The items or deals we regret not buying...

[war-digs-it]

As being fairly new to this game with 2 years experience in garage and estate sales buying general items, five years total with precious metals and jewelery. I am haunted by those items I have picked up and put back down and walked away from, later to discover the value. I have learned a load from this forum and am so grateful. Still, there are items everywhere that I have later discovered are worth some serious coin. You know those items that everyone walks by because it looks perfectly in place in a garage sale, even with pickers of every type passing by? Ever wonder how much money you have passed up without a thought?

I have items that haunt me and I take it as a learning experience. Here is a picture of one of my "ghosts" that I missed but my friend did not...Maria and Santana signed pottery. This is not the only piece, there are 4 more I already deleted their pics.

I know some others here that would have had their radar on this in a flat second.

Cheers!

 

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[Nickleanddime]

Lol I've done it alot. Got into money problem recently and liquidated my whole stash for pennies on the dollar. Now have to climb back up. My biggest regret was a 1909 Stanley plane I gave a guy in a bundle, he called me the next day and said he got 300 outta it from a client in his office. Lol oh well.

 

[palidin20603]

Missed 3 Judith Jack Sterling silver enamel and marcisite pins for $7 a piece. These were ice cream cone/ ice cream sundae style pins that go for $35 a piece. I wanted to wait until they were 50% off. HH

 

[frankendime]

I don't want to talk about it...lol

 

[war-digs-it]

It's tough to put a dollar amount on what we miss out on, so many factors. The items that can bring hundreds for the dollar spent or a dollar for the the thousand like items that are small and easily shipped. Besides the pottery example which I don't remember even registering, there was a pair of Dr. Dre Beats headphones I didn't look up and walked away not wanting to pay $5 for at another sale that day.

 

[war-digs-it]

I don't want to talk about it...lol

LOL! Face the ghosts and learn, We will not make the same mistakes more than two or three times!

Sometimes I have feel like I received a "stupid" ticket for not having the knowledge. I learn best from my mistakes when I know after the fact that I have made an error, and lost monetarily,

 

[clovis97]

It is funny that you started this thread. This topic has been on my mind for the last week.

Don't feel bad, you are not alone. I could fill up some serious bandwidth on this forum with things I should have bought, but didn't.

I am still kicking myself for passing on a pair of Corcoran WWII brown jump boots. That must have been in 2004 or so. These were the real deal, and not a pair of post war boots.

These boots were in an antique mall, and a vendor had set up a booth trying to sell vintage shoes to the hipster crowd.

Those Corcorans were only $35, and my cash back then was growing tight, and I already had a car full of stuff. I was young at the game back then, had no smart phone, and had no one to call to ask. I was also leery that they might be post Korean war era, and I was afraid that they'd been resoled.

I learned later, after delving into and studying Corcoran military issue boots, that those were the real deal, and would have easily fetched $300+ on ebay at the time. They could have even sold for much more than that. While soft today, the WWII original issue boot market was booming and overheated from what I could tell.

The important part is NOT to feel bad and kick yourself for years like I do, but learn everything you can about those items, and anything associated with them. In this instance, for me, was learning about other military issue boots, and since then, I have made a good bit of cash on knowing the other military boots.

The way I see it, passing up stuff that you should have bought is part of buying your education. Sometime, I'll share a story about some other military boots that I bought for $5 and flipped for $200 a pair. I would have never known about those had I not passed up and studied the Corcorans.

I can spot a pair of cap toe Corcoran jump boots from a mile away.

 

[OtakuDude]

I missed a rare Beatles album in the .90¢ bin at the local Amvets a few years back.

The Beatles Rarity » Collector?s Corner ? ?Jolly What! The Beatles & Frank Ifield On Stage? (Vee-Jay ?flop? becomes highly coveted collector?s item):

At the time it looked like yet another Beatles rip-off album, one of many that were released at the time. It didn't even have a picture of the band on the cover, just a drawing of some goofy looking Englishman.

 

[Iron Patch]

Fortunately I can't recall anything that I really regret, but what scares me is what was hidden.... because I have been surprised over the years with quite a few decent scores I did not expect... so it only makes sense the items I didn't buy also had a few. So my experience is more like detecting and not knowing what I was close to finding but never got the coil over it.

 

[Lost&Found]

I am reminded of two opportunities. One I capitalized on and one where I was ethical ((LOL).

The first one was a garage sale where a widow was downsizing and moving to New Mexico. She and her husband were childless and spent summers traveling the world and bought antiques. I picked up some Asian antiques, precolumbian and Native American artifacts. I got into a conversation with her and she asked me if I was a dealer and told, "no, I am a collector". She told me to come upstairs and said when we got their, "These are items I don't want to sell. Pick something out and it is yours."

