OT: Serendipity or "chance favors the prepared mind"

[comicparadox]

I went to the mountains this weekend, and en route, saw a fairly large antique mall I'd never been in before. I had about half an hour built in the drive before my meeting, so I stopped off. A cool collection of restored pedal cars, and some early NASCAR posters, but what caught my eye was a large photograph embossed with a famous studio "signature". It was a nice image, and I thought there was more value in it. So, I bought it.

 

Interestingly, the tag even said what a famous photgrapher it was, but since the subject matter was not of regional interest, the price was very fair. I bought it, called up a major NYC auction house yesterday, emailed them the image, and got back an email from them today. The estimate is 10 - 15 times what I paid. My hunch paid off. That made my week! (maybe my month)!

 

I doubt I'll ever do that well with a comic book. If I hadn't seen a poster from the same studio a few months ago, I would have passed the image by and left that mall without buying a thing. For me, it's the "thrill of the hunt" that makes collecting so much fun.

 

Any other "off topic" (i.e. non-comic book) great finds from the board?

[Mr. Zipper]

Not personally, but my uncle makes a killing at garage sales.

 

He focuses on old typewriters and old railroad style kerosine lamps. He regularly buys for under $20 and, after a good cleaning, sells on ebay for hundreds of dollars. His customers are often from Japan and they don't think twice about paying shipping on a heavy typewriter.

 

 

[october]

The doctor's office I used to work for was cleaning out their basement and they decided to scrap a bunch of old instrument sets that were just sitting around collecting dust. On a hunch that someone might want them, I put them in my car instead of the dumpster. Sold all three on eBay and made close to a grand.

[Timely]

My father paid $5 for an antique coffee grinder from the 1800's at a garage sale about 10 years ago. Shortly after he bought it the same grinder was on the Antique's Roadshow and the estimate was $1500.

 

West

[Jeffreykli]

When some previous tenants moved out, they left behind a lot of junk. But, included were some large fabric sample magazines from the 50s that I sold on eBay. Sold 5 or 6, I believe, for something like $300.