Saturday morning, while drinking my coffee and deciding which garden project to tackle, I pondered venturing out to some Estate sales. In past years, Saturday mornings were dedicated to grabbing some breakfast, the Oregonian’s classified section and hitting the sales – all before 9am. I since realized I’m not the early morning go getter for sales and really don’t like the type of individual who shoves their way through a crowded house so they can get to the dolls. Yet, I do love wandering around someone else’s house and pawing at their crap.
Yesterday, I ventured to four sales – mostly in North and Northeast. I hit the jackpot at a sale in the Piedmont neighborhood, a nice gem of a hood in NE up off MLK. I tackle sales by hitting the basement first to see if there are any tools and at this sale, I quickly snatched up a rake and a bow saw only to remember that I own both. Needless to say, I carried them around for a good 10 minutes before setting them aside to free up my hands for Kodachrome camera film. Yep, there was a whole box of sealed cartridges of 16mm color film from the 50’s. I quickly Googled on the Iphone and realized these sell for way more than $1 on ebay. MINE! Further on down the line, I came across the ubiquitous tray of used old kitchen items. I always dig through that looking for “church keys” or old bottle openers. See, I have this thing for bottle openers- I think I have about 500. Again, I snatched them up and through them in the box with the film. After checking out the remainder of the house and the 20 vintage trunks and boxes of old train schedules from around the US and Canada (train porn anyone?) I ventured to pay. $12. Woohoo.
The other sales I visited weren’t as expansive. Sometimes they only have a couple of rooms to walk through which limits the experience. I did come across a whole vintage Atari set with games and controllers for $59. Not sure if that would have been a good score or not (note to self – 50% off on Sundays…) I also came across an old LaserDisk player and some discs- Highlander and Greystoke were among them. See, there is some cool stuff out there.
If you are ever looking for some adventure on a Saturday morning and want to check out some areas of the city you never ventured to, check out the classifieds in the Oregonian or on Craigslist and pick a few sales. You will not be disappointed and may find that vintage Battleship game you and your siblings played in the 70’s you just gotta have.
{ 6 comments }
I love “saling” but haven’t been to a sale in a long time. I enjoyed your story, made me itch to hit the streets. Interesting use of the iPhone too.
I love estate sales in Portland. In other places where I’ve attended estate sales, you would never be allowed to tromp through the dead folks’ house like we do here. Estate sales were just like a regular old yard sale only with better stuff. Sometimes you could go into the basement with the family’s permission to check out tools and such, things too heavy for them to move up themselves.
Going through the homes of the deceased, the way we do it here, is so much more awesome! I love finding the ancient bottles that have been in medicine cabinets since the 40’s, and basements full of years of bolts and screws and nails meticulously organized in old coffee cans.
I used to love estate sales, yard sales, garage sales, thrift stores and the like and would buy stuff like you described (and then some). Then I realized I had a HOARDING problem. Really. 18+ trips to Goodwill later I finally have a wonderfully organized, spacious and clutter free home.
I’m keeping it that way.
But, hey, good for you.
You have some funny parts here…the rake and bow saw, and your realization. There is an armful to be had, of almost anything at an estate sale.
I know, I am the guy trying to sell it to you…
My best Portland estate sale find was a stash of Blitz-Weinhard marketing schwag; pins (“BLITZ me”), bumper stickers (“This is BLITZ Country”) etc.
So far my best, or at least the most useful, find was the 50 cent snow shovel I got to get leaves out of the gutter. It came in rather handy last month for actual snow removal too!
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