Featured Help collapse the Schrodinger's state for me - estate sale ad

I was seriously thinking of going to this one. Between the treacherous footing today (still ice around) and highway driving on not much sleep, and the distance... safer not. I'm also a jewelry hound with no jewelr advertised. None for sale as of two days ago.

If I went, the teapot/coffeepot set in image 29 would be plated. If I stay home they're likely to be silver. There are some probable sterling handles on a knife and a salad serving set a few images over. Were the pots sterling or plated? The tray I think that was used under them is 100% silverplate.

https://estatesales.org/estate-sale...mington-home-selling-contents-2271859/gallery

 

I feel your pain!

 

If it didn't involve a highway exit and the MS hadn't made my eye twitch twice today ... but even an old joolie like me knows when to hit silk. (aka bail)

 

This is the exact thing I tell myself about staying in from a thrift or auction and I just make peace with the fact I'll probably never know/forget about it shortly.

 

There's never a deal that there won't be another...under better circumstances.
You're blessed that you can clearly see your options, an have the courage to choose correctly. Good for you, Evely!

 

The icing on the cake is that the house the sale is in was built in 2008. The owners have already moved once, and probably got rid of everything I wanted the first time. (sigh) THat's what I tell myself anyway.

 

I stayed out of a favourite antique store today....... the $55 parking ticket on my windshield....helped seal that deal !!!!

I just popped in and out of two stores.....15 minutes...and it was 1 pm with heavy traffic on the street........... sheesh...timing is everything !!

 

Dont beat yourself up .Truthfully,I dont see a thing that would have made me go out of my way .Its full of what I think of as "middle class" stuff. I dont mean that snobbishly ,its more a comment on cost and taste.Not terribly cheap when new,but not terribly costly either. Am I making sense ??? I get the feeling any good stuff was picked clean long before the sale.

 

Parking attendants can SMELL a violation and definitely teleport where I live. I do not tangle with 'em.

 

neither do i.....but...once every 2 years ...I forget that lesson !

 

Exactly!

 

Nothing I would pick up. Looks like they shopped at Pier 1.

 

When it's this icy,I always weigh the experience of a broken bone w/ a groovy knick-knack.

 

That TV is seriously old! Nothing there that gets me going -- nice Minton set of dishes, but no one really wants those fancy dinner sets anymore.

 

I liked the Minton, but wouldn't have bought it either. Ended up sleeping instead and went to the Ill Will, the ReStore ($0.00 spent in both) and the antique jewelry place. Spent $20 in there and shouldn't have bothered.

What I figured. On the other hand, middle-class sterling melts just fine. This is the sale after they moved out and took what they wanted; this company doesn't do many real "estate sales". OTOH when this bunch goofs, they really goof. I've gotten sterling for 10 cents on the dollar, and gold for even less. Antiques and art glass for not much. The know the modern pieces, but vintage gets missed.

Next weekend is a sale with a company I don't know at all well. It's in an over-55 retirement condo, but looks like a genuine estate sale. They even have a VHS/DVD player for sale and it may go first thing. Younger people want them to play their vintage VHS tapes. Not kidding.

 

Evely-Yr rockin' the Estate Sales.Haven't been to one in ages,do you still have to get there super early & take numbers ? That scene got kinda weird here in Oregon,but maybe it's calmed a bit ?

 

Yup. Get there an hour early, or more in some places. It's less competitive in towns further out into the exurbs. Most sellers do numbers, but if it's a family sale futher out into the boonies they often just open up if they're ready.

Other locations do estate auctions. Go down to Long Island or parts of New Jersey and the wait times go up even further.

 

I agree with this. Most of the estate sales in my area aren't of much interest to me as a collector since they are mostly just used furniture and decor that isn't particularly collectable or valuable. Mostly mass-produced imported stuff that is in the category of too good to donate but not good enough to consign to an auction or sell in other higher end venues. Just a bunch of USED STUFF that is out of favor in the marketplace.

 

It seems in today's AI world,where larger obviously valuable items can be ID'ed in seconds by a twit w/ a jpeg,you've got to go for the 'Smalls'.The 'Joolies' have known this for decades.
The tiny details are tough to see from online Estate Sale pics.
PS-Agree w/ Joe,mostly unsalable merch,but folks like Eve still find things.

 

The company I skipped mostly does 10% moving sales, and does move the furniture. Not's not dirt cheap, but a ton less than buying new. That said, I only buy the smalls, the proverbial devil being in the details. I also know which localer sellers tend to totally blow it when it comes to vintage merch.

My score of the Winter so far was pounds, literally, of sterling that was totally overlooked. They photographed and pushed basaltware Wedgwood and a pile of glass. Bought none of it. They BLEW IT on the sterling flaware and serving pieces. Didn't photograph it, didn't advertise it. Didn't even pull it out of the storage cabinet. Didn't see the marks. I went in hopes they'd overlooked something and it turned out that they'd left the door unlocked and the register open.