Hunting In Foreign Parts ... Again

I will admit to forgetfulness - I am in Indianapolis right now, at the tail end of the most fabulous reunion of the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse that could ever happen.  (Yes, high school ... we haven't been together, all three, in twenty years!)  We talked, we laughed, we got busted by the hotel management for noise ... good times.

And, of course, I hunted, even found some great pieces (and one mystery piece), but the focus was on a different sort of treasure.  The best kind.

I'm headed home this evening.  I miss the Big Lug like crazy.  He's already told me we aren't going to do this again - next time he comes with me even if he has to stay in the hotel room by himself the entire time.

He misses me, too.  I am happy.

Good hunting to all - and to all a better night!

The First

I went to a storage auction yesterday, and another today.  I'd prepared myself ahead of time to write a cool, first-timer blog, comparing and contrasting with all three shows, with thrifting, maybe even tell a nice allegorical story about messes and life.

Trouble is, yesterday wasn't my first auction.  I stood at the door of that locker in the steaming heat, and it felt so familiar.  Couldn't remember why, but suddenly, in the middle of trying to decide between Cascade and Finish, I remembered a day about 15 years ago - I was standing in a crowd of 50 or 60 people, staring at rows and rows of stainless steel fryers, cabinets, and shelves thinking "I can't use any of that."  It was a storage auction.  I was there.

Does that make me cool?  Or just old?

Don't answer that.

So what have I run into so far?  Well, I'll tell you one thing - times have either changed (and TV lies) or I happened to be in on a major auction of the sort I have yet to run into (and TV lies).  I found out that in two days' time, ten auctions (with a total of 32 lockers) went down to three (with a total of 6 lockers) within 24 hours before the start time (lesson - call ahead before you leave the house to see who paid their fees at the last minute).  I found out that most of the buyers are nice, cooperative, and kind of fun to be around - drama (TV doesn't lie, but probably exaggerates).  I found out that most lockers, at least in this area, are full of trash the owners don't want to clear (the nice people talk) yet the things still sell every time (for $25 or less) and that very few hunters will let you see what they find inside (TV doesn't lie about that).  I found out that these auctions are exactly like thrifting in that you have to have a little faith that if you keep going and going, eventually you'll find something that gives you that tingle of promise (all woo-woo aside, did I tell you those earrings I found Tuesday are David Yurman?).  And I found I kind of like it all.

Today, one of the winners allowed me to hang around - a couple of college kids, trying out a new thing.  I took a picture of the inside.

Five bucks for all of it.  He sold one of the chairs and some tools, to what Dave (on Storage Wars) calls "vultures,"  people who hang around and pick through to buy any or some of the items without having to clear the locker.  Personally, since the kid doubled his money in about two minutes he did great.  And he was so sweet, so wide-eyed, that I wanted to make sure he ate more (a Mom thing).

Plus, there was more.  While I stood there, talking, they started opening boxes.  Books.  The second one his friend pulled out looked vaguely familiar, so I asked to see it.  First edition Taylor Caldwell.  Not a well-known title, no dust jacket, but a first edition Taylor Caldwell!  And another, a Norah Lofts.  A couple of sconce-type lamps with smoked glass and 70's switches (the kind that are coming back).  I told them to flip through the books (I've found money) and Google the crap out of titles.  They took my number.

So sue me, I'm a compulsive teacher.

Overall, it was pretty fun.  I will definitely do it again.  And I might even buy something ... when my back heals and Acid Trip has time to help me.  I have a feeling I will discover a great prize at the bottom of several of these boxes of crap.

Oh, and before you ask, the footlocker was almost empty.  Just an almost-new, still-in-the-box Ikea table.  Good deal for $5, but no treasure of the Sierra Madre.

That's for me to find.

Risking It

I didn't go to the storage auction yesterday, because I did a second sweep on Google and found seven of them within a 15 mile radius tomorrow and Thursday.  No driving 80 miles, yay!  I plan to shadow, anyway, mostly ... but who knows?  I've been taking risks lately and they've been paying off!

Mostly.

This was today's Wheel of Fortune.  When Mama Angel gave me that feeling, the one that said "go donate purses" (including one Italian leather bag that I was saving to consign in the Fall) I didn't have a problem - hey, I'm in "planting" mode, remember?  But when I realized my attention (and intention) went straight to a thrift in which I've never found anything of substance (next to my bank) ... well, let's just say, I sighed, smiled, and went in to give, not receive.

To my surprise, I found these three lovelies, true pairs all.  Since I do not look too closely at markings when things are cheap (though I swore I saw something on two) I decided to take a chance on them.  I paid about $14 (with tax) for all.  I could handle it if I was wrong.

See, I might talk about my prizes, but I end up with as much trash as treasure.  I can't tell you how many dollar-heres and fiver-theres I've lost.  Those add up, but don't hurt (much).  C'mon, admit it, a bunch of mosquito bites are just irritating.  Wasps, scorpions, and rattlesnakes, on the other hand, make me want to cry.

