Anyone ever find nice stuff at garage sales..??

[rjackson44]

Found this last night $10 for all ..gave her $50 was happy.Nfs ..plus a lot of vintage hockey

[toledo_mudhen]

Killer stuff - Finds like that are few and far between (for me anyway)

[chriskim]

A few years ago, I bought a breastmilk pump for $10 and sold for $25. Does that count?

[rjackson44]

Originally Posted by chriskim

A few years ago, I bought a breastmilk pump for $10 and sold for $25. Does that count?

No that does not lol

[bobbyw8469]

Not really...most of my yard sale finds are shiny stuff. I once saw some old 1955 Bowmans once. All commons. No stars, no umps. The guy thought he had gold. I walked away empty handed.

[Cmount76]

About 15 years ago, I was driving by a garage sale and noticed a considerable amount of sport stuff, so I pulled over. He had a folding table, with about 5-7 5,000 count boxes.

Very long story very short - I began thumbing through. We had a short conversation (really nice guy) - he led me to his garage - In awe, I left, rented a small U-haul, and returned to load everything away. In total, (47) 5,000 count boxes, along with random boxes holding cards.

Some of the highlights included (3) 1957 Mantle's, a '55 Aaron, a '53 J. Robinson, and a near complete '59 Topps set.

Needless to say, I had a good card day!

[butchie_t]

Not cards and not yard sale. I went to an antique store and came across a display of older, silver coins. There were over 20 silver coins alone in this display. The person wanted $20.00 for it.

I went to the cashier and bought it right then. Once all the coins were removed, they priced out at just over $80.00 in melt. So, 20 for 80 (net 60) was a great deal for me.

Best I got.

Cheers,

Butch

[obcbobd]

1972 and 1973 sets in NM condition (sold both for $5k 7-8 years ago)

Shoebox full of 66/67 BB and FB

Autographed Yaz photos and bat (Yaz did some work for his company)

70/72 and 72 ATG Complete Kelloggs sets

[Eggoman]

Not me, but my Pa...

When he was alive, he LOVED Garage Sales. He didn't know much about cards or prices of "STUFF", he just bought by instinct...

Years ago, he knew that I collected OLD baseball cards and he came home with these for me as a gift...

My jaw dropped to the floor. He never told me what he paid, but he didn't pay much for anything. (Jon Canfield is still after me for the TTT - Hey, Jon!)

Thanks, Pa!

[bnorth]

Nice find Octavio.

This still saddens me. I stopped at the local Sally(Salvation Army) Monday and they had a mint Bert Blyleven figure for $4.25 out the door. I looked and they sell for $15-$20 plus shipping on eBay.

Then as I was going to take a pic to send to a friend I went to move another piece and knocked the Bert figure over. Of course it broke both arms off when it hit the floor.

Never cards but found a awesome Foghorn Leghorn glass and a cool little silver box/charm at my neighbors rummage sale last fall.

About to hit submit and remembered I have got a sports find. I found an autographed picture of Dr J several years ago. Still have it. Would have sold it but it is made out to "Clint". Have yet to find someone named Clint looking for a Dr J auto.

[ParisianJohn]

Not at any garage sales, but at some estate sales.

I went to one about a decade ago where they had a table with about 100 raw T206s that were selling for half the going market rate. There were a few HOFs, though not big names like Johnson, Young, Cobb, etc. I imagine some family member of the recently deceased homeowner knew enough to pull any pricier cards/bigger names (had their been any) and left the rest to be unloaded. I did pick up a decent condition Clark Griffith.

I also went to another estate sale with my wife and infant daughter where someone had gotten there a bit before we arrived and bought a ball autographed by the entire 1952 Yankees. Ouch! That one still stings to have missed out on, and we didn't get there when it first opened because our daughter was extra fussy that morning. Those kids will cost you!

At one garage sale we went to that was hosted by a woman in her mid-30s a few blocks from us, I saw she had a framed photograph of the Boston Beaneaters from 1892. In the picture there were like five Hall of Famers (Kelly, Duffy, Nichols, Clarkson, McCarthy) and a few others seated at a table. Whoa.

This woman ignored me repeatedly at her own garage sale when I tried to ask her about it, which isn't the best tactic for a salesperson. My wife (who was born in Japan but lived most of her life in the US) and I had arrived within 30 seconds of each other and she didn't know we were together and she was all over my wife and complimenting her clothing in an almost Asian fetishist way. It was really weird...

Anyway! Eventually she begrudgingly spoke to me and told me it was an original. I asked if I could please open the back of the frame to verify and it turned out to be a reprint from the early 1970s. I made some comment about how it was too bad because otherwise it'd be worth something. She rolled her eyes at me and said, "No, it wouldn't!". She the berated me and said old baseball memorabilia is worthless. Every time I pass her house on a walk now I want to throw a baseball through her windows.

