Shhhh...the whole house is asleep. School is back in session which means the usual late nights now mixed in with 5:30 mornings. Just the way things seem to go around here, an evil cycle we can't seem to break. And so, even though I appear to be working through this 20th edition, I'm more asleep than not. The microwave dings, the remaining half cup of this morning's coffee is reheated and, hopefully contains enough caffeine to see me through. This week's posting is already a day later than usual and another weekend is closing in fast (although, traditionally, not a very exciting one where yard sales are concerned). Must focus. Must suck down (yet, nurse) java. Hope is all I have. Hope and the US Open.
At this point I'm not sure which of the following purchases were Friday and which were Saturday so I'm just going to list them and try to at least remember what I paid for them (the
US Open is over, my cup is empty and I'm fading quicker than jeans in a
Clorox bath). Let's just jump right into the two related highlight of the week: they are a Charlie TunaClock and a Charlie Tuna tape dispenser. Sadly, all I remember
Hershel Bernardi for is two things- the
Arnie TV sit-com and as the voice of
Charlie, the StarKist tuna who, try as he might
could never get hooked by passing tuna boats. Not sure what he was thinking there- get gaffed and wind up gutted, filleted, and stuffed between two slices of
Wonder bread, crammed into a new pleated
Baggie and then locked within the cold metallic walls of
Brady Bunch,
Lance Link and
H.R. Pufnstuf lunchboxes. Sorry, Charlie. Anyway, these promo items from the early 1970s are in unused, mint condition and not very easy to find. If there are any hard-core collectors of the old tuna, these treasures should go for around $25.00 apiece. Another week, another lesson learned when I picked up an HP Printer with 3 unopened ink cartridges. The cartridges are fine and the real reason I bought the lot, but the printer will hit the ARC box as the transformer supplied is for a different model printer. This $8.00 buy will still net a $20 profit somewhere down the line. Next up, next lesson- a matched set of
Verifone credit card terminals with printer attachment. "They work great" I'm told, so, sucker I am, I don't bother to ask about plugging them in to test them. I wait and do this when I get them home and both come up showing a "File Error." $10.00 for the two of them and, as is, should still go for around $20.00. A $2.00
Vivitar 283 camera flash attachment will sell for around $10.00, even if it is a little scuffed up. I still haven't learned my lesson when it comes to games. Instead, I buy a small collection of 1980s
Avalon Hill games- Midway, Starship Troopers,Gettysburgand the pick of the litter- Blackbeard. All in all, not so bad a find as combined they should go for $30.00. Same sale- a $3.00 mesh purse by Whiting and Davis which I believed was from the 1960s or perhaps earlier. Now I'm not so sure- it looks like
Whiting and Davis are still around and I can't decide whether it's an old purse or fresh from
Dillards. In either case, not a loser as it should sell for $10.00. The last thing I remember, Doc, I started to swerve, and then I saw the Jag slide into the curve... Sorry, the last thing I remember is a 1974 copy of the
National Lampoon 1964 Yearbook Parody. A classic magazine that people want to have again. It's currently at $36.00 with a few days to go.
Onward to the sales report: Week 19's Josef Originals ceramic figurine lot did extremely well. Even with one not selling, the rest made up it with a grand total of just over $90.00. Another shining star was the
Peter Ganine gothic design chess set. Fortunately, my $20 was a severe underestimate as these warriors ended up going for $56.00. A slight dip in the action as the mechanical pencil and ashtray with Masonic markings on them did nothing. Maybe I'll toss the two together into a sort of mini-Masonic salad and see what happens. The 1960 racing trophy doesn't end until Monday, but someone wants it. It has a bid of $8.99 and 5 people watching. I don't expect it to go through the roof, but it could inch up a little more. The 1960s piano sheet music (Seattle, Quentin's Theme, My Way, Moon River and a few others) (from the Dark Shadows TV series) doesn't end until Wednesday, but I'm not holding my breath on any of them. Well, maybe a little on Quentin's Theme. I still have a soft spot for Dark Shadows. And speaking of soft spots- the lot of seven Playboy joke books sold for $27.79.
Second attempt auctions that done good: The shot glasses with the domino pattern sold for $5.99, the cat figurine toothpick holder from occupied Japan for $6.95, the Malleable Steel wooden ruler rocked the house for $4.99, a round Rolodex for $6.99, the Cyberpunk RPG set for $19.01. Third (or more) attempts that finally got off their lazy butts and sold were the Special Agent board game for $7.99 and the Jati puzzle game at last plops into the mailbox at $21.05.
Frank Lechuga, Big Band vocalist at
Vincenza's Ristorante proved to be a worthy entertainer. His renditions of classic hits from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and others were as enjoyable as the Italian fare served.
I lick the sides of my cup and bid you goodnight. Please forgive any typos, run on sentences, typos, or run on sentences.
See you next week.
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mypacrat@yahoo.com
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