What's the most surprising thing you have bought or sold in a Garage Sale

[Therinian]

I bought a huge, blue canvas duffle bag for $0.25. It fits 4 days worth clothes for 4 people, including flip flops, swimsuits, and pool towels. My DH, DS2, DS3, and I use it, often, and it conveniently fits into the oversized canvas tote we strap to the top of our Durango.

 

[wallawallakids]

This wasn't my win, but my mothers. Several years ago, I was probably 15 or so, we went to a yard sale and there was an older lady who had this huge box of books and said she would sell it to my mom for 3 bucks. My mom figured why not and went home with it. Lo and behold, inside that box was a signed copy of Lousia May Alcott's Little Men. First edition. No joke. The rest were just old books that were not worth much, but that one book was a steal! My mom still has it.

 

[cheriemek]

The weirdest thing we sold was a furry orange "recliner" - like a wavy double chair lounger - I cannot even explain it. it had belonged to my parents, and I had it in the attic as a place the cat sat on. A girl came to the garage sale and said it would match her apartment perfectly - I wanted to go with her to see what her apartment looked like!

The best thing I ever found was a set of soup bowls to match my mother's china. She had a weird set made in the 1950s in California - square with brown roses. The soup bowls were also square. I got a set of 4 for $3. My mom never had any of the soup bowls and was amazed to see them.

 

[3boymthr]

Well...I had to come back and post about this. I don't know if it ever actually sold but the title of this thread got me thinking about the weirdest thing I'd ever SEEN at a yard sale I remembered a yard sale that I went to and the guy was selling ED pumps for men who'd had their prostate removed. He had a whole bunch of them. I think (hope) they were salesmen's samples because he was also selling bed pans and other miscellaneous hospital supplies. Oh so very weird.

 

[Noerdax]

I spend a few weekends during summer driving around looking for Yard sales. It's not even about buying stuff, I just love haggling, and I'm good at it.

Among the strangest thing I've seen.
-a dozen 200 pounds Metal Railroad sections.
-Kittens
-Old toilet

Best Deals I found was for my wife who makes costumes as a hobby.
An old retired seamstress was selling out her material. I offered to buy out half the yard sale, she was so happy to get rid of so much stock all at once she practically gave it to me. There was a few hundred yards of Fabric on rolls of 10 to 50 yards and boxes of short pieces "1 to 9 yards" in various colors and materials. Enough Zippers, Velcro, Trim, rolls of Threads in all colors to last a lifetime. I did not even haggle when she asked me a 100$

 

[kacaju]

I bought a very large (5 feet by 5 feet) Oil on canvas of a landscape. It turns out the ppl selling it didn't know the painter (Lee Reynolds) painting's sell for sometimes 5 or 10k$. I have not had this particular painting appraised but I am sure it is worth a few thousand more than the $75 I paid for it 20 years ago. Lee Reynolds is dead now so his stuff is worth even more. I have tried to Google and find a website or catalouge of his works. I have found some. They are worth a lot. but I cannot find this particular painting that I own.

How do you go about finding out if a painting is worth something? I have an old painting I believe is from Korea that my FIL always told my husband it was worth something. Not that I expect it to be but it is in our basement and I hate to see it there when someone may really enjoy it. BUT I don't want to give it away and then find out it was worth *millions* LOL I can not make out the signature on it

 

[JandJ]

The BEST thing we ever found was a Husqvarna embroidery machine. It was brand new in the box. It was sad circumstances; the guy having the sale lost his wife the year before and she had just bought the machine and never even got to use it. DH looked it up on his phone and it retailed for $800. The guy was asking $50 - SOLD! We gave it to my DMIL and she absolutely loves it and has made some beautiful things.

 

[bedogged]

I have gotten lots of wonderful things at garage sales. The one that leaps to mind is when I bought a lot of costume jewelry for 25 cents each. It was in an old jewelry box and I just picked out a bunch of things I liked the looks of. Days later, I looked at the jewelry more closely. I found a heavy pin in the shape of a chicken. It turned out to be 18K with a diamond and ruby eye.

 

[Kies99]

I've sold two cars at separate garage sales.

 

[Pooh2]

When my sons were about 12, they asked us to sport them $10 for a huge box of baseball cards at a flea market. They repackaged the cards and made over $400 selling them in the local newspaper. Not a bad return on their investment! They even paid us back the $10!