Saving The Best For Last...Part I

I 've become addicted to the new television show Storage Wars. It's not that I haven't been aware of storage auctions (I have) but I like the characters and the treasures they find. Furthermore, I like that the stars of the shows are able to have their items appraised and know what they are worth without spending hours of time on the Internet doing research. I've been a treasure hunter for a long time. I've been going to yard sales and flea markets for years looking for just the perfect troll to add to my collection. I've also started doing a little bit of selling on eBay so I am always looking for something that I might buy and then resell. Right now, I'm into different kinds of sports' jerseys. (Looking for a particular jersey for your favorite team? Just drop me a line and I can probably get it for you.) Anyhow, I mentioned in the last post that I was having a yard sale and would let you know how it turned out. Well, I must say that months of hard work paid off. Last March, I purchased my first storage unit at a storage auction. Luckily, the contents weren't desirable to some folks so I got it for a couple hundred bucks; practically a steal. Do you know what was inside? Christmas decorations! Yep, a whole storage unit filled mostly with large boxes and 45-gallon tubs of Christmas decorations. Artificial trees and dancing reindeer; a big, huge animated Christmas tree outside light display and a whole tub of brand new extension cords--that tub alone almost paid for the unit. I was in heaven! (For all of you new folks, I decorate outside for Christmas and it gets bigger every year.) Also inside the unit was one of those bullet-shaped luggage racks that I sold on Craigslist in just a few weeks and that paid for most of the unit. Everything else I sold was going to be pure profit. I planned on keeping some of the decorations for myself and selling the rest. The problem was that nobody wanted to buy Christmas decorations in March so I then had to store the decorations myself. Luckily, I had just cleaned out the basement and had lots of room. Fast forward to October and that's where the yard sale comes in...

Hanging With The Big Dogs...Part II

***Author's note: You can read Part I of this story by clicking here.*** ...It wasn't quite the 1909 Wagner card, but any Mickey Mantle card would be a great addition to my collection. When I scanned the crowd at the memorabilia auction I knew I might be out of my league. This wasn't the usual "Let's go to the auction because there isn't anything else to do in this town on a Saturday night" crowd. I noticed most of them (older men and their grandsons) were wearing Rolexes, Polo shirts, Duckhead shorts and Top-sider shoes. One kid wanted a soda and his grandpa pulled out a wad of bills and shook his head because he didn't have anything smaller than a hundred. Another guy, upon further inspection, was wearing sunglasses that had dollar signs as logos and so many rings and gold chains that Mr T would have been envious. Another guy kept walking around looking at everything while talking on his cell phone. Maybe, I was out of my league. The auction continued throughout the morning and into the afternoon. I had purchased a few Civil War relics at what I thought were very reasonable prices. The auctioneer would divide his time between the ball cards, war relics, vintage train parts and other signed pieces; this auction had a bit of everything. I heard a voice beside me say, "Are you gonna bid on anything here?" It was one of the guys that worked at the other auction that I normally attend. "These prices are way to high!" "I'm about to bid on something right now," I said. It was time for the Mantle card to be auctioned and I was ready. I had my set price in my head and my bid card in hand. The opening bid was $400, I was out of contention before I even got to bid. The card ended up going for $1200. The man and I smiled at each other, shrugged our shoulders in a resigned fashion and watched the auction continue on. After a few moments, he turned and said, "I'll see you next Saturday night." You might think the story ends here, but it doesn't. Another fellow I know who owns a pawn shop was at the auction too. He purchased a few signed pieces and some of the Civil War artifacts. He is also an expert on military items. One of the items purchased by me was a Bowie knife reportedly used during the Civil War. It had all of the markings to make it seem like I had found another Holy Grail and would be one of those people on Antiques Roadshow that goes, "How much?" However, the auctioneer had tested the knife and it was of that era but not the one that would make me a millionaire. I took the knife to the pawn shop the next week just to show it to the man; he had arrived after I had purchased it. His eyes lit up when I showed him the knife and I related everything I knew about it. "Let me have a friend look at it," he said. "Come back in a few days." I returned to the pawn shop and noticed several of the pieces that I had seen at the auction a few days before. "Looks like you have a good collection started, "I said. "Yeah. I bought a couple just to put here in the store. I'm glad I didn't buy anything else; those signatures are all fake. Another guy came in here wanting to pawn a Mickey Mantle signed card that he purchased at the auction and I told him it was a fake. He reminded me of Mr T for some reason." "Wow! I bet he wasn't very happy." "Nope. Anyway, you've got a good piece here. It's not the Holy Grail, but you should get a couple hundred for it. How much you give for it" "Only $35," I said. "You got a good deal. Good thing you're into knives and not baseball cards. That fella told me he paid $1200 for that Mantle card." I guess I wasn't out of my league after all.

Burlap Sacks

Friend and I went to an auction the other day in a neighboring town. We didn't realize that we would be spending five hours there; they had a lot of stuff to sell. Anyhow, I've mentioned before that I like to go antiquing, go to yard sales and even sell junk at the flea market. Something that really caught my eye was a table and wall filled with old tools and junk. Of course, all of the men there were totally interested in it too and when it came time to start selling off the tools they all crowded around and wouldn't let me see what was being auctioned. They were doing what is called a choice deal; if you win the bid you get to pick out anything you want for that price and others can do the same. The first winning bid was for twenty dollars; the next was for fifteen and the prices continued to drop until there wasn't much stuff left. When I was able to see what was being sold the only thing left was a big box of burlap sacks. I asked the fella standing there what the price was down to and he said $2.50, so I bought them. I guess there are about 25 sacks in the box and they look and smell like they have been stuck away in the back of a stable for a really long time. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them; they do remind me of growing up on the farm back on Cherry Fork Road. We used burlap sacks in the garden, stored corn for the cattle and they held tobacco plants that were pulled and then set out in the fields with the tobacco setter. I got to looking on eBay and somebody had one sack just like the one below listed for sale for twenty bucks. Can you believe that? ...If you want to give me fifty bucks for one of those sacks I'll throw the shipping in for free!