Another estate sale find

[Merc]

Another great day at an estate sale for a fan of the Civil War and WW1.

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The Lincoln and son Tad CDV photo is pencil dated 1864 and was a bargain at $10.

The 48 star flag is the type that was flown during WW1 and has leather hangers at the top. A few holes here and there.

[JB White]

What are you doing Merc? Killing off local collectors for the estate sales??? I'll just sit back and wait for your estate sale. One stop shopping!!

You've been on a great run lately and I hope your luck keeps holding out.

[Merc]

If these estate sales were auctions instead, I would find something else to do on Saturday mornings. I suppose some day everything will be passed down to the grandkids who also share my interests. Then, they can decide what to keep and what to sell.

The brokers who conduct these sales usually don’t have the time or inclination to research the valuable stuff. Copies of the Lincoln photo that I bought today for $10 recently sold on eBay went for as much as $80 for the same photo. Items like these are hard to pass up. I bought my Enfield No. 4 Mk 1* at an estate sale for $150.

The hardest thing to do is to get to an estate sale before an eBay seller gets there. He’d buy the Lincoln photo for $10 and have up for auction on eBay tomorrow with an opening bid of $20. I missed a rebel canteen at an estate sale a few years ago that sold for a few hundred dollars and it was up on eBay within 24 hours and ultimately sold for over $2000.

[lyman]

I had a job for a bit that gave me every Friday afternoon and all day Sat (that may seem odd to some, but I work in retail)

wife and I would grab the paper, and hit the estate sales in some of the higher end older neighborhoods,

usually found some good stuff, priced well, or better yet, not priced right,

got her a nice set of pearls for the price of fake ones, apparently the family did not know (we suspected but were not sure until she took them in to be cleaned)

most of the interesting military stuff was way overpriced, or snatched up quickly,

[Merc]

I should pay more attention to the jewelry table since I know what to look for. I just got tired of fighting the women and eBayers for a spot. Thrift stores are another good possibility.

Essential tools: eye loupe, magnet, and a small flashlight.

Precious metals aren’t attracted to a magnet. Gold plated brass and some grades of stainless steel are non-magnetic but won’t be marked.

Platinum items feel heavy and are marked PLAT or IRIDPLAT.

Gold items are marked with a 10K, 14K or 18K.

Sterling silver items that are made in the US are marked with a 925 and rings sound like a bell ringing when dropped on a hard surface.

Pearls usually aren’t perfect and have defects that can be seen. A better test - they feel rough like sandpaper if you rub them on your teeth. Plastic fakes are smooth.

If you’re going to look for old clothing, uniforms, military shoulder patches from WW1 and WW2 and old paper items made prior to 1953, a black light flash light will identify modern reproductions by making anything that’s white or yellow (i.e. paper, fabric and thread) glow.