posted on June 2, 2001 08:42:23 PM new
I know auctions go way back. I have probate records from the early 1820's showing items sold at auction. I'm sure it goes back much much further back in time in Great Britain. But when did "do it yourself" garage sales first appear on the American Scene. I remember going to some in the 70's but I'm sure maybe someone remembers earlier ones than that? Anyone have any "history" information?
Garage Sales, Yard Sales, Tag Sales---the same event with different titles in different parts of the country.
posted on June 2, 2001 08:46:00 PM new
I recall my parents holding one in the late 1960's while we lived in Florida. They seemed to just be coming on the scene about that time there.
posted on June 2, 2001 08:54:23 PM new
I went to my first Yard Sale in 1972. I bought a wall clock for the kitchen, used that clock till just a few years ago too!
posted on June 2, 2001 09:13:37 PM new
An interesting question.....I don't have any memories of my "first" yard sale....
But in Holland, every May 1st, they have a tradition called "Queen's Day", in which everyone cleans out their attics and take the stuff they don't want out to their front yards......a country wide yard sale! People also load the trunks of their cars and go to town and sell their stuff from there...again, a country wide flea market!
I don't know how long the Dutch have been doing that, but I believe it's at least a century.....they've had a lot longer to accumulate junk!
I hope someone has the answer to the history of tag sales both in the USA and elsewhere. They also have them in Japan!
posted on June 3, 2001 12:01:21 AM new
Around here they were originally 'rummage' sales. Then they upgraded to 'garage' sales and next 'yard' sales. Hardly anyone ever has a 'tag' sale in Idaho.
It was around 1970 when I went to my first rummage sale. If I remember right it was an annual event sponsored by a church. They could've been going on for absolutely years before this, though, because this was the first year we actually lived close enough to a populated area where such sales could occur.
posted on June 3, 2001 04:22:17 AM new
I started late in 1975 in a small town in Indiana and they were already in full swing. Mainly because there were no flea markets in the area.
In 1970 in Chicago we had never heard of such a thing. So the area probably makes a lot of difference.
posted on June 3, 2001 04:37:27 AM new
Know that my grandmother and mother did a lot of rummage sales in the 1930's. Still using the Booth's Real Old Willow that my grandmother got and my mother has her first purchase still also, beautiful Limoges fish service that she paid $10 for with her babysitting money. Too bad they're not like that anymore!!
posted on June 3, 2001 07:29:08 AM new
When I was growing up, churches used to have "White Elephant" sales once a year. In the 1940's, we kids used to have used toy sales for the neighborhood. This escalated to yard and garage sales in the 1960's.
Tag sales, usually held by "professionals", started about 25-30 years ago in our area. Those were the complete contents of houses where rare stuff could be found cheap, as the people running them, were not aware of prices. All they knew was cut glass. Price guides at that time were far and few in between. Sigh.
posted on June 3, 2001 07:42:16 AM new
I remember in the early 70s my sons, 3 and 7 at the time, went to the neighbors yard sale and brought me home 3 very gaudy brooches. I still have them but they don't seem gaudy now, just gorgeous.
If only we had known back then, things sold for 5 and 10 cents.
posted on June 3, 2001 09:33:57 AM new
Garage sales were getting quite prevalent in the early to mid 70's in upstate NY.....I remember getting GREAT things for a quarter....lots of antique glass, furniture ..really good stuff...I have china cabinets full of glass, figurines etc. and Paid little or nothing.....Getting harder to find that kind of bargains nowadays. Mainly I don't bother anymore unless I blunder into one.
