Left at 6 am to hit a community

[safeinOhio]

yard sale about 50 miles away. Stopped for breakfast and didn't get there until 7:30. Drove by a corner lot and they only had one item on the table so far, a french horn case. Yep it was in there and they had $8 on it. Lots of dings and even a pin hole in a curve, but I was amazed that there was no musty smell coming from the satin lined cased. Ask if they had anymore and got a trombone for $12. A couple of smalls, victorian C.I. easel and a majolica bowl with little animals on it for a buck.
Decided to take the back roads home and finally spotted another sale. Several older ladies, hell younger than me, were looking at a chair and saying how beautiful it was, as they walked away I grabbed it. A willow twig/bent wood rocker in great shape, just some varnish worn off. $20. Home by 10:30.
A couple of big, crowded flea markets this weekend and few out looking at yard sales. This makes up for the last 3 or 4 times I went out looking and found nothing.

[TeamPooka]

1. some nice finds and a nice drive.

[safeinOhio]

2. Last year I went to a community sale about

10 miles from this one and found a midcentury table for $5. that I sold for $250 a week later.

I just put an ad in a local, weekly paper. Another gamble that may pay off.

[Vinca]

3. I had an exceptionally good day, too, and it was a complete surprise.

At one sale I went to there was a "free"pile and among the things were 2 boxes of old plays (soft cover book form). I nearly passed them by, but checked ebay on my cell phone and figured I could get a couple of hundred bucks out of them. Wow! The free pile was better than the goods at the main sale.

[grasswire]

4. funny, isn't it?

I once retrieved a teak side table marked "Denmark" from a free pile. Still have it -- it's beautiful.

Also, while out walking in city neighborhood with family members, spied a jelly cabinet in a free pile of salvage. Incredible paint on it. Hmm. How to get it home from our walk? One of the kids had a skateboard with him, so we put the cabinet on the skateboard, steadied it with our hands on the sides, and rolled it six blocks home. Fun!

[Vinca]

5. LOL - a picker with a skateboard. That would have made a great photo!

I'm always amazed at what people throw away. At first I thought to myself that I was a pathetic, desperate human being to stop at a pile of "trash" on the side of a road . . . but I've found Coco Chanel scarves and antique Rockingham spittoons and artwork and furniture. I once found a pair of real Texas cowboy boots in good condition and sold them almost immediately. It's weird.