Janie and I have been able to restore full access to Gather. Much thanks to Gather staff for their invaluable assistance! This week Janie and I found a neighborhood yard sale, three block sales, and then enough sales to keep us going from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.
End mileage: 95273
Start mileage: 95211
(we get about 33-35 mpg in the city, and we paid $3.52 for gas after coupons)
Find of the day:
Tooled brass disk (39" diameter; 15 pounds)
price - free
sold
Yes, this was in a free pile in someone's front yard, and I'd greatly appreciate any guidance on its age or value. Figuring the outer rim contains a ring of iron weighing 3 pounds, that would still give it $22 in scrap value alone. I am however not going to clean it or anything until I've gotten some quotes.
On the one hand, the tooling is not what I would consider the careful work of a craftsperson - it's somewhat shallow in the metal, and rather uniform, suggesting there was at least some mechanical aspect to its manufacture. That leads me to believe it was made fairly recently, and has decorative value only.
Compare this to a copper disk I found years ago, which while much smaller, has very intricate tooling than must have taken many days if not weeks.
But, when I flip over the big brass disk, I get a little wake-up call. Where I expected to find a steel ring inside the rim, I instead see iron so corroded that I can dig at it with my fingernail. Whatever I may think of the craftsmanship, no way is this anywhere near being a newer item. I'll be shopping it around to at least three dealers - brass, kitsch and art - before I break down an recycle it.
The nicest thing we didn't buy:
Perfectly fine piano
price - $1
no sale
We had no way to carry it away and no place to keep it. There were dozens of people interested, so we thought the best thing to do would be to let the owners release it in the most effortless way possible. We would have had them hold it, and even then we might have come back and said we didn't want it after all. We had other sales to attend.
Other things we did or did not buy:
Jr. size foosball table
price - $10
no sale
Granted it wasn't regulation size, but it was still quite a deal.
Chairs
price - $2 each
no sale
We're good on chairs, but again, a great value here.
Pop bottle box (probably 1910 or 1915)
price (written on the side with a black marker)
no sale
Perhaps the person who did this should explain it in a post to the http://doh.gather.com/ group.
Radio Flyer trike
price - $5
no sale
It looked like it's probably newer (I think the original would have had wooden or black rubber pedals), but it was still in very nice shape. I'm too old for a tricycle, and so are my nieces (one of whom just got her Ph.D. in molecular biology).
Milwaukee power sander
price - $10
no sale
Unfortunately it didn't pass the cord test. I have a rule not to ask if it runs and not trying it out if the cord looks funky. If it had been $3, I'd have bought it, tried it out at home and if it didn't work I'd take it apart for recycling.
Self-identified crusty bike without a seat
price - $10
no sale
This is this weeks sample in the market for used bicycles.
Cookie jar
price - $5
no sale
I have a house full of "junk", and this does not qualify for addition to my collection. I also generally dislike cookies.
60s wine bottle
price - 50 cents
sold
I always buy these, and they do not hang around long in my mom's shop. I generally price them about $8, both because they'll sell for that much, and because they take up precious cargo room. The angle distorts the top to look bigger than it really is.
Brass plates (6.5 pounds)
price - $1
sold
The thought of eating off a brass plate with no discernable rim annoys me. They'll scrap out at about $10
Another 6.5 pounds of brass scrap
price - $7
sold
Good soap
price - $1.25
sold
We buy just about all our soap at yard sales, provided it's obviously unopened.
Crackers
price - $1 per box
sold
Again, only unopened.
Little flashlight
price - free
sold
I found it in the car. I've never seen it before in my life.
Hot-wheels-type cars
price - 2 for 25 cents
sold (all for $9)
This is great inventory for our own yard sale. We're going to ask $1 each until the nicer ones get picked out and then drop it to 50 cents.
Sears Dunlap drill (with it's own case, bits, buffer wheels, parts list and manual.
price - $1
sold
This did not pass the cord test, but the price was right. The seller suggested tossing the drill and keeping the little toolbox. I'll let the next owner make that call. I plugged it in when I got home, and except for having that moldy smell, it runs great. This is old enough for the buffing wheels to be partly made of leather.
