With no neighborhood yard sales to go to, Janie and I are adjusting with the season and going to rummage sales instead. We saw some yard sales in between, that was a bonus. It involved more driving than we're used to, but in the end the plan worked, and we had a great time.
One of the 5 rummage sales we marked was one for the Twin Cities Women's Choir, and they were ready to greet us. The choir practices in South Minneapolis, and members hail from all over the metropolitan area. The lamp, sun catcher and book we bought today all came from this sale.
Find of the day:
SCRAP!!! (not all items shown in photo)
price - $18 (value at the scrap yard - $58)
sold
At one church we arrived just in time for a bag sale, and we loaded a $3 bag with aluminum, pewter, copper and brass. We also purchased a brass chandelier there for $8. That took a bit of disassembly, but we made $10 on it, so it was worth it.
In all, we got 29 pounds of aluminum, 26 pounds of brass, a half pound of copper, a pound of stainless steel and 6 pounds of "dirty" aluminum (where I couldn't get the aluminum and steel separated from one another).
Thing we least wanted to buy yesterday:
"European Style" waffles
price - $1.79 (apparently they sometimes cost more than that)
no sale
I've heard jokes about microwave toast before, but c'mon - if I want old waffles, I'll make more than I can eat.
Other things we did or didn't buy:
Bike trailer
price - $35
no sale
Again, I'm on a mission to have people understand how great these trailers are for yard saling. It doesn't work out for my current lifestyle, but I'm surprised there aren't more people out there going from sale to sale on a bike with a trailer.
Light with a timer
price - $5
no sale
I love the idea, but I couldn't go to sleep with that ticking going on.
Cat house
price - $8
no sale
It was too costly, and that was my only reason for passing it up.
1900 or so sewing machine
price - $10
no sale
I know a time will come when I don't see one of these every week for $50 or less. I wish I could buy them all, but I have no way to store them; no way to transport them to a market where they're appreciated.
Wine bottle with "ice pocket"
price - $1
sold
These bottles take me back to the 60s. You?
Suncatcher with a music theme
price - $2
sold
This was from the Women's Choir sale. Very unique - not at all like the designs I'm accustomed to seeing in suncatchers.
Book on tape
price - $1
sold
Janie likes these for cross-country trips.
Liquor flask
price - free (part of the $3 bag)
sold
I like to mix these sorts of things in with our inventory of 1800s bottles.
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Small stained glass lamp
price - $2
sold
Another gem from the Women's Chorus sale. The cord is cut so I'll need to splice on a plug, but I bought two brass lamps I disassembled for scrap, so I have the plug already.
Fun ceramic items
price - 60 cents for the two
We have Halloween stuff we pull out each year, and I actually like the little cappuccino cup.
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Retro shirt
price - 50 cents
sold
It's not very new, but it has character.
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Janie's clothing finds
price - around $1 each
sold
These were all in great shape. I didn't find any cl - oh, wait I did find a pair of corduroy cargo pants. I paid $2.
Music box workings
price - free (was part of an ugly brass cookie tray I disassembled)
sold
This was overwound and "broken", but I noticed all you had to do was blow on the workings and they start to play. Someone can build it into a nicer resonator. I hope to get $2 for it, since it was made in Switzerland.
Flower and garden book
price - 50 cents
sold
The sign said 50 cents for paperbacks and $1 for hardbacks. Technically, this was a paperback, but was nicer than any of the hardbacks I saw there.
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Orbitz sodas
price - 50 cents each
sold
I bought all five she had. Someday these will be collectible, because of the absurdity - a little like "New Coke". Orbitz was a thick and viscous carbonated liquid with suspended bits of waxy stuff. Anyone who ever had one will remember it, and 40 years from now enough of those people will want one to remind them of their youth. That's the plan anyway.
It could be a quirk, but I just looked on Ebay, and there's one selling there with a high bid of $18. Another one listed has a bid of 1 cent, and the remaining two have no bids.
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We got home, and I checked what I call the "Department Store". The dumpster in our building has yeilded all sorts of gems over the years and this time was no different:
Fender Dobro FR50 round-neck guitar
price - free
The neck is not on the guitar, but it doesn't appear to have broken off. I also see that someone tried to reconnect it with rubber cement(?)