I don't usually bet real money on a non-sure thing, but I risked $50 for each of these.  Both are unmarked.  And to say both were iffy is an understatement - the ring, especially, made me crazy, and not just because it was choppily made, has weirdly blue turquoise (or amazonite, maybe), and had more than one suspicious patch in the metal.  No, it was the fact that the woman who ran the consignment store said she doubted "very much" if it was actually gold (she worked in a jewelry store for ten years), but that the consigner insisted it was and wouldn't lower her price as much as the manager wanted her to.  On the other hand, the cherub is nicely detailed, well-made, and there's a squishy place where a mark could have been, one that looked a lot like "585" (yes, in the magnifier - I do not spend that much money without a ton of study).

Long story short:  the ring's 14K and the cherub isn't anything at all.

And I'm okay with that.  Sometimes it's all about stepping out of our little, safe, 50-cent box.  The storage auction thing isn't really a risk since I don't plan to buy anything at all (okay, unless it's cheap ... or I get that feeling ... or Mama Angel hits me over the head with a chair).  Not yet, anyway.  And today wasn't either - mosquito-level crap doesn't count.  I'm not even talking about $200 on something you can see is marked "900 pt," either (though at the time that was about all I had).  No, I'm talking about the real risk of doing something we love just because we love it.

I don't usually look closely at things until I get home - I have found that when I know what I have, some part of me stops looking really hard ... or listening, I haven't figured out which it is - but today I opened the bag in a different thrift store.  See, there's a sweet, fabulous lady I know who works there Tuesday mornings.  She told me today that when she was working, she found stuff and sold some on eBay but since she retired, "nothing."  I panicked.  That's what started my Mom's crazy-cat-lady spiral.  "Nothing."  The only cure I know is to fill it up.

The three pairs of earrings above weren't all gems.  One was total crap.  One was sterling only.  And one was marked "925" ... and "750."

Feel that rush?  Get it again when you realize that silver-to-gold it's about fifty-fifty???  Then once more when you hit the scale and find they weigh almost half a troy ounce?

Feel it?

See, it's not the potential cash (I won't get rich this way).  It's the rush - the discovery rush, the I-paid-how-much? rush, the Thank-You rush ... all of that and more, all at once.

That's my something.

Now go out and find yours.

Updates

Just a quick post - sorry, but I'm busy focusing on my real goal, which is to raise our bottom line.  Right now that means a massive yard project, and though my back is stronger it ain't better so the landscaping's taking longer than expected ...

... The week was pretty good, thanks to a gamble on what I (and, obviously, the consigner) thought was possibly a spurious 14K mark on a decorative chain (it wasn't!), to an unmarked 10K wedding band, and to a couple of nice leads by Mama Angel (including some 14K gold beads on an otherwise average necklace).  Not enough to cause early retirement, but a great fill-up of the Hope tank.

... The Great Car Hunt is over, and the winner is (drumroll) a Hyundai Elantra.  I had it finally down to two - Honda Accord and Hyundai Elantra (gas mileage, owner satisfaction, etc.).  I took the Big Lug for the deciding factor, the Butt test, and the Honda was the marginally clear victor.  However, after telling the salesman three times (my initial, my subsequent, and this particular and supposedly last search trip) that I HATE the song-and-dance of checking with the manager, back, check, back he did it anyway.  And since my husband has less patience than I do (and no problem with quick decisions) we left, went to the Hyndai guy, were not only treated like a king and queen but offered a packed car for the same price as the Honda (bottom line up front) as well as free oil changes and tires for life!  Combine that with the fact that this dealership is about a mile from my office, I'm averaging 29 miles to the gallon, and I am a very happy camper!

... The first Saturday flea wasn't as great as usual, but I found a couple of interesting pieces of silver - two service pins and a "Return to Tiffany" heart (no bracelet, just the heart) for 50 cents each, and a pair of (I believe) 100-year-old milk glass salt shakers in really good shape for $2.

... I really thought I had a handle on something to distinguish 14K gold pins from their trashy counterparts.  Remember the picture?

Do you notice that the hearts have more of a crosshatch, and the others are plain?  Well, I found this and thought "ah-ha!"

It bends easily without cracking, it scratch-tested as 10K, and even though I couldn't find a mark, I figured I was made (especially since it was thrown in with something else I bought).  Nope.  I looked closer at the scratch-bit, found silvery metal beneath (noooooooo!), then electro-tested and got very low numbers.  So now I know my scratch test isn't perfect on gold (with heavily plated items) and my electronic tester isn't always great on white gold (it gets confused easily these days) which means ... do the best I can.  And don't generalize about pins!

... Oh, and I won't be posting on Monday next week.  I'm going to hit my first storage auction.  As long as I can rearrange a tutorial.  And drive 80 miles to get there, possibly in traffic.  And work up the courage to wade in with a bunch of pros.

