Estate Sale Manners

I was just talking to a fellow antique dealer friend of mine who recently attended a local estate sale. His nicely covered pile of leather bound books held for him at the front door were stolen by another shopper. Where have all the manners gone?

I have been attending estate sales for about 15 years now. It never ceases to amaze me the lack of manners and etiquette at these sales. There are some cardinal rules among estate sale shoppers;

• If any item has a "sold" tag, someone has done the work to find it and is going to purchase it. Hands off.
  

• If there is an obvious pile of items in a corner, ask before you rummage. They are probably someone else's gathered treasures that they have set aside because they can't carry them around.

• Don't push and shove. Courtesy is rule #1.

Objects are just material things and there is certainly enough to go around, isn't there? I've cut back on my estate sale attendance since I've witnessed some of the most horrific incidents including my girlfriend getting knocked down on the ground for complimenting a man on his turquoise jewelry. He was definitely crazy.

Do you have any of your own estate sale nightmare stories to share?

Are there any comments you want to add on estate sale manners?

image credits; 1. Emikokolala 2. Stephanie Moisan 3 & 4. unknown

Yard Sale Mapper - Sweet!

Thanks to my friend Melissa at Ruby Press for emailing this great new site called, YardSaleTreasureMap.com. I know that many of you including myself, end up getting terribly lost when we are "yard sailing." Even with Mapquest or a GPS, it could take a lot of time to enter in each address, and you end up backtracking because you don't know the area. Well, not anymore!

If you have an iPhone, the "Yard Sale Mapper" application maps out listings of yard sales and estate sales from Craigslist, and helps plan your trip in the order you choose.

If you don't have an iPhone (like me), the application allows you to print out your own paper directions. And it's free!

Happy Hunting!

Looking for Writers...

photo from here

My friend Martin Codina (Fine Estate Liquidation), is looking for regular contributors to his blog that have expertise in the "vintage world." Martin is an antiques aficionado & estate liquidator, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Some of the subjects he is looking to cover are; costume or fine jewelry, vintage clothing, Mid Century, Taxco, sterling silver, Arts and Crafts, art pottery, vintage watches, antique furniture, Shabby Chic, old posters, fine art, outsider art, "Mantiques," Cottage Antiques, and you Paris aficionados.

photo from here

SO, if you're interested in contributing, here is a chance to drive traffic to your site, and above all, share your wonderful knowledge with others!

You'll need:

• Some writing experience.

• Have some sort of vintage, antiques, or collectibles expertise.

• Want to inform or educate others.

If interested, please contact Martin at martin@finesf.com, or visit his blog here.

Did I mention that Martin is one of my favorite people?

Estate Sale Friday

I headed out early this morning to attend an estate sale in the Sea Cliff area of San Francisco, eventually heading down the Peninsula to hit a few more...

Meet Bob. Bob is in charge of letting people into the house. You want to be Bob's friend. You want to get into that house ASAP and find the goodies before someone else beats you to the punch! Usually estate liquidators only let in about 20 people, and as they exit, more are let in. The houses are not large and they get crowded. It's best to arrive several hours early to get a good spot in line.

Meet Ernie. He is a veteran of estate sales. Ernie's the friendly guy that shows you the jewelry in the cases, and more importantly, rings up your purchases, so you can be on your way. We love Ernie.

Anything on the table of interest to you?

Perhaps a pair of chairs?

I purchased this unique iron lion's head embosser. Really nice in person.

I also bought this very old award ribbon "For Valor." Love old ribbons. In addition, a couple of books and some jewelry. Other than that, a few odds and ends at the other estates. Didn't find any "jaw-dropping" furniture or lighting today. Well, that's the nature of this biz!

Thanks for joining me in my "estate sale" travels. Wishing you all a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

Estate Sale Friday

I can't believe how quickly the week went by. Today was a gloomy, overcast day in San Francisco with 3 estate sales to go to.

The lines moved quickly except for this one (above) where they only let in a few people at a time. Small homes in San Francisco make it impossible to allow too many people in at one time.

Lots of knick-knack tables, but nothing that really caught my eye.

Not too much interest in anything here...

Cute pair of pink chairs, but a little petite for me...

I loved this pair of vintage chalkware bookends by Borghese. Unfortunately, one of the paws had a big chip. Too bad!

What a fun 1920's wooden ticket box from an old theater in Spokane, Washington. I thought it was a great prop, but what to use it for?

My purhcases from all three sales; a 1930's trophy for "accuracy typing" (love that), a sterling napkin ring and a vintage book. Hope to find more next week!

Have a great weekend!

Estate Sale Friday

I thought I'd start a post called "Estate Sale Friday" and share some of my adventures of searching for antiques at estate sales.

Going to estate sales is not as glamorous as one may think. In fact, it's quite exhausting as many of you know. Getting up at the crack of dawn to stand in line, rain or shine. Some camp out overnight in their cars to be first in line in the morning. I don't know about other cities, but the antique dealers here in San Francisco (yes, you guys) can be pretty competitive, ie; pushing and shoving people out of the way, ripping up sign-up sheets that we added our names to hours earlier, and more horrific stories.

I have been doing this for many years and have some "whopper" estate sale stories. I look forward to sharing them on this blog!

Thanks heavens today was a mellow day with a 10:00 am sale in the pretty city of Burlingame, 20 miles south of San Francisco. My friend Renee and I showed up about 1/2 early to be pleasantly surprised that there were only about 30 of us in line. Is that a bad sign?

What's this in the backyard? A preview of what's inside? Eeks!

Can anyone tell me what this is?

Nothing much to speak of in the kitchen...

A nice pair of brass sconces, but not quite early enough for me...

Love the piano...no room for it in the van...

Renee is checking out a vintage clock...

Nice silver set, but I think I'll pass...

Lovely crystal chandelier, but unfortunately it stays with the house...

This vintage inlaid chair is nice, but not quite my style...

An inlaid box...

Aha! Love this pair of Victorian chairs near the piano. They have carved musical instruments on the back...unique...perfect for a music room...okay, they're mine!

So there it is. A total of 45 minutes spent to wait in line, peruse the house, and buy a pair of chairs. But, not so fast...they need to go to the upholsterer to be glued and tightened. That's just part of the business. There were no "pushers and shovers" today. Just a mellow day.

Stay tuned for future Friday estate sales and join me in my hunt for treasures! Hope you enjoyed the sale. Hopefully next sale will be more successful!