What is the best item you've ever found in a yard sale?

Question

Are they worth going to? I'm thinking about making a few stops this afternoon.

Answer 1

To be honest the best time to go to a year sale is in the morning when they first start. Waiting till the afternoon is ok, but most of the good stuff is gone.

I bought a computer with a laser printer and two speakers for $25!
It had windows 98 and was Internet ready. I've bought lamps for my living room brand new with the tags still on them for $6 a piece.
These people are just getting rid of household clutter.

Answer 2

Anecdotal story: Sometime ago a man was browsing through a London used bookstore. He decided to buy a box of miscellaneous books. One of the books that was in the box was a book titled "The Whale". It was the first edition copy of Melville's Moby Dick, before the titled was changed. Of course, it was worth a fortune. Another person bought a painting at a garage or estate sale only for the frame. When he took the painting apart he found a original signed copy(not really an oxymoron) of the Declaration of Independence. I haven't had that kind of luck, but you never know what treasures are out there. They are a blast to snoop around in and see what is there, but get there early. Many start Friday afternoon. The good stuff is picked over quickly. I keep hoping to find an Orvis split bamboo fly rod at one. No such luck yet, but I keep hoping. Good Luck.

Answer 3

I've never found anything at a yard sale. You should check out estate sales. But I warn you, they can be addicting...the anticipation of waiting outside with the other hungry wolves to find that one unique item before anyone gets to it!!!! Bahahahahahahah! I have found some really cool stuff. Antique furniture, old books (yay!), paintings...you just never know. If you go on Sunday everything is half off.

Answer 4

As I've traveled this great land of ours I have been to many a yard sale, garage sale, estate sale, swap meets and flea markets. And before the days of eBay, it was the best place to find little hidden treasures. For instance when I was in high school, I snagged an original 1st edition Death of a Salesman for 25 cents. I've been able to pick up tons of old comic books for mere pennies, movie memorabilia, piano's, royal doulton china, and a plethora of other cool stuff for bargain basement prices.

Now though...at least in the city I live *cough* the sales suck butt (and not the pork butt yummy kind)...and I blame eBay. eBay has told everyone that everything they own is worth a lotta $$$ and now I think people are more savvy about their stuff...and have priced it accordingly, or just stopped putting it in their yard sale...and listed it on eBay instead. Oh well, just another reason technology is changing the way we live and do things.

I wish you good hunting in your excursions...and if you find a good area of town for hidden treasures...don't tell anyone. :-)

Answer 5

Um, a YARD! Why sell anything else at a yard sale but a yard??

But really, this one was too hard to pass up. It was a nice, warm southwestern set up with rocks and cacti and... and... more rocks! And it came with this little roll of sod. You know, to imitate an oasis... I guess. And how cool would that be when you go to mow the front yard when all you have to do is turn on the mower and turn it off again and YEAH, it's done!

It was so cheap too, if only I coulda figured out how to get it transported to my apartment.

Answer 6

I one time found a 350 pound ball of play dough, which I then used to feed a pack of buffalo in which they crapped beutiful colors for a week. I then used the crap to sell on ebay for $28.63 a pound. the best part about it was I think it was magic play dough because I had some myself and it tasted like chicken. the guy at the yard sale said he got it from frosty the snowman. I think he was lying cuz frosty died 25 years ago. but I still thought it was a good purchase.

Answer 7

I bought a job lot of old hand made tools for a £100 three years ago on a whim after my Dad told me that you can make lots of money off that sort of thing: I had tried bought a couple of job lots of them before but hadn't had any success at turning crap into cash so wasn't going to bother....however there were some strange tools in and amongst this particular set that I actually wanted to polish up and keep as they were mad looking...

My Dad took one look at what I had bought and got very excited as he knew far more than I did about this sort of thing...

I took them to a dealership because there were a couple of really eccentic things in there and he told me that I had hit paydirt...a really rare and collectable set of hand planes amongst other rarities

I made £14,576 ($23000ish) off that little investment at an auction...I have the check I got for it framed next to the receipt I got from the guy who sold me the gear....Not a bad return, as I was a poor student at the time!!

Answer 8

Sure try it & sometimes you can find really nifty items..I got lucky twice..once I bought a vase I just really liked only to find out after researching it,it was made by McCoy ,in 1944 & is worth 200 + bucks,I paid 1.50..another time I bought a small dresser (10 bucks)to refinish for our spare room..it sat for 2 months before i got to do it,In the bottom drawer I discovered 400 dollars stuffed in a tube once used for bubble gum..I tried to return it to the owner only to find they had moved across country..so I kept it..=)

Answer 9

When my daughter was born I got most of her stuff at yard sales including many toys for the next few years...some I saved for Christmas (she didn't care that they weren't new). Then when she outgrew stuff I just sold it in my own yard sale and got my money back.

Answer 10

Yes sometimes. Church yard sales are the best. You can see many things in one place....Books. That is the best thing I have ever found. You can find many old books that can be useful later.
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