Your best garage/estate sale find?

[dreadnut]

I found this old violin at an estate sale for $20, I called my fiddle player; he asked me to buy it for him. It looked kinda fragile to me and the old case was pretty rickety. Turns out it was an early 20th Century Sears & Roebuck violin, my friend had it restored and it is his main fiddle now. And boy does he ever make it sing!

 

[Rebosbro]

I got a Univox Hi-flyer phase 4 for $20 at a yard sale about 30 years ago. Was going to give it to my nephew to smash on stage but it never came to be, thank goodness. Sold it 4 years ago for $400 and used that to get my 2001 Tele.
Paul

 

[jp]

Engraved Ludwig Black Beauty snare drum and assorted percussion stuff for $35.

 

[Stuball48]

Speedoplex telegraph "bug" - semi-automatic telegraph key. The brands Vibroplex and Speed X are well known by ham radio Morse code operators. I thought it was some cheap knock off but we'll built. Paid the $40 asked for it and turned out to be the Speedoplex model 1 and rare. Sold it two years later for $1200.

 

[cupric]

A trove of parts, catalogs, paperwork from Guild. I would guess the contents of someone's work area? There was a box of old catalogs, flyers, spec sheets. Some drawings of pickguards, pickups, routs, etc. Another of parts, inlays. Some old stationary. Newspaper articles and clippings. There were three or four boxes. I bought them all.
This was at a grange white elephant sale in Hope Valley, RI. A few miles up the road from Westerly.

 

[GAD]

A trove of parts, catalogs, paperwork from Guild. I would guess the contents of someone's work area? There was a box of old catalogs, flyers, spec sheets. Some drawings of pickguards, pickups, routs, etc. Another of parts, inlays. Some old stationary. Newspaper articles and clippings. There were three or four boxes. I bought them all.
This was at a grange white elephant sale in Hope Valley, RI. A few miles up the road from Westerly.

Nice! Check this out:

I started a new job around 1999 as a consultant, and when I walked into one of the offices for the first time, I noticed something in the corner that caught my eye. Now, as consultants no one had their own office except for the owner, so we rotated into whatever empty space there was that day (since we should have been out billing, dammit). I knew right away what it was and asked the current occupant of the room if he knew who's it was. He said it had been sitting in the corner since they moved into the space and no one had ever touched it in the almost year they'd been there. I asked around and everyone confirmed this (most people hadn't even noticed it, really). I asked if I could have it and no one cared. What was it?

An excellent condition Kenwood TS-430S!



I had only had my ticket for a few years at the time, and it remained my only HF radio for probably 10 years. The radio worked perfect;y and even had CW and SSB filters installed!

Years later I traded it for a mountain bike, and just last year I put that mountain bike on the curb so that someone else could keep the 20-year free stuff train going.

 

[GAD]

Another good one, though not in the same league as the Kenwood.

I had just started a job at a telephony company doing Voice over IP (VoIP). Telephony guys had zero respect for networking guys because their tech was standardized and had been around for over 100 years while we were the filthy newcomers that didn't know squat. I walked into the director's office and saw a new-in-box butt-set (a linemen's test set) of ridiculously high quality on his desk, so I commented that it was really nice. He smiled, leaned back in his chair, and said, "I will give you that nice butt-set if you can tell me what the connectors on it are called." Remember, he thought I was an idiot because I was a network guy, and he had no idea that I was a Ham, or that I'm the way I am.

The connectors in question look like this:



I smiled back at him and said, "Bed of Nails connector".

His smile went away, he looked at me funny, and true to his work he gave me what remains to be the nicest butt set I've ever seen.

Months later in this same guy's office, I saw a beautiful new true-RMS Fluke multimeter. I again commented on the meter. Clearly, he hadn't learned his lesson, he said, "I'll give you that fluke if you can tell me what RMS stands for."

"Root Mean Square. I can show you what it means on a whiteboard if you'd like."

Same face, same quiet delivery of the meter. While he never really got over his disdain for networking guys, that was the last time he tested me like that.

BTW if you look at my GAD's Guitar Review Standards page, you'll see that very same Fluke multimeter. It's right here on my desk and I use it almost daily.

 

[Stuball48]

Great story and a workhorse HF rig GAD. Is the 430 aGeneral Coverage receive? I really enjoyed listen to AM station 650 WSM on my 850.

 

[polarizing]

I've never been to a proper yard/garage sale. Still not convinced that they exist.

 

[GAD]

I've never been to a proper yard/garage sale. Still not convinced that they exist.

Around here they are everywhere every weekend.

 

[polarizing]

That's mild, but not overwhelming, evidence for their existence.

 

[wileypickett]

My best finds have been albums and books:

--Several Japanese psych albums from the '60s for 25 cents each, elaborately packaged with gatefold covers and booklets. (What few copies were for sale on Discogs were selling for upwards of 300 dollars a piece.)