John Stewart book (with a forward by Thomas Jefferson)
price - $1
sold
This is one of Janie's finds. I once saw a paperback copy of Rush Limbaugh's "The Way Things Ought to Be" at a sale for $8. I did not buy that, and the price spoke volumes about the owner's connection to how things ought to be.
Homegrown, home-canned tomatoes
price - $2.50 per jar
sold
And I should feel safe buying tomatoes in a can from the store? What do they spray on them? What do they clean their canning equipment with? I know who's keeping an eye on them, and that makes my confidence in the safety of our food supply evaporate pretty fast.
Sterling scrap (3/4 of an ounce)
price - $3
sold
I'm still stockpiling silver and gold I find. How and where I sell it is of no concern to me right now. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if it has "925" stamped on it, the maker is saying it is .925 silver. Yes, they could lie about that, but there are serious criminal penalties, and the profit in lying about that isn't worth the risk.
Screwdriver-handled wrench kit
price - $3
sold
I have a mechanic friend who might find these useful.
Saws
price - 50 cents each
sold
The older man told me they were sharp, but I was intent on selling them for their decorative value. I later jabbed myself (twice) shifting them around in the car. They are indeed quite sharp, so I've got a crossover market for them also.
New denim shirts
price - $2 each
sold
Really, they still have the creases from the original folds. Perfect for the warm shirt display in my mom's shop.
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Today made me wish every day of yardsaling was like this.
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Comments: 47
I would have liked to take a crack on those chairs.
I didn't take any time to think about the cars, Selene. I wanted them. Period : )
Gabby, the piano was almost the find of the day. It would have been if I wasn't so interested in getting answers about the brass disk.
You would have loved the 3 yard sales we had at our parents' place!
I still buy Hot Wheels for my kids and they're grown. I get them one for their Christmas stocking (yeah I still fill stockings for them and they're 26, 23, and 18). I try to find one that is like a car they either owned or wanted to own and stick it in their stocking. I would have grabbed these, I think.
Marianne, I would guess my net on the brass and aluminum (not shown) would be $23.50 - that doesn't count the silver, which I haven't found a good outlet for yet, and I'm not really trying at this time.
Sale to a pawn shop may be the way out for some of these silver items, Corina. I understand sterling doesn't bring a very high price for scrap because it often needs to be re-processed before it's ready to make something new. I've always liked those little cars, and I have a select few I picked up for myself over the years.
I got a dresser(that actually was mine as a baby) and have stripped all the New Kids on the Block and My Little Pony stickers off of it and sold it for $100 to a antique store here(as opposed to the $10 I was going to ask for it in the yard sale). So without your knowledge, you inspired me to make $100(well $90 after the stripping material). Thank you!
Looking forward to next week's installment.
I agree with you about the tomatoes. Homegrown and home-canned tend to be a lot safer than a lot of what is in the supermarkets.
Heather, I'm glad there are some who share my reasoning about the tomatoes.
I've accumulated quite a few tools, Debra. Sometimes I wonder if it makes sense for people to each have their own tools, or if it would make more sense to have a tool lending library. I suppose I've heard of such things . . .
Loved the tricycle. I have a granddaughter that would enjoy it.
What a find on the free tooled brass! My hubby would have passed on it even though it was free.
I had a tricycle once. It had to be taken and buried, I loved it so much. I didn't want to stop driving it you see, and I was getting too old to do such things.
The tooled brass is an example of why I go to yard sales. I know others don't get it, and they need to exist if there are to be such opportunities for the likes of me.
Kevin, thank you. It's always nice to have you stop by. Have I said your icon rocks, lately? Not so sure about the red and white square thingy, but the rest of it has always been my favorite Gather icon.
Thanks for your articles, always terrific
Wanda, thank you for the insight. Wow. That is a remarkably useless item. I'll get extra satisfaction in recycling those : )
(Nice brass plates)
Let me know if you have a sale, Diana, though I try not to stray too far from the downtowns.
It's the sugar in the cookies that doesn't work for me.