If crafted cocktails aren’t your thing, flip your finds for profit. Stock your own bar cart with vintage jiggers, cocktail shakers, mixing beakers and elegant glassware - all for a fraction of retail prices. Move beyond 2-liter plastic bottles and disposable cups. Estate sales are treasure troves of sexy “Mad Men”-era barware.

Those days don’t have to be lost forever. Making cocktails used to be a ritual complete with beautiful decanters, drink-specific glasses and elaborate mixing tools.

I once bought a 45-piece set of flatware by Dansk for $15 at an estate sale. If you’re buying to resell, look for vintage pieces made by Dansk, Lauffer or Cromargan. Typically, they’re made of heavier-gauge metal and have more interesting designs than contemporary options. I gravitate toward well-made stainless steel sets from the 1960s and 1970s. Whether you’re looking for stainless steel, silver plate or sterling, estate sales are the perfect place to find cutlery. Prefer rhinestones over diamonds? Pieces by famous costume jewelry brands such as Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg and Schiaparelli are highly prized by collectors. Then, buy what you love and try to score complete jewelry suites - matching sets that typically include a necklace, bracelet, brooch and pair of earrings. In my resale business, vintage jewelry - both the real stuff and quality costume jewelry - is always a hot seller.īut before you hit the estate sale circuit, invest in a jewelers’ loupe (your eyes will thank you) and brush up on common gold and silver purity marks. And remember, don’t toss the box! Buyers pay more for toys in their original packaging. If you’re buying to resell, keep an eye out for classic board games, early electronics and toys that inspire personal creativity (think paint-by-number kits, Lite-Brite and Lincoln Logs). See Also: 21 Purchases You Should Never Skimp On Not convinced? Check out these Lego sets that resell for thousands. Vintage toys Salvatore Chiariello / Įveryone gets nostalgic about toys from their childhood, and in the resale business, nostalgia sells. Even better, such tools can be had at an estate sale for a fraction of what new versions would cost. Nearly every estate sale I attend features a little pegboard paradise - a basement workshop or garage filled with essential tools everyone should have.Īlthough they may need a bit of cleaning and TLC, vintage pieces by Craftsman, Skil and Stanley are exceptionally well-made and likely have years of faithful service left in them. And to keep everything in tip-top shape, homeowners had a small stockpile of tools. Tools Bas van der Pluijm / Ī couple of generations ago, folks fixed things instead of simply replacing them. Some estate sale proprietors attempt to mask cigarette, pet and mold odors by using scented candles and strong aerosol sprays. One word of caution: Never buy upholstered furniture without first giving it a smell test - a nose-to-the-fabric sniff. Look for signs of quality like solid wood construction, dovetail joints and bookmatched veneers, as I detail in “ 10 Secrets to Finding Quality Secondhand Furniture.” Whether you’re furnishing an entire house or just a guest room, frequenting estate sales is one way to get good furniture cheap. The following are among the things I always buy at estate sales. But some estate sale deals are better than others. Find them by scouring ads in your local paper, browsing online classifieds sites like Craigslist, or just keeping an eye peeled for posted signs.Įstate sales are sometimes referred to as “tag sales” because everything that’s for sale is tagged with a price.

Miriam haskell jewelry