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“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.
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So, got any good yard sale stories or treasures to share? I’d love to hear about them!