yard sales paid of this past weekend

[fishguy]

This is me booty, from this past weekends community yardsale. got .925, .970, 10k, 14k, and 18k. spent $7.50 total

 

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[mariposagold]

Wow, you are a yard sale King.

 

[vpnavy]

Nice buys fishguy. Thanks for sharing...

 

[Maburger]

So do you pull out your loupe at the sale or squint (like me) and hope for good luck? Or can you just tell somehow that it is silver not jusnk? If so, what are good signs to look for?

 

[jewelerguy]

wow. great haul!

 

[Argentium]

You likely scored a couple hundred bucks there guy ! Nice finds indeed .

 

[fishguy]

lost alot of hearing while in the navy but have been blessed with 20/12 vision. at least something is still working like it should for now

 

[Brother Al]

So do you pull out your loupe at the sale or squint (like me) and hope for good luck? Or can you just tell somehow that it is silver not jusnk? If so, what are good signs to look for?

Before you shop smear some woman's makeup on your arm. When you find a piece of jewelry you want to test rub it across the makeup. Gold and silver will leave a dark mark, plate will leave a lesser shadow type mark. Not quite an accurate foolproof test for metal content...but pretty good indication imho. HH Brother Al.

 

[fishguy]

I only buy stamped items you just gotta really look for the stamp. Earrings are the toughest imo they can be stamped on the stud in very small numbers. Dont trust stamps on the post backings alone that just means the back is a precious metal. Need to find that marking on the earring or just pass it up. Once you find a few silver and gold items look em over and feel them. You start to get an eye and a touch for the good stuff. One thing I do to help me from searching every item is it it looks like foil ie to shiny its most likely painted or plated and I skip that piece. Rarely do people get their stuff proffesonaly cleaned before throwing it out on a table to sell so even most gold items will not be overly shiny,and most silver is at least a little tarnished. Plated silver and coin silver tarnishes much faster than sterling or fine silver. So most of the flatware that you pick up that is all black will be plated but still look for those numbers or the words sterling or fine. alot of people see a bunch of avon jewelry and will just pass it up DON'T I made a purchase of $20 and bought 6 cases of little angels with birthstones in them all sterling came to 38 ounces total. Biggest tip I can give you though is be ready to annoy people and wake up early you want to be at the yardsales as they are setting up, ask to help. Be at flea markets before vendors are allowed in and be ready to hit the non flea market proffesionals first. If you stand at a table with a jewelers loop and a scale you are going to draw attention to yourself and you will get compitition and people following you. I collect coins so I know how a quarter,half,and dime feel im my hand and I know there silver value before heading out. I compare items to the coins on how they weigh and know max max limit to spend to break even(which you never want to just break even). If a table has a couple good pieces that you see right away make an offer for all the jewelry they got. These people want out of the sun and don't want to repack anything so help them along by buying larger lots. I have found alot of gold earrings and some nice gemstones by buying the lot and taking time at home to have a closer look. Plus if it all ends up not being precious metal I sale bags of them on craigslist and always make my money back at least. I also donate alot of my purchases to a local placse that holds art classes for people to do beading make jewelry and odds and ends. You may never get rich but the hunt is the fun part!

 

[fishguy]

yes that does work to a point in fact i have already used my wifes cheeks on occasions( I don't advise doing that!) Was fun seeing people look at her like she had dirt on her face though.