Are you seeing a noticeable increase in vintage goods for sale

[petek]

It kind of struck me a few months ago possibly while I was cleaning out moms house that there seems to be a somewhat noticeable increase in the amount of primo vintage appliances, furniture etc showing up at thrift stores and Habitat Restores etc.  60's and 70's stuff that was bought new and kept in good condition by the owners who are now in their 80's etc and downsizing into retirement/nursing homes or just plain passing away.  We have a fairly large Restore here, it was previously a furniture store,, even it's jammed now and they're moving to mall land into a vacated even larger furniture store.  On line as well like here there seems to be a lot more good vintage stuff showing up on CL and estate sales.  

Anyone else notice or is it just a figment of my imagination

 

[polkanut]

You're right Pete because I have too.  Just in the last 2 weeks I've been to 6 estate/moving/downsizing sales.  A couple of the sales were complete duds but, the others were virtual treasure troves of well kept goodies.  I found a nice leather desk chair (newer), a vintage Wear Ever loaf angel food pan, and several church cookbooks from the early 70's.  There are 3 more sales coming up this weekend here in town that sound quite interesting also.

  Who knows what goodies may soon be found?

 

[rp2813]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  We're witnessing the *cough* "climax" of boomer parental units vacating their homes and heading to senior communities, assisted living scenes, or nursing homes.  Offspring are unloading entire households, many of which contain well-maintained vintage appliancery and housewares.

 

Get it while you can, boys.  This bonanza isn't going to last forever.

 

[launderess]

Well There Is That And The Housing Market In Some Areas

Is rebounding so persons can sell/unload homes again.

Remember back in the day before all heck broke loose with the economy we'd see all sorts of vintage goodies on eBay, CL and elsewhere that owner's of new homes *found* there and wanted to get shot of quickly. There was and still is lots of gold in them dar basements, attics, garages and so forth.

 

[danemodsandy]

What Gets Me....

....Is that the kids who are disposing of Mom and Pop's stuff often seem to have NO IDEA what's good and what isn't.

I recently went to an estate sale run by a woman I know from work. She was selling off her mom's Process Patent Revere Ware (the good, pre-1965 stuff with the heavy copper bottoms, not the post-'65 stuff where the copper is a thin plating) and Corning Ware.

Her own kitchen? Cheap discount store non-stick pots and pans styled to look like Calphalon, but without the heft and quality.

The sale was also full of small appliances built with ten times the quality of anything you can get today.

I asked her why she was selling off such nice things, and she replied, "Oh, all that stuff is SO old. If anyone wants it, they're welcome to it."

I'm standing there thinking, "You don't have a clue, do you?"

 

[rp2813]

"You don't have a clue, do you?"

We love people like that!

 

[d-jones]

I’ve encountered people with this attitude all my life. I suppose it wouldn’t bother me so much except for the fact that people who think this way are responsible for trashing so many wonderful and useful old treasures under the mistaken idea that “nobody would want this”. What gets me though is the fact that there’s so often no middle ground. Folks either throw it out because it has no value as far as they’re concerned, or they want to charge an arm and a leg because it’s a priceless antique. Now granted, some things are priceless antiques and some things truly have little or no value, but what happened to common sense and the ability to discern the difference.

 

[tolivac]

Sadly,in my area its the other way 'round-older items are RARE!!!Yet at yard sales see LOTS of newer stuff-often broken.Thrift stores have closed here.Most housing areas here are very new-too new for older things.

 

[whirlcool]

A lot of the garage sales around here are nothing more than places filled with items that had "garage sale" written on them while they were still in the store!

If you do come across something nice, it'll likely be priced for near what it was new or even over. I asked a woman running a sale as to why she is selling a five year old KitchenAid mixer for $395. when you could buy it in the store for less.
Her response? "We're selling this stuff, not giving it away!".

