The Tale of the estate sale Silver Age DC find

[comix4fun]

Thanks for the support. I went to this sale expecting to get nothing. I didn't feel entitled to the items. I just thought the estate people overlooked the books. When I saw the Jimmy Olsen #134 buried below a far less important book I figured they had no idea. At some point, the employees probably looked the items all up one by one on ebay. The pictures for the listing were already up, so they probably couldn't redact them.

 

Ironically, I thought I was going to lose out on these to another dealer/collector that was willing to wait 2+ hours to be first in line. In a strange plot twist, it was the employees themselves that beat me out and not the other customers. Just another factor to consider when dealing with people, everyone is human. I am thankful for the community of trustworthy dealers we have on these boards.

 

 

Why do you say the employees beat you out of the books?

 

It's certainly possible that one of them recognized the deal and grabbed it but it's also possible a buyer contacted them after seeing the ad and picked them up before the doors opened to the public. There are a lot of guys trying to get access to estate sales and garage sales before the doors open - early birds.

 

 

Which is why sellers have to let everyone know, in their listing, that there's a potential for items to be pre-sold or not available. These guys didn't do that.

 

Most estate sellers are also the ones helping set pricing for the owners. That's a big ethical no-no to set the price and then be the buyer. Pretty big potential breach of fiduciary duty. The established estate sellers I know will not buy or allow any employee of theirs to buy anything that they had a hand in appraising or pricing.

[MrBedrock]

Running through the house, checking all the other buyers out to see if they have them, demanding to know where the books are, wanting to look in boxes, is overkill. They weren't there. Maybe the owners decided to keep some items at the last min, maybe a child or grandchild looked through there and asked Grandma if they could have the books that they liked. The auctioneer does not own the items. The owner is selling a loved ones items, they can pull anything and anytime if they choose and not give an explanation. We don't know what happened to them and aren't even sure the auctioneer knows what happened to them. Just his speculation. I'm sure the owner was really worried about some buyer not getting an item while people are pilfering around.

 

No one made him show up early. No one guaranteed him the books. He acted like a baby. You missed out on some books. We all have.

You kinda come off like an here...

[comix4fun]

[sd2416]

Running through the house, checking all the other buyers out to see if they have them, demanding to know where the books are, wanting to look in boxes, is overkill. They weren't there. Maybe the owners decided to keep some items at the last min, maybe a child or grandchild looked through there and asked Grandma if they could have the books that they liked. The auctioneer does not own the items. The owner is selling a loved ones items, they can pull anything and anytime if they choose and not give an explanation. We don't know what happened to them and aren't even sure the auctioneer knows what happened to them. Just his speculation. I'm sure the owner was really worried about some buyer not getting an item while people are pilfering around.

 

No one made him show up early. No one guaranteed him the books. He acted like a baby. You missed out on some books. We all have.

You kinda come off like an here...

[comix4fun]

Running through the house, checking all the other buyers out to see if they have them, demanding to know where the books are, wanting to look in boxes, is overkill. They weren't there. Maybe the owners decided to keep some items at the last min, maybe a child or grandchild looked through there and asked Grandma if they could have the books that they liked. The auctioneer does not own the items. The owner is selling a loved ones items, they can pull anything and anytime if they choose and not give an explanation. We don't know what happened to them and aren't even sure the auctioneer knows what happened to them. Just his speculation. I'm sure the owner was really worried about some buyer not getting an item while people are pilfering around.

 

No one made him show up early. No one guaranteed him the books. He acted like a baby. You missed out on some books. We all have.

You kinda come off like an here...

 

 

[Junkdrawer]

I used to go to estate sales every Friday, religiously. About a year or so they've really gone bad. Getting there early to find that numbers were given to friends the day before, lists not being honored, over priced stuff, yard sales being advertised as estate sales, etc, I hardly ever bother to look any more. I know the names of people that run sales that I will attend and I also know the scumbags that run sales I'd never. Crowds are getting bigger and people are all of a sudden American Pickers looking to make it big. I can't be bothered anymore.

