Motivate Me! Somebody Please!!

What is the secret to keeping motivated even when your mildly successful but somedays you just can't seem to find the energy and the passion to keep on going. It's not like I don't need the money. Having a household with two young adults who do not work but need a roof over their head, cat food and liter for their felines, food in their bellies, cigarettes to fill their lungs, electricity to keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter, to pay their bail, their fines, their lawyers,  to have insurance on the vehicle that they borrow to drive, keep gas in the tank for them to go places, and all the other hundreds of necessary items to keep them living the good life without lifting a finger....takes extra money.

My death pile is out of control and I have hundreds of items that are "uncashed checks". But, I sit here in my pjs at 8am and feel uninspired. Maybe I feel a trifle defeated and hopeless. I wish I had a magic wand to kick start me into action. I did have such a person in my life. Someone I longed to please and be my best and shine for him. He left me over two years ago and life has, will not ever be the same. I know he looks down from heaven, the other side, and sees what I am dealing with. I feel his presence. But, but, but....

He was my biggest cheerleader, besides my parents. I miss that, I need someone to tell me YOU CAN DO IT. I have confidence in you. You're the smartest woman I have ever known. Do you know how much I live you?

Do you know how much I miss you?

My Mom always said in times of trouble and grief, in times of pain "offer it up to God". 

Vintage Pearls

My  One Dollar Pearls.

 

Frustration

 Sometimes things don't go the way you think they should go. Sometimes the atmosphere is entirely different, the people have too much money, and the items are top quality. If that is the situation, be prepared to have your bids shot down and be shut out, totally shut out of the auction. Never have I left an auction empty handed. Always a first time I suppose, and Saturday was the day, 

I swore as I stomped out, as I huffed out after dropping out of bidding for a convex antique oval framed picture of a child. I do not have an antique shop where the clientele is adapted to paying big bucks for a valuable item. I sell on line and in a humble peddler mall on the wrong side of town. No way was I going to bid over 50$ for the picture/photograph and make my margins. I folded and left the auction in a somewhat sour and agitated mood.

Only a Bloody Mary calmed me down as I met up with an old friend from grammar school at the local hot spot. Now I was out of my general area of sourcing. I actually was back in my home town,one of the richest counties in the state, if not the richest per capita. Every time I attend of the auctions in my home town I am blown away on the bidding that builds and builds until I am squeezed out. I am so use to the average Joe type of auction, box lots going for 1$. bidder pick for 5$ I will leave with a car load of items spending under 200$, but mostly spending around 100$ and selling an item or two and making my money back and in the profit area after a few days.

This is totally different. Do these items sit in an antique booth waiting for that one special person to stumble upon the picture? Or do these buyers have someone in  mind, a sure thing, a slam dunk waiting for them?

A lot of costume jewelry, a tray of nice but nothing spectacular that would have gone for maybe at the most 45$  at My Favorite Auction House not defunt. The lot went for 400$ at Rich People Auction. A lot of 5 faux pearls, nice pearls but faux, five pieces - 200$ 

I had a hard time going to sleep that night because I mouthed the words "f*** Him" at the auctioneer after the relentless up bidding of the guy determined to get the photo. I felt ashamed that I lost my temper. And I actually prayed for forgiveness and the need for tolerance. To not be an idiot and to be better from then on out. And to never go to an auction there again. Unless I have won the lottery.

And the next day I went to two 75% off estate sales and really cleaned up. There was a basket of costume jewelry in the kitchen in baggies marked 2$ to 8$ at 75% off. I went thru and pulled about 15 bags, mostly the faux pearls. When I got home and began sorting the jewelry, pulling the Monet, Napier and Liz Claiborne, I ran across a dulled set of pearls and the clasp marked "Silver". I suppose God granted my confession and handed over a vintage strand of Akoya pearls. For one dollar.

But, never will I go to that auction house again.   

