drh4683
Well-known member
Back on March 19th I went to a local estate sale like I always do on the weekends. My big collections are vintage TV's, but have recently been bit by the vintage appliance bug now that I finally have my own home. In this house, I saw a beautiful set of early 1970's GE coppertone kitchen appliances; a side by side fridge and a double oven. The house was on the market at the time of the sale and of course the appliances "were not for sale, so don't even think about touching them". Im good friends with captainmoody, and just last night I had a discussion with him about that estate sale. I then decided I should really go after those appliances as theres just might be a chance the house is either A: still on the market, or B: the house is sold and the kitchen is being gutted. After a quick websearch on the address, I find out the house sold on April 7th. Assuming it didn't close until 30 days later, I figured I still had a chance those old appliances were still sitting in that kitchen just waiting to be replaced. Consider it was an upper middle class suburb of Chicago, theres no way an old dated house was going to stay that way for long. The house was only 7 miles from me, so what the heck, I'll take a drive and see. I figured I could go up to the front door and peek through which would give me a perfect view of the kitchen. If I saw the appliances, my intention was to leave a note with my name and number mentioning that I was at an estate sale for the home and noticed the old kitchen appliances and that I'd be very interested in them should they be looking to remodel.
Well I get to the house and it looks totally vacant, no window treatments or anything. Being anxious, I couldn't wait to peek through the front door to see if those nice old appliances were still in there.
Upon walking up the steps, I peek into the glass and my gut just sank; the whole interior of the house was gutted right down to the studs, no trace of the appliances in sight. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so bummed out, a perfectly mint set of appliances are junked when they could have been mine if I acted sooner is all that kept running through my mind. So I walked around the rest of the house, looked in the back windows to see other parts of the house thinking I have a slight chance that the appliances are still in there. No such luck. I didn't give up just yet. There are glass block windows in the garage, so i tried to look through those the best I could to see if I could see something in that garage. Remember, the house is unoccupied and is going through a complete interior overhaul. Ok, now I actually see something looking through that distorted glass block window. Its about 6:30pm, it a nice orange sunset shining into the window helping me see whats in the garage. I see something...it looks like a wiring diagram on the back of something...then I move to the next glass block and move my head around until I could clearly see something. IT WAS THE BACK OF THE STOVE! IT'S STILL IN EXISTENCE!
Now Im anxious, and now I decided to get a little bold. I had to somehow get inside the house if I could (nothing crazy, no I wasn't going to forcefully break in or do property damage!) but I thought just what if a door was unlocked... I could just peacefully walk in, take a look, then walk out knowing Im not waisting my time and leave a note on the front door...
I checked the front door, locked. I checked the back door...locked. I checked the garage side door...locked. DARN. I walked back around the house but when I looked at the garage side door, I could see a slight gap in the door frame like it wasn't fully closed. Hmmm. I went back to the door and even though the knob was locked, it wasn't latched shut all the way. I simply pushed the door and there you have it. Easy access directly into the garage; effortless. Upon opening the door, I see nothing but piles of construction debris, the old cabinets, insulation etc, and there it is: That mint coppertone GE Americana double oven just sitting all by itself covered in drywall dust. But wheres the fridge? Not in the garage, yes, i got even bolder and walked into the house to look in the basement just to make sure it didn't get moved down there. No sign of it anywhere. Ok I thought to myself, probably one of the guys doing the home repairs got the fridge for free and is using it as the garage beer fridge. I went back to check out the range. Completely mint, like the day it was made. Opened it up and checked those date codes. Built in February of '73. Its got the vent hood on top, I had a tape measure on my key chain so I was able to see how high it was... 71". Dang, my cabinets are only 66-1/2" to the bottom so this beauty wouldn't even fit in my kitchen without some serious cabinet modification (which I won't do). So naturally I had to take a few pictures of the oven, then carefully left and closed the door exactly to how it was. I still left my note and carefully tucked it into the door frame where it would be virtually impossible for wind to blow it away yet be easily noticeable by whoever came up to the front door: Most likely the contractors the next morning. I still wanted to save that stove and have it for my collection but also kept my fingers crossed that if I got a call, I could inquire about the fridge and possibly buy it off whoever took it.
I left that nice polite letter and offered "good money" for the "old brown stove and refrigerator that were originally in the kitchen". Didn't want the letter to make it sound like I was a junk collector looking to take it for scrap value only. Figured if whoever saw the letter realized someone wanted them for their intended use and appreciate them, that they'd call back with the realization that they could make a few bucks instead of letting the scrapper haul them away and get nothing out of it.
Well here we are, its one day later and nobody called. I even went back to the house just to see if my letter was still in the door and sure enough it was not there. I looked in the window and I could note the progress on the work from yesterday so I know someone is at the house. I even went back in the garage to see if my note was set on the oven. nope. That thing can go the curb tomorrow morning for all I know. I guess the bottom line is, I need to go to this house during the day and hope to talk to whoever is working there and find out whats up with those appliances if I can either have them or buy them or what. It'll be tough though. I work during the day too...
