Always an opportunity....

Recently I attended a liquidation auction of an old hardware store in a little town. I figured there was a good chance that I would be the only antiques dealer there, seeing as it was a a fairly small auction, and not extensively advertised. My "competition" would consist of local general buyers, maybe local collectors of specific things, maybe family members and that would be about it.

But, it was posted on the Internet, so it did attract 3 dealers/pickers from out of town. There really wasn't much in the auction that was fantastic, by a long shot. The few obviously "good" items there got pretty much retail prices. There was also a handful of items worth maybe $5 or $10 that reached high double digit and low triple digit figures. Gotta love those bidders who have more money than knowledge....or simply hate each other!

I bought a few things, and bid on several other things without getting them. But, there was a definite lack of items...which I know can be attributed to the fact that the place had been used for scenes in a Canadian made movie a number of years ago, so it had been gone through by several movie industry types, props people, set decorators, etc. Plus, as a hardware store, it was unofficially "open" for whoever needed some part for their whatchamacallit, so there had been new/old stock items flowing out of it for years.

They hauled out what they thought was salable at the auction, and invited people interested in items that were still in the building to haul them out to be added to the pile of stuff to be sold.

I hauled out a couple things, and watched as a couple of the dealers added stuff to the sale piles as well. But, I had also spotted several items I was interested in, and was amused to see that they remained in the very spots they had hung & sat for years.

You see, I was already planning on picking the place AFTER the auction was over.

One of the issues of doing the job of the auctioneer (that is, dragging stuff out that you are interested in) is that it can result in you paying way more for it than you would normally....

Or end up not buying it at all....seeing it get loaded into your competition's vehicle. This is a result of missing bidding on it because you were shooting the breeze with the guy next to you, or because you went off to buy some of that homemade apple pie (got to love country auction food!)...or, just being simply outbid.

At this particular sale there was an individual who I try not allow see me to bid...as 99% of the time they will jump in when they realize I am bidding. Yes, I do know what I am doing (most of the time, anyway!), and they figure that if they can bid me one bid over my limit, there will still be money to be made...even when they have no idea what the item is, nor its value.

That is a dangerous way to buy....that is, bidding against a dealer until the dealer quits bidding, thinking you are going to be buying it near wholesale that way. They are not idiots, they may well realize what you are doing. You may end up paying $400 for that $50 item if you really have no idea what the item is worth. It happened at this auction, though I was not the dealer who did any of that...though, I have done it on occasion. Yeah, even I can get vengeful! Plus, dealers also collect, and also will bid on items on the behalf of friends, good customers, family, etc...and thus bid up to retail levels on items.

Anyway, lets get back on track here...

So, the auction ended, and I waited for all the other dealers to load up and leave, as I didn't want any interlopers. I wasn't as concerned as I would normally be in an area I was not as familiar with. You see, I also had a bit of an "in" at this place. I went to school with the owner's son, being that I grew up in another town near-by. Also, a good friend of mine plays poker with the fellow on a regular basis. Plus, living within a short drive, I also sort of had "home ice" advantage (yes, that is a hockey reference), so if I had to come back the next day it wasn't going to be an issue. Familiarity also makes everyone involved more comfortable.

None of this would have been a problem, and I wouldn't have had to attend the auction had I just picked the place before, but that is neither here nor there. There is not enough time in my day to pick everywhere I want to..inevitably someone else will pick some of those places, the stuff will get thrown out or otherwise destroyed, an auction will get held, etc. Got to go with the flow.

But, I still looked at this auction as an opportunity to pick, not just bid on stuff.

Why?

The stuff that was "passed" up by others was still decent...but, no, that is not the only reason.

You see, I spotted a cellar door in the floor.

And there was nothing in the auction that had been brought up out of the cellar....plus, the trap door also appeared to have not been opened in awhile. "Awhile" turned out to have been about 3 years, as I was told later.

Plus, add to the fact there was a second floor that no one was allowed up in, either....not that anyone could get up there without a ladder, as the original exterior staircase had long since been taken down. I was told there was "nothing up there"...but, I have been told that before, and many time "nothing" turns out to be "something."

So, after the auction was over, and the public had pretty much all left, leaving just locals, I talked with & had a beer with the owners, and made a few piles of stuff I was interested in. Seeing as it was evening and getting late, and the cellar and upstairs still remained unexplored, I made arrangements to come back another day. I generally do not like leaving things very long, as people can change their minds about selling, family members & people like the seller's friends, etc, can remove/claim things that you uncovered, and sometimes even another picker or dealer can "happen along"...either by fluke or their own design in the case of less ethical sorts of people, wishing to scoop your potential inventory.

I went back, and the owner and I managed to pry open the cellar trap door. A chemical smell hit me, and I quickly found the source. Over & just behind the concrete wall holding back dirt & debris, right beside the stairs, I found and I turned over righted a box of what looked like 5 gallon square oil cans. It was quickly evident that it was actually a full case of old weed killer, 2-4-D....and two were leaking through rust holes in their tops...which splashed 2-4-D all over my hands...

DUH, forgot to don my gloves before going down there.

I jaunted up the stairs, and out of the store, heading to my van, rinsing my hands in a puddle left by the previous night's rainfall. I grabbed a pair of leather gloves (didn't have any rubber ones with me), and I hauled the weed killer out of the basement...the less that was leaking and filling the place with fumes the better...it would have quickly become unbearable to work in the enclosed space had we left the tins there, now leaking more profusely than ever after being disturbed. I had to toss the gloves in the trash the next day, as they caused my van to absolutely reek of weed killer. Just another one of those picking expenses people don't think of. I was just lucky I didn't spill the stuff all over my shoes.

I dug around a bit, did a basic search. Turned over piles of planks (you never know where an 1800s wooden sign will be, plus you can find some nice old planks for fixing and creating country furniture like harvest tables, shelves, etc), climbed the pile of coal to get to more hidden cubbyholes, etc. In one spot, on top of the basement wall, on a ledge like area, I moved a piece of wood, and I suddenly heard a HISSSSS....

I poked at the edge of the pile, thinking I had somehow activated a spray can hidden underneath some fibreglass pink insulation. It is not uncommon for a spray can's top to get pushed when you are jostling junk around. I was keeping my nose vigilant for an odor of spray paint, insecticide, penetrating oil, parts cleaner, whatever...