There were so many things there I was in shock. I picked a Qianlong eggshell porcelain cup and said thank you. I did not want to be greedy but was so tempted to make an offer on many of her items. When I was leaving I met her granddaughter and asked her why her grandmother let me buy the items so cheap. She said she knows the value of her things and that she lent many of her things to museums. The reason she gave me such a great deal is that her grandmother took a liking to me gave me a gift because I appreciated antiques. I walked out of the sale spending $27 with about $5000 in antiques.

My best garage sale but I felt like I left so much behind.

My second regret was a neighbor invited me to purchase things from her. She and her desceased husband owned a Madison Ave antique store. For those not familiar with NYC Madison Ave in the 70's to 80's street are high end dealers. It was candy store time in her house. She had no kids or relatives and was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

I surveyed what she had. I told her that I would get back to her. The one thing that I wanted to get was a painting in her living room of a sailing ship on the ocean. The artist was Winslow Homer. At that time his canvases sold for $3M. She at this time was suffering from an altered mental status due to her cancer. Who knows what she would have sold it for. I never got back to her because I felt it could have been construed that I took advantage of her diminished mental capacity. She died three weeks later.

 

[war-digs-it]

Yup, it's the signals we rejected, didn't interpret properly or outright missed..."There is no pain with that which does not register".

Warren R.

 

[war-digs-it]

I am reminded of two opportunities. One I capitalized on and one where I was ethical ((LOL).

The first one was a garage sale where a widow was downsizing and moving to New Mexico. She and her husband were childless and spent summers traveling the world and bought antiques. I picked up some Asian antiques, precolumbian and Native American artifacts. I got into a conversation with her and she asked me if I was a dealer and told, "no, I am a collector". She told me to come upstairs and said when we got their, "These are items I don't want to sell. Pick something out and it is yours."

There were so many things there I was in shock. I picked a Qianlong eggshell porcelain cup and said thank you. I did not want to be greedy but was so tempted to make an offer on many of her items. When I was leaving I met her granddaughter and asked her why her grandmother let me buy the items so cheap. She said she knows the value of her things and that she lent many of her things to museums. The reason she gave me such a great deal is that her grandmother took a liking to me gave me a gift because I appreciated antiques. I walked out of the sale spending $27 with about $5000 in antiques.

My best garage sale but I felt like I left so much behind.

My second regret was a neighbor invited me to purchase things from her. She and her desceased husband owned a Madison Ave antique store. For those not familiar with NYC Madison Ave in the 70's to 80's street are high end dealers. It was candy store time in her house. She had no kids or relatives and was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

I surveyed what she had. I told her that I would get back to her. The one thing that I wanted to get was a painting in her living room of a sailing ship on the ocean. The artist was Winslow Homer. At that time his canvases sold for $3M. She at this time was suffering from an altered mental status due to her cancer. Who knows what she would have sold it for. I never got back to her because I felt it could have been construed that I took advantage of her diminished mental capacity. She died three weeks later.

To the heart! Bravo! I have not been in that extreme of situations but I have been close. Good for you to help and not run over those that near their special time. I do leave a card and offer to research items for the family so they have some options.

 

[lookin-for-treasure]

I am reminded of two opportunities. One I capitalized on and one where I was ethical ((LOL).

The first one was a garage sale where a widow was downsizing and moving to New Mexico. She and her husband were childless and spent summers traveling the world and bought antiques. I picked up some Asian antiques, precolumbian and Native American artifacts. I got into a conversation with her and she asked me if I was a dealer and told, "no, I am a collector". She told me to come upstairs and said when we got their, "These are items I don't want to sell. Pick something out and it is yours."

There were so many things there I was in shock. I picked a Qianlong eggshell porcelain cup and said thank you. I did not want to be greedy but was so tempted to make an offer on many of her items. When I was leaving I met her granddaughter and asked her why her grandmother let me buy the items so cheap. She said she knows the value of her things and that she lent many of her things to museums. The reason she gave me such a great deal is that her grandmother took a liking to me gave me a gift because I appreciated antiques. I walked out of the sale spending $27 with about $5000 in antiques.

My best garage sale but I felt like I left so much behind.

My second regret was a neighbor invited me to purchase things from her. She and her desceased husband owned a Madison Ave antique store. For those not familiar with NYC Madison Ave in the 70's to 80's street are high end dealers. It was candy store time in her house. She had no kids or relatives and was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

I surveyed what she had. I told her that I would get back to her. The one thing that I wanted to get was a painting in her living room of a sailing ship on the ocean. The artist was Winslow Homer. At that time his canvases sold for $3M. She at this time was suffering from an altered mental status due to her cancer. Who knows what she would have sold it for. I never got back to her because I felt it could have been construed that I took advantage of her diminished mental capacity. She died three weeks later.

