In my experiences at moving sales and especially at estate sales when the seller pretty much has to get rid of everything in the house and clean it to the bones you need to be willing to get dirty searching for treasure that is truly buried. Many times there are sheds, detached garages and rooms and closets that are filled with boxes that the seller just didn't have time to dig through when setting up. This is especially true at estate sales when the seller who is usually hired displays the nicest items in the kitchen and living, dining, and family room. The bedrooms are usually left with clothes and furniture and often boxes that have been piled with linens and paper items. Often those boxes have vintage clothing, gloves, handy work and photos buried in them. Keep your eye out for anything that you can see had a lot of hand made work done on them. Make sure textile items are clean and not damaged. Often I have found old sheet music and photos or unframed artwork piled on shelves in a closet that have been totally ignored by other shoppers in their rush to find the obvious. Look in drawers to see if anything has been missed since many times these sales are pulled together in a hurry.
Now it's time to really get dirty. If you're not afraid of bugs head for the garage or inquire about the attic and if there are outbuildings or sheds that's even better. Often I have been able to find antique tools, or not so old tools that are always in big demand on ebay. These are often priced cheap since most estate sales are done by women who aren't usually familiar with what certain tools are used for and what to value them at. Note the item in the picture at the top of this post which I found in a corner of a garage. That's a plunger blasting box used for setting off dynamite. The seller had an idea of what it was due to it's shape and the fact that it had a brass label on it stating it was a DUPONT Blasting Box. But the plunger handle was stuck and you couldn't get it to go down. I asked how much they would take and we agreed on $5. Now since I have a natural knack for mechanical things I managed to open it up and fix the plunger which only required lubricating the gears and moving the plunger up and down until the grease got spread around enough. I ended up selling it on Ebay for almost $300 because it actually still generated power and worked. But even if it didn't You easily could have gotten $40-50 for it as a display item for either a business, an engineer who collects these kind of tools and gadgets or it may even have ended up at your local Bennigans in Colorado as memorabilia. Sheds and attics many times are loaded with old enameled pots and pans which always sell well, or ceramic garden planters that end up being early McCoy, Roseville, Hull and other collectible pieces. Condition is often poor but you can find really nice pieces from time to time. Old newspapers with historical headlines and books are often found too. You might find nice pieces of furniture or picture frames that can be refinished and brought back to life.
Always be looking for items that are hand made and if the condition is good buy it since labor costs were much lower generations ago and give these items an intrinsic value built into them. Great Grandpa didn't go down to the local Wal-Mart or Target and buy pre-fab furniture, he made it himself. So take some damp rags or better yet diaper wipes to clean yourself up with after you dig through the mess. The dust you get on your will pay off many times over I promise you.
Now it's time to really get dirty. If you're not afraid of bugs head for the garage or inquire about the attic and if there are outbuildings or sheds that's even better. Often I have been able to find antique tools, or not so old tools that are always in big demand on ebay. These are often priced cheap since most estate sales are done by women who aren't usually familiar with what certain tools are used for and what to value them at. Note the item in the picture at the top of this post which I found in a corner of a garage. That's a plunger blasting box used for setting off dynamite. The seller had an idea of what it was due to it's shape and the fact that it had a brass label on it stating it was a DUPONT Blasting Box. But the plunger handle was stuck and you couldn't get it to go down. I asked how much they would take and we agreed on $5. Now since I have a natural knack for mechanical things I managed to open it up and fix the plunger which only required lubricating the gears and moving the plunger up and down until the grease got spread around enough. I ended up selling it on Ebay for almost $300 because it actually still generated power and worked. But even if it didn't You easily could have gotten $40-50 for it as a display item for either a business, an engineer who collects these kind of tools and gadgets or it may even have ended up at your local Bennigans in Colorado as memorabilia. Sheds and attics many times are loaded with old enameled pots and pans which always sell well, or ceramic garden planters that end up being early McCoy, Roseville, Hull and other collectible pieces. Condition is often poor but you can find really nice pieces from time to time. Old newspapers with historical headlines and books are often found too. You might find nice pieces of furniture or picture frames that can be refinished and brought back to life.
Always be looking for items that are hand made and if the condition is good buy it since labor costs were much lower generations ago and give these items an intrinsic value built into them. Great Grandpa didn't go down to the local Wal-Mart or Target and buy pre-fab furniture, he made it himself. So take some damp rags or better yet diaper wipes to clean yourself up with after you dig through the mess. The dust you get on your will pay off many times over I promise you.
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