Until a bee crawled up & out of the middle of the pile...!

The hiss was actually the combined annoyed buzzing of the disturbed hive's bumble bee residents.

I retreated to the opposite side of the basement to continue my search, but also keeping one ear and eye aware of my surroundings, making sure that a swarm was not emerging. Being the small type of bumble bees they were, I was already familiar with them from another encounter when I bumped what I thought was a pile of grass clippings in a yard, with a similar mass buzzing result. They were not really aggressive, and I had only disturbed them slightly, and it was somewhat cool in the dampness of the basement. Had I reached into the middle of the pile of insulation, or gave it a hard push I'd likely have had a different reaction from them, however.

The search did yield a few things, including a WW2 era storefront sign of a previous owner of the store in the 1940s, a primitive preserves cabinet, an ammunition crate, and an old paint company crate. Not tons of stuff, but you need to check out these places, because you never know what you will find. I had really needed a basement "fix", too...!

Yes, treasure hunting is my addiction...

So, here is a pic of me and the sign, and another pic of the cupboard...still covered in coal dust...oh, and yes, that is also coal dust (also 2-4-D and who knows what else) covering me. Also, the photo makes me look FAR cleaner than I was...and the sweat did gather some of the dust together to create a tar-like finish in drips & streaks......







The sign will likely be a keeper, as I am collecting/preserving local small business advertising, if I can afford to. I acquired that 1890s local butcher sign I blogged about previously, but, realistically, should turn it over into cash, as it has some decent cash value, and I have some higher $ into it. This yellow 1940s sign really has only some local interest, and as a result realistically low cash value, even as a decorator piece.

The seller and I couldn't get the cupboard out of the cellar, as his physical health did not able him to assist as much as required, so I had to leave it there until I was able to bring a friend out to assist me.

Yes, I went back again. Good thing it wasn't far away.

So, the next time I went out, my friend and I managed to get the thing out of the cellar...which is when I took a few pics, just to give you an idea of the ambiance of the place. Don't you feel important now?

In the last of these following 4 pictures you can see the pile of shredded pink fibreglass insulation (the pile to the right) that housed the bumble bee hive...apparently they really love the stuff. There is a tip you need to keep in the back of your mind for all those attics you will be digging around in!

Yeah, that is a goofy look/smile on my face...must have been the lingering 2-4-D fumes.

Notice all the rust on the pipes...a really good indication it has been damp for a long period of time...

Lots of dust floating about...
Hive is in the pile behind that white & grey stone...notice how the insulation looks shredded & fluffed up when compared to the piece on the left.



I found a few more things. Always worth a second look...you can miss things easily when you are tired, excited, discouraged, etc....and sometimes you need to look at things differently to see other treasures missed the first time around.
After that, I paid for my finds, and we loaded all the dusty treasures up in my van.

Now, I have some really dirty stuff....the cabinet was the most dirty, being dug out of the cellar...and a cellar that was small, and constantly having coal dumped into it time and time again, over literally a 100 years.

My first stop after dropping off my friend was the car wash.....I spent $6 and the van was still dirty.

But, the cabinet was pretty clean, and looked much better.

Yes, some dealers may cringe at the fact I utilize the high pressure spray of a car wash, but it is effective, and reduces cleaning time...time is money!

I have gotten pretty good with car wash wands, though. You need to keep the spray away far enough to remove the dirt and NOT the paint. On this cabinet I did get the spray too close and took off an area of paint when I was trying to do a 2 hand maneuvering job of the cabinet with one hand. Luckily, the spots look like wear, so it still looks fine. Before & after photos are below.

----- BEFORE car wash -----


Got to like this...there were little notations on cardboard, tacked/nailed to the inside of the door, noting each shelf's required contents on the inside of the door. Took the cardboard bits off before washing, and will give the buyer the pieces to do with what they wish. Note the spelling of PICKLE...









----- AFTER car wash -----

Much better!

With the dust washed off, advertising from a salvaged crate board revealed itself. Washing that board too vigorously or getting too close with the wand would obliterate it, so you need to be careful of that sort of thing, also. When it comes to primitive pieces, those little details are part of the character of a piece. Also, time earned patina can be lost on some pieces using this method of cleaning. I so if an original patina is to be retained, you will need to use a different method of cleaning.....IE: get out the bucket and rags....! I would not recommend washing an older varnished piece with this method, either, as you will end up with a white, blotchy, essentially destroyed finish. Painted wicker, some primitive pieces, old crates, metal furniture, cast iron, and items of similar materials are suitable candidates, though there are exceptions. If you are afraid of loosing something that is under the dust, or have no idea what is under the dust/dirt/grime, try washing a discreet area with some clean warm water & a soft rag first to determine is the object can withstand the rigorous washing that a power washer or car was wand will provide.

And here are the backs of the bits of cardboard...early recycling!



There are two boards that had fallen off of the top of the cabinet. One end of the top had been sitting on the excessively (and previously flooded) damp floor. One board had already fallen off before I had moved it, and one while we were moving it up and out of the cellar. It is always advisable to inspect the piece in the daylight, and if there are any pieces of the item missing, you can go back and check the spot you got it from for the missing parts. Also, then you can also keep an eye open for parts that might have made their way to other locations of the room or building. Plus, it is not uncommon to find one part of a 2 piece cubpoard in two different parts of a building. Many times they will have been painted two entirely different colors!

Another thing I didn't really elaborate on is why it was difficult to get the cupboard out. Not only was it really a two man job, there had been support pillar installed on the wall right near the stairs, likely within the last 15 years. This 4" x 4" pillar just took up enough of the room by the stairs that we had to treat the extraction of the cabinet like those little wire puzzles....had to get thinking a little outside the box. It could not go on its side & straight out, and it could not go on its back and straight out on an angle up the stairs, as it would get weedged tightly in the space, which we found out by attempting just that earlier. It only fit through one end of the trap door opening...the end nearest the hinges, and we could only do that once we had managed to manouver it past the recently installed support post. Was one of those "oh crap" moments. It did look like it would fit straight up the stairs...until we got it there.

