Featured House clearance

Bravo, indeed!

Are buildings like this usually renovateded or torn down in your part of the world? I love the old brick, fireplaces, etc.

Yes, thank you from me, too. I've enjoyed hearing of your experiences from start to finish, and hope the sales go very well.

 

As an aside - the photo of you conforms SO closely to the unconscious mental image I had developed of you that it is almost uncanny. Though it should be immaterial, it only reinforces my interest and respect for your opinions and knowledge. Thank you again!

 

Mansons, I keep unconsciously thinking your avatar is a photo of you, although of course I know it isn't.

 

My avatar is a (large format) photo of an ancestor - and I used it because over the past few decades so many have noted our resemblance that I felt impelled to use it. The major difference between he and I is the hair - I have none on the face but lots shoulder length on the top as opposed to his shiny pate and bristly soup strainer................ not sure if you can see it, but he is wearing a delicate little "lady's" ring on his right hand pinky finger - one his future wife gave him as a love token and which he never removed, even through years of scorn and derision, because a gentleman NEVER wears a pinky ring...........

 

Af and Mansons,
Af I pictured you skinnier and shorter hair. Mansens I pictured you taller and more hair on your head than your ancestor.
greg

 

AF,
Thank you so much for all your words of wisdom and the work of telling us all about "The Great Clearance".
greg

 

Mansons, nope, can't see the pinky ring, but enjoyed hearing 'bout it.

Af, I may be imagining this, or it may have been someone else, but it seems to me that years ago you had a website and there was a photo of you with long hair? That's how I've pictured you, anyway.

Greg, I'm working really hard not to picture you as the cartoon figure in your avatar!

 

Me too !!! AND....loved seeing your picture....you are just as I thought you would be...! (a truly distinguished gent!)

 

Me three! Thanks for showing this! Lots of hard work but you found some wonderful items, I hope you do very well selling them off!

 

Hi Pat,
Alright The last photo I had taken of me was my 70th birthday. I look the same only my hair is whiter and my eyebrows and mustache are now grey and I am 50 lbs heavier and nine years older.
greg

 

Great photo, Greg! Your big smile is just what I would have expected.

 

Thank you, AF, for sharing this adventure with us. Looking forward to any tales you have to tell as you sell these things!

 

Af, It has been a splendid trip and I thank you for sharing.

You pretty much the way I thought, but I did picture you (in my mind) clean-shaven.

 

and my partner who showed great patience and fortitude beyond the call of duty, and wants to do it all again.

Hopefully she was able to choose a sercy or 3 out of the bootie. LOL

I too enjoyed reading this thread & living vicariously through your treasure hunt.

 

I did try clean shaven once, about 25 years ago, and the reaction was so negative I had to go round with a scarf over my face for a month till things were nearly back to normal. No one ever suggested it again.

 

What's a sercy? I have said pick anything you like, she said I want to keep all of it as a reminder. I think she has a more personal link to the stuff, having picked a lot of it, and enjoyed being part of the operation, than the stuff I go out and buy on my own. That stuff can usually go right away, sooner if possible. Only a few pieces get permanent house room.

 

Would cigarette lighter fluid work similarly? I use it on so much stuff safely.

 

OK! Great! Thanks!
Lighter fluid is how I remove stickers off everything. I have only once had trouble over many years and that was on some comics from Mexico in that the ink was very poor and released in cleaning.
It evaporates fast.
I do this most often with books in that I pile them up with stickers showing and put a small bottle, or some such item, over the sticker after enough fluid to cover it. I let it sit for awhile and up it comes though I am careful to not ding and damage the book cover with a fingernail or tool. Then I use some tissue/TP to clean the rest off with more fluid if necessary. Soak again if necessary.
If I have a sticker on a book spine or some other object not flat, I stand it up so as to be as flat as possible so the fluid stays put. I use cheap plastic sandwich or snack bags over the fluid with a cloth over that to hold it close while soaking.
Lighter fluid is no longer cheap. Not that long ago I could get a new can up in Canada for 50cents! Now they are $5 here so I watch out for it at garage sales along with tape etc. especially strapping tape since it is also expensive now.

 

Rubbing alcohol does the same without the odor and is cheaper. It evaporates more quickly as well. I do avoid using it on old cloth bound books because the colours do run.