Obsession or Insanity

 

First it was Vintage Patterns. Vouge are the best. I sold one beauty for $150 last year and another 2 for 99$ I received two boxes from my SIL who was cleaning up her mothers things she no longer needed. There were some beautiful patterns and I just went nuts to begin hunting out older vintage patterns, preferably Vouge Designer patterns from the 50s & 60s. 40s too if possible. My house over runneth with boxes of patterns, I also sell a lot of them at the Booth.

Now it's silverware/cutlery. I have gobs and gobs of it, so super reasonable to pick up. But, the research and then the pain in the neck to polish and photograph!

I have a ton, and I mean a lot, of purses. They are piled up in my bedroom closet, I just ran across a cache in the garage, they are in totes in the photography room waiting their turn to appear! I don't know why I feel compelled to pick them up, but I do. I have coach, Vera Bradley, Aigner etc etc etc. I love them!

And I can not leave a bear behind. I see them and think that they are headed for the dump if I do not take them home. Mainly Boyd's Bears and the occasional BYOB, various brands of imported bears. Mohair, plush....you name it I've got it.

Books. I pick up a ton of coffee table books. I pick up a lot of reference books, I just pick up books.

They sell occasionally I buy obsessively. . 

Best week Ever

 

I won this sheet of uncut Beatle Cards last February. I sold it one year and one month and a couple of days later. I first listed it at 3500$ the 2500$ then 1999$ then 1599$. I sent out multiple offers I think, taking 15 - 25% off. Finally someone knew the value of this unusual and one of a kind item. I took the offer and it is highest selling item I have sold thus far. The other item that brought in a large amount was the vintage Lefton Herb rack with 24 little porcelain/ceramic shakers. That was a mobster to pack and ship, To Australia!! It arrived in one piece. The Beatle sheet has a slight tear in one corner, I hope he recognized that in the description.

As usual, as at least once a week, maybe less, but I have to tear the garage apart looking for 2 items. The first not in the box I assigned to it. The second is anyone's guess.

My sales have not been spectacular, but they have been steady. The on-line community is in an uproar over an adjustment in the algorithm that is causing many of the established stores to suffer. A deep dive, thanks to AI (that app/tool is going to take over the world) reveals that Ebay wants to compete with Amazon and move away from the image of a 2nd Hand Garage Sale site. I always thought the old idiom, throwing the baby out with the bath water was silly, but it certainly describes this adjustment to the bone.

So, what to do. Simple. Fill out the Item  Specifics in the Description as best as possible. Includes the origin of the Country, ounces verses pounds and units, ISBN, etc etc etc. I have always been pretty adept at filling in those blanks and I suppose that is the redeeming factor in my sales ;just plugging along. 

On the personal side, I am still in funky depression over a multitude of things, some in my control others are a result of my procrastinating ways. Some hinge on the delusional assumption that I am going to live forever. That my health is so frigging good because I take no medications, my BP has always been exceptional, I quit smoking over 20 years ago, I exercised my entire life until covid and dementia came to roost. Now I face a myriad of health issues.  A heart that does not relax in-between beats, high cholesterol, basal cell carcinoma, diabetes, ( I haven't had a piece of candy in close to a year. Can't say that about cookies)  and now I'm faced with the mac daddy of them all and I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best.    

The first thing I have done facing this challenge is to begin to thin out my library. I have at least 2 life times of books to read. They are overwhelming. Can I confess that I have trimmed down my life long obsession with reading and book multiple times!! Car load after truck load of books I have purged. Never good enough, the impulse to read more means to go to every library book sale that is held every other week end. I peruse the book shelves at every Estate Sale. I find it fascinating to look through what other people read and keep. It tells a lot about a person. Those estate sales with out books confound me. How does one live without books?

Thats all the news that fits.

The Bane of my Existence

 

This week , which is only in day 2, I could not find this Pitcher I sold on Ebay. I spend a few minutes in the "Ebay room" looking for it to no avail. Today I sorted thru the room, moving everything around and still no pitcher. 