Before you buy any large or bulky piece, make sure you can actually get it out of the building! Even seasoned dealers find themselves in situations where the removal of the item requires partial or entire disassembly of the item or structure of the building!

A dealer friend of mine purchased a beautiful 1880s bookcase in a basement of an old house. He enlisted me to help him move it, and what should have been a 15 minute moving job turned out to take 4 hours. As it turned out, the staircase had been modified to make it less steep...and thus, there was actually less room for tall items to be manouvered out of the basement.

First we tried to lift the unit over the modern banister, after also wisely removing the large paned glass doors.

No go.

We shifted, examined, moved, pushed, canter-levered and did all sorts of fancy lifting...with no luck.

Tools were sought out, and the banister was removed.

Repeat process.

No go.

To make a 4 hour story shorter, we ended up eventually having to remove 4 stairs in order to get the space to actually lift the thing out of the basement. Try standing on the edges of just two planks (with nails sticking out at a 90 degree angle, just below your feet, ready to shred your legs on the way down if you happen to slip) while lifting a large bookscase from a dead lift position...lots of fun!


I've had to disassemble my fair share of pieces of furniture. I know enough now to make this part of my offer...thus, I offer a lower price if I will have to spend time, elbow grease and loose flesh and blood working to get the item out that sort of location. My advice to you is that if someone else wants to pay more, then spend hours of their time fighting with the item, and end up wearing a straight jacket a the end of the process, or spending the profits at a bar trying to forget about the hell they went through, let 'em ! BUT, make sure you plant a camera there so we can all watch it on You Tube later, okay?


Work smart, not hard! Though, sometimes you have to work smart AND hard in this business. But, don't make more work for yourself if you can help it.


Also, some pieces may well have been built IN the very room you are buying them out of. They may literally have been built into the structure, or, just assembled in the room. Some may be easy enough to disassemble, but it is frustrating to find out that the large table you bought has had its legs glued in place with industrial glue & secured with long nails, and are no longer removable by undoing 4 nuts...and there is not enough room to scoot the legs around the doorway without permanently wedging halfway into the hallway.

Some things are not worth the effort. Even when such items are free, they may be more trouble than they are worth. I've have trouble refusing free things...but those stories deserve their own blog postings.

This lot actually cost me much less that I would have paid at the auction, I suspect. No, I didn't rip the fellow off. I asked him what he wanted for the stuff, and while we were determining the lot's price, I pointed out a scarce grease tin that I openly told him that I would have paid up to $60 for at the auction, had it been sold there and bidding taken it up to that amount. (But, then again, I might well have been able to buy it for $2 at the auction, right?)

He told me that I wouldn't have to give him THAT much for it. Much of the stuff was interesting, but not necessarily of high value, the sort of stuff that sells for $5 - $20, and you really need to pay little for it to make it worth dealing with at all...plus, if you are wholesaling such items, you need to watch what you are paying.

This fellow is intelligent, was in business for himself, and realizes that a profit has to be made. The price for the lot was $50...and stuff kept getting added as bonuses even after it was paid for. I thought I'd be paying extra for the cabinet, but he included it in the $50 lot, even after I offered to pay for it separately. I did make another small pile later, for which I offered $15...and as I was starting to pull out a $10 & a $5, I instead snagged the $20 beside those bills and told him to keep the extra for a coffee. He appreciated the gesture, and I was happy to add the extra. That extra $5 was well spent, in my opinion.

Some people think it is "stupid" to pay more for an item than person quotes you in those situations. But, which picker or dealer will they call back? The one who paid a price and walked, or the guy who threw in a little extra? Or took the owner out for a beer at the local bar, or out for lunch at a local cafe, etc.? I'd be willing to bet the beer & lunch costs were well spent, and will likely get them a call back, referrals, etc! Plus, who knows what leads you will get in conversation over that lunch! Or a glowing reccomendation and friendly introduction to the guy's buddies with the barns full of "old junk", who happen to be sitting at the next table...!

Yes, you need to become a people person, of sorts. It took me awhile to get over things like shyness, look past stereotypes, not judge someone by their appearance, etc. I am sure in the past I have shocked some dealers who did not know who I was when I walked into their super clean store, fresh out of one of their neighbor's basements, covered in dust, dirt & sweat, ask to see an expensive item from a showcase, examine it as required, then immediately pull out the cash for it, because I know I can sell it the next day for double that price. Dealers who are running stores sometimes need schooling in the "appearances can be deceiving" line of thought too.

Corporation presidents with 7 figure incomes take days off, wear ripped hoodies and wear baggy sweat pants!

Plus, a thief can fill out an Armani suit well!

Well, I have babbled on pretty much enough for this entry! Hope you learned something, or at least were entertained for a bit! Will leave you with some pics of the pick I described, the stuff jumbled in the back of my van, & spread out, as well as some closeups. Most neat, salable, or just kind of interesting!

***************************************

Wasn't the best packing job!

3 of those Carbon Tetrachloride filled fire extinguishers I have cautioned you about in previous posts.
Got 2 pair of these curtain rod sets, both NOS.
That rare tin I mentioned is the top one of these two.

Bin for a scale, a hand forged rake head, two cast iron brackets, etc.
A tin smith's pattern & a goose decoy made with it.
Cast iron register grates (one is NOS!), a pool cue "bridge" and some NOS bicycle tires.
NOS rail sliding door hardware..industrial grade for barns and the like.

More hazards, dangers, cautions to bore you with...

Thanks for waiting so patiently for a new post folks. Have had some family health issues pop up over the past couple weeks....seems like that is how it happens...suddenly. Those events sort of threw a wrench into blogging, picking, eBaying, etc.

But, things have levelled out, and I am getting back on track. Had planned to blog tonight anyway, but the fact it is raining now drove me inside earlier than expected. August is pretty much done, September is here, and fall is rushing in.

I happen to really like picking in the fall, myself.

Yes, the weather tends to be cooler than summer, but not too cold to work, most of the time anyway.

But, it holds another "plus" when it comes to picking. This "plus" only really applies to places that actually have a true "fall"...that is, the leaves on the trees fall off, foliage drops, etc....

Get what I am driving at?

You can go through the countryside (or even in the cities, towns, etc, for that matter) in the summer, and miss so many good "picks" simply because you can't see them.

