Bakelite is a lightweight plastic, and invented in the 1900s. Its use in jewelry became very popular in the 1930s around the time of the Depression, when the financial position of many Americans meant that women were looking for accessories that they could buy cheaply to dress up their outfits. Bakelite jewelry fit the bill […]

An almost required stop at any estate sale is the vintage and fine jewelry showcases. Gender is not a determinant, men and women will stand in line to buy some fine, odd or funky jewelry reminiscent of an earlier period. Some people look only for fine gold and silver items, some like the Victorian era, […]

Vicki Nelson was leaving an estate sale with an opera score for her son when the Santa Clarita woman decided to give him a call. “Oh yeah, they had a whole bunch,” she told the opera student, who demanded his mother go back for the rest. She paid $15 for the entire lot. “When I […]

Four Sales was mentioned in this nice article from ApartmentTherapy.com. From an article by Catrin Morris on September 14, 2010. Estate sales have always intimidated me. I assumed they were the exclusive domain of antique dealers and collectors—a world of prohibitively pricey Spode china and gilt framed artwork. So last weekend I decided to educate […]

As you might imagine, estate sale and auction operators find all kinds of things. There are good ways to give customers more bang for their buck, and those that are not so good. Recently, there have been reports of a number of companies that have found old military ordinance. Here are 2 examples: MAYFLOWER, Ark. […]

Estate sales and auctioneers find strange and odd items all the time. I thought it might be interesting to track some of those odd items as they come up. These “strange items” come in all forms – jewelry, artwork, antique tools, collectibles, and more. Just the other day we found a World War II communications […]