Garage Sales , Estate Sales

[YankeeCollector]

Has anyone had any luck? If so, list your finds.

[Cardboard Junkie]

In 1985, in a junk shop outside Detroit (They sold washers dryers stoves furniture etc) I asked if the old woman had any sportscards. Barely speaking english, she scratched her head and went into a little office to return with 2 shoeboxes covered with 1/2" of dust and tied with string. I peeked into a corner and saw a 52 bowman mays. Closed the lid and asked her how much for the boxes. She asked how much you pay? I said 10 bucks each. She replied "no no no" I want 20 each......i feigned reluctance and paid 40 bucks. I was shaking all the way home. When I got to examine my treasure there were near complete sets of 52 bowman some 53 topps 54 topps and then a few years were missing and the second box had minty 58 59 60 and 61 topps. there were 28 58 mantle all star cards (triple printed) The best card was a 1961 mantle all star that eventually graded psa 10 (at that time the only 1) I couldn't sleep for days and had to get up several times everynight to see if it really happened. All those doubles I used as tradeto complete my many sets in progress at the time. It was fortuitous because within a year it seemed there was a sportscard store on every corner. dave.

[slidekellyslide]

three years ago I bought a bat at an estate auction for $50...sold it for $9,000. By far my biggest score.

This is the last really cool item I got that fits my collection..



I have found tons of items at estate and garage sales over the years, but I am dedicated..I've gone weekly for the last 15 years

[Bobsbats]

Dan,

What bat was it ?

[atx840]

My first lot I picked up, i am new to collecting, was from an estate sale, all new to the hobby. It had 100 t205/t206s, all polar bear backs in 4-6 grades. It included a Speaker, Bresnahan, 2 Johnsons, Young, Mathewson and an O'Hara STL version all for common raw pricing. I am sure there are lots of great finds still to be had.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Bobsbats

Dan,

What bat was it ?

Tris Speaker gamer.

edited to add: here's my original post about the bat..I didn't know it was a gamer when I bought it, but found out as the thread unfolded.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ht=speaker+bat

[carrigansghost]

I threw out some 50's and 60's cards today in a lawnsale, just to see if anyone looked...............none did.

Rawn

[71buc]

I bought all of these boxes in a comic store for a grand total of 140.00 this past May. I sold all seven boxes for 600.00 each. I don't collect basketball so I reinvested the money into my baseball collection. I don't think I have ever had such good fortune or fun. Ther money is gone now and I doubt I ever will stumble upon a similiar find.

[steve B]

A few small things from yard sales, nothing much really impressive. 33 goudey for a dollar, but with scrapbook paper stuck to the back. A few other batches of cards but nothing special.

Flea market though. When we were moving after HS we set up at a yard sale ish flea market in the town skating rink. I had some bikes I'd grabbed to fix, but didn't want to sell. At least until I saw the fenway seat a few booths over. I came back to ask my parents for the money, and there were a few people looking at bikes. I dropped the prices, sold them all in about 2 minutes and went and got the seat. $20! The womans husband had worked on a park renovation in the early 70's and saved a seat from the trash.

My other best find was through my brother. He played softball with a couple kids he sort of knew. Came home and said they'd cracked a really old bat and he told them to keep it because I might want it. Swapped a newish bat, Hank Aaron store model that was a bit big for me at the time for the cracked one and a couple others he threw in. A batrite, a D+M, and the cracked one made by Bon-Topper bat co in Hartford with a Fred Parent sig stamped on the barrel. I'm pretty sure it's a gamer.

Steve B

[skelly]

Last summer I sold some cards at my father in laws yard sale at the shore. Advertised the cards in both local newspapers and online. Only got 2-3 people that even wanted to give the cards a look. Sold some nice stuff to. 59 bazooka's that I had doubles of, some old British boxing cards, Early Bowman baseball etc. Sold for about 1/2 of what they would go for on ebay, just wanted to keep it fun and make a couple hundred bucks. ( 55 bowman mays in vg sold for $20 dollars. 1959 mantle with 2 creases for $40, you get the idea ) Actually had a guy complain that I didn't have more Pre- war stuff.... I was just shocked by the lack of interest. People lined up around the block for the fishing stuff, but the cards just weren't a hit.

[MilBraves]

I have had very good luck finding Milwaukee Braves items at rummage sales. I teach, so summers off allows me to hit many sales on Thursday mornings. I'm not sure how people handle rummages in other places, but around Milwaukee, the vast majority start on a Thursday.