[jcmtiger]

25-30 years ago, not anymore.

[58pinson]

What's in the picture - plus vintage hockey!! Congrats Octavio, very nice find.

[rjackson44]

Originally Posted by 58pinson

What's in the picture - plus vintage hockey!! Congrats Octavio, very nice find.

it was a nice lady i gave her $50 dollars she asked for ten ,,she also had beanie babys ,,thats where i drew the line ,,lol

[58pinson]

Just logged back in to say what my spaghetti strainer head forgot at first - Even nicer than the find was doing the right thing. Congrats!!

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

Not a huge find, but last summer I was at a garage sale and someone had two big tubs of what appeared to be mostly early 80's cards (typical garage sale find). They gave me the disclaimer that all HOF cards had been removed, but I took a chance and bought the lot for $20.

Included in all the junk wax there were three 800 count boxes at the bottom where I found three complete Topps sets in NM condition (1979, 1980, and 1981....including the Ozzie Smith and Henderson rookies, although off-centered as usual).

Not gonna get rich with that haul, but it was fun to sort through and find some hidden "gems".

[Ray Van]

I've been going to garage sales for decades, lots of decent finds, a few vintage. A couple years ago I picked up a few dozen late 50's early 60's baseball in poor-good condition, but included Mantle, Maris, and other stars. And maybe about 20 years ago I purchased a box of 1970's baseball/hockey that contained a few decent cards. I also find garage sales are a great place to find SGA bobbleheads. My best find was probably 15 replica soccer jerseys (1980's era) for $2 each - there was a rare Liverpool kit that they only wore for one season, I sold it to a buyer in Hong Kong for about $300. And 40 years ago I found Tales of Suspense Issue #1 for $0.10.

[Snapolit1]

My experience at garage sales is that everyone is now convinced that their 70s, 80s and 90s junk wax is worth 15x what it's actually worth. If they have something "old" it's even more ridiculous. And of course nothing is going to grade particularly well if that's your thing.

As far as Salvation Army thrift, Goodwill and places like that, I suspect they have regular baseball card buyers who are alerted before anything is actually put on the shelf. Guy at a local Goodwill told me as much on one visit.

[LEHR]

The best thing I've found at garage sales is old baseball photos. I've found photos at a few sales ranging from c.1910's to the 1950's. Mostly youth/HS/town teams.

[mocean]

Great find Octavio - and, nice that you paid over the ask price!

I've not had any luck with card finds at garage sales, but around 15 years ago I bought a painting I liked for $10 of a dutch style windmill in a field. Wife thought I was crazy, "...why do you want that?!". It looked old, and looked like it was done by someone who knew what they were doing, so I bought it.

Got home and after a bit of research found the artist to be a fairly well-known american painter from the late 1800s named George Hitchcock. Had it appraised back then for $5000 - not bad for 10 bucks! Needless to say, my wife doesn't question my judgement anymore when I want something at a sale lol

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by chriskim

A few years ago, I bought a breastmilk pump for $10 and sold for $25. Does that count?

*I've never gotten one of them to work fir me...

[rjackson44]

Originally Posted by mocean

Great find Octavio - and, nice that you paid over the ask price!

I've not had any luck with card finds at garage sales, but around 15 years ago I bought a painting I liked for $10 of a dutch style windmill in a field. Wife thought I was crazy, "...why do you want that?!". It looked old, and looked like it was done by someone who knew what they were doing, so I bought it.

Got home and after a bit of research found the artist to be a fairly well-known american painter from the late 1800s named George Hitchcock. Had it appraised back then for $5000 - not bad for 10 bucks! Needless to say, my wife doesn't question my judgement anymore when I want something at a sale lol

Hope you and your family are great . Ive done well with art my mom is a big collector.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Eggoman

Not me, but my Pa...

When he was alive, he LOVED Garage Sales. He didn't know much about cards or prices of "STUFF", he just bought by instinct...

Years ago, he knew that I collected OLD baseball cards and he came home with these for me as a gift...

My jaw dropped to the floor. He never told me what he paid, but he didn't pay much for anything. (Jon Canfield is still after me for the TTT - Hey, Jon!)

Thanks, Pa!

Cool Pieces and great memories he gave you

[G1911]

I have bought a fair number of junk wax stuff from garage sales for almost nothing, just for fun to open. Only time I found something good that wasn't priced as if it was the Shroud of Turin is a batch of boxing tobacco cards I bought. About 100 cards, nothing super rare, but cool to find old tobacco stuff that hadn't ever come to the hobby before. The gentlemen I got them from told me they were among his grandfathers possessions who was from New York; and was probably about the right age to be a card collecting kid in 1910. I've come across plenty of 50's stuff, but their owners have in my experience thought they were worth Mint prices when the cards are creased.

