Two yardsale dreams came true this weekend.

[cyberdan]

#1 To do an AMERICAN PICKERS style pick and #2 to do a HOARDERS pick. What makes it best they were the same place!

Strange craigslist ad. Post-eviction sale Saturday starting at 1PM. Never saw one start that late but it fit right in with my schedule, I usually get home about 12:30 and it was 5 miles west of my place. I get there about opening time expecting a well run "estate sale" run by someone who like to sleep in late. Boy was I surprised! The owner of the house had to forcibly evict his drug addict/seller sister after a long court battle. The reason I know all this? Over sat & sun I spent over 4 hours there and got to know the owner pretty well.

The place was a god-awful mess, narrow paths to everywhere. Boxes and boxes of junk many taped shut. The owner just wanted to get rid of as much as possible in as short of time as possible. When I walked in he said he had to follow court rules so pile up what I wanted and make him an offer. During my hour and a half of picking I heard others (and not a lot) offer $5 and $10 and he gladly accepted. So I had my pile and offered $10 and he accepted.

This is what I can remember getting (I know I am missing some things)

lots of brass & copper for recycling, including a full size brass music stand
two rolls of copper wire
6-7 pieces of silver jewelry
Walther 45 handgun with scope (thought it was real till I got home. it is a $240 pellet gun)
old books

got home ate late lunch a realized I had forgotten the music stand so went back and the owner was holding it for me. He told me I could go thru the house and pick again if I wanted and no charge for anything. I spent another hour and filled another box with recycleables. As I was leaving for the 2nd time on saturday he asked if I wanted any of the Persian rugs he had rolled up in one room. I turned them down, I knew nothing about rugs. He said come back tomorrow at 1PM because someone will be emptying the whole house.

Sunday about 10AM I called an antique store booth owner that I pick for. Her husband just happens to be a "Persian rug seller" (and yes he is Persian) She said go back and get the rugs, some can be very expensive. So I went back after lunch on Sunday and half the rugs were gone. I did get 5 and rolled them up real tight and put them in sealed trash bags. Who knows what might be living in those rugs. I then spent another 1.5 hours going through boxes again picking things.

I got:
those 5 rugs
bound script from You are a good man Charlie Brown
real old German book
pair leather lederhosen (German short pants for guys probably 50 years old)
2 jewelry boxes
3 small music boxes
telephoto lens for Nikon camera's in a case
more silver jewelry didn't see before and a gold chain
hand carved wood Mary statue

I got home and started going through everything. I opened the camera lens case and took the lens out and saw something stuffed in the bottom.

What did I find a $10 bill!!!!!!!!!!

Everything was FREE

 

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[Kieth-Tx]

Sounds like your living right Dan!!!! WTG.

 

[jimmatt_43]

Nice score.Those rugs could relly turn out good for you.

 

[creeper71]

Dan you messed up not getting the rugs the first time around.... I know you had no knowledge about them but free is free.. well I assume he was giving them away for free

 

[2Minnesota]

Nice! Sounds like a "win/win" situation. He got rid of "junk" and you got some "treasures".

 

[diggummup]

Yeah, i'm waiting for my next one to come around. It's usually about once a year that a "great estate" comes around. You know... family run, packed to the gills, hoarder type, cheap, cheap, cheap!

 

[cyberdan]

Dan you messed up not getting the rugs the first time around.... I know you had no knowledge about them but free is free.. well I assume he was giving them away for free

I went to that house 3 times that weekend, it was the 2nd time (around 4PM) that he asked about the rugs. I had seen enough cockroaches in that house and didn't want them in my car and I also knew nothing about rugs. (I know Persion silver not Persion rugs) When I came back I had plastic trash bags. I am happy with what i got.

Did some research on one of the books I got. Here is a link to what I think the book is: http://www.zvab.com/Hohelied-Salomos-Martin-Luther/19083084/buch This one is in great condition at $547 mine needs some cover work.

 

[billjustbill]

Dan you messed up not getting the rugs the first time around.... I know you had no knowledge about them but free is free.. well I assume he was giving them away for free

I went to that house 3 times that weekend, it was the 2nd time (around 4PM) that he asked about the rugs. I had seen enough cockroaches in that house and didn't want them in my car and I also knew nothing about rugs. (I know Persion silver not Persion rugs) When I came back I had plastic trash bags. I am happy with what i got.........

I enjoyed you stories, Cyberdan. The interest of the 'Unknown' spices up hope and the rewards make this hobby addicting!!! If I may, let me share the past weekend's similar adventure...