--A copy of the first New York Dolls LP, signed by all five members. (Three were deceased at the time.) Cost me all of a dollar -- I'm too embrassed to say what it sold for at auction on eBay.

--A copy of the Awareness (first press, pre-ESP) edition of the Charlie Manson Lie LP. (Yeah, yeah, I know.) Being sold by this sweet little grandma of a lady at a yard sale two blocks from my house! (WTH?!) I couldn't bring myself to ask her how she happened to have this album, but I was sure curious.

--A copy of an original Andy Warhol book, published in Colorado in the mid '60s, in an edition of 500, with a huge Velvet Underground connection: poetry by Lou Reed, an article by John Cale, fashion photos of Nico. (The book came out around the same time as the first Velvets LP.) That was a quarter, also at a yard sale walking distance from my house. (I've been offered some pretty serious money for it, but haven't sold it.)

--Autographed (by Warhol) copy of the first Velvets album. (Different yard sale than above.)

Lots of other stuff.

 

[cupric]

Nice! Check this out:

I started a new job around 1999 as a consultant, and when I walked into one of the offices for the first time, I noticed something in the corner that caught my eye. Now, as consultants no one had their own office except for the owner, so we rotated into whatever empty space there was that day (since we should have been out billing, dammit). I knew right away what it was and asked the current occupant of the room if he knew who's it was. He said it had been sitting in the corner since they moved into the space and no one had ever touched it in the almost year they'd been there. I asked around and everyone confirmed this (most people hadn't even noticed it, really). I asked if I could have it and no one cared. What was it?

An excellent condition Kenwood TS-430S!



I had only had my ticket for a few years at the time, and it remained my only HF radio for probably 10 years. The radio worked perfect;y and even had CW and SSB filters installed!

Years later I traded it for a mountain bike, and just last year I put that mountain bike on the curb so that someone else could keep the 20-year free stuff train going.

Cool story!
I too kept the train going. Over the years since I bought the stuff I had given 80% away. I sold a few things in eBay, and used several things. But most was gifted. Even when things were sold/traded over the years, it was always a good deal. I often wonder if that was the best way to do it....much of the stuff is pretty valuable at this point, much more so than years past. As a early retiree, it might provide for a great hobby and some extra cash. But, alas it is what it is, and if probably do the same again.

 

[Rambozo96]

A box of miscellaneous transformers

 

[fronobulax]

No stories. When I was combing yard sales we were stocking an antique shop and I never seemed to be the one who found the "best" items.

In the spirit of the thread, my employer was working to standardize and manage tech. I got called into my bosses office and was handed a new computer because on paper I was due for a tech refresh. I asked what to do with the old one. I was told to throw it away. I asked if I could use a trash can at home. Got several good years out of it

 

[Walter Broes]

Two early silverface Super Reverbs with factory JBL's for what was half the going rate for one at the time. Both only needed a cap job. I didn't need them, and sold them both for a healthy profit. Place that sold them was a typical chain music store, nobody there had a clue what they were and they were sold as "broken" bc of the power supply hum from the (still factory) filter caps.

 

[GuildyAsHell]

A rare Shutt style Harmony carved top mandolin for $20. I probably have as much into repairs as it is worth, but the story and the sound make it worth it.

 

[chazmo]

Nice! Check this out:

I started a new job around 1999 as a consultant, and when I walked into one of the offices for the first time, I noticed something in the corner that caught my eye. Now, as consultants no one had their own office except for the owner, so we rotated into whatever empty space there was that day (since we should have been out billing, dammit). I knew right away what it was and asked the current occupant of the room if he knew who's it was. He said it had been sitting in the corner since they moved into the space and no one had ever touched it in the almost year they'd been there. I asked around and everyone confirmed this (most people hadn't even noticed it, really). I asked if I could have it and no one cared. What was it?

An excellent condition Kenwood TS-430S!



I had only had my ticket for a few years at the time, and it remained my only HF radio for probably 10 years. The radio worked perfect;y and even had CW and SSB filters installed!

Years later I traded it for a mountain bike, and just last year I put that mountain bike on the curb so that someone else could keep the 20-year free stuff train going.

Holy shnikies... You got this for free, GAD?! Wow.

 

[walrus]

After finding nothing good for years, I no longer visit yard sales unless I'm forced to my the boss. I guess I may have missed out!

walrus

 

[beecee]

Picked up a nice watch, asked the lady how much, she said it would run then stop...probably needed a battery...I think it was $3-$5.

Omega Automatic...(no battery needed).

Other was this Porsche Design Orfina Chrono: $5



Just sitting in my desk.

in fact all of these were garage sales finds. That stainless Hamilton is pretty cool with the offset crown. Hamilton Regulus...that was $8