Mighty Bargain Hunter

A few select auction finds this past weekend

September 25th, 2007 | by mbhunter |

We’ve gotten way more selective about what we bring home from estate auctions. When we started going to them a few years ago, the deals were amazing and we were determined to take advantage of them. You can fill up your car easily for $40 — sometimes for $20 or even $5. A friend of mine bought the contents of an attic for a dollar, sight unseen. No joke! (He made $30 just charging people admission to take what they wanted!)

We attended a consignment auction this past weekend. There was a good variety of things at this one. Here’s what we bought:

• A long box of comic books for $20. There were fourteen available and most of the comics were in great shape and put in plastic sleeves. I called a good friend who’s knowledgeable about comics to come and check them out. He found one that was pretty good, and said that they’d all be good deals at $10 or $15 each. One guy bought one box for $30, and I got the one my friend suggested for $20. Then someone else got the rest for $15 each (the auctioneer sold them buy the box, take one or take them all).
• Two display swords for $15. My wife has a thing for weapons (no I’m not worried). She sold the lesser one for $2 to someone. The one she kept was the nicest of the bunch (there were a couple dozen sold).
• A multiple box lot for $2. The reason I bought the box lot is that it had a Scrabble game in it. I can sell the tiles for at least $5 plus shipping on eBay without breaking a sweat. (They’re great for jewelry and scrapbooking crafts.) Other stuff in the lot: a brand-new ceramic chip and dip bowl; an electric carving knife that my wife could use to cut foam for her projects; a toddler bed guard rail; an old Rummy tile game and a couple of other games; some decorative kitchen copperware; a few Jewish items including three yamulkahs and a mezuzah.

We bid on a few other items (a collection of salt and pepper shakers, some vintage Star Trek spaceship models, a couple boxes of books), but didn’t need them badly enough to win them. A few people were grumbling about some of the bidders (antique dealers, or just people with a lot of money) who were “just grabbing anything in sight to keep others from buying.” I smiled and nodded, but (a) it’s their money to spend as they please, (b) it’s the auctioneer’s job to get as much for the items as they can, and most importantly, (c) high bid wins! If someone’s willing to pay more for something, why shouldn’t they have it?

We were happy with what we got, and we were happy also that we didn’t get too much.

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