If that oven could talk it was screaming to me "please save me!!!!!!" and all I could do was walk away and hope I can get a return phone call. Im not a thief though. I may have trespassed into a vacant house, but Im not a thief. (being a thief would especially be a bad idea in this case as I did leave a paper trail behind...)
"Hey Joe, stove is gone"... "Oh wait, I wonder if that guy who left the letter about it stole it"
Nothing like being so close to something, yet be so far... Is there hope?
Heres the fridge and stove at the estate sale last March in their original habitat:
Well I get to the house and it looks totally vacant, no window treatments or anything. Being anxious, I couldn't wait to peek through the front door to see if those nice old appliances were still in there.
Upon walking up the steps, I peek into the glass and my gut just sank; the whole interior of the house was gutted right down to the studs, no trace of the appliances in sight. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so bummed out, a perfectly mint set of appliances are junked when they could have been mine if I acted sooner is all that kept running through my mind. So I walked around the rest of the house, looked in the back windows to see other parts of the house thinking I have a slight chance that the appliances are still in there. No such luck. I didn't give up just yet. There are glass block windows in the garage, so i tried to look through those the best I could to see if I could see something in that garage. Remember, the house is unoccupied and is going through a complete interior overhaul. Ok, now I actually see something looking through that distorted glass block window. Its about 6:30pm, it a nice orange sunset shining into the window helping me see whats in the garage. I see something...it looks like a wiring diagram on the back of something...then I move to the next glass block and move my head around until I could clearly see something. IT WAS THE BACK OF THE STOVE! IT'S STILL IN EXISTENCE!
Now Im anxious, and now I decided to get a little bold. I had to somehow get inside the house if I could (nothing crazy, no I wasn't going to forcefully break in or do property damage!) but I thought just what if a door was unlocked... I could just peacefully walk in, take a look, then walk out knowing Im not waisting my time and leave a note on the front door...
I checked the front door, locked. I checked the back door...locked. I checked the garage side door...locked. DARN. I walked back around the house but when I looked at the garage side door, I could see a slight gap in the door frame like it wasn't fully closed. Hmmm. I went back to the door and even though the knob was locked, it wasn't latched shut all the way. I simply pushed the door and there you have it. Easy access directly into the garage; effortless. Upon opening the door, I see nothing but piles of construction debris, the old cabinets, insulation etc, and there it is: That mint coppertone GE Americana double oven just sitting all by itself covered in drywall dust. But wheres the fridge? Not in the garage, yes, i got even bolder and walked into the house to look in the basement just to make sure it didn't get moved down there. No sign of it anywhere. Ok I thought to myself, probably one of the guys doing the home repairs got the fridge for free and is using it as the garage beer fridge. I went back to check out the range. Completely mint, like the day it was made. Opened it up and checked those date codes. Built in February of '73. Its got the vent hood on top, I had a tape measure on my key chain so I was able to see how high it was... 71". Dang, my cabinets are only 66-1/2" to the bottom so this beauty wouldn't even fit in my kitchen without some serious cabinet modification (which I won't do). So naturally I had to take a few pictures of the oven, then carefully left and closed the door exactly to how it was. I still left my note and carefully tucked it into the door frame where it would be virtually impossible for wind to blow it away yet be easily noticeable by whoever came up to the front door: Most likely the contractors the next morning. I still wanted to save that stove and have it for my collection but also kept my fingers crossed that if I got a call, I could inquire about the fridge and possibly buy it off whoever took it.
I left that nice polite letter and offered "good money" for the "old brown stove and refrigerator that were originally in the kitchen". Didn't want the letter to make it sound like I was a junk collector looking to take it for scrap value only. Figured if whoever saw the letter realized someone wanted them for their intended use and appreciate them, that they'd call back with the realization that they could make a few bucks instead of letting the scrapper haul them away and get nothing out of it.
Well here we are, its one day later and nobody called. I even went back to the house just to see if my letter was still in the door and sure enough it was not there. I looked in the window and I could note the progress on the work from yesterday so I know someone is at the house. I even went back in the garage to see if my note was set on the oven. nope. That thing can go the curb tomorrow morning for all I know. I guess the bottom line is, I need to go to this house during the day and hope to talk to whoever is working there and find out whats up with those appliances if I can either have them or buy them or what. It'll be tough though. I work during the day too...
If that oven could talk it was screaming to me "please save me!!!!!!" and all I could do was walk away and hope I can get a return phone call. Im not a thief though. I may have trespassed into a vacant house, but Im not a thief. (being a thief would especially be a bad idea in this case as I did leave a paper trail behind...)
"Hey Joe, stove is gone"... "Oh wait, I wonder if that guy who left the letter about it stole it"
Nothing like being so close to something, yet be so far... Is there hope?
Heres the fridge and stove at the estate sale last March in their original habitat:
