went to an estate sale. Weird even though it was advertised I was the only person that showed up. Everything was for sale, so I took a book off the shelf opened it, and a gold Sovereign fell out onto the carpet.
Weird it was then "NO BOOKS WERE FOR SALE"
Everything else that was bought was inspected thoroughly by the young lady that gold fever in her eyes.
We went through lots of shelved books that morning, and nothing else was found.

 

[ADHD_Outdoors]

Years ago when I was in college my dad bought me a book of all the old schools in our county. I think he was probably guilted into buying it at the time. Nevertheless, I hav eit now and it's a good resurce to have.

 

[CreakyDigger]

Years ago when I was in college my dad bought me a book of all the old schools in our county. I think he was probably guilted into buying it at the time. Nevertheless, I hav eit now and it's a good resurce to have.

A great resource for detecting, I think.

 

[PetesPockets55]

...... The family said she was an avid photographer and had boxes of slides and old pictures. They were trying to clean out the house and find a home for the pictures. I ended up with a small box of slides. Most of them were from overseas. ...

The same thing happened to me with a box of slide negatives. Turns out the photographer took them in the Pacific during WWII and they had been cleared by the war department. The negatives were hard to make out being so small and the B&W shades reversed. Mostly people, some equipment, a pallet of Tide detergent (LOL), and one that looked like a man standing next to a plane wing with a circle on it! May have been the Rising Sun of Japan but I haven't had it developed yet.

Another old book from Vermont had recipes pasted over a dozen or so pages of newly passed laws in 1888 I think. Out of curiosity, I started reading through some of the laws and noticed a Ferry lease for a specific town and river had been rescinded and awarded to someone else. After doing more research online I realized those ferry leases were awarded about every 20 years. Google earth is amazing BTW.
This book was the tip of the iceberg for me expanding my thoughts on places to research for areas to metal detect.

I don't visit Vermont and probably never will so if anyone is interested in the info PM me and I'll see if I can locate the book and share some of it.

 

[CreakyDigger]

The same thing happened to me with a box of slide negatives. Turns out the photographer took them in the Pacific during WWII and they had been cleared by the war department. The negatives were hard to make out being so small and the B&W shades reversed. Mostly people, some equipment, a pallet of Tide detergent (LOL), and one that looked like a man standing next to a plane wing with a circle on it! May have been the Rising Sun of Japan but I haven't had it developed yet.

Another old book from Vermont had recipes pasted over a dozen or so pages of newly passed laws in 1888 I think. Out of curiosity, I started reading through some of the laws and noticed a Ferry lease for a specific town and river had been rescinded and awarded to someone else. After doing more research online I realized those ferry leases were awarded about every 20 years. Google earth is amazing BTW.
This book was the tip of the iceberg for me expanding my thoughts on places to research for areas to metal detect.

I don't visit Vermont and probably never will so if anyone is interested in the info PM me and I'll see if I can locate the book and share some of it.

Another great resource are church histories.