Estate Sale 1/16/14 What should I try to buy? Jewery, plates, etc [photos]

[diggummup]

You better get there at 6:30 am if you want to have a chance at anything. There may be a piece or two in there worth getting as far as the jewelry is concerned, but the price may be too high.

Also, being as tall as I am, I search the high areas (and low) where others don't look. I have found good things more than once by searching in the tops of closets, the cabinet over the fridge, the tops of wall units, behind dressers on the floor, under the beds, boxes up high in garages, etc.. I also check all the drawers on dressers and such too, especially if they are still full. Many a time I have found treasures in "empty" ones too. Ask if they have been through the attic yet. It appears to be a ladies house so check for perfumes, even used ones will get good money as long as they aren't spoiled. Anything made in Paris or New York is usually good. Check the books for ones signed by the author.

 

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[Tallone]

Are Lladro and Lalique items clearly marked as such?

I certainly wouldn't call myself and expert in either Lladro or Lalique. However, the few pieces from these makers I have acquired in the past were marked. If they aren't marked, I wouldn't buy them at any price unless you just like them and want to keep them for yourself.

 

[insontis]

OK - I'm back! I did spend some cash.. I may be closer to break even than anything, but I'll let you guys help me out with that. :P The glass bowl was nothing and the ceramic piece was made in china. There was also a 14K vintage diamond ring which I did not buy. They wanted $100, but it was a cluster style and consisted only of diamond accents and it was only in "good" condition". I convinced myself that the price was too high as I believe I'd only be able to get around $100 for it. Wasn't sure; still am not. The jewelry stand was crowded around super early and I got to it a few minutes late. The sale opened doors at 8 am sharp - which I was there for. The pearl necklace and the onyx necklace were no where to be found when I got to it. I did check a bunch of other pearl clasps, but nothing was legitimate. They had a ton of silver chains that I didn't even bother considering. Most were priced around the $20+ range. They were nicer, but I wasn't about to spring for them with little resale value and a loss on scrap value.

So enough about what I didn't get, let's talk about what I ended up talking myself into buying. I spent a total of $65. I believe that the pieces I purchased total about that in spot. I'm hoping to get a piece or two to do well above that and come out ahead.

The first item I picked up was a dainty 14K yellow gold chain. Paid $15. It appears to be in good condition and I should be able to resell it decently especially if I pair it with a pendant.

Then I took diggummup's advice. I went to the highs and lows of the house. I checked the bathrooms for perfumes. There were a few, nothing that jumped out at me and they were all about $5. I may have missed something there, but I don't have the know just yet. Next I checked the garage/basement area. I checked all the spray paint cans (thanks to this forum for knowledge on those) and didn't find anything older. I moved to a bookshelf and started to examine the books. One older one that was falling to pieces and I didn't feel was worth it due to condition. Didn't appear to be a first addition nor signed by the author either. Then I spotted a candlestick being used as a bookend. Weighted Sterling. Wasn't priced, grabbed it anyway. Ran it upstairs and was quoted $10. I didn't love the price, but I agreed regardless.

Then I made my way back to the jewelry table and asked if they had any other gold pieces. Found another small 14K gold chain with a pendant marked for $40. The chain has some damage to the links and will probably be used for pure scrap. The pendant is only gold filled, but it is a cameo and hopefully will be able to resell for a couple bucks. It appears the cameo unfortunately has some damage as well.

So down to the totals. I spent $65.

The sterling weighted candle stick cost me $15 and weighs 453.8. I know most of that is not sterling, but how much do you suppose is?

The first 14k chain cost me $15 and weighs 1 gram. Probably the only chain I should have purchased. It had a small knot in it which I was able to remove.

The second 14k chain weighs 1.2 grams and cost me $40 including the GF cameo pendant. Both appear to be damaged and I'm not sure if I can get a resale out of either.

Spot wise I ended up with $51 worth of 14K, whatever amount of sterling the candlestick has, and a GF cameo pendant. I think worst case scenario I break even, but I'm pretty sure I can make most of my money back just from the nicer chain if I match it with a pendant.

What do you guys think?

 

[insontis]

PICTURES!!!!!

GF Cameo



Weighted Sterling Candlestick Holder




Damaged 14K chain



Good 14K chain

 

[tamrock]

I've not ever been to impressed with advertised estate sales. I've found those to have been seeded with things that look old and expensive, but only put there to draw in suckers and that's how the estate sale companies clean up and make money at those events, I have found a couple things, but nothing to brag about.... Everywhere I look I seek the deal of the century. I leave my mind open to be surprised to find the next treasure. In the past I looked for specific items and then realized I was missing things of value, that most wouldn't give a second thought on taking a good look at.

 

[insontis]

I've not ever been to impressed with advertised estate sales. I've found those to have been seeded with things that look old and expensive, but only put there to draw in suckers and that's how the estate sale companies clean up and make money at those events, I have found a couple things, but nothing to brag about.... Everywhere I look I seek the deal of the century. I leave my mind open to be surprised to find the next treasure. In the past I looked for specific items and then realized I was missing things of value, that most wouldn't give a second thought on taking a good look at.

