Independence Haul

It was a really good day today for yard sales-- a lot of people were taking advantage of the three-day weekend to stay open late, and a got a fair amount of "desperation and fatigue" deals, I think, given that I made some of the best hits after noon. Not much bargaining-down going on this time around, but that was mostly because people were giving me great ask prices out of the gate.

• Assorted LPs and record case (I really just bought it for the case-- I miss my old box.), $5 (Asking price). Probably the least appealing deal of the day. I got sentimental over having an LP case again. There are a few novelty K-tel comps in there, but it was mostly stuff I'd never listen to. The guy had a nice Dawn of the Dead (new version) framed poster I was eyeballing, but he wanted $25 for it. It was probably worth it, but I don't have any space in my house that will do a $25 poster expendeture justice.
  
• PC Games of the 90s. 25c ea. (Asking price) I haven't played them all, but four games for a buck can't be a bad deal. They even came with manuals!
• Pile of cables, connectors, crap: $1. If there's one thing never to buy retail, it's cables. Get a few drawers and start collecting at garage sales. A buck will get you a pile of what would be $5-15 apice cables, retail. Granted, I think I need to start offloading some of my Coax TV cables. If anyone needs one, give me a holler.
• An old Consumers Power hardhat with earpieces. It had the old "CP" in the circle logo, which I thought was neat. I picked that up with some other cables and ephemera for two bucks.
  
• An old "Electrical Calculations" book. $1 (Asking)
• A miniature Michigan state flag. 10c (Asking)
• Three 6'x4' and one approx. 10'x6' U.S. flags with 48 stars. $4 (Asking) This was the big find of the day. The only thing more amazing than finding four rather large, heavy canvas American flags with only 48 stars was that the woman running the sale only wanted a buck apice for them. Ebay has the small ones at $9, although I'm not going to sell them. I'm giving away one or two and keeping the others. Unlike the modern, crappy-screenprint flag, these things are heavy fabric with tough stitching. Only minor wear, and a discoloration that isn't unpleasant, although I'm still debating whether to throw the big one into a delicate wash to get rid of the spots. I'm leaning against.
• 5200 postage stamps. $2 (Asking price bulk, $13 ala carte) This was a big find. I came upon a box of used postage stamps from all times and countries, all bagged in sets of 100, for 25c apice. I was drooling over them, trying to see how many bags I could afford in order to placate my greed while not insulting with my stinginess. Before I put together an offer, though, they blew me away with theirs-- two bucks for the lot! Counting them (assuming the 100/bag was correct) I found 52 bags-- 5200 stamps.
• An over-the-campfire grill. $1 (ask $2) For Nicole.
  
• 2 gigantic boxes of postage stamps. $2. Ask the universe for postage stamps, and it delivers, I suppose. After finding the first batch, another sale had me rooting through two large boxes (a standard sort of copy-paper or shipping box size) of stamps and mail parts. The seller just said they wanted to get rid of them, and would take "a couple bucks". Two dollar coins, and I now have far more cancelled stamps than I will ever use for anything, ever.
• 2 "Soaker Hoses". $1.50 (Ask $2) Also for Nicole. These are the hoses with the holes in them that let you easily irrigate plants.
• Jars of old nails, screws, and such crap, 3 rolls of preprinted price labels from no later than 1970, the remainder of a box of alcohol swabs, a half book of "Next Oil Change" window stickers from the '50s or '60s, a Bechtel hardhat, a pair of needlenose pliers, the remainder of a roll of yellow line tape for the middle of a road, a wood saw, and a roll-up projection screen (with some noticable mold or such discoloration). $5 (Ask: Who knows?) This was an estate sale clearing out the home of a man who'd just gone into managed care, and there were relatives unloading box after box of strange old crap, with no desire other than to get rid of stuff. I loaded up on wood screws and the like, since I'm still building my garage supply, and found some other unique and interesting items on the way.
• Two padlocks and a book about AT&T. $1.10 (Ask $4.10)