Overall, even with the crapy things that were risks that didn't pay off, I quadrupled (or quintupled, depending on the research for the shakers) the money I spent.  Now, since I didn't spend a lot that means I didn't make a lot, but "it doesn't suck" beats the blisters off "WTF", right?  And, truth is, it was a boatload better than not sucking.

Life is good.  Happy Hunting!

Patience, With a Side of Envy

To find the needle in the haystack, sometimes you just need a big butt, lots of sitting, and even more patience.

Today is about white metals, which might be silver, platinum, white gold, palladium, or just steel, aluminum, titanium, or (horrors!) "pot" metal, which is a mixture of tin, zinc, and/or whatever is lying around the factory that day.  It's not always easy to tell what you're holding - platinum and palladium are very similar to each other (and the buffs and scratches don't ease out with wearing), and white gold looks exactly like silver with a bit of tarnish on it (unless they're both rhodium plated, in which case they're interchangeable).  Quality of work will help distinguish them much of the time, as will a magnet (at least in finding stainless steel) but mostly we rely on marks.

That's not always a good thing.  Though spurious white gold marks are not nearly as numerous as their yellow counterparts, I've run into two - one on a pair of shell earrings from a post in 2009, and one ... well, we shall see.

Let's get to it.

Which one's gold, which is silver, and which is something else?  Difficult, isn't it?  Two have tool marks inside, two are a bit yellowy, all look pretty much the same.  Will turning them over help?

Maybe, maybe not.  Even looking closely with my loupe, I saw only one mark (on the middle one - go ahead and look), but I "knew" it was sterling anyway (by the westernness of the design and the antiquing).  Why the quote marks?  Because I have seen at least one pair of white gold earrings with this type of design and antiquing.

The ring on the left I really thought was unmarked white gold, but it tested low (though not as low as silver usually does).  Non-magnetic, too.  One day I'll find out how palladium tests so I can compare it.  That leaves the ring on the right.  Yep, white gold.  And it is marked - the first picture shows the hammered look to it, and if you look closely you will see some divets are smaller than others.  A full rear look, and some long-distance viewing (not up close) will allow you to see the Dremel-tool-like writing inside.  It's a man's ring, and I think it's wedding band ... mostly because I also have the two female counterparts of the wedding set (sans diamond, alas, since the empty prongs say it was probably about 2 carats).

By the way, I bought them in a thrift shop, and the only reason I even looked into the box in which they resided was that someone else asked to see one of the other rings, causing DragonBunny to rear her ugly head and crane her neck to see what had caught the woman's interest.  The lady put the scruffy, tin ring she'd looked at back, but, as is my habit, I looked at every single one in the box, through my magnifying glass.  Nothing.  But as I reached out to put this one back I saw the "14K" resolve itself in the dots like some insano Magic Eye poster.  My breath caught.  Nah, I thought, but for the price I was willing to take a chance.  In the sunlight on my way to my tutorials, I could see the yellow glow of the ring - white gold is still gold, just alloyed with white metals instead of heavy on the copper - and also the rest of the signature, "by Jurus" (a Baltimore jewelry designer who's been around since the 60's - thanks to a stoplight and my smart phone).  Once home, I tested it, almost swallowed my tongue, and then raced back the next day for the other two pieces.

Really.

Okay, what about an easier one?

Two, two, two tests for one!  Both are fairly traditional designs for either silver or white gold.  And the picture on the right even has some tarnish to help you along.

Okay, so you spotted it - left to right (both pictures) sterling, gold, gold, sterling.  Yet in both cases, the person who priced this jewelry priced them as silver or even as white metal.  And yes, both are clearly marked.  Seriously, I look at everything.

Okay, one more.

So, both are marked.  Which one's silver, and which one's white gold?

If you guessed that, in order, you're half right.  The first one is, indeed, sterling, but the second is only marked "14K."  Funny thing is, almost every metal on the planet but gold will give me a rash if I wear it on a hot day.  This one didn't.  And it's really, really silky feeling.  And it laid just right.  I've no idea what it's actually made of, but I'd like to find more of it.

So, what's the upshot?  Simple:  white gold is often mistaken for sterling, either because the sorters assume or they just get in a hurry (they're not lazy, trust me) and miss the mark.  That means look at everything.  It's time consuming and needle-in-a-haystack slow, because there's just not as much of the white stuff compared to its yellow bretheran, but there are some awesome deals to be had.

Oh, and don't skip the Cheetos-orange stuff in your studies, either - remember that 22ct pendant!

One last thing.  I've been talking about doing a storage container auction for quite some time.  Since shows like Storage Wars and Auction Hunters have created a feeding frenzy among the normals, I will probably wait for the furor to die down a bit before actually doing it, but check out the "Cash It ... " blog link down and left.  Dave did it and blogged about his finds.  (One reason I won't jump right in.)

I love this life.  Happy Hunting!!