It's good to know that we have such high quality people such as you on here. It makes me glad I've found this site to converse and listen what others have to say.

 

[leadnugget]

few years back at an estate sale, i picked up a Curta calculator with the box. it was sitting on top of a pile of junk. looked at it, did not know what it was it was.
it was marked marked $6. too much for something i did not know what it was and set it back down.


it look just like this.

RARE Early Curta Calculator Type II Bin $1850 | eBay

 

[Tallone]

My tale of woe wasn't exactly a yard sale situation but still mighty painful in hindsight. About 10 years ago, my work took me to an old gas station/general store in a very small community about 8 hours from my home. As I inspected the exterior of the place, I took a peek through one of the windows and spotted a 1930s vintage art deco style Sinclair gasoline pump. It was filthy dirty but all the original glass was intact and there didn't appear to be any significant damage to the metal work. It was similar to the one below:



I work in the petroleum industry and I thought, "If I cleaned that up, it would look fantastic in my office." I had no way to transport such a thing at that moment and I didn't have the site owner's contact information with me, so I completed my job and went home. I thought about calling the owner of that pump and offering to buy it from her. I thought about it many times over the next couple of weeks but always hesitated because it would have been a long drive to go get it. Finally, I decided, what the hell.... go for it. I called the lady up and asked her if she would be willing to sell it to me. She said, "Oh, I would have given it to you but the county condemned the building and they bulldozed it last week". NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can only hope the guys that did the demolition recognized what they had there and removed it before they destroyed the place and shipped everything off to the dump.

The good news is, I found an old gas pump globe behind the building while I was there. It was hidden under heavy brush and had a bird nest in it but both lenses were intact and the paint was still good. I had that globe in my office for several years but sold it on ebay a couple of years ago for about $200.

The flip side of this topic is, of course, the things we have bought that we wish we hadn't. That might make an interesting and informative subject for a different thread.

 

[Baltimore]

I was at a thrift store in chicago and I was browsing around in the Jacket section. As you all may know I deal mostly in vintage clothes, but at the time i thrifted purely for my own enjoyment. On the racks I found a 1940's 1 pocket Big E levi's jacket. Somehow I thought "Oh, thats probably fake. Plus I would never wear it." I kick myself whenever I think about it, just because I know I'll never find another one. Sigh.

Here's one on ebay right now

Vintage 1st Edition One Pocket Levi 506 XX Denim Jacket Big E | eBay

 

[inspectorgadget]

Just 2 weeks ago there was a box of Shinny Brite Christmas ornaments in VG condition & sitting on top of the box were 4 old mercury glass (I thought prob old German) harp / lyre ornaments missing the caps & hooks. I really figured they had good value but wasn't 100% sure. I stopped bidding at $10 but when I got home I looked em up & a set of 6 sold for $175 also without caps or hooks + the box of 12 shinny brites alone were worth $30-$50. I sure shouldn't have stopped at $10!

 

[Citiboy289]

PUT THIS UNDER PENNY WISE DOLLAR FOOLISH------ I was in rural Georgia CRUISING FLEA MARKETS ECT , I was at one shop and asked the person running it if there might be any more around , since I was looking for old holsters, the guy mentioned a place far off the beaten path and said it was owned by a women and her son, ( who would begin indulging very early in the day ) I drove to the place and they did not have anything I was looking , as I was walking out I spotted an old SCHWIN BICYCLE which was rusted but fully intact , I asked the son what they were asking for it, he said 100.00 , thinking I was going to do the PAWN STAR S thing and having smelled the son's breath up close I offered 75 , He held firm at the 100 , so I left , as I drove home I figured that I should turn back and get it but didn't ---- looked it up on EBAY and the web was a rare 1948 model unrestored asking price was 1000, refinished 2100, --- went back the next day it was gone !

 

[clorox]

I ran across a giant gold tone resin plaque of a Federal-style eagle a while back at a Goodwill. I seriously considered it, but it was just so damn big... Turns out that Syroco Inc. model 3762 regularly gets about $80 to $100 plus shipping!

Aside from that I really only regret that I'm not more consistent in going out hunting!

 

[OldSowBreath]

A last minute garage sale and the guy has a couple of sword blades, and a big box of sword parts. I bought one blade, and enough of the parts to make a complete sword. Turns out it was a WWII Japanese officer's sword (like a US sword, not a Hari Kari type), all for $6.00. What I passed on, in that box, were a bunch of old sword tassels, which would have been about a buck apiece. I dream about those tassels often.