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            COOL STUFF !                                                                   

 

 

 

 

Booze-O-Meter is a 50′s nickel game that was just a fun item that  was in bars and motels — Put in your nickel and take the wooden handle stick with a round metal tip and see if you can hover over the loops without touching it – otherwise it lights up and buzzes!

 

 

HUMMEL MARKS

Resources and Links: H.J.Hummel Collector reference

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Here we are at an estate sale – trying to make as much money for our client – the person who hired us as we can.  We try to price items fairly and clean them a bit so your hands don’t get all dirty like ours did.  We really put thought and effort into the set up and want it safe for you as you go through it.  Please, Please — be gentle with your comments and what you do – and what you expect we can do for you.  It is not our stuff to give away and discount.  It belongs to another.  We are just the hosts. 

I was cashing out someone at a sale recently who had a few $1.00 items and a small pile of typing paper in her hands.  She showed me the few $1.00 items and I looked at her hand with the paper — and she said – “Oh, I just need some paper” as if that made it ok to take it.   

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An estate sale is not just antiques & high end furniture.  It is a entire collage of someone’s life – filled with everyday, ordinary items as well as souvenirs and remembered moments.  It is a crayon drawing of a daughter saved for 4o years – and her little shoes.  Postcards from college.  Year books and autographs.  Concert tickets and that bracelet that was worn till the gold metal got worn through.  It is cookbooks and recipes – sometimes handed down from her mom’s estate.  And the ordinary – pots and pans to cook them in.  Towels and linens – sheets and pillowcases – and I remember the one we did where she loved to sew and had a sewing room, well lit with machines and fabrics and trimmings galore!  And gentlemen are grand collector’s as well keeping their favorite hats in boxes and cufflinks matched up.  Mostly their is pride in all the lives – and we try very hard to treat each with respect and keep the dignity and hopefully pass things on for another generation to love and appreciate.

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Its just a few days after the Hoarder Sale and I want to thank everyone who came.  Because of  the news coverage we had many hundreds of people camped outside, waiting patiently to come in.  The small area we had to work in meant people waiting in line to check out as well, and most did so with great understanding and patience.  Many of you were helping others with their bags and getting their purchases to the car – and that is one of the best things about estate sales.  I get to see a glimpse of humanity – both the short tempered; but also the truly heartfelt people who have no trouble giving someone a hand.

One thought I found interesting in this (and there will be others that follow) is that the house was just so full when we started.  It was floor to ceiling with clothes and bins.  We cleared a small area and I took some pictures to put on the website – and when I was looking at the pictures I had taken, I noticed this gorgeous mural on the dining room wall – and I had not seen it at the house when I was working.  Not until I looked at the photos and got away from the clutter, did I realize that she had once had a lovely home-decorated with great pride and love.  The furniture that remained and every detail to her valances were themed until the clutter took over.

  See the Mural of the tree?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpNC6MCOqNU

I want to thank the Channel 5 and 13 for coming out and covering this story – and I will be back with photos of the home empty.  If you want to see the news coverage and more footage that is not yet on my IN THE NEWS link – check the facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Not-Just-Antiques-Mart/137609436854

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And suddenly with all the items removed – all the people gone — all the clutter gathered – its just a house once more…..

 

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What’s really interesting when I started collecting is the amount of history I learned.  My first passion, many years ago was costume jewelry.  When I first began I realized that each “style” was accompanied by something historical that was happening in the world.  The wars, the leaders, and what was happening – all affected the mindset which created the styles.