Another day another dollar

Another Day Another Dollar

Just like always I was out of the house early. I stumbled onto another free pile this week…right on my way to an estate sale. So that was very nice I picked up a few things then went to the sale. I was able to score some tools there…but little else. Then it was around to garage sales for the rest of the morning. It was a pretty slow pick for me today. I didn’t even see one piece of Fenton. I still managed to have an okay day. But it was just slow going all morning….one item here…nothing for 30 minutes…more item and so on.

The weather was nice in the morning. Cool with some June gloom in the morning. But it cleared up and got warm. Its 87 out now. Early next week its supposed to be very hot. Even though it wasn’t to bad today people were still packing up early and I called it a day around 12 and came home.

So now all that’s left to do today is BBQ some chicken and go swimming!

No feet pictures today…sorry  But if your interested in a dog or a mouse check my first picture…

Picture #1

tons and tons of 45’s Probably someplace around 400. And the best part…they were all free. It was the free pile I found first thing. I took the whole pile! I drove by and it took a second to register in my brain (hey I was only on my second mug of coffee!)…and I thought…”was that a whole collection of 45’s that said free??” So I turned around and sure enough it was. I looked through some of them. And I found some Beatles, credence, and other fun stuff. I’m going to have to dig out my player! I wish I knew more about records…aside from they should go away for me at a show pretty easily…..

Picture #2

Beswick tea pot $2 Cat shaped…that will go away quick for me. Lots of crazy cat people out there…with the Beswick name on the bottom to boot!
Indiana carnival glass punch set $1 I still have the amber one i got a few months ago…the green one is better and will sell on ebay…but its hard to pack. I stood there and I didn’t want to buy it. I hoped they would quote me like $20 so I could run…but when they said $1…I had to get it…
Tower projector free it was next to my free 45’s I just took everything they had out!
Stained glass lamp shade $3 Its nice…unmarked…tiffany knockoff I’m sure. But for $3 its still nice and should go away for 20-25 at the flea pretty quick…

Picture #3

Spode pitcher $1 I’m getting together a pretty good collection of that…
hooklatch kit $1 Help…please…i see others on the yardsale board buy them…so did I waste $1???
Westmoreland English hobnail candlesticks $1 Not a bad set of milk glass…
pink measuring cup 25cents Should go away at the flea. Won’t make me rich…but its money.
Drippings jar $1 its marked on the bottom. I can’t remember who…and I’m to lazy to go look…sorry…

Picture #4

2 vintage Pflueger reels $4 for both Not bad old reels. To bad he didn’t have any freshwater lures from the same era!
Volkswagen transporter manual $1 Might make for a good eaby item!
Stack of Old confederate notes $1 The condition is bad on a lot of them. But 2 of them appear to be in good shape. Older lady selling them told me “those were my husbands counterfeit bills.” I guess she forgot her glasses when she priced?? Anyone on here collect this stuff and can tell me prices??
A bunch of snap-on tools Same sale as the “counterfeit bills” All the tools were 25 cents each. So I took all the snappy I could find. A set of sockets and 2 wrenches. All told I spent $4 at that sale…my total was 3.75…but when she started to look for the quarter I said that’s ok. I figured I was robbing her blind…I didn’t need to get my 25cents back too

Excuses…

I don’t often got to garage sales on a Sunday. Not because I don’t like to. I can’t think of to many times when I wouldn’t go to a sale. They could call it a vampire special and start it at midnight…if the ad sounded good I’d be there. The problem is I don’t see to many ads for Sunday only sales that sound good and are worth the drive (gas). But this last Sunday I saw an ad on Craig’s list when I got up. It was for a sale about 15 miles away. It didn’t sound really good. But then it didn’t sound bad either (it didn’t list kids stuff). But see it was the perfect excuse. It was 2 blocks away from one of my favorite bakery/deli. So I took the drive…found nothing at the sale like I figured. But I was able to have a very good breakfast and pick up some cookies and a little chocolate chip cake like thing. I always grab one of the chocolate chip thing. It ranks in my top 5 desserts! In fact I think I’ll go have another piece right now!