This is the way I list my items and if I did according to plan, it would be a great system. In the SKU section of the listing that only is visible to me I notate where I put the item, where I got it, the date listed and the cog. . Either E-bay room, book shelf, or the number of the box in the garage. 

This item incorrectly was identified as Ebay room. On to my next avenue to locate an item, which once again if I followed procol it would be so easy to locate an item. I keep a note book that I jot down the date and the area/box number I put the listed item. I go to the book and lo and behold, its just listed as "pink Pitcher".

So, now I go to the computer and go thru my photo history. I know the date, Nov. 26th, so I head to that area and look at the pictures taken to ensure it was Nov. 26th. Back to the notebook and I scan all the boxes I used that day. Back to the garage (where the boxes have taken over) and hunt for 2011 ( which is CRAZY of me because all, every single one of the other boxes, are alphabetical such as A-1 etc.

When I locate 2011, it is (as always) the bottom box behind the A's.

This happens most weeks. It drives me crazy and is so easy to avoid. 

It use to be Fun

I remember about 20 years ago I was on top of the world in the blogging world. I won a major award at AOJ Journals for the Best Travel Blog. I may even have the thingamajig on my main page. Now it's amazing when I sign on and its been months since I shared my thoughts, life, my reselling journey. 

I recently looked on Reddit and saw that the blogging community, though significantly different, is still alive and well. Maybe not a community as was AOL Journals, but still alive with content ranging from personal blogs to very commercial intended blogs. 

In the beginning I was just examining my life (as a life unexamined is.....) and exploring my writing abilities. I remained anonymous and continue to try and remain anonymous.  That's for Facebook, and the other thing I am not a part of. I use to be a fairly competent photographer and there were several web sites I published on, though I can't remember their names either. A friend ran across one of them and sent me a link and I, as I sometimes am, was astounded at how wonderful many of them were! 

All that seems to be in the past, as my Nikon, now 20 years old which I bought for myself as a birthday present in 2006. Now people just use phones and apps to create some magnificent photo's. The art is barely there anymore. Just an eye, I suppose. 

I plug on in my reselling journal making extra money to make ends meet now that I am a widow and lost a significant amount of income. This is what I call Life after Joe. I've changed and i many ways, not good. I'm introverted and I think I may be depressed. I have minimum joy in life, Unfortunately, my ultimate joy is shopping, AKA sourcing, for resell. I have a shit load (there is no other word to describe it) of stuff in two storage units and the garage, a room dedicated to listed items (and some not) and the garage is a death trap of boxes, clothes, listed items, storage junk etc. etc. etc.

I do not need to source, just go diving into the many boxes of loot I have lying around. I made some goals for 2026 and I have made some progress and much more is needed.

As I sit here, putting off listing, I listen to the dogs running wild to see a squirrel in the back yard knocking over a box of Wedgewood Peter Rabbit cups. Time to go.

This is new Day 2

Yesterday - I'm going to go backwards. This is the pick up for the estate sale on line auction. I did not overbid and picked up two mirrors and  a cheese dome, hand painted and I believe is an old porcelain piece.It's listed already.

This was the day before yesterday when I was packing up my sold items. This little black and white is the most curious cat ever. She even tries to help me pack by climbing in the box, chewing the tape, messing around with the packing.

Hmmmmm, driving around aimlessly Sunday because the estate sale opened at noon and it was 1130, so I said "to hell with it" and went looking for a breakfast place to once again, break away from my diet. I have been waiting for this Yard Sale for quite some time and have been haunting their web site for information. There was none but driving past I saw this advert for the sale! Yay. I memorized the number and once I called I promptly forgot the number! What the heck. I may set up and get rid of my costume jewelry. 

 

 

This is new

 Since its boring to just post what I've bought, what I've sold I'm going to so something different. I do keep an analog journal that I practically keep up with daily. It keeps me abreast of what I do day to day, even more boring that my selling and sourcing. I have documented my sleep disturbances because of Jax. And  I feel when I blog I write better.

