Estate Sales and Public Auctions

Nebula's thread about yard sales made me think about estate sales and such. Does anybody go?

My sister and I are going to start visiting some around here this summer. She's looking for an old table to put outside by her pool, preferable a cast-iron type table that she can use for planters. 

I'm looking for three old wooden screen doors (screen condition doesn't matter) to use as a background in the moon garden at the side of the house. I've been looking now for a couple of years, but not seriously. I'd also like to find an old water pump and I know how difficult that's going to be. There are some other outdoor things that I'm looking for, but again, not really seriously at this point. Unusual planters for around the pool, something for the flowerbeds, things like that. Sometimes you can get some good deals at auctions.

I'm also starting to look at old dishes and the like. Nothing exotic or really fancy. If I see something I like, I might buy it. 

Rick is going to look for some old garden tools....the old tools seem to last longer than the stuff you buy at Lowes (nothing against Lowes at all....that's not what I mean).

Do you go? Would you go? 

I've been going to thrift and consignment stores for years.  I buy 90% of my clothing from them, as well as household goods.

If the consignment shop/thrift store is in a high-rent / wealthy area, the products are better quality than those in a low rent/poor area.

I recently moved to a retirement community; you have to be over 55 years old to live here.  Given the age of the population, there are a lot of estate sales.  I go to them frequently.  It is a window into how these people lived.  It is also a great place for me to get ideas about gardening and to buy planters, garden tools, knicknacks,  high-end linen, furniture, and Christmas gifts.  Occasionally I buy clothing, but the clothing is generally too big or too out of style (consignment shops are better for this).  I'm far from a fashionista, but bell bottoms when out years ago.  Alhough given my stature, mini skirts are the perfect length.  People in retirement homes are retired at some point in their lives, and have time to, for example, garden and play golf/exercise.  So they have that type of goods.

Some estate sales are professionally run; a few are run by the survivors.  Most estate sales are two days; sometimes Friday/Saturday, sometimes Saturday/Sunday.  On the 2nd day of the estate sale, all items are usually reduced by half or best offer.

Yes, I love them, although my little house doesn't need any more stuff.

Trouble is, if a 'yard sale' is like our 'garage sales' you have to be up at the crack of dawn to beat the dealers that race round picking the best bits.

There's going to be an estate sale (sometimes they're called estate sales; sometimes they're call public auctions around here) this Saturday right up the road from us. We're going to walk up and see what they have. Rick is looking for a mitre saw and the sale bill says they will have tools for sale. I've had my eye on a fountain that is in their front yard and am wondering if it will be up for sale. If it is, I may bid on it. She also has some neat plant stands that I like. But we'll see.

I think it's be interesting to go to although I've never been to one. We don't really need any more stuff. We are often in thrift stores too. People leave stuff here all the time because they're too lazy to take it down to the thrift store, so we end up taking it. We usually look while we're in there and end up coming away with stuff too. Just can't resist a bargain.

Another way to get stuff free:  garbage/recycling day.  You'd be surprised what people put out.

Collecting other people's garbage is I think a cottage industry:  Early on the day garage/recycleables are collected, I routinely see flat bed trucks with anything from washers to clay pots to ironing boards in them.

Ritz said:

Another way to get stuff free:  garbage/recycling day.  You'd be surprised what people put out.

Collecting other people's garbage is I think a cottage industry:  Early on the day garage/recycleables are collected, I routinely see flat bed trucks with anything from washers to clay pots to ironing boards in them.

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This is especially true around the end of April when all the students move out if you live in a university/college town - they throw away awesome stuff! We've picked up desks, find money quite a bit and get stuff for the kitchen. This past April/May we found a couple of sealed bottles of liquor as well, lol.

If you don't live in a college/university town, check the garbage area of apartment buildings and townhouses around the first of the month - lots of people purge when they're moving.

We haven't been to an estate sale yet - around here it's mostly auction style and it can be hard to get things for a good price. Maybe I'm too cheap, lol. I also find that a lot of stuff at them is not really my style - I look for things that are kind of 50-60s style, sometimes a bit earlier, but most things are a lot older or just too.... ornate for my liking.

We go to the thrift stores quite a bit - we have Goodwill and Value Village here, along with a couple of smaller ones. I collect old Pyrex, so it was a lot of fun before they caught on, lol. I would get things really cheap, now they ask $5-7 for a bowl that has metal marks all over it or is dishwasher damaged... I can get those same pieces locally through etsy or ebay much cheaper. The one smaller thrift store has a badly damaged Butterprint (my favourite pattern) bowl and a faded damaged primary bowl for $20 each with tags that say they aren't eligable for the 50% off sales. I told the ladies that work there that whomever priced them made them way too high and that it will take a long time for them to sell if they ever do - it's been three months and they were still there for the same price last week.

The first weekend of the month, or the weekend around the 15th of the month, are also good days to go dumpster diving.

I have noticed that since the recession/depression, prices have increased somewhat.  And sometimes there is no rhyme or reason as to how the items are priced:  a Target blouse is sometimes priced more than an Villager.

"Value Village" (thrift store) has 50% off the entire store when the Federal Government is closed on a Monday (like President's Day, Labor Day, etc.)  It's a mad house inside, but -- at least the one I go to-- is well organized, with one person just directing the people in the check out line to the next available cash register.

nerdrock said:

This is especially true around the end of April when all the students move out if you live in a university/college town - they throw away awesome stuff! We've picked up desks, find money quite a bit and get stuff for the kitchen. This past April/May we found a couple of sealed bottles of liquor as well, lol.

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We are centrally located between two major universities and I can't believe what some of those students toss! It's sad that they have such little respect for money. They throw away some really nice things.

Rick helped his cousin renovate a double house quite a few years ago; it was owned by the parents of a college student for her and her friends to use while they were in school (that alone never ceases to amaze me....the fact that people buy house for their kids to use while in college so they don't have to stay on campus, but it's done quite often around here). They were all graduating and were in the process of moving out and, man, the stuff those girls were tossing. My parents would have smacked me silly for even thinking about getting rid of those things. Rick brought home a gorgeous wooden cutting board. Gorgeous. And never taken out of the wrapping. Their loss. My gain. I was thrilled to get it. He took some other stuff, too. It would have gone to the landfill otherwise. Or somebody else would have taken it.

There are people around here who eagerly wait for the students to leave for the summer.

My daughter and her husband are a restoring a lovely house, and have become quite the scavengers. They will go around to finished building and ask to haul off what they will be disposing of. It is a win-win situation. They have gotten a lot of good building supplies for the cost of hauling it away, and made several contacts of contractors that will call him and let him know when he has a load. one of them gave him a beautiful set of 3 of floor to ceiling oak bookcases from a house that they were restoring and the client told him they had to go. We have a garage full of vintage china, and who knows what else to go through when they start moving, My sister collected all kinds of stuff, she collected everything, including several hundred Tom Clark gnomes.

Nice! It will make their house that much more special to them. I'm sure it will be a lovely house!

I didn't go to the auction on Saturday (turns out it was basically wood-working equipment and some gardening tools), but Rick walked up to check things out and stayed til pretty much the end. He brought home some casters; he's building me a laundry table in the basement from a large piece of our leftover countertop from the kitchen and thought the casters would come in handy for that. And he grabbed a spreader. We have a walk-behind spreader, but he can connect this one to the riding mower, so he thought it would be nice for that.