How to Find the Best Treasures at an Estate Sale

We attend many estate sales and have picked up a few tips over the years. Some of what we have learned comes from not so good experiences. We like to arrive at the sale about 1 hour before start. My hubby goes and gets our auction number. If there is going to be more than one ring or auctioneer at the same time we ask for a duplicate card. When they split into two or three rings we can separate and bid on more items. I find us seats where we can see the ringman and what is up for auction. We really would prefer not to sit by our auction friends or see them because that sometimes makes bidding uncomfortable because we do not like to bid on the same items they are. We both go through and find things we are interested in. Check for chips, damage, repairs, if it is a reproduction or real antique, etc. We carry our smartphones and have an eBay app. We look up the items we are thinking of bidding on in the completed auctions to determine our limit. That is important to do because it is easy to get caught in a bidding war if you do not know where to stop. Our bidding limit is usually half of what we think we could possibly resell the item for. Well, I have many miles to go before I sleep so I will stop now but continue this discussion in another blog post. Happy estate sailing.  Diana

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Gotta Luv Estate Sales!

We are privileged to have a number of auction houses in our area. In fact, we could attend an auction nearly every day of the week. This past Saturday we went to an estate sale that had to be by far one of the largest we had attended recently. They had 2 very large buildings full of treasures. Sure we were competing with resellers and antique buyers but came away with some outstanding picks! Just to mention a few: Chalkware, vintage silverplate, McCoy Cookie jars, set of Limoge fish plates, antique picture, etc. We wanted to share a few favorite finds of the day which we have pictured for you. Well, I guess that is it for now because we have much to do before we attend another estate sale today. Check back if you want to see some treasures we find.

Anchor 1896 Folding Bench Washer

Antique c1900 Limoges Fish Plate Set

Vintage Student Lamp with Red French Shades