(WMS) - Americans love yard sales. There's something warm and friendly about giving neighbor and stranger alike the opportunity to find something useful among stuff you no longer need. That's the good side of yard sales.
The down side, according to author Tony Hyman, is that "every time you sell something, you're gambling. All too often you're losing money and don't know it."
You might have sold grandma's 2.5 carat diamond ring for a quarter like a Western N.Y. yard-saler, or given away a $52,000 photo in a "$5 frame," like another.
Most people don't take losses that dramatic, says Hyman, author of 16 books on collecting, but professional yard sale shoppers claim one home in four sells something for pennies that could just as easily bring in hundreds of dollars. Each weekend, professional shoppers focus in on 50 or so categories with values much higher than folks realize. They look for:
* Costume jewelry including rhinestone, Bakelite(c), Victorian, and designer which sells for thousands of dollars today;
* Banana seat bicycles from the 1970s bring $500+ and can be sold with one phone call;
* Perfume bottles often bring hundreds, and every so often tens of thousands, of dollars;
* Fishing lures have sold for $9,000 each;
* Fountain pens have sold for $20,000+;
* Machine-made marbles can bring hundreds of dollars each;
* Baseball gloves, 1940 to 1970, can be $2,000;
* Signed pottery is frequently worth hundreds, sometimes thousands;
* Cigarette lighters, especially Zippo, Ronson and Dunhill can bring hundreds of dollars;
* Cast iron frying pans, muffin tins and roasters can put up to $1,500 in your pocket.
Collectors, dealers, authors and experts in more than 100 fields worked with Dr. Hyman to create his long-running "What's it Worth?" segments for the CBS-TV Saturday Early Show. From typewriters to old newspapers, Hyman showed viewers items they should never sell without advice.
Now those same experts (and hundreds of others) have pledged to provide free evaluations by mail and e-mail, helping you make money by disposing of things wisely.
Readers of "Trash or Treasure Guide to the Best Buyers" are introduced to roadshow and "What's It Worth?" appraisers, and get hundreds of home phone and e-mail addresses of other authors, club presidents, and other experts. This 10th Edition contains 640 pages of honest buyers ready to evaluate and pay cash for items you own. You learn what collectors want to buy, who wants to buy them, where to go for free appraisals, and tips on how to get top dollar for books, china, jewelry, records, and other popular items you might want to sell. Tips on selling by auction and on the Internet are included.
The book may be ordered by sending $29.95 plus $5 s/h to Treasure Hunt, Box 3028-CY, Pismo, CA 93448. Name this paper when you order and receive "The World's Most Accurate Price Guide" and a 30-day money-back guarantee at no charge. For credit card orders call (805) 773-6777 during California business hours.
Don't think disasters can't happen to you, Hyman warns. A New England family sold a black vase painted with daisies at their yard sale for $100 because they "knew it was good." The man who bought their vase contacted Riley Humler of the Cincinnati Art Gallery (p. 55) who helped him sell the vase for $51,700. That same Gallery sale turned a $130 pair of yard sale vases into $39,000 for another alert yard sale shopper.