Anyone here ever shop at an estate sale?

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
05/29/2020 at 00:07 • Filed to: None

Some of the stuff looks reasonably priced and some perhaps overpriced. If nothing else I wouldn’t mind grabbing those old Honda motorcycle owner’s manuals, if the price is right. I could use a flash or two for some of my cameras, and this guy seemed to have a huge quantity of Nikon stuff, plenty of Canon equipment, and even some Olympus stuff (my specialty) . My DSLR is beyond ancient, and if I can pickup something newer at a good price I just might; I see an old Nikon D70 priced at $20, so perhaps I might grab it. I know they sell for around $50, but $20 might be worth a chance. Hopefully he wasn't a repair tech and these were all broken (probably not since they have original boxes...)

I guess it can’t hurt to at least take a look...

DISCUSSION (21)

smobgirl > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 00:27

My old office actually went on a group outing to an estate sale one day, just out of boredom. It’s neat, nowadays they even have Square readers at some of them so you don’t even need cash. I got a nifty old milk glass lamp that I should probably rewire before it burns my house down.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 00:28

I had no idea that the camera prices had dropped that much. The flyover photos I took a couple of weeks ago were with my wife’s D50. It still a great camera.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 00:32

Yeah I picked up a sweet mobile Pegasus sign.

fintail > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 00:35

Fairly frequently , I occasionally flip things (esp old toys) or find impulse buy curiosities I probably shouldn’t hang on to.

If there’s something you want that might be desirable, get there as soon as the address is released and/or they put up a list etc - others will be after it, too, it is a hyper-competitive game, at least here.

GLiddy > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 00:37

Note to self: Sell or trade your tech before it becomes essentially worthless...or at least don’t over buy it. Now, I’m just an amateur picture taker, but I’m on only my second DSLR in 15 years. Probably had a half dozen digital pocket cameras before phones became good enough to stop buying those. Seeing all these camera bodies and stuff in boxes makes me think this person couldn’t stop buying every new thing that came along for awhile. Maybe he used them though, so that’s good. Were those track photos of vintage cars his?

I go to estate sales occasionally, but I’m not a huge buyer. I stick to stuff like tools and car parts. Most homes are filled with furniture and decorative items which I have little use for, so I head to the garage to see what’s there.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 00:37

Mrs. Snuze and I shop estate sales fairly regularly. We’ve bought a lot of nice furniture at them, and they are often a good source for tools.

A lot of the sales w e go to are multi-day and have sliding prices - full price the first day, 25% off the second day, 50% off the third day. Also, many times they are open to reasonable offers, so maybe try that.

Grindintosecond > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 00:51

Makes me cry about my Nikon d40. Still does awesome pics but it's probably give away money now.

Grindintosecond > GLiddy
05/29/2020 at 00:53

I bet he bought all those camera bodies at estate sales....

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Grindintosecond
05/29/2020 at 00:58

Tell me about it. I still have my first digital camera, which I believe that I bought for $750. I probably couldn’t even give it away these days. Two whole megapixels and a maximum of 128MB on the SmartMedia cards...

Kinja'd!!!

gmctavish needs more space > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 01:09

I never have, only because I don’t know how to find them. I want that Nikon F100, EM, and L35AF. Those are all worth something, and great cameras too. Looks like there’s another film camera hiding to the right with a grip/motor drive on it. Too bad the F100 doesn’t have a lens, but maybe it’s hiding somewhere else

RPM esq. > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 02:04

No, but every time one happens in my neighborhood a particularly despicable species of predatory dickhole starts parking in my driveway two hours before the scheduled start time and banging on the door of the sale address. At my old house, this process tended to involve a minor hit-and-run of my neighbors’ or my parked cars and a shouting match or two every single sunny weekend. Funerals are more fun.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 03:55

I occasionally do , but mostly for getting a glimpse of how this (late) person’s life was. The last one I came across had an entire wall of clown dolls (and a strange amount of cobblers’ tools) , and found out the last resident worked at a thrift shop. They collected the weirdest shit, and it was utterly fascinating.

vondon302 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 05:26

Estate sales are usally negotiable especially on the last day.

The camera guys are going to be at that one early tho by the looks of it.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 07:04

I have a Nikon D3300....great camera!

As for Estate sales...yup, once. I got my current drill from a local one!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > smobgirl
05/29/2020 at 07:20

Old stuff is awesome! Mom got a ‘broken’ antique Ansonia Andes clock from ~1906 at a yard sale last year where the lady just....GAVE it to her as they were moving and needed to clear space!

I brought it home, bought a key off Ebay (it was missing) wound it up and it worked perfectly! Got a discount from a local acquaintance that does antique clock repairs to disassemble it and oil it and clean it and the like and it’s been ticking beautifully away in the rec room since! :D

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 07:27

All the time! The rich people here like to redecorate their vacation homes every season and they hold first-come-first-serve estate clearances to get rid of the old stuff. I once scored a $1,200 leather sofa for $100.

Thomas Donohue > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 08:35

If that is an F100, that is the camera to buy. One of the best (and last) 35mm cameras ever made.

The Ghost of Oppo > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/29/2020 at 08:38

Pretty much every tool in my garage except the 18v cordless stuff came from estate sales and overall I’ve paid pennies for them . Granted most were purchased super rusty, but restoring and looking up their history is really satisfying and involves way less swearing.

sn4cktimes > Snuze: Needs another Swede
05/29/2020 at 09:18

My wife and I hit up a few every year while out and about. Haven’t really come across much worth buying. We have however come across a LOT of very old racist art.... I mean, I’m part Cree, but some of this stuff is maybe a little too sensitive for general wall-art anymore.

sn4cktimes > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
05/29/2020 at 09:19

We went into a house full of life-size child dolls. We noped our butts right outta there.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > sn4cktimes
05/29/2020 at 11:50

I wonder if that varies by geographic region. We live near a very affluent area right outside of Washington, DC. While I’ve seen a few things that would make one blush, there hasn’t been much of it.

What has been a boon for us is lots of really nice, high end antique furniture for cheap. Last year we bought a pair of Kittenger nightstands for $250. We later saw the same ones in an antique store for $1200.