From this estate sale alone I believe that holds somewhat true. They may have had some better items (jewelry wise at least) as I know at least 4-5 people were circling the table like sharks with loupes before I got to it. However I wouldn't quite say their advertising was misleading, but more so that "what you see is what you get". It was more of an assumption on my part that there would be items of value. Next time I should head straight for the jewelry and THEN look for the more hidden items (like the candle holder).

As far as the "deal of the century goes".. that'd be awesome to find, but I don't expect it. I don't feel that I have the knowledge to find it unless it's as obvious as a gold bar. So for now at least I'm quite content with picking items that I can make a small profit on.

 

[Tallone]

Around these parts it seems like all the professional estate sales outfits use the web site estatesales.net. When I see that site referenced in an ad on the Garage Sales section of Craigslist it throws up a large red flag for me. I'm not surprised the ceramic figurine and the bowl were nothing special. Most of the stuff I saw in the pictures did not impress so these pieces were in character with the rest of the place. Worth checking out anyway.

 

[insontis]

Around these parts it seems like all the professional estate sales outfits use the web site estatesales.net. When I see that site referenced in an ad on the Garage Sales section of Craigslist it throws up a large red flag for me. I'm not surprised the ceramic figurine and the bowl were nothing special. Most of the stuff I saw in the pictures did not impress so these pieces were in character with the rest of the place. Worth checking out anyway.

Yeah it was worth taking a gander. I've seen far worse "garage sales" that false advertise or aren't even in existence when you arrive. The house/development where the sale took place today was actually quite nice. It had to have at least 4 bathrooms.. finished basement with fireplace.. two or three car garage. The people had money. Unfortunately for me I was unable to find where they invested most of it. :P

 

[jerseyben]

It sounds to me like you were hyped up and "bought stuff just to buy stuff".

I am not chastising you, as I had been in the habit of doing this for a while myself. I have trained myself to break this bad habit.

In the end you MIGHT make a couple bucks but ultimately, that money could have been better spent elsewhere instead of being tied up in the stuff you bought today.

Chalk it up to a learning experience to put under your belt.

 

[insontis]

It sounds to me like you were hyped up and "bought stuff just to buy stuff".

I am not chastising you, as I had been in the habit of doing this for a while myself. I have trained myself to break this bad habit.

In the end you MIGHT make a couple bucks but ultimately, that money could have been better spent elsewhere instead of being tied up in the stuff you bought today.

Chalk it up to a learning experience to put under your belt.

I agree with that statement in the case of the damaged chain/pendant. I got caught up in the moment and didn't inspect it carefully enough. I know that I can sell similar chains for $50+, but they have always been in great condition. Spending $40 on a dainty chain in great condition leaves little room for profit, but getting a damaged piece is basically overpaying for scrap. You are right and I definitely need to break this habit early. As you said, this money could have been invested much better elsewhere.

I know that the 1 gram chain was a great investment as it is in great condition and was purchased for under 75% of spot. This was possibly my only worthwhile purchase unless the candle stick holder has any sort of potential net profit. I have never purchased a weighted object before and am unsure what % of the item is actually sterling. Is there a rough way to estimate the amount of sterling a weighted piece has? Or at least a safe % to use on the spot to figure out if it's worthwhile or not? I imagine I'll run into a bunch of these down the road and would like to have some sort of guidance on what is "the most" I should spend.

 

[jerseyben]

I agree with that statement in the case of the damaged chain/pendant. I got caught up in the moment and didn't inspect it carefully enough. I know that I can sell similar chains for $50+, but they have always been in great condition. Spending $40 on a dainty chain in great condition leaves little room for profit, but getting a damaged piece is basically overpaying for scrap.

I know that the 1 gram chain was a great investment as it is in great condition and was purchased for under 75% of spot. This was possibly my only worthwhile purchase unless the candle stick holder has any sort of potential net profit. I have never purchased a weighted object before and am unsure what % of the item is actually sterling. Is there a rough way to estimate the amount of sterling a weighted piece has? Or at least a safe % to use on the spot to figure out if it's worthwhile or not? I imagine I'll run into a bunch of these down the road and would like to have some sort of guidance on what is "the most" I should spend.

Ok so you bought a 1 gram chain for $15. My buyer gives me $3 under spot per dwt of 14k. Using that formula, I could get $21.50 for your chain. A quick flip to make $6, not bad. MAYBE sell it on ebay for $25 and make a little more? Barely worth it, IMO.

For the weighted stuff: Safe estimate is about 10% of weight is sterling. Look what they sell for WHOLE on ebay. You will be surprised how little they fetch.

 

[insontis]

Ok so you bought a 1 gram chain for $15. My buyer gives me $3 under spot per dwt of 14k. Using that formula, I could get $21.50 for your chain. A quick flip to make $6, not bad. MAYBE sell it on ebay for $25 and make a little more? Barely worth it, IMO.

For the weighted stuff: Safe estimate is about 10% of weight is sterling. Look what they sell for WHOLE on ebay. You will be surprised how little they fetch.

