“Tis the Season of Rummage Sales, Estate Sales, and Yard Sales
by Jamie Brazil
Portland Writer
Over the years I’ve picked up a lot of weird, oddball, and unusual secondhand items. From church basements to auctions and estates, the bounty of stuff has been never ending. The highlights?
A trebuchet (2008). The ten-foot high flinger of objects required two men and a truck to move. My husband wasn’t even there when I eagerly agreed to take it– not that owner was selling it. The trebuchet had been abandoned by her ex-husband when he fled the state. It was totally free!
A hot air balloon (1990s). Purchased at a lost freight auction for $75. Even sans basket it required a flat bed truck. Later, I resold it for a profit.
Those two items stick out in my mind because they were difficult to transport. Oh yeah, there was that ornately carved baby grand piano (church basement). I cringe at the memory of moving that beast. Twice. I sold it in 1996 to finance a trip toFrance.
Speaking of hard-to-move items, in 2007 a Lane cedar chest was a bargain for $5! I had to have it. I figured somehow, someway, I would wrangle it into the COMPACT Ford Escort I was driving at the time. I did. Trouble was, once I got it home it was wedged the backseat so tightly it wouldn’t come out. It took my husband and me hours to remove.
These days I tend to stick to smaller, more portable objects. I have a deep and abiding love for vintage clothing, especially belts, but that’s a whole other blog post. Yet my weekend expeditions still yield up the odd and the unusual, too. Just in the past few weeks I’ve found these two treasures – not that I need them. I just had to have them. Because they’re cool!
I mean, a 1941 package of Harvey’s Hawaiian Nectar gum? The fly wheels of my imaginations whirl every time I look at the gum. I keep it on my desk, beside my globe – though seriously, this gum probably belongs in a World War II or Hawaiian museum. Maybe a candy museum!
And the left-right-hand set of Ozzy Osbourne candle holders? So awesome they probably belong in a museum as well – though they currently reside in the garage because they creep my husband out. Actually, come to think of it, the candle holders kind of creep me out, too.
So, got any good yard sale stories or treasures to share? I’d love to hear about them!
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