I know of many potential picking spots that are visible in the fall...but, come summer, they disappear from view entirely. Many of them you could drive by, or even walk by, within a mere couple yards, and not see them. I am not talking tiny sheds here, either...I'm talking about 2 story houses, entire huge barns, gas stations, etc!

Another thing to watch for in the summer is look in your mirror as you pass stands of trees, or go slower around curves, while on back roads....That curve could well be there because of an old farm property is hidden in the bush. This is a view of one that was all but hidden from view before I rounded the curve and stopped when I saw the place in my passenger side mirror.



Had I been going my usual 90KM PH (Kilometers per hour, with 90K being equivalent to about 56MPH, for those US readers out there), the "rooster tail" (gravel dust cloud left behind from my van) would have obscured this place from view in my mirror.

Now I will need to find out who owns it. Yes, that is right, I do NOT take stuff out of these sorts of places without permission. I'd rather buy the stuff, AND have someone know I am there. Yes, they look abandoned, and many may well be, but the fact of the matter is that they are still private property, and there IS an owner somewhere who may care about the property and its contents. If you like getting shot at, the cops pulling you over, and/or being labeled a thief, creating your very own criminal record, I guess that is your prerogative...keep ripping stuff off.

As a picker who is "above board" and pretty darn "straight", it understandably pisses me off when I am working on finding an owner of a property I am interested in picking, trying to get in legitimately and someone meanwhile steals the stuff from inside. I don't have any respect for those sorts of people. I have run across individuals who think nothing of backing up to old building, raiding a place, making a huge mess, and loading up their trucks, with nary a concern to having any sort of permission to do so.

They are not people I (nor others) consider pickers. They are thieves, pure and simple. One fellow I know of will even steal wrought iron gates right off of the front entrances of inhabited houses in broad daylight....in the city! I refuse to buy anything from him....odds are the item is hotter than hell. When these people call themselves "pickers", it makes my blood boil. "Crook" is the proper term for them.

Theft is theft. It doesn't matter if the item seems to be "neglected" and "abandoned". It still has an owner. So, if you did not buy it from the owner, or the owner did not give you permission to take it, it is not yours, period. Yes, in the big picture some minor things may not matter......but, perhaps I can clue you in to something else you need to know....

These "abandoned" properties sometimes are not really abandoned.

I have seen places in the middle of nowhere that I have driven by in the summer, that appeared to be empty and abandoned, but when driving by in the winter, with nary a tire mark or path to the place, there will be a column of smoke rising from the chimney.

And, odds are there is a rifle or shotgun close at hand in the house.

So, had you gone up to the place, and shoved open the door of such a dwelling, you might have gotten quite a surprise...if you lived long enough to actually be surprised.

If you knocked on the door, that may have been a different matter. Maybe you could have bought some cool stuff, instead of laying on that silk pillow in that narrow, shiny box, 6 feet under.

Ok, yes, I am being extreme, but, the possibility is there for grave danger on properties that are overgrown, structures that are deteriorating, etc. That bowed roof of that barn you are climbing in might just require one more little gust of wind to cause the entire barn to collapse on top of you. You really need to be vigilant, even when you HAVE permission to climb around such places. When a structure has been neglected for years, its structural integrity may well be compromised.

Be aware of what rotting lumber looks and smells like. Take note of large cracks and gaps in timbers, notice that pillar laying on the floor, or that the bottom of it is rotted off and realize that it is essentially hanging in mid air, so the floor that it is supporting is not actually being supported. Don't walk on top of that pile of rotting hay, as the floorboards underneath are as sturdy as a wet sponge.

I could go on and on about structures and the hazards, but I am sure you will tire of my lecturing...So, I will lecture you about the OUTSIDE hazards before you even GET to the structure!

Old wells are the scariest and usually the most well hidden hazard on old farm sites and such. There was at least one on every farm site. Sometimes there were a couple. Just because you are walking amongst grass does not mean that there aren't boards beneath your feet....rotten boards, covering up the 4' wide opening of a 20 foot deep well.

Gravity is not your friend when you are standing in such a spot.

If you live in an area with vegetation, drop a chunk of board on the ground, and let it sit there for 2 summers in the grass...of course, don't mow over top of it, just let the grass grow. After 2 summers, possibly even one summer, depending on moisture, the board will be invisible to the eye. It will be covered by grass, dirt, etc, and you will only be able to feel it under the grass.

Now, consider boards that have been essentially lying on the ground for 60 years.

Get the picture?

Old root cellars are another potential issue. Yeah, the house may be gone, the barn is still there, but the root cellar that had been at the side of the house, or some ways from the house was never filled in. Same goes for old cisterns (water reservoirs), buried steel storage tanks (they do rust out), basements, old tunnels, and a multitude of other underground cavities. If you live in an area where mining was common, you will need to watch for old mining tunnels, ventilation shafts, etc.

So, if no one knows you are on an old property, and you fall down a well..., well....(yes, pun intended)....good luck, buddy!

Sometimes there are more interesting old underground places, of course. But, when you find these sorts of places, be careful as well.

A neighbor of my parents told us about a time when he was plowing one of his fields. He had cleared some bush some years previous, and had planted and harvested a crop in that spot each year. Then, this one time when he was plowing, he heard a loud WHOOOOOMP-SHHH sound, and looked back to see a large cloud of dust rising behind his plow, from a spot he had gone over seconds before.

When the dust settled, there was a large crater visible, large and deep enough to have swallowed his tractor & plow. And, in the hole, he saw what had been an old whisky still, jugs, crates, etc.

Unfortunately, (from my picker's/local history buff's point of view), he just filled the hole up, contents and all.

You know, I did not intend on writing about dangers, hazards and such today...what I had planned was to talk about a recent pick of mine, show you some of the cool stuff I found, etc......hmmm...well, I guess you will have more reading, as I will be doing two blogs today!

A Different Perspective.

A few days ago, I went through a building that I had been through thoroughly 3 times before over the past 20 years...

And STILL found a treasure!

You never know what else you will find in a place you have already been through, as long as you keep looking at it with fresh eyes, fresh knowledge, and more experience.

The first time I had been through the place was when it was owned by a classmate's father.

