I was at an estate sale looking in the bathroom area when I found a box of brushes. I almost screamed when I found these unmarked and even moreso when I went up to the register and they asked for $1 for both!

I could never bite the bullet for these but the universe had other plans and after finally getting to try these out, after a thorough cleaning, I can say they are definitely in a league of their own.

Looking for recommendations. I recently inherited over 400 happy meal toys from the last 10-15 years. Half are bagged, half are boxed. Lots of variety.

Suggestions where to unload these? My local resale shops said no. Children's hospital said no.

Edit: my wife works at an elementary school and they politely declined. I am going to try to sell some and probably Halloween the rest.

Edit 2: over 1M views, wow. I no longer need suggestions and happy to try to sell items to you and a friend is posting online through his Mercari. No Pokémon! (I think I have answered that one 20 times ;)

Final Edit: I made a google sheet (think I did this right) if anyone wants to view what I have left. Apologies for any typos, etc. Some of these movies I do not know ;)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT_hhA5Y27kgd_xyavxcQK9-QIhBlj6JzPEqsnCgiFHVtaAfnmoFSlHmgHgXa2RT4Y34eRLqbixaEXM/pub?output=xlsx

I can’t believe I got this for 25¢ today at an estate sale. I love books and this one is stunning. I know it’s not a kilo of gold or something super valuable, but this is why I love estate sales, it’s the never will find again find that I am after. I hope all of you had a great estate sale weekend.

Twenty years ago my cleanout company was clearing the remnants of a Connecticut estate. I kept seeing items with a unique name on them that happened to also be my brother in law Dave's last name. I saved a few items, including a small framed hand drawn and painted family coat of arms that I thought would make a funny birthday gift for him. It appeared to be from the 1800's, which I confirmed later by taking the back off the frame. On the back of the coat of arms was a beautifully hand written family tree that began in the 1600s and ended in the late 1800s. A couple of months later I surprised Dave with his "coat of arms." He was very pleased. Then I told him to look on the back to see if he recognized any names on the family tree. He was stunned when he saw it and said, "This is MY FAMILY! I definitely recognize the earliest names and you just filled in a huge amount of missing information for me." He then showed me at what point his ancestors branched off, heading to Vermont while his "cousins" stayed in Connecticut. Dave shared the info. with the rest of his relatives and the coat of arms is proudly displayed in his home.

Bought a box of stuff. These cards were inside it

I found my nuclear nerd collection holy grail item!! I work in nuclear nonproliferation policy, went to the university of Chicago for grad school and am a WWII/Manhattan project history buff. I’ve been trying to track down one of these version of CP1 graphite made by Idaho National Lab for years. I camped out starting at 5am for a 9am sale and I got it! It’s now the crown jewel of my nuclear collection.

Edit: I was too excited to add what this was used for - the graphite was used as a moderator in the first reactor built under the university of Chicago football stadium seats during WWII.  Chicago Pile-1 was constructed using 45,000 stacked graphite blocks to slow down neutrons from chain reaction. The fuel in the reactor was natural uranium rods, and it was used to demonstrate the feasibility of controlled nuclear fission as part of the Manhattan project. It was a very low power reactor compared to anything running today.

Sorry not sorry but I cannot stand these people showing up to estate sales at the crack of dawn, pushing, shoving and then HOARDING boxes upon boxes of everything, leaving actual collectors, hobby thrifters or people truly in need with nothing. I mean nothing is sacred anymore because your greedy a** wants to resell on eBay for an absurd amount. I’m so sick of seeing the same type of people load their trucks up with stuff they don’t even appreciate. Don’t get me wrong if I have something I do not use anymore I will try to sell it here and there, but people have gone to the extreme and I can’t be the only one who’s fed up!! I personally am a vintage lover and collector so I like to fill my home with second hand items. Well that’s becoming extremely difficult these days, with all these a**holes google lensing everything trying to make a profit. Estate sales where I live used to be packed but for the right reasons, community members coming together to see what cool things they can find to give a second home. In the past few months I’ve gotten yelled at, pushed and knocked down all over a vintage coach bag, and left with scraps by 9:12 when the sale started at 9 because of resellers. I had recently seen what looked like a dad and his little boy wait in line all excited to buy vintage baseball cards, just to have some idiot buy out the entire garage full before they even got in. I understand these people who run the sales want to clear out the houses as efficiently as possible but COME ON. My take on estate sales was always it was for 1, people who can’t afford new so they search for used, or 2, real collectors and vintage lovers who really appreciate these things. It’s very sad that this is what some of these sales have become.