A long time ago, (though they still may do it)when blogging was coming of age (before pushed aside by Facebook etc) there was this thing about posting a picture a day. And it was cool along with being fun.

So, I started 10 days ago with a trip to Senior Iguania after breaking my vow of ;not sourcing for the remainder of July. It lasted about 2 weeks but the pull, the addiction is too strong. The flip side of the coin is that you must list what you source or you end up (like me) with an enormous death pile (uncashed checks) and my house looks like a hoarder house.

After sourcing, and after learning I am diabetic (am I? Am I really?) and not breaking my slap shot diet (so far have lost 6 pounds eliminating carbs and sugar) I broke two resolutions, I had a taco salad and a margarita. Yum. Heaven.

Where did Half a Year Go?

 The continuing saga of the Reselling Life

My inventory has taken over my life, my house, my sanity. I have two storage units and my garage, an Ebay "room" in the house, and he back family room is totally over run. My sales are just okay. I did fantastic with the booth in the local Peddler Antique Mall the first three months nearing 1000$ in sales. This month as it nears a close, I've made 75$. What a let down.

I don't think I've done anything wrong, maybe I just need to rearrange the booth. Take out a few things and put some newer stuff in. Remove that back table and put in a library table. That will make it easier to access the wall above it and also, for people to remove the pictures.

And, because I was doing so well in the back of the mall, I thought I needed a 2nd booth in the front area and after a month of hounding the front desk, I got it. I take possession of it on Monday and I thing I am going to go in a different direction and fill it full of clothes, jewelry bags, pictures and a section dedicated to clear glass. 

Where did March Go?

 

Two Sister Booth at the Peddler Mall. Its a work in Progress. I have been moving things around, adding furniture, adding inventory. Not much has sold. I have made rent last month (I began this new adventure in early March) and already this month. I am about 350$ in the black with two weekends to go. 

Not Bad! Nor Bad at all!

 Despite having the flu and then being sick with a nagging hurtful cough for three + weeks I still did okay for the month of February. I did not list many items at all. I did delete and relist. I think that kept me in the ball game. I sold approximately 38 items and about 1800$ in sales. I only spent a little over 400$ on inventory and opened a booth at the LOCAL peddler mall.

This I picked up at an Estate Sale on Saturday and it sold with in a few days. Tuesday I believe.

This purse I have had since this summer. I am hesitant to sell purses, But I picked up several at a 75% off day at an estate sale. They were high dollar and the only way I could afford them was at 75% off. The more expensive ones were already gone but a few goodies remained.

Got this little goodie at a live auction. It has not sold yet, a long tail, but I should do very well with it as no one else was interested.

it just got better

Unable to access my photos for months and months made me lose my appetite for posting. Suddenly they have appeared again!  

My new years resolution for 2025 is to buy judicially. I have a garage full of stuff and two storage units. Most of it needs to be listed. So, I am cutting back on purchasing until I have stabilized.

I have spent 52$ so far this year. I also have the flu or covid, I don't know. I know I feel better then I over exert and crash.

So I traveled to Madison to one of my fav on line auction houses and got the following!

The weather has been horrendous. i will never complain about 90 degree weather again until its 90 degrees again. Its wet and muddy and I am recovering from the flu so its not so smart to get out. 

I have resumed listing as being ill has made it impossible to take much interest in anything.

So far this is what I have up for February

 

Pretty but stained that I worked on with a tide stick that just made it worse. I am hesitant to wash them because I think I will ruin the 3-D effect of the flowers.

  Death Pile stock.

Scary Clown I got on an online auction for 2$

Irish linens from same auction. Got a lot of linens and so far have only listed this pastel group of vintage linens.

That about all I have now.

What sold? later

Long Time No Write

 I hate Google.

