Thursday, February 21, 2013

Estate Sale Fail



Okay, so I didn't actually go to this sale. Thought it was too close to Alexandria and the usual dealer would be there at 5am to clean the house out. Since the house didn't have much in it and it's at least a 1 1/2 hour drive (both ways) I decided to skip it. Plus, I have been having awful luck at estate sales and they are sooooo overpriced now. It did hurt to miss it...




Thrift - $5 Glass...What A Bargain!


























So skipping the lovely Danish estate sale (see previous post), I made the rounds to two local thrift stores. Passed on these Apollo glasses 'cause I thought they were 50 cents rather than $5 each (must have sold cause they are gone now). You gotta love the bargains at the old biddy store! Ended up getting an 80s globe, are they still popular? And four Campbell soup mug / bowls from 1989 SOLD.

At my fave thrift store found four Maxwell House coffee mugs by Kiln Craft of England. My first undamaged Interdesign storage box in a rather boring color SOLD. You don't see the milkglass vase since I just vowed not to buy anymore!

Another Campbell's mug, weird SOLD. An adorable hand-painted oxen mug by Oxney Green, England but discovered a crack in the handle, bummer! And four craft books from the 70s. Used to find tons of these 3 years ago so was mighty surprised to see these. Again no exciting thrift finds compared to those on the West coast but gotta make to with what I have, curse East coast bad taste!



Friday, February 15, 2013

Why Bother Going To A Store When You Can Go To An Estate Sale And Pay More Than Retail



This is by far the CRAZIEST estate sale I have ever been too (and you know, I've been bitching for a while how expensive they have gotten)! Expected there to be tons of people/dealers attending and prices to be high (not insane though). Arrived an hour after opening and still had to wait 45 minutes, surprisingly I was only #54. People might have decided to pass on the sale guessing crowds and inflated prices.

While standing in line, Mr. Dealer (I see him everywhere even at my thrift stores) walked out with tons of boxes - he must have bought everything as his truck was crammed to busting.

My photo below is what was left of the Dansk Kobenstyle (the CathrineHolm, Finel and others sold) - the red Paella pan is $85, the aqua $125, red square $75 and the brown stockpot over $100.


For a good laugh check out the prices on everything. Crap was priced higher than retail.

Anyway, the owner bought everything from estates and thrifts (saw Unique Thrift grease pencil on a Dansk bowl). He has at least 8 thrift stores in the area. I'm guessing he started 20 years ago seeing all the unsold Russel Wright (including furniture) in the apartment.

Passed on the Arabia pitcher for $45, as I was in no mood to give my bills to this rip-off sale.





The above photo is the estate priced $1200 George Nelson bench made by Herman Miller. Brand new/retail this very same bench is $999 at DWR and Room & Board. Is it a first issue or something?

All the nice Scandinavian glass was gone. Almost everything left was chippy or just to cray-cray expensive.

What's weird, is some of the people I talked to thought they were getting such good deals - they must not check out Ebay or Etsy? I can understand if it's something is rare but then that what I expect at auction houses?

This whole sale was confusing to me? If someone cares to explain it to me...





Owl vase was gone, Blenko fish was $150
Spisa Ribb was a chippy, sadness



Thrift - Cheap Thrills From The 1920s (bee's knees)

After a stinky retail-plus priced estate sale I stopped at a nearby thrift and found two more Wendt & Kuhn fish wives, a Shanghai Tang box and a photo album. Figure the album dates from 1910 - WW1 - 1920s. Here are some of the pics, you'll see some naughty pics of knees - for your delight.










Thursday, February 14, 2013

Thrift - Pepper Mill

Nothing much exciting. I love the graphic design on the PepperMate PepperMill box. It's dated 1982, made in Japan. Mom has one of these and I'll probably just keep it since my peppermill just broke. Found a German barometer SOLD. And new California tea towel that shriveled up into a wad when washed - quality made in India - guess that is what slave wages get you.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Estate - What a $50 Parking Ticket Looks Like



Drove 40+ miles roundtrip to another overpriced estate sale. You'll see, all I found was; 3 Turi "Market" mugs by Figgjo Flint of Norway SOLD. A large Starbucks Seattle mug and a small wood wren sculpture SOLD. But the crowning glory was a $50 parking ticket cause the douche-bag neighbors called "The Fuzz."

Passed on a small service of the above "Market" for $85 (forgot to photo). It was hard but I find Figgjo a slow selling and I wasn't feeling inclined to piece it all out to make a profit (the prices were making me grumpy). I regret it now cause it was soooo pretty.

Also passed on a slightly rusty Curtis Jere "Birds in Flight" for $300 a local dealer picked it up afterwards.



The chairs to this dining set (see below) were of interest to me - sorta in the market but at least one of the chairs had a seat rip and the table top had a few big water rings. Also noticed the the chairs legs looked as if they had been sitting in water as they had a weird pale white stain crawling up the legs. Too rich for me at $1600.

Liked the $160 angel print but it was already sold to the local dealer who bought almost everything that was decent - with those prices I would have passed even if I had first pick.