From them I heard about what had been there..something pickers are familiar with & hear a fair bit....all the stuff that was tossed out, destroyed, cut-up, burned, etc, etc....

In this particular case, they had purchased what was an old hardware store, which had a double store front and is two stories tall. The upper floor was storage for inventory, fixtures, etc....and it was HUGE for a small town hardware store.

I had also heard the previous owner had held an auction , in the 1970s, and that was when the gravity gas pump and such items were sold. The previous owner also tended to not throw anything away, from my understanding, and judging from the "
remnants" I saw, neither did the owner(s) previous to him....all the way back to the early 1900s.

In any case, when my high school classmate's family acquired the building & hardware business, they inherited all the old stuff that was left behind. The two pics below show the spaces the stuff had occupied....just to give you an idea of the quantity of stuff potentially involved. Yes, those are large, 1970s kid's wading pools in the second photo. Consider their size, and compare them to the size of the space. This place is not tiny.

So, what they did was clean out the place...now, study the photo below, just to get a better idea of the quantity of old stuff they tossed out.....literally....right out the windows.

Now, judge the distance from the bottoms of the 3 windows you see in the first photo. They had a pile of stuff that reached from the bottoms of the windows to the ground....now, with a hill of stuff, you can imagine the quantity that was tossed out. Measurement wise, for sake of argument, lets say it was a pile about 20 feet high x 25 wide x 15 feet out, in a 90 degree triangle-wedge shape.

Sadly, despite living in the town as a teen at the time, I somehow missed that event...

Anyway, I had gone back to visit family, and decided to see what they still had kicking around.

I was allowed to check out the upstairs, where I made what really amounted to a fairly small pile; maybe half a pickup truck box load.

I made an offer, and my former classmate's father declined, saying something to the effect to come back when I "knew more."

A little insulting, don't you think? Even at that point, only 3 or 4 years into buying and selling antiques for a living (but being into old stuff since I was 7) I already knew far more than this fellow, who really had zero background in antiques & collectibles. You meet all sorts of people, and this kind of attitude pops up more often than picker's would like. You work around it, and if you really don't care if you buy the items or not, it is no loss. You try to not let it bother you, and the longer you are in the business, the less those sorts of things bother you. In this case, I was still somewhat "green" and was a bit ticked-off at his rejection of what I thought was a darn fair offer.

The stuff stayed upstairs.

About 4 years later, I went back to the store again, as I had heard my classmate had taken over the business.

Went upstairs again, and there was my pile, just as I had left it those years before.

I looked at the stuff again, through eyes that had a few years of experience behind them, and made an offer......

HALF of what I had offered his father the first time.

Now, I hadn't offered half out of spite. What I saw in that pile simply was not worth what I had originally thought it was those 4 years previous.

Yes, I had learned more.

He should have taken my original offer....'cause his son gladly (& smartly) took my offer.

I also got to go through areas that I was not allowed in the first time. I bought a few other things, and loaded my truck, full.

So, several years later, I hear the hardware business had been sold, and was being moved. A liquidation/moving auction was going to be held.

The current owner was dumping lots of dead inventory, displays, etc into the sale, and I was also operating a salvage & surplus business as well as the antiques business, so it was worth the trip to get inventory for both, plus I got the visit family.

I went to the auction, bought a van load of various stuff, and was able to go through most of the nooks and crannies, as well as hauled some unsold old lumber (including old moldings and such for repairing furniture and the like) and such out of the basement. This extra bit of salvage of the lumber also gave me some extra legitimate time in the building to look around, as things were taken out, cleared out, and "hidden" areas revealed.

It is amazing the things that can be revealed when things that have been in one spot for many years are moved out of a storage area. Things fall behind other things, get lost, forgotten, or even purposely hidden....I have found more old porn magazine stashes than I can count, especially in old drug store basements!

Plus, when you can see the walls, get closer to the hard to reach nooks and crannies, you will notice things that you hadn't seen before. Light shines into what had been a dark corner for the last 50 years. You can reach things that you had just decided weren't worth the trouble, and those items may turn out to be treasure in the end.

I got a few goodies, nothing fantastic. The pressed tin ceiling in the building was also available for sale from the new owner, but he wanted an astronomical price for it, essentially one that was full bore retail...and it all STILL had to all carefully be taken down off of the ceiling. That is not a fun, nor clean, task. Years of dust & dirt accumulate under those tiles, especially when there is another floor above them. When you pull one down you may well end up with a garden's worth of dirt in your face.

And this guy wasn't budging on his price...he was firmly affixed on his fantasy price.

So, I left, van full of assorted junk.

Yes, I had a van by this point. The truck was written off in an accident...a heck of a picking story on its own.

So, many more years pass.....can you hear the time ticking by?

Tick, tock.... tick, tock....tick, tock....

Ok, that's enough....I don't want to be up all night.

So, now I end up living back near my home town. Odd, seeing as when I was 18 and moved to Winnipeg, I swore I'd never go back to live there. I guess I am not living there, anyway...just near-by...

So, I find out the building was let go for taxes, and sold, for $3000.....then later re-sold for $8000....

Then the buyer of it sold it for $12,000.

Then the fellow who bought it for $12,000 stripped out the tin ceiling.....yes, the original guy who was asking the astronomical price for the tin LEFT the tin!

The fellow who stripped out the tin then sold the building once again, for a profit on his original purchase price.

My wife & I have since become friends with the current owner.

She and other business partner have renovated once half of the building, and turned it into a women's upscale clothing boutique...and also has a small section of the front of the other side set up as a shabby chic/antiques "flea market" store. Now you can see why we became friends....that love of old stuff.

So, anyways, I have been given pretty much free reign to wander through the place...well, not the change rooms, obviously!

I look at things with fresh eyes, and more knowledge.

And that tin ceiling? It was removed, remember?

When I wandered into the back half of the other section I saw something interesting....something that was PART of the ceiling....hidden for many years by the tin tiles...

Check it out:

Yep, an early wooden store sign, made of planks.

Here is a closeup of the paint:

This "little" beauty dates from about 1885...and is about 7 feet long. It is from the front of a butcher, possibly from the storefront it was in. Will have to do more research to know that for sure. It is also worth more than ANYTHING I had bought from the building the first few times. I'm selling it for our friend, of course.