I can't upload any of my photos unless I give them more blood money. As if they don't make enough from their advertisers. I sympathize with the young man who shot the CEO - corporate greed over services is rampant. Our country is on the verge of being run by billionaires and probably as corrupt as it has even been. The idiots (from sea to shining sea) who voted this vile excuse of a human being will suffer the consequences and the rest of us will endure. 

Anyway, I have continued to run my Ebay store, which is where 99.9% of my orders are coming from. I believe I have sold two things on Merc which at one time, when I began, was phenomenal for me.

I have truly neglected listing for the past several months but my spending has not curtailed and I believe I could officially verg on hoarder.

I'm reading again. After a long drought of reading an occasional book, usually  a non-fiction, but I have found an interesting author, Jim Harrison. I have finished one of his books and checked out another from the downtown library. The books are full of lust and liquor, Indians and land grabbers, cancer, promiscuity, wealth and interesting characters. The author also wrote Legends of the Fall, so you can imagine the thrill I have knowing I have about 20 books to plow through.

And in real life, I have ridiculously volunteered to foster two dogs who lost their home due to circumstances that many of us face. Money problems. I won't judge on the why and hows a person could find a home that does not allow dogs, I just know it must be terribly hard on him. And the poor dogs. It's a well know fact that I like dogs much better than most people.

I await their arrival.

Until then, I plug along and hope for better things to come.

Oh Oh oh. In ;the book one of the protagonists in an anxiety attack of sorts (this character is delicious) had been advised by one of his psychiatrists to list all the things he likes. I was hard pressed to go back to sleep after a 330am doggie bathroom trip so I began to list things I liked.

The list is endless....so my life, bereft of Joe, must be worth living if I enjoy/like graveyards, walking the dogs, auctions, making pies, smell of mowed grass, new shoes, puppies, etc. etc. etc.  

No Luck at the Yard Sales - Again

 Yesterday I ventured out in search of the elusive Yard Sale Holy Grail. I do not understand how the landscape of available garage sales in this area can yield such pathetic results. I watch the "influencers" on YouTube and see them score wonderful items and then post the results of what sold, how much they spent and what the items have been listed at asking prices. For example - Spent 36$ - listed at 385$ It just does not happen around here for me.

A month or so ago, I bought a 1962 Barbie Doll Dream House form the original owner. I was very excited because they list on Ebay for good money and I had the original owner - the provenance! It was huge and the cost of shipping would arrive in the mid to upper 20's, so I sold it at my yard sale for what I paid for it. 

I suppose the essence of a successful yard sale chase is #1, knowing your stuff.  I cringe when I see nothing but clothes and plastic toys. I do not know my toys well enough to know what has value and what does not. #2 is know the territory you are hunting. Maybe the 100 mile yard sales are the Mother Lode. I did it once, in June and stuck out. I spent all day chasing the dream and ended up with desperate purchases that once again, I unloaded at my yard sale.

Yesterday I had high hopes of one that was advertised as having an abundance of items accumulated from years of Estate Sale purchases. Wrong. Just a bunch of Home Decorator stuff, once again childrens things, and Big Lot purchases,

The only outdoor that bore fruit was the Lutheran Church Community Yard Sale - which I must remember for next year because it is an every Saturday set up for 20$ a spot, I found a lady who was in the mood to deal with her exquisite jewelry booth.

  For 20 bucks she sold me three fantastic signed pieces.

 So, I went to my old stand by, the Estate Sale. 25 - 50% off on Saturday. I found 36$ worth of stuff, two purses, a pair of designer boots, an Hawaiian tea cup and saucer (she double charged me for this!!once at 50% off then again at 25% off, oh well. A cashmere sweater and a fabulous faux fur jacket so soft that you could lay a naked baby on it.

20$ should translate to 150$ 

36$ to 250$ I may keep one of the purses.

I may go back today, its 75% off.