If 10% is a safe estimate then I can assume that the 453 gram holder has about 45 grams of sterling? That's about $26 worth of scrap on a $10 purchase so that's worthwhile for me at least.

The chain, while purchased under scrap, isn't something that I was going to sell for scrap. I've done very well with dainty chains and pendants. The most similar comparison would have been this one: Solid 14k Yellow Gold Chain with 14k Heart Charm | eBay

That pendant weighed less than a tenth of a gram and the chain in it's entirety only weighed 0.8 grams. $18 of gold sold for $55. Now I'm not trying to say that I'm making a fortune on it or anything, but a $30 profit or so is good for me. That being said, I pretty much torched it with that $40 chain purchase..

 

[insontis]

I also forgot to mentioned one unintentional find: a 1976 $2 bill that I was given as change. :P Not worth anything more than $2, but cool none the less!

 

[bigdaddywittenauer]

You may break even with the gold, but do well with the candlestick holder.

 

[trdhrdr007]

You probably have 1.5-2.5 ozt in the candlestick. Have you tested the gold chains. The first one looks fine but I wouldn't have bought the other without testing. It looks off to me.

As far as lots of people around the jewelry table with loupes goes.... There are always people with loupes around the jewelry. That doesn't mean there was anything there in the first place or that they even know what they are looking at. I've made good money on jewelry plenty of times that was discarded by someone with a loupe.

 

[insontis]

You probably have 1.5-2.5 ozt in the candlestick. Have you tested the gold chains. The first one looks fine but I wouldn't have bought the other without testing. It looks off to me.

As far as lots of people around the jewelry table with loupes goes.... There are always people with loupes around the jewelry. That doesn't mean there was anything there in the first place or that they even know what they are looking at. I've made good money on jewelry plenty of times that was discarded by someone with a loupe.

What I failed to mention was that there was a collection of small plastic bags that had the names of the buyers on them by the "checkout" table. These seemed to mostly be jewelry items, but I can't say for certain that it was genuine or not. Like I said I do know that a pearl necklace that I was eyeballing in the pictures was long gone when I got to the table.

As far as the second gold chain - are you referring to the second one pictured? It appears to be very clean and quite shiny unlike the photograph shows. It is also stamped 585 on the clasp. I know the 14K OC mark looks a little off on the tag, but I will test it right now!

edit: Both chains check out as 14K.

 

[insontis]

You may break even with the gold, but do well with the candlestick holder.

I basically feel the same way. If I scrap the damaged chain I can get at least $20. If I sell the good chain I probably get $30-40. My best chance with that chain is to match it with an appealing pendant and hope to sell high.

The candlestick holder I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. It doesn't appear to have a makers mark or anything other than "WEIGHTED STERLING" stamped on the base. You're probably right about being able to profit on it. I'm just not sure exactly what to do with it yet. I may just keep it on my desk for now. If I go to sell it, is it better to sell it whole or to remove the sterling and scrap it? I'm not sure that the piece is necessarily desirable whole. I could sell it whole as scrap on ebay or so and take the gamble that I make a fair amount compared to the sterling content. Or I could break it down and know for certain how much sterling there is.

Decisions, decisions... Anyone have views as to what the best option is?

 

[tamrock]

From this estate sale alone I believe that holds somewhat true. They may have had some better items (jewelry wise at least) as I know at least 4-5 people were circling the table like sharks with loupes before I got to it. However I wouldn't quite say their advertising was misleading, but more so that "what you see is what you get". It was more of an assumption on my part that there would be items of value. Next time I should head straight for the jewelry and THEN look for the more hidden items (like the candle holder).

As far as the "deal of the century goes".. that'd be awesome to find, but I don't expect it. I don't feel that I have the knowledge to find it unless it's as obvious as a gold bar. So for now at least I'm quite content with picking items that I can make a small profit on.

You did good!.. To me I look at other places first. Frequent shopping at thrift stores have yielded some of the best finds for me. Antique Malls are also good to spot deals. The trick for me is to shop these places very frequently and know more about the things of true value. This forum has been a big help in becoming more successful at the hunting for treasures game. I've learn allot good info from the post I read here. I'm sure if you do the estate sales more and more you'll only get better at finding the great scores. I just have been disappointed for the most part at those because they do to much advertising and hype. Some how it looks like all the really good stuff, just only looked good in their advertising and if you do see something really good they want way to much for it. Those estate liquidators know how to make the most for them and not the estate. I see you live in the show me state, just watch it they'll be no shortage of bamboozlers in your neck of the woods and doing estate sales I'm sure is one of the tricks of their trade.

 

[Lost&Found]

If you don't need the money right away you might follow my approach. I have a sterling scrap pile that I just keep adding to. When I retire then I'll go through it and sort the scrap from what I might retail. It's a dollar cost averaging approach. Some pieces I've paid $0.25 an ounce to others $5.00 an ounce.

 

[jcCALIF]

Books! Take your smart phone and look up values on Amazon. Easy and cheap flip.