My finds for 6.21.08

No good estate sales to hit this morning so I was able to get out of the house a little bit later then normal (6am…as opposed to 5 or so). So that was nice. My plan was to head down to my summer area and see what I could hunt up. But that changed two blocks from my house…

One of my favorite areas was having its neighborhood sale. They never run an ad…or put up a banner or anything. So you just have to hope your in the area when it happens. Normally its in April…so I had just about given up on it this year. I figured I missed it. But I saw a hand written sign reading community sale. So I pulled in and there it was. It saved me a lot of gas. I drove a whopping 26 miles on the day. Much better then the 100+ last week (11mi to the gallon on my truck…so that by itself saved me $35+). I was able to do good in the neighborhood again. One house had a nice free pile out front…no sale…just a pile of boxes with free on them. It looked like an estate cleanup…So I will have to keep my eyes on it in case more gets put out for free. I didn’t get out of the neighborhood until 9am. And I move pretty fast so you know how many sales there were to hit. I didn’t find a ton of stuff…but I got a lot of interesting items that should do well…

So from there I wondered by a few yardsales and called it a day about 11 when it was getting hot and people were packing up. It was 72 when I got up and left this morning. And you can check the pictures to see what it was when I typed this.

All in all another nice day. And I even found Fenton again this week. So all is right in my world (well aside from the heat).

iPhone picture today (on a side note I can’t wait to buy the new one!..it will be mine!)…so the pics are of almost everything but the sale. Including my foot!

Picture #1

Fenton Amber Poppy Hanging Lamp $15 Nice lamp…he had it marked 25…I got it for $15…I wish it was less…but its easy money…the hanging lamps sell good. I’ll probably get 75 or so for it.
Amber crackle glass creamer 50cents flea market junk
Sharon Cabbage Rose Veggie Bowl 50cents another flea market piece
3 Hawthorn Thomas Kinkade houses $1ea They looked cool to me…and for $3…I can’t lose!

Picture #2

Satcruiser FTA Receiver new in box $10 Nice free to air receiver. I have a hunch it will sell good! I also got a DVD player at the same sale for $10 brand new. But its not pictured because I pulled it out and hooked it up to watch a movie, relax and have a cool drink when I got home. The sale looked like a surplus electronics sale.
22 Nintendo games $10 I might sell them as a lot on line. I don’t know if any of them are good solo…
2 odd looking old tools 50cents I’m not sure what they are for…but it was cheap enough…
3 rustic animal traps $3 Good flea market item…after the house stuff last week and this stuff I will have a lot of that type stuff…but that’s good…easy to pack!
Vintage toy truck 25cents someone dug it up…I think it was underground for about 5-10 years…more? But the price was right and I thought someone might want it.
Set of ford manuals $1 Not a bad set…They should sell…

Picture #3

All free. Yep everything in the picture was free. Its what I dug up at the free sale. The pocket watches are broken…but I figured for parts…someone might want them? And I know nothing about the patterns. So anything I should look for?? I thought maybe 25 cents each at the flea would be a good price…more? Less? Then its one piece of Pyrex and some tie clips…even if everything is worthless…you can’t say I overpaid

Picture #4

Old Library desk $15 I know…i know…its furniture…I can’t sell it. But come on how can you pass it up for that price?????????????
Vintage Wave Tools Surfboard $10 Its signed Lance with a number. Not sure about it. But I figured it might make for a good flea market item…everyone else sells them so why not me. I don’t know what to ask so I might give it a go on ebay first…just in case…local pickup only

Picture #5

Vintage? Passap Knitting Machine $5 It has some poles and stuff not in the picture. The guy was just pulling it out of the garage when I stopped…I asked “What is it?” And he said “I think its a knitting machine…it was my moms…its yours for $5″ So now its mine. It looked like it should sell…right? Maybe? Please? Its heavy…so probably a Craig’s list item…and it needs to be dusted! My gamble item of the day

My stuff for today

It was migration day today…aka oldkeet’s summer tactics.

But I didn’t start out on migration. First off was a 7am estate sale. I got there pretty early but it was light out so that’s good. I always hate sitting in the truck waiting when its dark out. They opened a bit early and were quickly flooded with people. I didn’t find to much there. The prices were good…but other then a handful of tools I just didn’t see much. Then I set off on my summer route…its a bit more driving ( I think I went about 110 miles today round trip). But it turned out to be well worth it. I didn’t see nearly as many sales as I normally do (maybe 40 total for the day) but the crap sales were few and far between and I had to get out at probably 75% of the sales. So it was a nice easy going enjoyable morning.

