Where do you "fish"?

I used to buy almost exclusively from other dealers and pay really good money for things. I also sold really good things for big money. Not any more. I shop the bargain basement and pay very little. I also sell primarily junk .

 

Charity shops can be very good for glass still. Simply because it's not signed and staff don't know what they've got.

 

Bricks and mortar auctions for me.

We need a constant supply of items without spending too much time on acquisitions, as most of our time is spent adding value by researching, listing and sales fulfilment.

Two auctions a month is plenty, so that's 4 days a month buying including preview days.

There is still good stuff to be had at car boots, but it is hard to justify the time and effort unless the quantity is also there, which is often isnt.

Charity shops are mostly a waste of time for buying good stuff with enough margin to make a profit. I know that many of my vintage donations to the local cancer charity shop go straight to their Ebay team!

 

I think it depends where you are and what you're after. I often buy Whitefriars not all that far from where it was made.

Agreed on B&M auctions. Some of our bigger local ones sell a whole shelf for not a lot. You can then sift them and sell individually back at another auction.

I love car boots, as I seem to do well at them.

 

Same for me. I cast a pretty wide net to find things. I've been doing well at church rummage sales this year. I do find some good things in my local thrifts, but it's spotty for sure. Lately I've been walking out without finding one good thing to buy.

 

I would say that 95%+ comes from the local Friday night auction & from a local consignment shop. The only time I ever go into thrift shops is when I drop off boxes & that is only if I have time to spare.

However, I am with Brad & have been backing off on things much more than in the past. The consignment shop is one where you consign for 90 days & they discount every 30 days if it does not sell. I find myself making notes about stuff & waiting to see if the item is still there on the last markdown on much more stuff that I might have bought at their full price. As far as the auction, I have found myself talking myself out of things on a fairly regular basis even when the item goes for a bargain basement price.

Peggy

 

I went to a church sale today, only to find out they'd decided at almost the last minute to open up the night before ...only no one told ME. ARGGGH! OTOH Operation Christmas Child scored 14 stuffed animals for next year- for a buck. I couldn't argue with that price. It all goes to kids in refugee camps and third world countries, and when they heard where they were going the ladies pretty well threw a bagful at me. Now if only I'd found some jewelry at those prices...but the good stuff they had left was all good prices too. I find that a lot too - anything good being priced over the odds.

 

#1 for us would be country auctions, preferably at a run-down farm that hasn't had an auction for generations, if ever. They get scarcer every year.

#2 is the local (metals) scrapyard. I am amazed at what people will discard/sell for very little money. I've developed enough of a relationship with the crew so they'll occasionally save things for me. (The occasional $20 bill and 'Here, let me buy you lunch' doesn't hurt.) On the other hand, it is sad to see fine old cast iron broken when they threw it off the truck.

#3 is out in one of the barns and sheds, where we've been piling things for so long we've forgotten we had them. Picking ourselves, as it were.

 

#1 for us would be country auctions, preferably at a run-down farm that hasn't had an auction for generations, if ever. They get scarcer every year.

You just reminded me of something I have regretted for many years. I was driving back home to Ohio a few years back & was all by myself. As I was driving through the Amish region I saw they were having an auction at a farmhouse. I wanted to stop so bad I almost couldn't stand it, but I was going up there to help my niece with stuff that had been left in the house they had bought. I knew things were going to have to come back home with me & I didn't know if I would have any room left after I packed it all up.

I have always wondered what I missed & will likely never have another opportunity to go to another auction at a place like that one.

I really believe if that happened to me today, I would call to say I wouldn't be there till the next day & figure it out later.

Peggy

 

Indeed!

 

I recall such things as this and a huge stack of very old windows on the sidewalk in Savannah....... I live near Seattle.

 

Greg, did you ever go to the Red White & Blue thrift store in Paterson? (Florida transplant here, from NJ). I was there about 6 years ago, and the place is enormous---and cheap! I had 2 shopping carts pilled up with 'good stuff' and spent only $78. Every thing I bought there brought good-excellent profit online.

 

Was just there at the museum and didn't know of this!
Another city many people may stay away from.

 

Hi Artsfarm,
Never been to the thrift store. Last time I was in Paterson was 1999. Never had time to thrift sale then. I went from the train station to the hospital and home.
greg

 

I know; I lived there until the early 90s. Very sad because it is/was a beautiful city at one time. I lived last near the falls which is not far from the museum, if you went to the one with the locomotive exhibit.
This is the R/W/B thrift shop:
http://redwhiteandbluethriftstore.com/Paterson.html

 

Hi,
I went to the Stieffel family estate sale. The Stieffels were a famous brass family that made lamps of great quality and solid brass, no plating. They were a famous family in Paterson. They had a large estate and everything had to move. I bought perhaps a dozen lamps that where made for the family but not produced commercially. Still have three of them the others sold for over a grand apiece. I paid 25 bucks apiece for them. The furniture was so high out of my price range but it was being bought. I found one Oriental rug that I wanted but a woman had bought everyone in the house. I think the papers said she bought over 200 of them.
greg

 

I went to the falls in '15 and it was a mess. Was just cleaned up.
The museum was closed the day I was there then.
What's sad is the state of the old baseball field near the falls.
And also the Abbott and Costello museum at Montclair State has closed. There are some things at the Paterson museum which is where they should be anyway. I was at The Yogi Berra museum there two days after he passed. Very sad.
Holland's submarine is inside the Paterson now as well.

 

How sad; I toyed with the idea to go back for a visit because I found out that my father painted murals right after WWII in some of the banks and government buildings there. I wanted to see if any of them were still intact, but couldn't find any info out from the historical society or anywhere else. Still curious, though.
That submarine used to be in a park behind where I used to live (McBride Ave), and at one point, it was stolen and moved. I guess they put it in the museum after that.

 

That's a great legacy! Try the Chamber of Commerce. See what they say and go check it out either way. Being there will make a difference and I'm sure there are folks at the museum who know things.
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I still enjoyed going both times. I'd go again. The only thing I didn't like was driving around downtown because of traffic and the many turdbags I saw walking around.

 

No one has mentioned skips. And fly tips!