I guess a coming change in the weather brings along other changes, too....... Last Friday, the lake-side large estate that already had two previous sales events, in the same inlet where a retired principal known as "Mayhan" lives. (The estate sales of the the past month was where I found all the brass doorknobs, tools, and the large old Oak framed engravings with the Oak veneer matting)

From his call, I learned the estate owners let some past customers come back and freely take what was left, just to get rid of it. They were happy to see us and supplied boxes with big smiles. They said, "Pack the full and running over. Don't feel guilty packing away anything that's left."

Surprisingly, there were many collectible, useable, or sellable items for free. I'm glad I took my wife with me.....

The sale has been about a mile and a half from the house which made it "Far Too Easy to Cart Things Home". In three different trips back home on Friday, I carried away 10 lbs of cast aluminum, 12lbs of brass, 16lbs of # 2 copper and 30+lbs of cast iron, all items of scrap value. (Unknown to the many who walked right passed, or put it back because it was worn hollowware and tableware items that was stamped "Silver Plate", much of the # 2 COPPER I found was from worn, awful looking, silver plated platters and tableware that are solid copper based),

Then, I carried home more jars and smaller containers of useable things like nuts and bolts, 12 sq.ft of white marble squares, old tools like a curved wooden handle grubbing pick and a Railroad spike driver, Stanley marking gauge, and other random parts to early hand tools were carried out in cardboard box loads. Almost covered up with fallen leaves, there was some 3/8" round bar stock sticking out at an angle. When I grabbed and pulled, two more came with it attached to one bent in an arch. With an center cast adapter, the three of them formed a vintage tripod and the arched one on top turned out to be a child-height vintage floor stand for a small collectible birdcage.....

Then, Saturday we went back again. In the bottom an old cardboard box was a quart baggie full of small brown envelopes containing Paschal airbrush parts. Adding to that 30+ pounds of cast iron, I'd found an old Griswold # 9 cast iron skillet, but the wooden handle was gone... I found the handle in back of the house on Saturday.... ;>) Auction completed, Ebay lists one like this for $45.... Also, I found a "Cutco" #22 butcher knife. What caught my attention was the sculptured handle it had. Ebay recently sold one for $25 and the rest are marked $30-$40....I learned that if I keep it, CUTCO has a lifetime warranty, and for $6, anyone can return it for polishing and sharpening... Who knew?

One of the owners had his trailer backed in and had loaded some scrap metal, along with some 10ft. lengths of 3/4" copper pipe for "His Copper Pile at Home". Two of them were uniquely decorative and maybe used on exposed piping for turn-of-the-century gas lighting. I offered to pay scrap price just to get them, and I got the three lengths for $8.... By the time I'd finished looking during two trips on Saturday, I'd gathered another 10 lbs of brass.

My wife found old sewing supplies, some beaded purses, and close to two dozen vintage dresses with some still on their store hangers. Many were hand beaded dresses, some had Neiman Marcus tags sewn in and the price tags still attached, and most all of them are made of 100% silk. If some of the dresses won't sell, they'll be salvaged for their silk material and beaded areas. She has a 96 year old and very active Aunt that hand makes 2' tall Santa Clauses using "Sculpty" flesh colored clay for the handmade faces, and detailed hands and feet and cleaned sheep's wool for his beard. They sell for $100-$250 each, depending if it sold alone or what goes with Santa like a sleigh, stagecoach, or handmade children at his feet, or if the costume is made from old quilt, antique material, or even from an old Mink stole....

For free, it was certainly a unique "sale" and a different kind of an adventure.

 

[cyberdan]

The interest of the 'Unknown' spices up hope and the rewards make this hobby addicting!!! If I may, let me share the past weekend's similar adventure.... For free, it was certainly a unique "sale" and a different kind of an adventure.

Bill you certainly had an adventure too. Thanks for sharing.
Your pick looked like a family that had money and education. My pick was a mixture. I could tell it was two generations mixed together.

#1 younger female, drug addict/felon/drugpusher (boyfriend lived there too)

#2 older lady, famous German opera singer who came to America before WWII

Looked like #2 (grandma) owned the house and died, grandson got the house and rented to his sister #1. She graduated highschool with honors and went to Ivy league college, got mixed up in wrong crowd got into drugs and was a hoarder.

 

[brendan1414]

If i were you cyberdan, i wouldve grabbed everything that i could have and sorted through it... probably a bunch of good stuff, and for free why not?

 

[cyberdan]

If i were you cyberdan, i wouldve grabbed everything that i could have and sorted through it... probably a bunch of good stuff, and for free why not?

on saturday I had to be picky, cockroaches in places.
on sunday I came back with BIG heavy trash bags and packing tape.
questionable items are still sealed in the bags.