I did see without a doubt the highest priced estate sale ever. With all the sales I’ve hit over the years (you could easily figure 30+ sales a week…times 52 weeks…times the million years I’ve been going to sales and get a huge round number). But lets just say its a lot. I have never see these kinds of prices. They had a 60’s Indiana carnival glass fruit bowl…the oval one you can’t get more then 10 for on ebay. Priced at $2,000. A red Fenton basket at 95. A Fenton thumbprint compote at 75. A clear moon and stars bowl at 45. Normally I get a chuckle out of some peoples prices…but this was to shocking to even laugh. I did ask them where they got the prices…and I was told the person across the street did it for them. And that “he has an antique store.” I left the camera in the car so no pictures and I was parked to far away to walk back and forth (I didn’t want to waste time at 7:20…sorry guys/gals). Normally an antique store will price things high…but at least they aren’t stupid about it. This was just stupid/insane/I don’t know. Oh yeah they had 2 small Roseville magnolia vases marked 750 for the pair (one is on ebay with a $49 BIN). Oh and some Avon cape cod at 1k for the set (looked like a service for 8…maybe 6). I spent more time at the sale then I should have…it was like a train crash…I wanted to run…but I just couldn’t stop myself…I had to keep looking…

Anyway here is my rundown for the day. I found some neat stuff and some good selling items.

Picture #1

2 Green depression glass bowls $2 Not bad an easy 12ea at the flea market. I found that after 11am too…don’t see to much green depression out still after 8am
Lefton Santa 50cents Still has his original stickers…it should sell good…
Cameo art glass vase $15 Its handblown…unmarked…it looks old to me. Its a total gamble…well not really I’m sure I can sell it for 40 at the flea to some other sucker who sees potential. It just had the right look to me of the old French cameo art glass pieces. And for $15 it was worth it to find out in my mind…because if it is…wow…

Picture #2

One of the coolest lamps ever made $5 I’m not really a modern fan…but that lamp rocks! I couldn’t believe it when I was quoted $5 as the price…I almost ran back to my truck with it…I really like it can you tell!
Handful of old tools $5 Some nice pieces in there…good names…
007 song book 25cents It looked like a good flea market item to me.
2 games $1ea One of them is still sealed in plastic
Set of 15 glen Miller 45’s $1 Another flea market item.

Picture #3

Tractor seat Horse bit ect $10 It was all loaded in a box I picked up the set and was told they wanted $10 for the box. That was fine by me…so in the truck bed it went. Some very good selling flea market items there.
Mission child’s rocker $5 Same sale as the horse stuff. Good deal on the oak piece…its very very dirty and dusty…I didn’t clean it for the pic sorry

Well, that’s it for today…I got some nice stuff. Not a whole lot…but it was quality stuff. None of the “will it sell?” filler/flea market items I sometimes have. And good prices to boot. Well worth the migration extra mileage and gas…but only…no fenton…

Oh on my “finds” pictures…I forget to reset my camera picture size…so if your on dial up…don’t even try…sorry

Wonder if it works?

To all my fellow eaby sellers out there worried about the new feedback changes and how it will effect you. I found a seller who has an interesting approach. Bribe your buyers with candy! I got a lure box off ebay and a hand written note on the receipt thanking me, asking me if everything was satisfactory, and asking me to leave feedback. It also came with a mint…

I’ve read that in a restaurant the waiters/waitesses get bigger tips when they write a note of thanks on the receipt and add in some candies. I wonder if it works for ebay as well???

Maybe during winter we can include some fine chocolate truffles on high ticket items? During summer (chocolate will melt) we can throw in some good caramels?

Its a thought…maybe not a very good one…but one I figured I would throw out there!  Let me know if you try it!

