Garage/Estate Sale Success?

[deeg23]

I've had much better luck at my local auction house and a couple of flea markets (and even ebay) than garage/estate sales.

[skelly]

Yes, Yes, Yes to the local auction house. Many times they will sell cards mixed in with the dining room set, costume jewelry, paintings etc... I've seen it play both ways. Good stuff selling for pennies on the dollar and I've seen a binder of about 500 vg 1976 topps cards with some stars sell for over $300, which is basically more than a Nrmt set goes for. The thing with the Estate & Garage Sales is this. By all means if you have the time and they aren't too far, never hurts to check things out, but this isn't 1983 when people weren't really aware of what they had, baseball card values etc... Nowadays people are generally prone to think that their 1960 Willie Mays card with two big creases is worth at least half book. It puts you the attendee in a weird situation when you explain that it's basically a $15.00 card and you would be willing to pay maybe $7.00-$8.00 if that.

[insidethewrapper]

It's hard to believe in all the estate auctions, farm auctions etc. I have never found anything related to baseball cards. I thought some tobacco cards would show up sometime.

My best luck was running a local ad in the newspaper for pre-1980 only material. Got some 1950's Red Man cards, 1950's Topps and once a bunch of 1933 Goudey's with 3 Ruth's. Never 19th Century or T206's.

[DBesse27]

Went to a yard sale where a guy was selling pre-war Uncle Jack's Candy cards. The cards were in poor condition but still, they were only $2 to $5 apiece. Scored a Jimmy Foxx.

[pokerplyr80]

I never have, but I was reading through the Love of the Game auction guide and read that someone recently found a t206 drum back at an antique shop and it turned out to be real. Not a bad find for what probably cost less than $100, assuming the shop owner didn't know what he had.

[Cozumeleno]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I never have, but I was reading through the Love of the Game auction guide and read that someone recently found a t206 drum back at an antique shop and it turned out to be real. Not a bad find for what probably cost less than $100, assuming the shop owner didn't know what he had.

Correct - was discussed here.

[icollectDCsports]

I used to go to garage and estate sales looking for cards and sports memorabilia. I don't recall finding anything all that great. If you like going to such sales generally, then by all means go and have fun. If not, it's probably not worth your time unless you have some indication that a particular sale will have what you're looking for.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by Cozumeleno

Correct - was discussed here.

A cool story for sure. Glad it went to a net54 member.