Pages

Friday, July 20, 2012

Today's Strange and Interesting Estate Sales

Since I am not available to do my usual Saturday morning sales tomorrow, I spent some time today visiting a number of estate (and one garage) sales.  The weather was rainy and humid which did keep the temperature down (more on this point later).

REAL estate sale in Huntcliff Subdivision - a very nice gold community
I had visited EstateSales.net to review the sales in the area concentrating on sales starting on Friday and located in nearby neighborhoods like Sandy Springs and Buckhead.  Several looked intriguing.

SALE NUMBER ONE - Huntcliff Subdivision in Sandy Springs

This seemed to truly be a "real" estate sale.  The neighborhood (and house) looked quite nice but the inside was very dated and the smell was just awful.  It was clear that there had been a lot of smoking going on in this house and the company running the sale appeared to have tried to mask the odor.  The result was cloying and smelly!  There were a few good items (way overpriced) and a lot of not so great (also overpriced) - nothing here!
Oriental Screen was $1000 - the "leather" wingbacks were plastic and priced at $195 - nothing here!
SALE NUMBER TWO - Edgewater Subdivision in Sandy Springs


This house had limited items for sale but the prices were pretty decent.  What was intriguing about the sale is that the owner/seller is an Atlanta artist evidently of some renown with, according to the company running the sale, a few pieces in Atlanta's High Museum of Arts' permanent collection.  A number of buyers were hauling huge canvasses priced at $35, $40, $50 - deals if you liked them!  I thought long and hard about several but couldn't quite visualize any in my home.
The big Victorian desk was priced at $395, the table at $195 and the chairs at $195 (each).  I would pay $100-120 for a pair of these so that exceeds my price point.
Interesting art-work - I thought about the hands photo as well as the portrait bottom right.
SALE NUMBER THREE - Conway Drive Garage Sale in Buckhead
Because of the rain, this family was forced to move a very colorful sale fully into their garage.  If I had more time (and interest), I am sure I would have bought something for my grand daughers. 
SALE NUMBER FOUR - Blackland Drive - Buckhead

This may have been the most interesting of the bunch.  The house was FULL Of high-priced, name-brand furniture still fairly new (e.g., Baker, Hekmann, Lillian August), but the place was without electricity!  No good explanation was given and an emergency generator had been brought on the premises operating just a few lights.  Most of the house was very dark and, of course, no air conditioning was running.  It almost looked like this very pricey house in a very high end neighborhood had been abandoned.

Sale at home without electricity.
Some of the high-priced items available at sale - often with original receipts available.
I actually did see a few things I might have liked at this sale but beginning prices were a little high - they do often come down on subsequent days.  I did not, however, want to return to this place - quite depressing and mysterious.

SO --- an interesting two-three hours spent with a single outlay of cash!  As I've often said, it is a real treasure hunt out there!  For those in the Atlanta area, all of these sales will still be on tomorrow - there might be some real deals at the "blackout" sale but bring a flashlight!



No comments:

Post a Comment