It pays to call around

I was fixing a mass air flow sensor on an SUV today for a friend. They happen to be one of the easiest things in the world to fix on that car. I think it took all of 5 minutes. But what amazed me (aside from how much onboard computers/sensors screw up a car). Was the price disparity. I called 3 places looking for one. The SUV is an import and those things can be a pain to find parts for. The first place was pep boys…the price was 189.98 + $30 core deposit…special order only 5-7 days. Called Kragen 155 + 40 core special order only 2-3 days. Then I called auto zone 105 plus 40 core in stock. So we went right down and got it. But how can the instore price (not sale price) be $85 different from one auto parts store to another??? After I got the part and installed it I remembered I didn’t call Napa auto parts…maybe it would be been another 85 off? Oh well not like I was paying for it anyway…

Because I also have a thing about posting pictures with each entry…I’m not sure why…I guess I’m visually oriented. Here are a few pictures of the Beach Boys concert I went to on Sunday. They put on a great show. Well worth the $55 ticket!

Sigh…

Now most people love summer. Most people love summer garage sales. But when have I ever been most people? Do most people find cheap fenton every Saturday? If its one thing I’ve proved over the years I’m anything but most people. Now I understand summer is the only time people in a lot of places can find yardsales (trust me I learned all about it a few weeks ago!). Snow and all that foul weather stuff. But this is southern California. We don’t really have that burden. So winter is a nice time…cool temps…I like wearing a sweater and socks with my shorts and sandals! And I tend to do really well at the sales. Now I do see a lot less sales (you know 50 as opposed to the summer time 100 or so). But the sales that are out tend to be of the much better variety. I guess the cool winter temps (it gets into the low 40’s! Brrr) keep the people with 8 kids and a yard full of baby toys inside at 7am. But not the warm summer sun like today. Going around to yardsales borderlines on a waste of gas these days. Its all junk. Now don’t get me wrong…we still have some estate sales. But a much higher number of those advertised “estate sales” are of the variety where the seller thinks that calling it an estate sale just means they can get higher prices for their VHS tapes and baby junk. So you have to be very selective not to waste gas and time…

So I spent most of my morning (post 7am) driving around and getting frustrated at all the crap I was seeing. There was about a 2 hour span where I didn’t even bother to get out of my truck. It was all just crap!. Now this happens to me every year. I spend the last few weeks of may and early June getting frustrated until I throw in the towel on my winter areas and move to my summer time tactics. Now I could enlighten everyone as to what those changes are. But well…some people that read this could be competition. And I don’t play well with others. So lets just say its time to abandon my happy winter hunting grounds and migrate! Yes, even oldkeets migrate

I do have a funny story from today to tell, however. So all is not lost. I saw a set of “desperation glass” today. It was just 6 green lunch plates. I read it out loud and was about to ask “don’t you mean depression glass?” When the seller went on to tell me that it was really old and made way back when times were tough and people were desperate. And that’s how the glass got its name. It was to expensive so I just stifled my laughter, thanked them and left. But all these years I was calling it depression glass…wow was I wrong

Here are my finds for today…

Pic #1

5 Freeway sign $5 Cool huh?
Fostoria American bowl $1 Not a bad flea market item…
3 pieces of Westmoreland grape 75cents 25 cents each…not to bad…the candlesticks should sell good at the flea…and the nappy is kinda cool
West Coast potteries vase 25cents flea market? Maybe…I hope…
Blue Fenton Hobnail Vase $5 Nice piece…unmarked…I like this one. Lets hope the people at the flea do also.  I think I’ve had one before…about 2 years ago??   It could have been thumbprint not hobnail?
Green swirl dep. glass cake plate $1 Nice shape…easy sale…

Picture #2

Vintage string dispenser $1 Flea market…never had one of them before…anyone got a suggestion on the price?
3 boxes of vintage icicles 25 cents For all three…more to add to my Christmas pile!
Vintage block $2 Good flea market decorator item…
vintage Lego set $1 Kinda cool….I haven’t counted the pieces…but its nice!
4 Beatles albums $2 Not a bad little set…always a good seller!

Pic #3

Gauges to a 78 el camino $5 Not a bad set I would have paid more from the ecology center. It has the Tach and should also fit monto carlo. The seller said he changed them out to some after market gauges. My gain! Probably the best thing I found today…sad huh?

Well, that is it…tune in next week for my migration report! Not to many pictures today…there was nothing worthy of a picture…and I just wasn’t thinking about it…I was to busy muttering to myself!