I see Them Long Hard Times to Come

Originally started in early April

Missed me? Wonder where the hell I have been? Joe died in March and my world is upside down, side ways, all shook up and I am still processing life without him. It's empty and difficult to even acknowledge he is gone. No longer here. I feel him in the room, in the car, everywhere.

I have hammered on with Ebay despite it all and the sales are still trickling in. 

April Sales

The Estate Sale Trail

 I need to take pictures of all the beautiful homes I visit while on my Estate Sale Trails. This one was on Blank-er Rd. You parked at a museum or historic building and were then transported to the home via van. It was awesome. The home was going to be torn down due to termite infestation. But it was super cool and very old. Late 1800's if I had to guess.

I went the last day, after 1 when everything was 75% off. There was a bookshelf full of antique books but they were in very bad condition. A complete set of Charles Dickens was decrepit, yet at 75% off I still picked out the best several of the crumbling spined books.  I put them  back after thinking about it. Even at 50 cents, was I going to risk possibly bring silver fish or some other pestilent into my home. Not worth it. Anyway, finding an interested buyer would be hard. I then began posting my volumes of Charles Dickens on Ebay. They are undated but once again I am guessing late 1800's. I got them at an auction house that I use every now and then, but when I went to pick them up, having paid for the entire set, it was incomplete! They had somehow managed to give several volumes (4!!!) away to someone who also bid on antique books. This is not the first time an auction house has messed up. But they are only human.

This is one of the treasures I found. I saw it during my first pass through of the house. It was marked 26$. During my final pass thru a couple, Mother and daughter were examining it, the daughter saying she thought it was creepy. That was enough incentive for me to grab it as soon as they moved on. For 6$ I was going to take a chance on it. Turns out its fairly valuable. It is not marked on the bottom, just MADE IN CHINA sticker remains. It could or could not be marked. It's obscured. It could be Staffordshire, could be a copy. This original pitcher has been copied by many companies and artists. This one is in terrific condition and very heavy. I believe I have it listed for over 200$ So we will see. I believe it will eventually sell.

Sales are steady as long as I run a sale on my entire store. What the heck, I send out offers etc and sell a lot at the offered price. If  the Ebay algorithm  likes and promotes my items because of this, so be it. Its a sale all the time.

July Sales

June Sales (and my feet)

May Sales

Yard Sales

 I just went and wasted a whole day and 1/2 tank of gas cruising  the US 68 400 mile long yard sale. I went on about a 50 - 60 mile stretch of the sale, from Lebanon to Shaker Village and found crap.  This is my fifth year of reselling officially, and I have to say I have been to only one yard sale that yielded any profit or had any substantial items for sale.

This is what I saw. Amazon Pallet junk. Rusty old tools. Toys, games, puzzles and clothes. I did see some bicycles that would have been an excellent buy if I were in the market for a nice ride. Only that morning I had seen how to remove the front tire to slip into your back seat but this particular bike did not look like it was in that style. And the brake line was rusted.

I did buy some yard ornaments for myself. A boyd bear that upon closer inspection had some issues with the clothing, a horse ceramic brooch, a Barbie Beetle Car which is sub par once I really took a look at it. 

I am going to have a yard sale in the near future to unload some items I am very hesitant to list on Ebay and I have just abandoned Facebook Market Place as too convoluted to maneuver any more. It use to be great until they screwed it up with advertisements for Temu and stuff from other areas. Thats me buying, to sell is a nightmare.

I set up a "booth" at the Shriner indoor yard sale and did fairly well making a 162$ profit. My Cracker Barrel experience helped make my booth look interesting and well organized.

That's all the news that fits.

Except I'm depressed. Joe passed away and a huge hole in my heart has opened up.      

January Update

January Sales were strong and much better than last year. My google photos has not been working since mid January and for the life of me I can not figure it out. So the pics of the good stuff I sold will have to be worked out in the future by transferring to my email and then into my photos. A major pain in the butt. I did sell some stuff I have had for awhile and sold for some great profit.

