Sunday, July 24, 2011

First Estate Sale Finds

Hello! I feel like I’m posting so much, but I wanted to share a little more about my first estate sale experience on Friday.

The sale started at 8:00 a.m. and was in Rancho Cucamonga, my hometown, about 40 minutes east of Pasadena. I didn’t arrive until 8:40. I tried to be there right on time, but 6:00 a.m. was not an early enough hour to wake up, get ready, get gas, get cash at the ATM and make it to Rancho by 8:00.

When I pulled up to the house, it was very empty and quiet outside. I wondered if I had gotten the date wrong or something, but I went up to the door and knocked anyway. A young couple showed me in and asked what I was looking for. When I said “vintage women’s clothing,” the wife said they only had a few pieces. She showed me three dresses and a tunic laid out on the couch, none of which I thought I could sell.

I had gotten the impression from the ad for the sale that there would be dolls and doll clothing in addition to a storage unit full of human clothing, shoes and wigs. However, this sale was all about DOLLS. If I were a doll collector, I would have been really excited because they had dozens of collectible dolls in great condition, tons of gorgeous doll clothes and even doll accessories, including doll shoes from Germany still in their original packaging. (As you might have gathered by now, this wasn’t exactly a typical estate sale because everything for sale was in piles and bins in the kitchen and living room. They were not selling the contents of the house.)

I was about to leave, but then the husband told me they had some jewelry and the wife added that they had vintage baby clothes. I looked through the jewelry and didn’t find anything of interest. Then I started working my way through the baby clothing. They had a lot of cute, cute items, although most had some kind of minor damage or staining, unfortunately. Twice I picked out items that the wife took from me saying she couldn’t part with them, including an ADORABLE shirt and pant set with a cowboy and the words “Howdy Partner!” embroidered on the front.

In the end, I wound up with the three items below...only two of which are actually for babies. I realized when I got home and inspected it more closely that the receiving blanket is meant for DOLLS! But it’s so cute that I put it in my Etsy shop anyway.




6 comments:

  1. Awww pity you didn't find what you were looking for but those baby clothes are so pretty!

    www.theheadlessmannequin.blogspot.com

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  2. what a bummer! i guess this is what i've heard about estate sales - very hit or miss. at least this means next time you go odds are better you'll hit the jackpot. . . right? that's how odds work, isn't it?

    at any rate, the baby stuff you found IS beautiful, and it sounds like you kept a good attitude about the whole thing. keep trying!

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  3. Oh man, that's a shame... i know you were really excited about the estate sale! It seems like they were pretty misleading. Well, you found some super cute things though! I'm sure someone will love them when they see them in your shop!

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  4. well gosh, at least it wasn't a total bust. but sometimes estate sales are misleading and that kind of sucks.

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  5. I only got to read this whole post now. The whole thing sounds immensely weird. I wish I could've gone!

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  6. Omg Heather! Those are the cutest baby clothes! Id love to get them if you still have them!

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