Hello, My Friends!~~
I hit a "privatley listed" estate sale today, only to learn that it was being held by professional estate sale sellers. That wasn't so bad but the two ladies running the sale had brought with them a huge dose of paranoia. I was #10 to get in but was told by one of the ladies that this is a big house (no, just a ranch house) and they would only let 6 people in to begin with and then let one person in when one person left. They explained that they didn;t have the staff to watch over each room. I rarely go to sales where there is staff in each room. Valuable items are kept in cases or by the check out. Duh.
However, before the sale opened the same lady asked everyone in line what they were looking for. A couple of folks behind me in line said they were looking for books. She let them in telling them they could only shop for books in the basement. Really? In a few minutes the rest of us in line saw the "book people" shopping for knick knacks through the living room window. That sent a nasty wave of "WTF?" through those of us "non-book people" waiting in line. The first person in line, who had invested almost 2 hours in waiting time, knocked on the door. The lady opened it and told him that he would have to wait for someone to come out beofre he went in. I really felt bad for that guy. After a few minutes the rest of us made it in, and the sale was not worth the wait.
Nothing was priced and everything was pretty much new, Wal-Mart stuff. I did find a box of vintage buttons but the lady running the sale declared: "Oh, I haven't sorted through them yet. Some of them are VINTAGE." I picked out a few pretty plastic ones, and was told they are VINTAGE and a dollar each. Not even in an on-line bidding war would the buttons cost that much. I left with nothing, which is very rare for me. I usually find something. Oh, yes, and Miss Paranoid had to unbolt the door to let me out. WTF is right.
I headed home knowing that not all estate sale adventures end with treasure but the hunt can be really interesting.~~Hope your luck is better than mine today!~~~XXOO, Beth