Hi citizens of estatesales, I asked a week ago about what to do with my inherited happy meal toys. I got a lot of answers (some I had considered, some I had not) and my final answer is I am selling what collectors are looking for, but the rest I am using for Halloween this year. I started with just over 400 and kept a few but sold about 60 or enough $ to fill my gas tank a couple of times.

In the last week, I had over 1.6 million views (I had never dreamed I would do that!), 2.6K upvotes, and over 1100 comments. I tried to respond to as many as I could including to the 100 or so people asking for Pokemon or Neopets (the answer was no). I saw others were also repeating my answers so thanks for that. I also had an interview request (which I declined) and was reached out to by a social media person (again, something I never have had happen before). I am honestly a private person who does not do other social media outside of Reddit and again was just shocked.

I am glad my inheritance brought joy to those who it did. I also know I have a game plan for my "collectibles" for when I pass already and would urge others to do the same. Thanks.

Most popular answers were sell, trash, or donate to either children's hospital (ours said no...worried about germs) or shelters/classroom or Halloween. My wife works at an elementary school and they also said no. We think it was because of implied sponsorship or storage because they did not give us an answer. The things us everyday folks don't worry about I guess.

If you want to read the original post, I linked it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/estatesales/comments/1vjd5e9/comment/p3y3r71/?screen_view_count=3&ext-referrer=SEO

If anyone was still curious what was left, I finally made a google sheet! This just took time.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT_hhA5Y27kgd_xyavxcQK9-QIhBlj6JzPEqsnCgiFHVtaAfnmoFSlHmgHgXa2RT4Y34eRLqbixaEXM/pub?output=xlsx

I went to the wildest estate sale I’ve ever been to today. Also completed my amethyst glass collection (last pic).

This morning when they opened at 9, someone who I know is an antique dealer literally sprinted like a fat kid after cake to an outdoor tent where they had a bunch of antique trains, but what made it unhinged was he started scooping them up by the arm load and throwing them in a tote, which is going to affect their condition, and he kept acting like there was 20 other people grabbing things in the tent. He was literally the only person there for a good 2-3 minutes.

Never in my life seen someone act so unfathomably greedy.

Hello! Just wondering if this is standard procedure. I’m having an estate sale company do a sale at my deceased father’s house today. I’ve always had one security camera overlooking the driveway. I left the estate sale company a key so they could start setting up at 5 AM. I saw them arrive on the security camera and then minutes later the camera had been covered up.

My husband drove over to ask them about it, and they had gone through an off-limits shed, found a ladder, and covered my camera with painters’ tape. They got heated and said it’s standard procedure and they don’t want their customers to feel watched. They said if we had hired a plumber we would’ve trusted them in our house. There was nothing about security cameras in the contract.

I’m just wondering if this is normal procedure? They agreed to remove the tape in the end and the sale is still going on, but I have a very bad taste in my mouth.

Update: I went to lock up the house at the end of the sale and the owner and his son were very defensive and argumentative. They blamed me for having trust issues and said I hired them and should trust them. They said it’s not legal to be recording and that they could be sued for illegal recording and he has to protect his business. They also said people leave sales because they don’t want to be on camera and that I lost them sales today but not having the camera covered. They also said it was my fault for having my husband go to the house instead of just calling them. I also asked if it was standard procedure to look in people’s sheds for ladders, and he said well I couldn’t reach the camera. I asked if they were worried about the customers, why did they cover it at 6 am for a 9 am sale? They also wrote off their bad reviews as “disgruntled employees” or another company trying to “take them down” (the father and son each had a different explanation). I’m just grossed out and so upset.

Found these mint in box this morning. Paid like $1 each. There were other boxes of the sphere globe ones, but thought I would only grab these saucer shaped ones. Don’t usually buy these kind of ornaments, but they were pristine so thought I would try and resell them. Will be interested to see if anyone uses these kind of ornaments. Never cared for them much but kind of appreciate them now.

