Thursday, September 9, 2010

Trash to Treasure

You know that old saying that one man's trash is someone else's treasure? A few years ago I happened on a garage/estate sale that was a gold mine. Either these people didn't know what they had or they didn't care and just wanted to get rid of all this stuff (treasure). They had a rack of mink coats for $25.00 a piece and other treasures selling them at way below what they were worth. I couldn't believe it! Although I didn't buy any mink coats that day I did happen upon this.


A piece of Roseville Morningglory pottery.  There was no price tag on this item but I knew it would probably be beyond what I could buy it for. I took it to the lady that was in charge and ask her how much. She looked at all the other items I had and said she'd take $15.00 for the lot. I thought I hadn't heard her right but she repeated the same quote. I quickly paid for the items and got out of there FAST in case she changed her mind. When I got home I quickly checked on E-bay and many of the vendors were asking anywhere from $325 to $435 for this piece of pottery and that's not counting the other items I purchased. I'll show those at another time. Either these people were clueless or just didn't care.  Anyway I couldn't believe my luck. And I'm not a big believer in luck. I look back on that experience and think that maybe I should have told her what she had. I didn't know the value at the time but knew Roseville was a high dollar item with pottery collectors. But then I heard later that she was selling a lot of treasures very cheaply and that a lot of antique dealers had been there earlier and gotten some good deals. I now believe that none of these treasures mattered to her. It was probably just junk to her. Like I said, one woman's trash is someone else's treasure.
                                                                                 
Christine           

5 comments:

Gizzy's Mom said...

At the auction house, when the bidding is over and the winning bid is less than the crowd knows those items are worth, the crowd sometimes gasps. Our friend, the auctioneer, then wryly states: "If it was worth more, you would have paid more. That's what that item was worth here tonite." The price that lady put on your vase was what it was worth to her.

Anonymous said...

Good for you!! It is a lovely piece.

Unknown said...

Good for you! It is beautiful!

Oklahoma Granny said...

Beautiful piece! Sometimes you just gotta wonder what's going on in people's minds. But then I wonder why the "professionals" passed it up too. Maybe no one knew what the value was.

Vee said...

It's nice to know that it's your treasure now. Sometimes, life is moving too fast for some to care. They've got to do something t.o.d.a.y. It's a sad sign of the times.