[jhutton2]

Ethically, estate sales companies should not be allowing pre-sales or sales outside of the posted estate sale times to take place, especially if they post pictures of the items ahead of time.

 

In reality though, I think it happens quite often.

 

 

[punksdropdirtysrh]

Sorry for your poor experience...it seems like cases such as this are a dime a dozen these days. Its almost like "scoring" at an estate/garage sale is sooo ten years ago. Unless you're a dealer who's got hundreds/thousands to spend on a big collection to flip one by one, the little guy barely finds any steals. At least in my experience in being on the hunt for the past couple years.

 

Everybody's sniffing around the collectibles now. Ugh.

[Junkdrawer]

Some of the tactics that happen are those that run the sale will tip off their friends as to what room or she exactly a certain item is. If you ever been to a sale, you always find yourself heading towards the basement or attic so knowing where a key item is would be good info. The other thing is said to go on is that a seller will ask crazy high money on the good stuff, when it doesn't sell, they simply make an offer to the owner for much less. There are a lot more things that go on that are a turn off such as other people taking stuff from your box/bag the second your back is turned. They usually say oh I didn't know oops sorry.

[Tempus Fugit]

I used to go to estate sales every Friday, religiously. About a year or so they've really gone bad. Getting there early to find that numbers were given to friends the day before, lists not being honored, over priced stuff, yard sales being advertised as estate sales, etc, I hardly ever bother to look any more. I know the names of people that run sales that I will attend and I also know the scumbags that run sales I'd never. Crowds are getting bigger and people are all of a sudden American Pickers looking to make it big. I can't be bothered anymore.

 

I'm with Junkdrawer on this one. I just can't go to these anymore. Lots of shenanigans at these sales. I won't stand in line to spend money. Lots of overpriced junk.

 

I agree with the OP, he stood in line under false pretenses.

 

I was at one that had layers of untouched stuff back to the '40's a couple years ago. There was a lady there "claiming" an entire room of stuff until she had looked through it. She got upset when I questioned her right to do so. I walked out. I think that was the last time I went to one when it opened. It was "Family" run too, which is enticing as a buyer, but adds a whole new level of business amateurism.

[kav]

My take on this is they knew exactly what they were doing. They never asked 'really? what books are missing?' which means they knew.

[shadroch]

Thanks for the support. I went to this sale expecting to get nothing. I didn't feel entitled to the items. I just thought the estate people overlooked the books. When I saw the Jimmy Olsen #134 buried below a far less important book I figured they had no idea. At some point, the employees probably looked the items all up one by one on ebay. The pictures for the listing were already up, so they probably couldn't redact them.

 

Ironically, I thought I was going to lose out on these to another dealer/collector that was willing to wait 2+ hours to be first in line. In a strange plot twist, it was the employees themselves that beat me out and not the other customers. Just another factor to consider when dealing with people, everyone is human. I am thankful for the community of trustworthy dealers we have on these boards.

 

 

Why do you say the employees beat you out of the books?

 

It's certainly possible that one of them recognized the deal and grabbed it but it's also possible a buyer contacted them after seeing the ad and picked them up before the doors opened to the public. There are a lot of guys trying to get access to estate sales and garage sales before the doors open - early birds.

 

 

Which is why sellers have to let everyone know, in their listing, that there's a potential for items to be pre-sold or not available. These guys didn't do that.

 

Most estate sellers are also the ones helping set pricing for the owners. That's a big ethical no-no to set the price and then be the buyer. Pretty big potential breach of fiduciary duty. The established estate sellers I know will not buy or allow any employee of theirs to buy anything that they had a hand in appraising or pricing.

 

You have no idea that happened The books cod have been fairly priced and sold to a good customer at full price. If it were an auction with the books going to the highest bidder, pre-selling them would be wrong. I don't see any problem pre-selling at the right price.

Estate sales have become little more than glorified garage sales. Retail rules simply don't apply.

[Robot Man]

The books in the photo were pretty crappy. I wouldn't lose any sleep over them. You blew it. You should have jumped all over that old telephone sign, brake parts store display, car badges, pinball game and the lot of tin noisemakers. Worth way more than the comics in the photo. I'm kind of surprised they didn't show you the door...