 

[112561]

I watched a vintage Magnavox console ('61 to '64, approximate) almost hit the floor at our Fort Pierce Goodwill. A woman attendant immediately told the worker to remove it, a back leg was broken off. So he uncerimoniously trucked it sides up, sliders going askew, back to its fate to who knows where. It should have been delegated to the big Goodwill clearinghouse where the immigrants and few collectors haunt. One occasion they had a '71 Magnavox Etagere stereo with the glass shelves, and a giant campaign chest styled Magnavox Star System color set with the top line audio. Another day there was a Zenith tube console there. No goodies lately, maybe they hit shopgoodwill.com, such like shows up frequently, they're not all clueless. I can't stand the clueless mooks that think they're doing the organizations a favor by tossing all that old "trash" or maybe finding an unpacked small appliance from another era, which they promptly remove from the box and toss it onto the shelf, 'cause nobody wants all that packing stuff and papers.

 

[polkanut]

What really irks me is when you go to a sale and most everything there is so "used up" to the point of being trash but, the people have an outrageous price on the items, and won't budge on price because "it's an antique."  My wife collects Star of David glassware and has been quite successful as of late in finding some really nice pieces because of all the sales.  I've become friends with the owners of the 2 major estate sale companies here in town, and they've been very good about giving me a heads up when a quality sale is upcoming.  It pays to schmooze a little! 

 

[chuffle]

Sadly, here in the boonies...

...estate sales seem to be few and far between. I wish I knew where folks dispose of estate items here - Goodwill? Local Goodwill stores are loaded with clothing, but household items are usually pretty junky (and dirty - are there people who live such filthy lives? Oops, I forgot about the Hoarders programs on television). Yard sales here are primarily selling clothing - especially childrens' clothing - and toys.

Now, before I moved here, I lived in Pittsburgh for twenty years. The estate sales there were loads of fun. Over the years, I purchased many a great vintage item that I still have in my house today.

Joe

 

[petek]

Try estatesales.net

Antiques and antiquey furniture doesn't seem to sell well  now.   It used to be a nice old dining set or bedroom set would come in and  they'd be snapped up and gone by the time they hit the Restores floor, probably by antique dealers. Now the stuff sits there for days if not weeks and there's been some pretty classy looking sets

 

[danemodsandy]

David:

"Now granted, some things are priceless antiques and some things truly have little or no value, but what happened to common sense and the ability to discern the difference."

Occasionally, that can be almost funny.

One of our local thrifts has a manager who is absolutely convinced that Corelle is worth a lot of money. She even devotes a special area to it, where the pricing is at least double that asked for other dishes. So far as I can tell, no one has bought any since I found a few pieces of my Snowflake Blue there a few months ago.

But the regular dishes? Not a clue. I was recently able to pick up eight dessert/berry bowls in Royal China's "Blue Heaven" for fifty cents each and pass them on to a friend here locally who collects the stuff. I've found pieces of my "Currier & Ives" for the same money.

Just don't expect to get any of that precious Corelle at a bargain!

 

[polkanut]

Sandy,

Maybe I should come to your area for additional serving pieces to add to my Cunningham & Pickett "Norway Rose" set.  Also looking for serving pieces for my Fine China of Japan Rosemary #5555 set.  Around here when good china is up for sale it fetches big money, and the people gladly pay it too.

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

If you will post a photo of your patterns, I'll gladly keep an eye out.

For anyone who sees Corelle in the thrifts, here's the pattern I collect, called "Snowflake Blue." I started collecting this fairly recently, so I still can use almost anything that turns up, except cups:

 

[polkanut]

Here is a link to Replacements.com with my Norway Rose pattern.

http://www.replacements.com/webquote/CUPNOR.htm

 

[polkanut]

Here is another link with my Fine China of Japan Rosemary #5555 pattern.

http://www.replacements.com/webquote/FCJROSEM.htm

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

I will keep an eye out. The "Norway Rose" pattern is one I see very occasionally. The "Rosemary" pattern is one I'll have to train myself to spot; there were a lot of similar patterns offered by direct-sales and catalogue showroom companies.