So, depending on the situation, changes, renovations, demolition, clean-outs, changes of owners, etc, etc, etc; rechecking somewhere you have already been through can be worth your while.

There are little things that change, also.
What does this photo of a floor say to you?



Yeah, the composition of the photo sucks, it is boring, ugly, the floor is dirty...I know, forget all that...what does the image say to you as a picker?

Well?

To me it says "HEY, ACCESS TO UNDER THE FLOOR!"
Why would I bother looking under the floor?
The building dates from the late 1800s. Despite being built so early, the drinking habits of construction workers have not changed in well over a couple hundred years.
Yes, the bottles, cans, etc of their beverages get left behind...as do a multitude of other items..both purposely and accidentally...so you may find cigarette packs, gum packs, tools, hats, shirts, hardware, register grates, books, etc.
Plus, coins, jewellery, and other small items get dropped between the cracks, through register grates, through cracks and holes in the walls, etc.
Getting the picture? Might want to pick up one of those little rectangular inspection mirrors, and attach a tiny, but bright, LED flashlight to it and add it to your equipment.
One story I heard years ago, was of a major find of cone top beer cans. Many (or all) were of what was a very rare can, and a valuable one. The building was being demolished, and when the workers took the wall down, a flood of cans came pouring out!
If you love old junk, and have been involved in this area in some shape or form, I am sure you have heard stories of cash, jewellery, guns, and all sorts of stuff being found in the walls, floors & ceilings of old buildings.
So, what does that loose floorboard say to you now?
Attics are the same thing. Not high enough, or enough space to store anything when you open the trap door?
WAIT....look around...
In one old 4 story warehouse building, an attic trap door of the 4th story that I poked my head into barely had a foot of space between the ceiling and the roof...and it was in a ceiling that was 15 feet up.
But, I found 2, mint condition, late 1800s/early 1900s Copenhagen chewing tobacco cans that the guys who installed the pressed tin ceiling had left behind. Was worth the climb up the ladder.
Oh, and while you are up there, or down there on the floor, as the case may be, take a look around....you may be surprised what you will notice when you are looking at the place from a different perspective. From up on a ladder you can see the tops of shelves, maybe even behind shelves, false walls, etc.

Also, consider that when buildings are about to be renovated, things like the old doors, hardware, light fixtures, etc may well be earmarked for replacement, thus, they may well be available to purchase, if not right away, in the near future.
If the grain painted door pictured below was being replaced, or walled over, it, the hardware and the moldings around it might be available for purchase.




This photo brings me to another point....


Here is a better angle:


A door that leads to nowhere..or possibly to a broken leg or two...

Yes, it opens onto the open stairwell....wide open space.

So, the stairwell has been moved...which means the floor plan has been changed somewhat, and there could potentially be a "lost" space somewhere. In this particular location, that is not the case, but, I have found semi-accessible closed off "dead" spaces...in which I found old "junk", which had been lost, accumulated, or forgotten.

Well, should let that all sink in...and sign off for now.

More Cautionary Tales...

If you know you are invincible, you can skip this bit of friendly advice.

I was first going to work on a blog of my recent trip to Winnipeg.

However, over the past couple days, while browsing pics in a few folks Facebook photo albums of places they have been into, I took notice of a few. They made that exclamation point jump out of the top of my head like in cartoons...

Aren't I talented?

Anyway, the various pics showed some rooms, or rather, areas/corners/ceilings of rooms. The one thing they had in common was they had black stuff in spots on various parts of the walls/ceilings/stuff.

And what was this black stuff?

It is highly likely it was black mold.

No, not Beverly Hillbilly Jed's black gold...but, black MOLD.

Good old Stachybotrys.

You can click on the word there, for a definition if you like, But, Y'all come back now, ya hear?

You back?

Good...

So, anyway, as you have possibly read (or already know), it can be nasty stuff. Looks innocent enough, but a bomb can look innocent until it goes off.

I had my own nasty encounter with it, and man, it really messes with your head & body. Created things like depression, physical weakness, breathing issues and more. Went from being quite fit to getting winded going up a single flight of stairs. I wasn't able to lift things I had no trouble lifting a few months earlier. I find I am now really sensitive to it, and can tell there is some in any building I go into, just by my body's reactions.

I won't bother going into further details, as there is enough info online as to what it can do to you. Your imagination can take it from there.

So, get familiar with it, and if you are involved in a situation where it is growing, especially in abundance, wear a respirator type mask that can filter out the spores.

NO, one of those cheap WalMart dust masks won't cut it.

Plus, when you bring items into your home, storage, etc, that is from a building where that mold is, you are bringing spores into your own space.

I don't want to create paranoia, as it is going to happen in this business, it is just a fact. But, you can take steps to prevent excess exposure. Sealing items in a bag prior to putting them in your vehicle, washing them well, DRYING them well, etc before your bring them into your shop, house, storage, etc will all help.

There is all sorts of info on what kills mold and what doesn't. The information I found is that bleach actually isn't strong enough to eradicate it. The company who cleaned the mold from the building I was renting, which was the source of my problems at the time, used a product called Benefect. It was actually safer to humans than bleach (you could drink it without ill effects), but deadly to mold.

They also filled the place with ozone, which kills everything.

I have no idea what long term effects the exposure will have on my health. I guess we'll see. I know it has affected my lungs, and has increased my sensitivity to dust and other things.

SO, if you are out picking or just exploring old buildings, take my advice, and wear a decent mask into those damp basements, buildings, etc. Will be cheaper to buy a decent mask than pay for the long term effects the stuff could have on your health.

Another thing that concerns me as of late, with the interest in picking brought out by the popularity of the TV program American Pickers (History Channel), is the issue of private property.

Just because a building is alone, unattended, looks abandoned, etc, etc, DOES NOT mean it is not valued, ripe for raiding, etc.

I go to great lengths to find out who owns the buildings that I am interested in digging through.

There is actually a couple reasons for this, and one that you are likely unaware of, or have not thought of.

One is that I can legitimately be there, without any concern about looking up into a rifle barrel as rise up from picking something up, or perhaps a shotgun blast of buckshot or rock salt peppering my body, or being pulled over by the police later and charged with theft.