This past week, taking advantage of the few days I have left before J. comes home and my life will change forever! I have hit up some Goodwills in the area just because it was in the middle of the week and no Estate Sales. 

I also have been watching Youtube inspirations videos to help guide me. I certainly hope I make my money back! DR gives a very inspiring suggestion on being accountable. When you set a goal you punish yourself when you do not achieve it. It is a goal you have control over. If I want to sell 1000$ a week I actually have no control over if I make it or not. But if I set a goal of listing 5 a day I have total control over than. Last night I had to catch up, but I made it. I've listed 29 items so far this week and still have today to go. I'll list the 6 before the end of the day.

The other goal was to source more efficiently. Buying things that will sell and not sit on the shelf (or in the box) for ever and then not sell. I love to pick up glass and glass does not sell. Sometimes eventually but its always a long tail. 

Which brings me to why I went to the Good wills this week. To test out the theory. And after watching CLL shop at Goodwill. First, her goodwills are jammed packed with good stuff and not many people. I guess I make the mistake of when I drop in on a goodwill it is usually on a Saturday, their busiest day. this week I went and I did find some treasures.

UPDATE: I have been ending a listing and then sell similar. The whole house has been rearranged to accommodate Joe's hospital bed. The small bedroom has been converted into and Ebay room and I have not acclimated to it yet. The photobox not hooked up yet.

A Day at Ley's Auction

 Oh what a day. Beau came up, spent the night and I  headed to the Auction of all Auctions Saturday. The consolidated warehouses, and the (I think) third and final auction, (first 2 or 3 were on line auctions) of a world famous antique dealer. So famous that he was the source for many a movie set designers who would seek out and comb over his inventory. He was in the Nulu area of Lou and had a gigantic store front in an old warehouse type building, three floors or more of endless "stuff". There was a very cool freight elevator in the building. I went to JL first in the 1980s and you paid a $1 to get in and wander around for as long as you wanted. I can't remember if I bought anything at that time being a very poor single mother going to University in the evenings!

I did purchase a print in the first on line auction, and it sits in my garage, a 5$ investment that is worth 600$ that is if someone is willing to pay the asking price. 

Yesterday was cold and windy. I got a parking place fairly close, about a 3minute (if that) walk to the warehouse. It seemed forever because of the wind and because I was not dressed for 30+ degree weather! The initial auction was packed, as you can see from above, I would guess 100+ people since I was assigned #118. The crowd swelled then ebbed. They sold smalls for the first 3 hours, switched to selling all the  bookcases, chandelier's, furniture, rugs etc. It took another 3 hours for the auctioneer to make his way back to the smalls.

Naturally, people were bidding high at first and I am adamant at not spending too much on something to resell. I coveted a set of Wm. Rogers very early silver plated cutlery and so did another bidder. I was willing to go to 30$ and he went 35$ and I just let him have it. I did get a box of nice brooches, several display boxes with pins/buttons, and some police photos and early Kentucky post cards. All in all I only spent 107$ when all was said and done. Others were spending crazy money for things like empty tin food cans, posters, etc. etc. etc. 

I met some new people. A very nice gentleman from C-don who reminded me of Muncie. A girl (I'm going to be 71 in a matter of days so everyone looks younger to me anymore) who I remember from Hay's who got some kick butt leather puttees from WWI. Which sparked a memory of  how well and how much money I made from a lot of WWII items. I need to be more aware of historical items and that they are BIG money and BIG money is my main goal now that I am looking at losing 2000$ in retirement money in a few months, years (who knows). Some regulars from Hays were there. Larry, Joe and his son, Brook, and a lot of others who names I do not know but recognize from their occasional appearance at Hays.  

I have not seen Ken for some time and I am worried he may be unwell. He told me he took a tumble in his basement, knocked himself out and came too hours later. He hurt his back and I do not think he really recovered from such a trama.

Next auction Tuesday. I have not spent much this month and have sold close to 2 grand. Of course cut that in half, and I made about a grand.