[steve B]

Not many cards, but plenty of good finds at yard sales.

When I was doing ebay, I had a lot of finds of general stuff that did well. A lens collimator for $20, a Fred Harvey spoon$5 (sold for about 100!), Harley cylinder heads $40 for the pair...

And stuff I kept. One had tools, and there was one i was sort of interested in. Then I saw a box with a router and some bits. $20 for the lot. On the way home my wife asked if I didn't already have a router. I did, more than one. But when it comes with 400+ worth of barely used bits for 20 I'm not passing it up.

[pete zouras]

If you're willing to step around bags of mouldering trash to get to it. I once encountered gold jewelry mixed in with costume that always gets people's attention.

[sbfinley]

Bought a box of books one time for $8 because it had several old history textbooks. It set in trunk of my newer car for a week. Brought it in and at the bottom was very old book. It was a dusty, but clean, 1st edition Mormon Text. Called my Vinyl guy because he was into books and he connected me to his book guy. I sent him a couple dozen pictures and he said he’d call me back. He didn’t - someone else did and 45 minutes later I Fedex’d the book to an office at BYU. The next day I paid off the car the book sat in for a week.

At the endless North Caralina Route 301 yardsale in 2019

[Bartholomew_Bump_Bailey]

Back around 1992-ish maybe (I'm getting old) I was at a yard sale, guy had a TON of 80's Saturday Morning cartoon action figures, with the big playset pieces that went along with them.

Another guy comes back after having been there earlier and trades the guy like 3-5 boxes of nothing but absolute wax garbage from that era (the big 5000 count boxes mind you and mostly 1990 Donruss) for what was probably worth around $1000 - $3000 worth of toys (today's prices).

At the time I guess that would have been a bad deal (for Donruss guy), I dunno?????

The guy trading the action figures was giddy though, couldn't wait to get his hands on all those Tom Glavine/John Smoltz error cards worth big $$$$$$

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

My experience at garage sales is that everyone is now convinced that their 70s, 80s and 90s junk wax is worth 15x what it's actually worth.

+1

[isiahfan]

Originally Posted by Cmount76

About 15 years ago, I was driving by a garage sale and noticed a considerable amount of sport stuff, so I pulled over. He had a folding table, with about 5-7 5,000 count boxes.

Very long story very short - I began thumbing through. We had a short conversation (really nice guy) - he led me to his garage - In awe, I left, rented a small U-haul, and returned to load everything away. In total, (47) 5,000 count boxes, along with random boxes holding cards.

Some of the highlights included (3) 1957 Mantle's, a '55 Aaron, a '53 J. Robinson, and a near complete '59 Topps set.

Needless to say, I had a good card day!

What was the damage?

[STL1944]

Best thing I found at a garage sale was a stack of 15 or so 1952 Topps for $.25 cents each (this was 5 years ago).

I bought the whole stack and ended up with a PSA 4 Duke Snider and a PSA 4 Andy Pafko.

Not bad.

The only bad part is I keep on thinking if I try hard enough I should be able to replicate my find... Has not been successful so far!

[icurnmedic]

Not sure if this counts but really cool….

A few years back I was heavy into buying sterling silver.
I was going to my sons baseball game in a small area known as Meiseheimer ,NC. He played for a small school, Pfeiffer university. He told me to stop and check out the antique store 1/2 mile from the school..
I did.
I found a "Book" that was made of sterling. Had nice etching on the front. Paid $200 I think. Thought this is heavy and nice..

Got it home and the melt value was north of $800.
More cool however, is that it was a piece that had been given to professors at UNCC. Before it was UNCC.
I am thinking 1930’s.
Still have it and probably never sell.
Sometimes your gut can lead to good decisions.

[slidekellyslide]

This was not at a garage sale, but a tag sale which is basically a whole house garage sale. Everything in the house is priced. I found a scrapbook that was filled with newspaper articles glued inside, but on the very last pages I noticed some type of premiums that were not from a newspaper glued into the scrapbook. I picked it up for $20. Wasn't until I got home that a few friends on other boards notified me that I had found some 1948-49 Leaf premiums.

After a week of going back and forth in my mind about soaking them out I tested the page closest to the premiums thinking that perhaps the same type of glue would have been used on the premiums. After only a few minutes of soaking the newspaper floated right off. So I tried the Walter Johnson and it came right off after only a few minutes soak. Did the Gehrig and Ruth next and they came out perfectly fine.