I will buy the items I want, (or occasionally I will be told to take what I want, but I always try to pay them something if there is anything good) and thus have no worries.

Another reason to get permission is that they will know you are there....to rescue you from the cellar when the stairs collapse, you get stuck in the hole you stepped through in the floor of the attic, etc.

Or, at least, they will know where to generally look for your body.

Scary, yes, but factual. It CAN happen. Even seasoned pickers sometimes get into what could be dangerous situations, and ones that, while they make good stories (like the one you will read below) they could have had very different endings.

And that story?

I checked out a barn, with old field stone foundation, and stalls that were made of more field stone and concrete, and an old concrete floor.

Was magnificent in its day, for sure. Likely the creation of a wealthy farmer, circa 1890.

It had a huge lower portion, and a split level loft.

The half with the upper portion of the loft had not been used for a much longer time than the rest of the barn, and thus, the roof over this portion had been neglected longer. There was light streaming through the boards on the roof, shingles long gone. The walls also had sunlight streaming through them, their once tight joints opened by years of wind & dust, then dampness & rot.

I viewed this picturesque sight through a door about 3' off the floor of the lower section of the split level loft.

It was pretty much empty, save for a few scattered planks..and a lone crock, about 20 feet away from where I stood.

It was a 2, maybe a 3 gallon; that I could tell by its size. A whitish glaze, so, in this area of the country, it was quite likely a Red Wing.

But, I could not tell if it was a birch leaf, had a printing variation, was an advertising crock or was just blank.

I'd have to turn it around to check for those things. There was no chance of climbing up the other side of the walls and peer through the boards, it was just way too high up.

The reason I was not about to just hop into the loft and walk across the floor was the fact that there was not a chance in Hades that the floor would hold me.

I suspected they were barely holding the weight of the crock. The once tight floor boards now had about a 1/2" of space between them, like the walls, except more extreme.

I could clearly see the 2' thick field stone stalls, the tops of which were easily 12 or more feet below me.

Yes, this barn was HUGE.

The fact that I could not see the other side of the crock annoyed me, and I soon figured out that the beams were essentially solid, being that they were very thick, and only had a small amount of surface rot on the tops. There looked like there were a few planks within reach of the door, and a few further out, between the crock and myself, that I could create a bridge to crawl over.

So, I grabbed the first board within reach....and set it down, across the closest beams...and then quickly rejected the idea..it didn't seem very solid either. I grabbed a much wider and solid one, and put it down beside the reject.

The start of my bridge!

I lifted myself carefully through the door, and onto the first board.

I reached out, and grabbed another plank nearby.

Hmmm..the end of the line...no other planks within easy reach. No problem, I would just grab the first one, and put it in front of the other one.

I then repeated the process.

I then managed to grab another nearby board, then another, and another.

The crock was finally within reach! A TRIUMPH!

I reached over, keeping myself steady on the boards, being ever so careful, and grabbed the crock.

To my dismay, the bottom of the crock stayed right where it was. It had had water in it form the rain, frozen, then cracked it.

Crap.

It was an error crock, but Mother Nature had rendered it worthless with her powers.

Well, I had come all this way across the gap toothed floor...and a Red Wing crock would look good in my garden....and I wouldn't have to worry about the bottom popping out of it in the winter now, would I? And, I wouldn't have to actually water the plant I put in it, either...with the access it would have to the ground. Genius!

So, I carefully turned around, walking on my knees and hands, and carefully made my way back towards the door. I moved the boards in reverse order, using only two for most of the last half of my knee splintered journey.

Nearing the door, I, for some unknown reason, stood up.

No, I didn't go through the floor....

Well, not until I stepped forward towards the door, on the reject board.

CRASH...!

I suddenly had one leg dangling in the air above the rock and concrete stalls far below, and my crotch was resting on the floor, with one leg splayed out, angling the rest of my body awkwardly on the floor of the loft.

My thought was: "Now that was stupid."

I waited a minute for my heart to go back to my chest, from its position in my throat. I then carefully assessed the situation.

I was still holding the crock in one hand.

More importantly, I was basically straddling a beam.

WHEW.

That's a relief.....wasn't about to fall right through, as long as my earlier assessment of the beams was accurate, and it wasn't rotten, also.

I carefully set the crock down, reached back, and grabbed the piece of wood I had stepped off of into my near death (or at least a near foray into extreme injury), set down alongside me. I positioned it so that the one end was near the door, as I still had to have something to stand on to exit the loft.

I also made sure the plank was carefully angled across a couple beams, with the ends resting on beams. Got to make sure I wasn't making a see-saw of death.

Leaning on it, I gingerly pulled my leg up through the hole, and positioned myself on the plank.

I took a deep breath of relief, and shakily got out of the loft, trying to softly land on the floor of the lower loft, lest the floor gave way.

I then turned around, and grabbed the "prize" I had just risked my neck for.

I still have it, though it is now for sale....price: $5...makes a great planter!

Hmmm...come to think of it, it might be more valuable as a little reminder....

More Hoarders & Collectors

A number of years ago, I got a call to come and buy stuff from an estate a couple had inherited.

Seems to me the fellow had been their distant uncle, a friend of the family, or something...or maybe they had bought the place, I am not sure anymore.

Regardless, the estate had been in limbo for awhile, and it was a rural property.

The fellow had most certainly been a collector turned hoarder.

You see, there was mostly vintage items...sheds and sheds of them.

But, he had started to save things like the ashes from his wood stove, which he stacked around his house in a boxes. He also had jars of mercury from thermometers, mercury switches, thermostats, etc.

Now, normally this would be a wonderful find, sheds and sheds of vintage items....

But, there were 2 little snags....

Seeing as the estate was in limbo for so long, the property vacant and unguarded, the fellow's neighbors took/stole a fair bit from the buildings, which were anywhere from waist high with stuff, to 6 & 7 feet high stacked with stuff.

Normally, that doesn't really mean the place has nothing of value left, but, this place was pretty tough to find much of value. Some of the buildings were open to the weather some, and there was this one other little issue....

The fellow was a tad paranoid about his stuff getting stolen.

So, his solution was to take items apart, and put the parts in different buildings!