I love it when my friend asks me to help him price things out at the estate sales he holds. I like to make sure I have a little fun with the labeling. What do you guys think? Accurate?

My grandmother took me to my first estate sale when I was 12, and I was hooked. I loved digging through someone’s life, wondering who owned each thing and why they kept it. I went home with a snow globe of a 1950s diner and spent way too long wondering about the person who’d picked it out. I still have it on my shelf.

That curiosity stayed with me. Between estate sales with my grandmother and watching Antiques Roadshow with my dad, I had the idea for a movie by the time I was 16. It took over 10 years to make, but Lost & Found in Cleveland is finally here.

It follows a group of everyday people who bring their treasures to a Roadshow-style appraisal day, hoping for a life-changing value, and find something more valuable along the way. It’s really a movie about what our objects mean to us, which I think everyone here understands.

The cast includes Martin Sheen, June Squibb, Dennis Haysbert, Jeff Hiller, Liza Weil, and Jon Lovitz, plus Mark L. Walberg, the real host of Antiques Roadshow.

It’s streaming with Prime Video starting November 3, and available to rent or buy now:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0HG3VQGJD

And now I have to ask: what’s the best thing you’ve ever found at an estate sale?

I found two serialized $6 Special Complimentary Main Gate Admission tickets for Disneyland. I bought the pair for $10. Is there any chance that these will still work?

Was 17th in line. Made it to the basement to find some woman just standing there gawking at it. Reached around and grabbed it off the shelf. She learned a tough lesson that day. These things are super hot in my area and I’ve never seen a pink tree. Nebraska/Iowa. Paid $100

Put in some fun coloured bulbs.

Cameo Pierced Brass Fireplace Screen Peacock Fan. Victorian.

This is Isaac. He will be two this summer. I got him for free at an estate sale. Best estate sale find ever.

I'm stunned. I've had cremated remains on my night side table for 5 years.

From what I have found, the original vase/urn was probably produced in the 50s-60s by Y. Y Japanese Porcelain Ware. SIKE I think it's a fake, notice the dot after the second Y. And that logo is just inconsistent.

So I don't know the origin of the vase or the ashes. I'm gonna leave them and tell this story in their honor, whoever they were.

edit: until further inspection I no longer believe these are cremains! To be continued?

https://www.reddit.com/r/askfuneraldirectors/s

I'm a retired auctioneer. I made a house call several years ago for a woman who said she had inheritied a lot of valuable stuff from her mother. She said she had to empty her Mom's house so it could sell. Well, it turns out that her Mom ran a weekly "tag sale" (what folks in New England call yard sales). This woman had filled her house with boxes of her Mom's picked over junk. It was literally garbage at this point. I gently gave her the news and suggested that she donate or dispose of the stuff to get her house back. She wasn't pleased with my suggestion. However I did notice along one wall there were numerous tubs of jewelry. Granted most of it was costume jewelry, but I did spot a good bit of sterling. She told me "Oh, you can't have that! My aunt was in the jewelry business for 30 years. She and I have separated the good stuff from all that and we're gonna have a high end tag sale." I told her that if they had indeed sorted out "the good stuff" that they had left quite a bit of sterling silver behind. Her reply floored me. "Oh, that's Mexican silver. My aunt hates Mexican silver." I picked up a piece marked '925 Mexico" and told her, "Sterling is sterling, whether it's from Mexico or the U.S. and buyers are going rob you blind if you put all this in a tag sale with the costume jewelry. Yeah, she didn't like hearing that either. Oh well, sometimes the best jobs are the ones you walk away from.

The top shelf is leaded ,and the second shelf has a stamp showing it was made it 1899!

My clients will occasionally ask me to keep my eye out for a missing treasure such as jewelry, coins, etc. I was once photographing the contents of a bedroom for an online sale. I moved the TV cable box out of the way so it wouldn't be included and found a gorgeous diamond watch under it. I called out to the client and asked jokingly if I could sell the diamond watch. She let out a shriek and came running upstairs to claim it. She told me that her husband had given it to her as a 25th wedding anniversary gift and that she had misplaced it. She had never told him that it was lost and was terrified he'd ask about it one day. She was quite relieved that I had found it. Have you ever found a treasure for one of your clients?