[mrwoogieman]

A reputable tag sale/estate sale company is not going to allow pre-sales this blatant. If they wanted the merchandise either for themselves or a contact they should work it out with the owner prior to photographing and advertising the merchandise. I go to a lot of these sales and I've been burned before with pre-selling. It sucks to be among the first through the door and not find what was advertised to be there.

 

 

 

 

[Robot Man]

Most of the folks who run estate sales out here are a bit shifty. They usually let their friends in a little early so score the deals. Most don't go as far as to actually grab the stuff for themselves but there is definately a "network". Usually you have to get there at least 3 hours ahead of opening to get a number. Really sucks when what you came for is gone when you are the first in. But what are you going to do? (pal up to them is what I do)...

 

As I said, no loss here. Those books were pretty much swill. The stuff he left would sell in a heartbeat for more than the comics would. When life deals you lemons, you make lemonade...

 

Looks like one of the estate sale companiy's buddies snagged them before the doors opened. At the end of the day, the people who's stuff it was just wanted to sell the stuff and the estate people made it happen for them.

[Batman1fan]

Sorry you missed out on the comics, but like others have said, they were no great loss. The best book that I saw was Green Lantern 76, and that was a rag. They are all common books that are easily found. As Robot Man said, the other stuff there was worth way more than the comics. That old cap pistol, for instance. I've sold several of those for hundreds of dollars apiece. The Lionel trains were another good find. If you could have picked up some of the other items at the sale for a good price, you might have been able to flip them, and then buy nice condition copies of any of those comics that you wanted for probably nothing out of pocket.

[shadroch]

I wonder if any of that stuff was there or if they just use generic photos? Comics- check. Trains - check. And so on.....

I've only been hitting auctions full time for a few months but I've learned who to avoid.

How would you feel if you bought a bike listed as a mid 60s Harley used in the movie Easy Rider only to find out its a homemade replica that is almost impossible to register without literally taking it apart for someone to check it's parts.

Happened to a friend. Paid 16,000 for what is pretty much a lawn ornament.

[EwanUK]

You kinda come off like an *spoon* here.

 

 

There is no way I could disagree more. A guy should be able to vent about getting screwed on what was supposed to be a public auction/sale of comics. I think he comes off as a regular Joe, and I would have had exactly the same reaction - don't make a scene, steam off, try and get a little sympathy from like-minded comic nerds.

 

Absolutely agree - thought you sound like a nice guy

 

sorry it didn't work out

[nocutename]

But I will say that on occasion I've heard of estate sale people letting in their buddies to buy stuff the day or night before. The company and original owner still get the money, and the company tells customers the next day that the family changed their mind about selling those items and pulled them out. That's not ethical either, of course, but at least they respect you enough to make a decent lie.

 

I tried local estate sales. It is where I purchased my first lot of DC romance comics. But after attending several of them and hearing the stories of which estate house lets pre-buying and trying to nab anything decent as a regular smaller buyer, it gets tough. Garage sales are still be the best for me when I was collecting.

 

To the OP, honestly, it is a public sale. That means, anyone can grab those books. They could have been sold before you got there or even during. It has happened to me within a few seconds of reaching the correct room. Do the pictures match the carpet in the house? Maybe it was a bait and switch but more likely they were sold. The last Estate sale I attended a few months back, advertised on Saturday. When I got there, the comics were sold on Friday, the first day of the sale. You cannot get upset over these things. It happens.

[FineCollector]

The last Estate sale I attended a few months back, advertised on Saturday. When I got there, the comics were sold on Friday, the first day of the sale. You cannot get upset over these things. It happens.

 

Happens at garage sales too... one place that advertised old Spider-Man comics was open at 8am, and I was outside watching him set up. Beat 90's stuff was all I found. He said he sold an Amazing Spidey 4 for $200 the night before.

 

It's not worth waking up early, it's better to give these guys a B.S. excuse about having a pocket full of money and a family event the next morning. That seems to work better than playing fair...