In our “Rules of the Road” entries (ROTR) we will discuss some of our estate sale strategies.  Full disclosure though, these are tips that we totally made up, and work for us like 63% of the time.  

Fancy treasures are usually scooped up pretty quickly by dealers who are early to a sale.  If you are like me and work in the mornings, you can’t be the first person in line.  If you are like Sarah and sleep in, this is also the case.

The good news is that dealers rush through a sale pretty quickly so that they can move onto the next one.   As a result, we have found some rare and lucrative treasures hidden away in the recesses of attics, basements, closets, and other neglected places.

This is a messy attic space from a recent sale we attended.  It was disorganized and dark so a lot of people avoided it.  I ended up digging around with my iphone flashlight and found an unused antique meat grinder still in the box.  

In a similar circumstance, I reached far back into a messy closet and found two Coach purses.  I paid $1 each for them.  (I would have paid more but the seller said that all handbags were priced $1 and it was their fault for not finding these. I guess fair is fair.)

A good tip is to try and focus out all of the stuff that is plainly visible or displayed.  (After you do a quick scan of course for things you might want!)  The photo below is from the sale where I most recently found more MARX figures.  I knew from everything ON the tables that this house had antique toys and collectibles, so I started focusing on what was UNDER the tables and in the basement cabinets.  At this same sale, I opened some dresser drawers and discovered all of the antique irons that we previously blogged about. 

My favorite thing to dig through is a huge pile of old-looking paper goods.  People usually don’t want to sort through papers because chances are that everything is either dirty or ripped.  In some cases though, things stay shocking well-preserved inside paper stacks.  I once found a railroad ticket from 1848 that looked like it was issued yesterday.  It had been tucked inside of an envelope.

I also recently found a copy of the 1968 Detroit Free Press that featured the Tigers’ World Series win.  It was perfectly pressed between a bunch of old binders and random paperwork.  I bought it for $1 and later sold it on ebay for $40.

So the moral here is to DIG!  Open ominous-looking boxes, cabinets, bags, etc.  The sellers working the sale will be sure to mark off any areas you aren’t supposed to search.  They will tape shut closets and drawers if you are meant to stay out.  Other than that, hidden treasures are only hidden because there wasn’t enough time or space to display everything for sale in the home.  Sellers are usually excited to see what you’ve uncovered, and it means more profit for them in the end!

-Erin