It was a sunny morning - finally.
We looked out Saturday morning at a city brimming with more yardsales than we could even think of attending. Two neighborhoods - Carag and Seward - would be having community sales and each advertised 50+ sales. We also saw 3 promising sales in Kenwood. Seward's sale started on Friday, and this was Saturday. Neighborhood sales trump individual sales no matter how nice the neighborhood. Carag, here we come.
Find of the day:
Early 60s Silvertone guitar
price - $10
sold
My first guitar was identical to this. My folks bought it from Montgomery Ward, probably with S&H Green Stamps. Mine got destroyed by a stray volleyball, and this one looks like it was dropped. There is damage on the back of the box, below the tailpiece. It looks fixable to me. The fretboard, nut, tuners and bridge all look fine. The finish indicates someone really took care of it before it went boom. If it can't be fixed, I'll just hang it on the wall.
Other things encounterd:
Manual sewing machine
price - $70 or best offer
no sale
We see them this nice and this cheap a dozen times a season. We just don't have room to haul this back to Colorado or anywhere else where people would be agog. I saw one auction in Montrose Colorado for several hundred, and it wasn't anywhere near as pristine as this. Time to buy a truck, I think.
Sewing organizer
price - $5
sold
We won't use it for sewing, but it will certainly come in handy for something. The handle broke off as I was carrying it, but I just took it off after I got home. It doesn't need a handle.
Restaurant cart
price - $4
no sale
Ignore the doiley (sp?). It just got in the picture. There's something very classic and working-class about this item, and I wish we had room for it but we don't. Jane's glad we don't have room too, I'm sure.
History of acid rock
price s $4
sold
I flipped it open and it had great photos. Add to that it's published by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Something to read when I'm 80.
Hey, diddle, diddle cookie jar
price - $3
no sale
Besides the moon, it had the cat and the fiddle, and the handle on top is - of course - the cow. We don't eat cookies and it would be too tempting to keep this tacky thing.
Chair made from a tractor seat
price - $100
no sale
As art goes, this was worth the money. I could see it in a house filled with the most expensive of furnishings - where driving a tractor would seem romantic (not the pain in the butt it actually is). Really, it was very well done.
Easter bunny
price - $5
sold
We liked the guys who were selling it. It's kind of creepy (with it's human hands and silk-flower suit of fig leaves). Maybe we'll bring it out both for Easter and Haloween. Comes with little chick and plush egg. (I know, I know).
Iraqi necklace
price - $3
sold
Bought on an Iraqi street for $10 - from the woman who had just finished making it. A mix of steel and aluminum - the picture doesn't begin to do it justice. Part of me wants to find that woman and hand her a wad of 20s.
Ceramic duck
price - $2
sold
He looks so earnest, and the absence of wings gives an endearing sense of vulnerability. Stands about 16 inches high.
Leopard spot fabric
price - $2
sold
We'll find something to do with it.
Hardwood CD rack
price - $25
sold
We don't need it for CDs. It's really a fine piece of furniture and all sorts of things could go in those slots. If there's anything we need, it's storage.
Countertop butcher's block
price - $1
sold
We paid the buck and hustled away. The guy said to his partner, "You put a dollar on that?!?" It appears to be a section from a large apple tree. It has very tight grain and I'm delighted to have it.
Another 7 warm shirts
price - 50 cents to two bucks
sold sold sold sold sold sold sold
A couple we paid $2 for were Willis & Geiger shirts made from this soft kind of canvas-felt stuff. I looked this company up on the web and their stuff is very expensive. One still had the cardboard insert inside the collar. Oh, some cowboy or construction worker is going to love those shirts.
A grocery cart full of stuff coming to be incorporated into our very crowded condominium. We wouldn't have it any other way. Clutter, glorious clutter.
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To Buy or Not To Buy is a weakly feature of things Janie and I did and didn't buy during the previous week. For the spring and summer months it will be predominantly about yard sale merchandise. Previous installments can be viewed at:
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Comments: 18
You should consider joining Mandi G.'s great finds Group
Great finds but the cookie Jar was the money maker!
the Tractor seat chair is neat too but Over priced in my opinion.
Great day it seems! I need to come with you guys sometime!
Nancy, it's really an inexpensive hobby (unless you drive a lot between sales). You can defray the cost picking up books for used book stores, but it takes time to learn what they will and will not buy.
Next time you head out, can you take me with you? I'm just down the street from you...I'll even come and pick you up in my Jeep Cherokee! It has lots of cargo room.... we can buy lots of stuff....
Here's a pointer. Savers on Lake Street is having a 50% off sale tomorrow. I'll be there looking for warm shirts. It may be a waste of time, but I'm not going to get my inventory up to 100 shirts by the 4th unless I take desparate measures . . .