Never before have I seen.....
Been quiet for awhile....loads of things to share with you all! But, I will go with the most recent for today.
This past Thursday night, I was perusing the estate sales for the weekend like I usually do. Thursday's always hold no promise of interesting television for me (eh, maybe once in awhile if there's a new Big Bang on for comic relief), so I like to check out the inside's of other people's homes and what they have for sale via my Kindle.
While I was not seeing much promising for this weekend, I did spy a giant (understatement) lot of old accessories and jewelry that were going to be coming up for auction/sale about an hour or so away. Looked good from the pictures, but hard to tell. They wanted to sell everything as an entire lot, so I contacted the lady that runs these and made an appointment for early Saturday morning. She was nice enough to permit me to take photos too as it was only going to be me and I wanted to be able to show Marguerite all the items before we committed to anything.
Let me just say, I was NOT prepared for what awaited.
NOT prepared. In the least.
I got up early, and drove a little over an hour into Providence, R.I. Really, not a bad drive, straight shot all the way. Got off the highway, ok, this neighborhood is a little dicey....ok there's the college, getting better. Miss the street, turn around, take it. Alrighty, this is a nice little, older neighborhood.
I find the house, a beautiful old brick two story. This might be promising!
She arrived about the same time as I did and asked if I could give her 5 minutes to get into the house and situated. Sure, no problem. I was 15 minutes early anyways. I go to Pinterest and start wasting some time, um, scratch that, "working" pinning some vintage lovelies for our followers. A few minutes go by and she waves me in.
We go down some very steep stairs into a basement room that is right out of the past! Huge orange-y red linoleum squares flooring greet me.....I LOVE vintage linoleum! And, around the room, wood paneling....but not the ugly 70's dark faux-wood paneling, the high end, light colored, scalloped, expensive 50's wood paneling!! WOW! Can I buy this room? No? Ok... :(
And then I realize what is in front of me. A large table with tray, after tray, after tray of vintage rings! Not gold and silver, but costume from the 60's & 70's! There are poison rings, smiley face rings, cameo rings,....
OH. MY. GOD.
I am already swooning. I am calculating in my head.
I am freaking out.
At the end of the table are the coolest bubble earrings and bracelets I've ever seen....they look just like gumballs and I have to touch them to make sure that they're not.
Breaking up my freak out is a man's voice that says, "Let me show you the rest". The REST? Cool!
He says, "The lot includes everything on this table and these two other ROOMS". Huh?!
He takes me into the next two adjoining rooms, and I could have passed out.
I have seen a lot of things before. I have seen hoarder houses (more on that in posts to come), I have seen buildings that have been locked up for a hundred years, and I have seen going out of business sales.
None of these prepared me for the amount of dead stock that was here.
Apparently, this gentleman had run a jewelry and accessories business years ago. When he either died or retired, everything was boxed up and put in these rooms. That was back in the 70's or 80's. Now there is only one or two of the kids left and they are selling this beautiful brick home....and all the stuff within. Holy crap, this was an ENTIRE business!
This was going as a lot. The actual estate sale is next weekend, which, unfortunately, I won't be able to attend. I have been to their estate sales before and they are clean and very fair in prices, so it's kind of a bummer, but there will be more.
Anyway, while I was snapping pictures and trying to come up with a number to offer in my head, another couple came in and immediately offered a fairly large amount.
While I was devastated, I asked for, and was granted (as I was first), some time to mull it over and come back with a counter offer.
Urgh. Maybe you've been there. Maybe you haven't. As I went over and over it, commiserated, and planned.....I realized...sadly, that this one was not to be.
Even if we countered and won the bidding, we would then need a truck (all the shelving, the desk, and the fixtures were included in this, and, like I said, there were three rooms of stuff ), and time...the estate sale is next weekend and it needed to be gone in a week.
Ok, could do it. When I put my mind to something, I can do it. But, this was going to be Herculean in scale, even for my delusions of grandeur.
So, I relented, went over and shook everyone's hand, thanked them for the time to mull, and (reluctantly) split.
In the hours that have passed, I have gone back and forth between "yeah, a lot of work" and "shit, a goldmine", but, in this business you win some, you lose some. There will be another, and we will be all over it! I just hope the winner does this bounty the justice it deserves!
Here are some more pictures to enjoy....(some are kind of crappy, as I was trying to capture as much as I could in as little time as I had, but you'll get the gist). Hold onto your seats kiddos, this one was GOOD.
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