A good yard sale

[SeaCat]

The wife had to work today and I was off so I decided to do some yard saleing. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be there were only a couple of yard sales in my area.

The second sale I stopped in was a bonanza for me. It was an old guy clearing out his place before he moved north.

On the first table I saw a set of four planes. (For woodworking.) These were the kind I love, old and well used but well loved. When i picked up the first one the old guy came over and started chatting with me.

I couldn't believe these planes, every one of them were brass bodied with the adjustable steel blades. He wanted ten bucks for the set so needless to say I grabbed them. Next to them was a set of old draw knives which I picked up as well.

By the time I left the yard sale I had paid the old gu over $100.00 for a bunch of antique tools as well as a couple of large Brass Hurricane Lamps complete with reflectors. I also had a Brass Bulls Eye Lantern.

By the time the wife got home I had put everything in it's proper place. The Planes were on the bookshelf on display. The lamps were hung up and the lantern was on a shelf next to the back door. (Yes they will be used but between uses they are on display.) My wife walked in and saw the new additions. All she did was smile as she looked them over.

This was a good yard sale in my opinion.

Cat

 

[carsonshepherd]

Cat, I know you know it already, but I have to say. Your wife is a gem. When my boyfriend drags home crap from yard sales or auctions, I always want to gripe. Instead I just sigh resignedly.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Draw Knives! I am absolutely green with envy, Cat.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

Cat
Not that I doubt your veracity or knowledge of tools but, I have to ask. Were they draw knives or spoke shaves?

As for the Hurricane Lamps I am so jealous. I love the look and the history behind them.

Congratulations on a great day of shopping.

Mike C.

 

[TE999]

The wife had to work today and I was off so I decided to do some yard saleing. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be there were only a couple of yard sales in my area.

The second sale I stopped in was a bonanza for me. It was an old guy clearing out his place before he moved north.

On the first table I saw a set of four planes. (For woodworking.) These were the kind I love, old and well used but well loved. When i picked up the first one the old guy came over and started chatting with me.

I couldn't believe these planes, every one of them were brass bodied with the adjustable steel blades. He wanted ten bucks for the set so needless to say I grabbed them. Next to them was a set of old draw knives which I picked up as well.

By the time I left the yard sale I had paid the old gu over $100.00 for a bunch of antique tools as well as a couple of large Brass Hurricane Lamps complete with reflectors. I also had a Brass Bulls Eye Lantern.

By the time the wife got home I had put everything in it's proper place. The Planes were on the bookshelf on display. The lamps were hung up and the lantern was on a shelf next to the back door. (Yes they will be used but between uses they are on display.) My wife walked in and saw the new additions. All she did was smile as she looked them over.

This was a good yard sale in my opinion.

Cat

Woot! You scored big time, Cat! I love old tools. I picked up a complete set of tools that were included with every Model 'T' Ford built, many years ago in North Georgia. There were two sets, still in the metal boxes that fastened to the running boards. I went back for the second set two hours later and they were gone.

 

[Tyro999]

Woot! You scored big time, Cat! I love old tools. I picked up a complete set of tools that were included with every Model 'T' Ford built, many years ago in North Georgia. There were two sets, still in the metal boxes that fastened to the running boards. I went back for the second set two hours later and they were gone.

In semi-retirement, I worked PT in the largest antique/collectables store in Alexandria, VA, for the last five years. Every day, from 2-5 people would show up looking for something they'd seen "yesterday or the day before and now I can't find it, but I really, really have to have it". Our only respose can be "Sorry, it sold x hours after we showed it to you."

Rule of thumb for stores like ours - if you see something that you'll regret not buying if you see it gone after you've left and "thought about it," buy it now before the antiques/collectables amendment to Murphy's Law bites you.

[In Alexandria, the same rule goes for yard sales. My boss, a HUD employee who has owned this store for 12 years, others for 10 before it, and has been doing this for 30 years in total as his "part-time" avocation, shops likely local yard sales like a hawk - a lot of the stuff we sold came from these yard sales.]

 

[Handley_Page]

I wish we had things like this in the UK.
The nearest thing we get to it is the "Car Boot" sale, usually on a Sunday morning.

 

[squarejohn]

You lucky bastard.

 

[oggbashan]

I wish we had things like this in the UK.
The nearest thing we get to it is the "Car Boot" sale, usually on a Sunday morning.

We have yard sales locally. I do several a year in my front garden. Sometimes a group of neighbours cooperate and have several sales in one road.

We used to have an auction every week. The morning sale was for collectables and antique furniture. The afternoon was for general junk. I acquired much of my secondhand bookshop's stock from the auctions as none of the dealers would bid on books.

My best bargain was soon after I moved here. I wanted some wardrobes, having moved from a house with fitted wardrobes to one with none, and a couple of trunks to store items in my loft. I bought a matching set of gentleman's and lady's wardrobes for £5 plus £3 delivery.

There was a pile of seven trunks in the 'general junk' sale. I bid the minimum of £3 plus 30 pence buyer's premium on the first trunk. No one else bid, so I was offered all seven at £3.30 each. I bought them all. The top four trunks were empty. The lower three had contents but the keys had been lost.

I managed to open two easily because the keys were similar to keys I already had. Inside were piles of books, including the Imperial Calendar and Civil Service Lists from the 1930s to 1960s, covering the careers of my father, my father-in-law and one of my uncles.

It took me about an hour with pieces of bent wire and small Allen Keys to open the last and largest trunk. Inside the lid was a spare key. However the contents were a complete gentleman's outfit of formal clothing, tuxedos, stiff shirts and collars, braided edge trousers etc. They were for a very small slim man with a 32 inch chest.

After research locally I found that the owner had been a fighter pilot ace in World War I, when a light pilot was an advantage. He had remained in the RAF, been promoted several times, and was on the military attache's staff for the British Embassy in Washington in the late 1930s, buying aircraft and aircraft parts from US manufacturers.

He had worn this clothing at Washington functions until the day after Pearl Harbor, when he could wear his RAF uniform. He had put his formal civilian clothing in the trunk and had never worn it again because he retired from the RAF in 1945.

I gave the clothing to the County's museum. They swapped it with a costume museum, receiving items more specific to the County in exchange.

The trunk was too large to go through my loft hatch. I wasn't sure what to do with it until I noticed that there was a very small plate below the lock reading "Packard". It was a trunk made in 1928 for the largest Packard car. I sold it to the UK owner of a 1928 Packard.

I charged him £3.30.

Og

 

[Zobor]

Why is it all the yard sell around here is full of junk. never anything as good as this. I gotta move from here.

 

[SeaCat]

Cat
Not that I doubt your veracity or knowledge of tools but, I have to ask. Were they draw knives or spoke shaves?

As for the Hurricane Lamps I am so jealous. I love the look and the history behind them.

Congratulations on a great day of shopping.

Mike C.

These were drawknives. A set of six with blades rangeing from three inches to eight inches.

I also have several Spokeshaves, including wooden bodied ones as well as two with cast iron bodies with wooden handles.

Cat

 

[SeaCat]

Why is it all the yard sell around here is full of junk. never anything as good as this. I gotta move from here.

Don't feel bad, most of them around here are mostly junk. It's not like it was in New England where you could usualy get some good finds as long as you got there before the pickers.

Cat