Here are some of my best finds:

I picked up these 2 nodders for 50 bucks total, from the same sale, last summer.
nodders.jpg

This pennant was from a rummage in 2009. I have not seen another like it since
Braves pennant.jpg

Finally, this drum came from a sale 3 homes down from mine! Don't know much about it, and it looks like some kid got his money's worth beating the tar out of it, but I think it is a very cool piece and for 20 bucks, I had to have it.
drum.jpg

[vintagecpa]

My biggest find was about 25 years ago. A huge box of vintage hockey for $5.00 including a Gretzky rookie. Unfortunately, hockey was pretty worthless at the time and I traded all of it for newer baseball. I basically contributed to somebody else's "find".

This summer, I came across a garage sale with some binders. One binder had mainly common 1968's. The others had mainly newer stuff. However, halfway into the newer stuff binder, there were some 1952's, and other 1950's stuff. I bought them blindly, and upon further inspection, there was a 1962 Mantle in one of the binders, a card even I missed the first time. Nothing like other finds, but it certainly made my weekend.

[vintagerookies51]

I've never been to a garage sale, but this thread definitely makes me want to start

[cliftons8]

I went to yard sales today. I found a set of Jarts in the original box for $2. I think I overpaid by $1. I also think these things are now illegal to sell because of potential injury. This was a typical day in my yard sale career. I am excited to see the posts of the people who do find good stuff, but at the same time envious. I enjoy this thread...it gives me hope. Oops, I think I just put a Jart thru my wife's foot.

[cubsguy1969]

Forgive this long post, but I'm a hard-core estate/garage sale junkie on Long Island in New York. It's a real passion of mine, and this is an amazing area for sales. Lots of old houses, old neighborhoods, old money, so many of the estates have remarkable stuff. I go most weekends and use the hobby (obsession) to supplement my income.

Anyway, I haven't had tons of luck with baseball-related stuff. A few old bats worth $50 to $100, some high-grade 1951 Bowman commons, some old programs here and there. Best was probably the Jackie Robinson cut signature I got for less than $200 that I flipped (didn't really want to but needed the money at the time) for $500.

I've had tons of other finds, though. Bought a large box of 1960s/70s ballet publicity photos for $80 and sold them over a couple months on ebay for nearly 15 grand. Found a signed, limited-edition book by stock market lion Jesse Livermore for $1.50 and sold it through Heritage for nearly $8,000. Once even bought a seashell collection for $100 and sold them on ebay over a few weeks for nearly 5 grand. Fun stuff.

One of my coolest finds was sports-related but wasn't at an estate sale. It was at an antique shop in upstate New York. I was looking at a box of what appeared to be old track and field ephemera, including an old photo album, when the owner yelled over, "That's the 'Chariots of Fire' guy. That's his stuff." Turns out it was a small collection of items once owned by Harold Abrahams, the guy who won the 100-meter race. The album had photos of him as a teenager in prep school and from his pre-Olympic track days. There were two leather bags with his initials "HMA" on them. There were Christmas cards, track and field programs, a mimeographed letter from the assistant to Prince Phillip and some other items. Really neat stuff. I had to beg my wife to let me buy it (I said, "Trust me, I think it's worth it.") and I talked the guy down to about $650 from $850. Anyway, when I went to do research on the photos and such, I discovered that there was a book about Abrahams coming out a few months later. (If anyone's interested, it's called "Running With Fire." Very good read.) I ended up contacting the author and he used the items in his research and thanked me in the book's credits!

I contacted Bonham's in London and they were very interested in the collection and met with me at their Manhattan office. They plan on featuring it in their 2012 pre-Olympic auction and gave me a rough estimate of 7,000-10,000 pounds, which translates to more than 15 grand. It was very fortuitous to find this collection a year before the London Games. I'm hoping some rich British bidders will have Olympic fever and fight over the collection. Regardless, not a bad investment. Also pretty nice when you can say to your wife, "See? I actually know what I'm doing sometimes." Anyway, should be fun next summer. I'll report back when they put the stuff online. And of course when the auction is over.

Cheers!
Rob

[timber63401]

I have been to a thousand yard sales, estate sales, auctions ect. and have never found anything worth a hoot but threads like this is why I keep going and trying.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by timber63401

I have been to a thousand yard sales, estate sales, auctions ect. and have never found anything worth a hoot but threads like this is why I keep going and trying.

Yeah, my thoughts too. I did find a nice Castaway fishing rod last week, brand new. Paid $5 for it and it's probably an $80 rod.

[t206blogcom]

I've gone to a number of estate sales in Virginia, but never come across cards older than mid-70s Topps beaters being sold for NM Becket prices (and I've seen people buy them!).

I recently saw a bunch of graded T206 and T205 at an antique store that were priced as if they had just been taken out of the tobacco packs. Even beater commons non-graded were $100.

The only success I've had at estate sales was with camera lenses, where I picked up $4000 worth of lenses for $900.