micmic66
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posted on September 20, 2004 01:10:21 PM
It's happened to all of us...
Your at a garage sale/flea market and you get beat by seconds to a big time money maker that went CHEAP!
Yesterday I just missed a huge box of old and nice Aurora slot car track purchased for $2. It deflated me...
Lets hear about your most memorable "just missed"
[ edited by micmic66 on Sep 20, 2004 01:11 PM ]
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dadofstickboy
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posted on September 20, 2004 01:16:28 PM
I have some I'll sell Ya!
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ebayvet
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posted on September 20, 2004 01:46:48 PM
only small things for me that I just missed on, but I hate everyone of those times. However, even though it isn't nice, I love it when I beat someone else out and when I buy, I try to buy it all whatever it might be, not just 1 or 2 things...
Friends don't let Friends say stupid things like Friends don't let friends vote Republican!
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Kevinatgrannys
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posted on September 20, 2004 02:19:49 PM
2 entire beer boxes full of a Rock collection. All fist sized polished gemstones. The lady was loading it up as I pulled up. The box said $2 for all. I offered the lady that bought it $20 and she said no, she was taking it to her 8 year old grandson. I wish she had adopted me at that point!
Kevin
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Roadsmith
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posted on September 20, 2004 03:47:45 PM
A friend was having a garage sale. I thought I'd seen everything she had, heard a lady behind me ask her "How much is this vase?" My friend, Margaret, said "$2 - and it has writing on the bottom - Red Wing." I whirled around and said "Margaret!" but it was too late to warn her. The lady, a known dealer, said "I'll take it," and it was outta there. The dealer is probably still telling friends about her big steal that day.
So I offered that day to look at the rest of the stuff in Margaret's basement for her yard sale the following week. In a box of 50-cent items she had three gold coins in plexiglas cube, thought they were fake. I placed them with a local auctioneer and they brought $225. She is now a believer.
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Libra63
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posted on September 20, 2004 09:48:29 PM
Great job Roadsmith. It's nice to hear a story like this one....
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lindajean
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posted on September 21, 2004 12:31:17 AM
I don't go to the garage sales but I try to catch the morning paper before anyone else can call.
About two years ago there was an ad for "thousands of old magazines". I called about 7AM, no answer, called every 30 minutes all day and finally got through (the lady had no answering machine or voice mail) about 6:30 that night and she told me they had sold to the first caller.
She had a storage building full of magazines from the 1920s to the 1950s and wanted to get someone to just haul them off. She sold them for $250
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ajbooks9000
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posted on September 21, 2004 05:09:30 AM
OK, so this kinda relates...except I was the seller.
My biggest "I missed it" -- moneywise that is  -- happened on ABE rather than eBay.
I once sold a first edition of Isaac Asimov's "Introduction to the Slide Rule".
FINE in a FINE dj.
I couldn't find ANY listings on the used books sites, so I put it out on ABE for $40.00. It was purchased within an hour of the upload, AND I had send regrets to five or six would other customers that same day.
Turns out it is just about the hardest to find Asimov title. I missed it because "1st Edition" usually isn't important in non-fiction AND because I figured the Asimov collectors were looking for fiction.
I should have put it out on eBay for those six or seven bidders to fight over!
[edited to add the first line because this isn't quite as relevant to the thread as I thought. Mea Culpa]
[ edited by ajbooks9000 on Sep 21, 2004 05:11 AM ]
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pelorus
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posted on September 21, 2004 05:53:36 AM
I sell mostly books. Over the years I have acquired a number of titles that are old and rare ($100+), but don't show up on Amazon and no one is willing to give a decent price on eBay. So they sit on my shelf. It's a varied list, like 1st edition Wolf Man of Paris and 16th Century Open-Air Churches of Mexico.
As heartbreak goes, I guess it could be worse.
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ladyjewels2000
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posted on September 21, 2004 06:15:34 AM
I walked in my local thrift store and someone who I knew came running up with a wonderful Art Deco Nude Lady Flower Frog. She goes they just put this out about 5 minutes ago, what do you think? I told her it could be Cowan. She later came back and said it was and worth at least $200.00 - she paid $2.95. Oh well at least someone got it that will take care of it!!!
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classicrock000
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posted on September 21, 2004 07:27:31 AM
Art Deco Nude Lady Flower Frog....
I just KNOW theres a joke there somewhere
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ladyjewels2000
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posted on September 21, 2004 07:32:57 AM
Yeah sounds like there could be - but it's no joke to collectors - check this out
http://home.flash.net/~lffrog/polly&herladies.htm
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japerton
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posted on September 21, 2004 08:03:18 AM
The complete celluloid vanity set in its case. Mirror, combs brushes and other doo dads.
I was too slow, she was too fast...sigh.
It was _so_ Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy in Wife versus Secretary.
Ouch...it hurts to recall!
~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~
Avatar wish list....
...and he must possess a kind eye...
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ajbooks9000
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posted on September 21, 2004 12:12:51 PM
As heartbreak goes, I guess it could be worse.
You are right Pelorus.
It's almost always better to take the cash and free up the shelf space.
I usually don't mind leaving something on the table for the next person. I don't think it had a single fault to the book or the dust jacket. Some Asimov fans think they need a first edition of everything the man wrote. They are great customers for the scarce titles -- almost as obsessive as Ayn Rand fans. This was probably a $500.00 book, properly presented and listed at the right time, of course.
Ah well, like Pelorus said. It wasn't all that bad.
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