Speaking of super great things, I went to a quadruple-win estate sale today, all because my dad was kind enough to call from there and say, "Do you have a book called Waggin' Tails?" I do, actually, and in the interest of not hoarding/having a good copy already I declined it, but what I heard was maybe other old dog and/or children's books?? So I threw caution to the wind, dropped work for an hour and tore out of there like a bat out of hell, and OH GOODNESS. In no particular order, here's what made it epic:
- A miniature poodle off leash out front, greeting all visitors
- Beautiful architecture inside (for instance: a master suite with dutch doors leading to the bedroom from a little study)
- LOTS of old stuff, including non-crappy books and toys and even a couple of what seemed like genuine vintage dresses. Plus antiques. And not the usual boring glass/kitchenware type of antiques, but interesting stuff.
- EXTREMELY REASONABLE PRICES
One of the women said, "Oh, I don't know. We were going to have a dealer look at them," (DISAPPOINTED!) but then asked the other woman, who looked at me and said, "Well -- I don't know, do you have any idea what they're worth?" (Me: *PLAYS VERY DUMB* Although in fairness, I really wasn't sure -- the religious books and school readers, probably not much, but I didn't recognize the other titles. Many were in excellent shape, but old books are often worth surprisingly little if they are not children's books, and I couldn't quite tell if any of these were.)
Luckily, she asked if I wanted to look through them, to which I was like "oh whoops already did," and showed her the one I wanted* to ask on price. I expected her to quote me $5, since many of the 1960s books inside were marked at $5, but she just looked hesitant and asked, "$3?" to which I was like HELL YEAH!! She seemed worried about offending me, it was kind of funny -- even after I said "sure," she asked again, "Is that okay?"
(*There was another really pretty book in amazing shape, with a 1920s inscription, called A Sweet Girl Graduate that I kind of wanted too, but not as much as the animals, and I am still mad at myself for not going for broke. It doesn't seem to be a super-rare title, but that was just a really pretty edition and edit: oh, damn it, I should have just gone back last night and not been so worried about everything. I sent Dad back at the last minute, being fully snowed under by work, but they sold the box this morning.)