I have a stash of 3 guitars now that I've bought at yard sales for cheap (or got free from a dumpster). This doesn't count the Sears Silvertone I got for $5 that needs work done on the neck. It time I take it all to a good guitar maker and make a deal. I want to come away with that Silvertone playing better than any new Silvertone ever did.
Ah, I love this kind of stuff.
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Tomorrow, Saturday October 4th, we see a number of rummage sales in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Here's our route, in the order we're visiting the sales. To see where each sale is, go to the geotag of the picture in parentheses. All directions assume a downtown starting point, and are admittedly cryptic:
ST PAUL PARK CHURCH
Sat only 10/4 8-2 ST.
ANDREW'S LUTHERAN CHURCH
1000 Portland Ave
(see ghost photo geotag for map)
SUMMIT HILL HUGE SALE St. John's Church
Portland and Kent
Sat. Oct. 4 9:30-3:00 Bag Sale
Monday 9-11
(see plant book photo geotag for map)
WHITE BEAR LAKE Presbyterian Church
5th St. & Bloom Ave.
10/4 Sat 9-Noon Bag Sale $2 Sat only
(CO RD E east; 96 north; 4th East to Bloom 1 block) (see sewing machine photo geotag for map)
Lebanon Church,
Sat 9-1 Bag day 11-1.
2014 E. 36th St. S.
(down Hiawatha and west on 35th - to 20th and 36th) (see guitar photo geotag for map)
Incarnation Church Oktoberfest
Oct 4 - Saturday 10-7pm Sunday 8:30-Noon
38th & Pleasant Ave
http://www.incarnation-church.com/
(see flask picture geotag for map)
Phillips Church
2742 15th Ave South
Sat Oct 4 9am-5pm
(5 blocks west of Cedar on 15th)
(see smile cup photo geotag for map)
Salem Lutheran Church,
4150 Dupont Ave N,
Sat only, Oct 4, 9-3
(N on 94; W on Dowling; N on Dupont)
(see wine bottle photo geotag for map)
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Comments: 41
It's too bad that you don't have room to store those old sewing machines you find. Of course, I am a sucker for antique sewing machines and typewriters. It's probably my age, since typewriters were dying out when I was a kid.
Nana, the lamp will bring a nice price, I'm sure. If the cord hadn't been cut, I'd sell it in my mom's shop, rather than at a yard sale.
Sadie, you should see our place. We ran out of room 3 years ago, and we're still piling it in. We're like the cat lady, except we have pans, furniture, stereo equipment, records, plants . . .
Rob, I see you have one of those friends too . . .
Heather, I saw some astounding typewriters a few weeks back, and included them in that week's post, if you'd like to look. I don't even have a place for typewriters, no less sewing machines. Darn. I have access to a whole farm with empty rooms, but it's 1200 miles away.
Thank you, Dusty!
Kelldogg, any church where the members come from even a middle class neighborhood ought to have a great rummage sale, but they all look like junk when you first walk in. Digging is necessary. Getting there early helps, though it also pays to come back later for the bag sale, too.
Lynn, these are almost always Italian wine bottles, but I got one last year with the label intact, and it was kosher wine. It was such a cool thing . . .
Nice to see you again, Marianne! We have a much larger lamp we're ready to get rid of, and we'll be taking them both to our yard sale in Colorado.
Wanda, I have a scrap yard 3 miles away, and I still wait until I have a couple hundred pounds before going. I'd stockpile no matter who or where I am, and go when I'm headed that way.
Tanya, the ice pocket works best if you add a little water, so the ice cools the entire surface of the pocket. And, if the ice melts, you just add more. In the meantime, you don't have to guzzle the wine before it warms up.
It's smaller than it looks like, but it is very nice, Corina.
I am sure that I am not the onlyest one that fidns it odd that you'll bypass ANY kind of cord damage in a tool, (and sometimes unused cords mean the sucker is a DAWG and never got any use becasue it simply was hoprrible to su!), but will blindly put a plu8g on something that has had the plug cut off to KEEP from being plugged in..
make sure your feet are dry!
and I bought a SECOND reel type push mower yesterday at the huge yard sale we did in Apalachicola.
Ionizer FOUND btw, will be transiting son.
My primary reason for passing on the cat house was the prospect of cleaning cat hair off of it, which I wouldn't do because it would be so hard.
Frannie, I really enjoy a nice liesurely drive from one sale to another. Since I don't drive to work, the car is a place for me to have fun.
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