man o man look at this estate sale

[grasswire]

I'd like to be there. Unfortunately, other obligations keep me away and the wallet has no room for buying this weekend.

http://www.estatesale-finder.com/cynthiafischborn.htm

[eleny]

1. I like the tall glass cake plate among other things

[grasswire]

2. the mccoy turtle pitcher is cool

....and I would be checking out that photo album. At this kind of a sale I like to start in the basement and poke through the "lesser" merchandise.

[eleny]

5. Yup, I was wondering about the fabric and any sewing supplies, too

[Vinca]

3. Holy Shiite! If that was Portland, Maine and not Portland, Oregon,

I'd be in my car and on the road. WOW! My dream sale!

[Paper Roses]

4. Hi Vinca, I'd be on the road right behind you. Can you imagine

what we can't see? This is a dream house. One of those places where you wish you'd had a day alone and a big van.

In all my days of poking around, I don't think I've ever seen a more crowded house. I can imagine the auctioneers have their hands full. At least the stuff looks clean. Have you ever been in a house where the stuff is so grubby you don't want to touch it? I have. Gave me the creeps.

The forum is quiet but we all know we're out there, scrounging. Maybe we should go to Oregon.

[grasswire]

6. it's not an auction.....just a sale.

and I see a listing as packed as this house about twice a month on craigslist. I'm still kicking myself for things I didn't get at the one across the street from my grandmother's former house. That one had been untouched for seventy years.

Of course, in New England you have homes in the same family much longer than that. A friend of mine attended a sale in Connecticut that was seven generations estate -- it was actually in my family line, owned originally by a gr gr whatever uncle. My friend bought some things for me out of that sale, which was very very very cool. Childrens books from the 1700s, etc. And a descendant who had lived in that house was able to tell me where the bookshelf had stood in the attic for generations, etc. That's my dream sale.

[eleny]

8. Thanks for the craigslist tip

I didn't think of it because I don't go out for a day of garage sales these days. But I checked what was happening around the Denver area today and there was a heck of an estate sale in an old mansion house. The pictures at the web site of the company running the sale showed a lot of interesting stuff. I saved their site to check back.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but craigslist only shows the sales for today and then going back in time. I couldn't see how to get to listings for next weekend. Maybe they only update daily for that day.

[Paper Roses]

10. Under the category of Garage sales, do you type in your town name?

It will pull up all the listings in your town under that category. You can then do it for any other towns that you might want to visit.

Search for: Town name under: Garage Sales

Works here

[grasswire]

11. the listings get buried and fall off...

...so I don't look at them until Thursday or so each week. I type "estate" in the search box first just to see what's out there. Then I narrow that by typing in my suburb.

I am mostly interested in estates. There are fifty sales on craigslist today called "estate" sales. A few are in my area, most are on other sides of the metro area.

In regard to Paper Roses comment about traffic, that really isn't a problem here. A sale like the one in the OP might have fifty people signed up for numbers in advance, and most of them will get inside in the first fifteen minutes. Then it will be a few dozen people an hour and taper off in the afternoon. Second day or third day if there is one, prices will be cut in half for items under $100, and offers can be left for larger pieces. So a lot of people gamble on getting a better price second day.

A dozen or more dealers will be first, of course. Furniture, and vintage clothes, and glassware are always there hot to trot. People carry baskets to put their smalls in. Furniture dealers carry personalized "sold" stickers to tag furniture as they go through.

I am always after paper, certain books, and then anything I know can bring money. Linens for myself.

[Paper Roses]

9. I can't imagine the traffic at this sale. How will they keep track?

I'd sell my soul to be there!

[Vinca]

7. Re grubby houses -

Last summer I stopped at an estate sale at an upper end condo unit. The woman apparently had been a painter and much of her work was for sale. Her work was pretty good and I might have bought some of it to resell, BUT . . . the whole place smelled like a 200 year old cat litter box that had never been cleaned. AAARRRRGGGGHHHH! It was horrible. The only thing from there I MIGHT have put in my car would have been an original Picasso.:rofl: