Big Score!!

Found on the side of the road with a For Sale sign taped to it.  This is the biggest thing I've found.  I offered a few hundred dollars, hooked it up to my truck and pulled it the few miles to my back yard.  Completely paneled inside, with shelving in place and the stairs came with it!! 

On Buying Collectible Books

As a former on line book dealer, I can give you some hints about what to look for when searching bargain bins and Goodwill and yard sales for valuable books.  The first is something to look out for when buying a "first edition".  Book clubs will print their copies of the first edition and it may indeed say first edition on the inside cover.  But if you take off the dust jacket and turn the book over, look down at the bottom right hand side of the cover.  If there is a little indented dot there, this identifies the book as a book club edition.  There may be nothing else telling you this is not a first edition, (sometimes the print font will differ from a real FI) and a disreputable dealer may try to pass this off to an unsuspecting buyer.

Also, with regard to the dust jacket?  The condition of the dust jacket accounts for about 80% of the value of your book.  No dust jacket?  Don't pay collectible prices.

I found it in the Road!

Oh, I wish I could drive and take photos at the same time.  Yesterday I came upon a bunch of cars and a police officer blocking the road.  Since I am annoyed at having to wait, I surged past and almost ran over the head of a 5 foot alligator who was sunning himself (herself?) across both lanes of the road.  No news on what happened to him (her), but what a find in the road!

Expensive Item - But Free!

Out one day on a drive, we came across a house that was being gutted.  A mid-century home with these lovely beveled mirrored cabinets standing right out on the sidewalk.  Of course, we gently loaded them into the truck and home they went.  Then, coincidentally, I saw them in New York Magazine in an advertisement for an antique auction at a prestigious mid-century auction house! Estimated price:  $2,500 apiece.  I also have a larger table sized piece that's out in the laundry house.  Who throws away mid century jewels?

Tell Me Your Story

Let's share.  Tell a story about something cool you found on the side of the road or somebody gave you for free, or actually any story that you feel the need to get off your chest.

WIN THE "WHAT IN HELL IS THIS THING?" CONTEST!!

The first person to correctly identify this object will win a pot of delicious honey direct from my backyard beehives.  Some clues -- its old.  You can still use it.  Its cast iron.  It is marked "Art aseptible Furniture Co., St. Louis, Mo." (which tells you absolutely nothing about it).  You can guess as many times as you like and I'll be surprised if anyone guesses correctly.  Put on your thinking  caps!!

salvaging the caribbean

Some of the nicest salvage I have found was in the dump on a small island in the Bahamas.  The local people crave new items from the mainland and will often dump beautiful cast iron bed frames with elaborate scrollwork and replace the bed with something bought in Miami.  I remember when I packed up my shipping container, the locals were horrified at the "junk" I was taking home with me.  Lots of ancient ballast jars from 1800's ships, bed headboards, hand carved wooden doors -- I left most of my modern furniture in the house.

If you dare to venture into the local trash dump on your travels to unusual places, you can find some really beautiful treasures among the trash.  You will have to pick side by side with the poorest people on earth and there could be danger, but I guarantee you will find cool stuff.

Also, digging around old abandoned shacks will provide you with bottles from the 1800's and early 1900's that were thrown out the back window into the "dump" behind the house.