A lightning rod's copper tube in one building, the tip in another, the stand in another and the ball in another....

A radio's case in one building, the chassis in another, and the knobs in another....

You get the picture?

So, with items being stolen over the years, who knows if the parts you were missing from that lightning rod where even still there....and which of the many sheds would the parts be in?

I had brought a fellow dealer friend with me, but, he found little, as he isn't into really "digging." He has a real good eye for the weird & wonderful, and is quite knowledgeable in a number of areas. He scans the top of piles, looks in drawers, that sort of thing, but that is pretty much it. I, on the other hand am a real digger....

I burrow.

In my search for worthwhile items to buy, I happened to be digging in one particular shed....moving from front to back...taking an item out from in front of me, and putting it behind me....and repeating that process....

I heard him calling my name, wanting to find out how close I was to being done searching.

I peered over the pile, which was about 6 feet high....

He was standing in front of the shed.

I called out to him, to let him know I was there.

I watched, amused, as he looked around, dumbfounded & confused. It was not a look I had ever seen on his face before that.

It was actually darn entertaining....!

All he could see was a pile of stuff....took him a few minutes to figure out that the voice WAS actually coming from the pile...the back of the pile, against the wall.

He was, well, quite surprised....

Anyway, that is how I tend to pick those sorts of places....really dig. Just because the top has been picked over doesn't mean there is not treasure beneath that top layer or two, you know? I did dig up a few neat things at that place, but most of them were, of course, PARTS of things...

I used to do (set up at) antique shows "out west"...in Alberta & British Columbia. I tended to leave a week before most of the dealers I knew....you see, I have a little problem...it takes me forever to go somewhere like that...I like to stop and smell the roses...

Or, I guess more accurately, the dust of attics, and the damp of basements.

A little town on the map, or a sign pointing to a town NOT shown on the map intrigues me.

Side roads beckon, grain elevators in the distance call to me.

On one trip out to Alberta to do some antique shows, I hit a side road, just on a gut feeling...turned off #1 Highway, Canada's main highway, with thousands of cars passing this particular road, daily.

One thing you should know about Alberta is that it is an oil rich province. They have a pretty healthy economy, generally, as a result of the oil beneath their soil...and the provincial government owns it all. So, there are far fewer gravel roads in Alberta than in places like Saskatchewan, Manitoba, BC, and many US states. Most of the roads that they have are paved with asphalt.

So, I headed down this road for a ways...not really knowing where or why I was headed down it, I just figured I'd drive, and see where it took me. I had time to kill, and three quarters of a tank of gas.

I kept driving, and to my surprise, the road turned to gravel...which means it was a real back road by Alberta standards. It continued as gravel for a bit...and then it turned to pretty much dirt...and I could see an old farm site with stuff scattered about...and fresh tire tracks into the property, but not out.

Cool...unless the tracks didn't belong to the owner....Oh, wait, there was a tractor tooling around the yard.

So, I drove in, got the fellow's attention, and told him what kind of stuff I was after.

As it turned out, he was the 3rd owner of the property, and the 2nd owner of it that year.

The previous fellow who owned it, had bought it for the scrap that remained on the property. He had hauled off so much scrap metal that he had made quite a bit of money, and eventually tired of hauling metal, and sold it to the fellow I was talking to.

There was enough metal left on the property that he was going to easily double his money as well. It was an estate, and one that had been tied up in the courts with all sorts of legal issues for many years.

The owner had been an eccentric inventor, who was into all sorts of things, including wind-power, as he had some home made turbines at one point, and had an old city bus full of 12Volt batteries all wired together.

The house had all sorts of military surplus electronic equipment, of which I knew little about at the time, and I passed on it. I did buy a box full of interesting items, but nothing that sticks out in my mind. What does stick out, however, is one of the things that this fellow told me had apparently been in the property when the eccentric inventor had passed away.

Three, still in the crates, WW2, army surplus Harley Davidson motorcycles.

The inventor had been buying WW2 surplus items when they were plentiful, in the late 40s and 50s...which admittedly does go well with that sort of inventor personality.

Unfortunately, they had been stolen, one by one, over a few years. Who knows where they went.

Anyway, in this case, was this fellow a hoarder, or simply eccentric? He accumulated stuff, but much of it seemed to be for use in his inventions...his "raw material," or his "palette", if you think in artist's terms.

I got their too late, and really don't have enough details to determine if he was a true hoarder or not.

So, if we "hoard" items, like antiques or collectibles, are we really "hoarders"? In the broadest term, maybe. But, we all have an innate, built in urge to "save" things...stands to reason, if we are "animals, per say. I don't wish to get into a debate on religion with this, of course, but if we have evolved from a 'lower life form", it is possible there are left-over "hoarding" instincts in us all.

For animals, it is part of survival. Squirrels need to hoard food for winter, as do mice, and other animals.

Maybe collectors are simply satisfying this natural urge.

Perhaps this instinct is some how triggered to drop into extreme overdrive in hoarders who have saved things we deem as trash, waste, excrement, etc....

Something to think about, I suppose.

Hoarding has saved many items from being lost forever, preserving history, and entertains folks like me.

I got a call from a friend one day, who was working for an auction house. He had to clean out an estate, and his regular worker was unavailable. With nothing to do that day, I said I could give him a hand. It also gave me a chance to see the items that were going into the auction, first.

We ended up in the basement, and I spotted an old narrow door, so, of course I had to check it out. Turned out it was the "cold room", where preserves and such are usually kept, essentially store room.

On the shelves were boxes measuring roughly 8" x 6", and were as high as a book of matches is wide...and that is exactly what they were...boxes of book matches....and plastic bags of book matches...thousands of them.

That is a little strange in itself, I suppose. But hang on, it gets stranger.

Each and every matchbook was individually wrapped in aluminum foil!

It was a little obsession this particular lady had, I guess.

It was weird, but I thought that it was also great...as the foil would have preserved them extra well....if they were collectible ones, this would be a cool find!

Sadly, they were all generic ones, boring, and essentially worth only what any usable book of matches is worth.

Oh well. Gave me another weird story to relate, and made life a little more puzzling, but interesting. Made me think, wonder about the person who wrapped all those matchbooks, so painstakingly, so carefully. What triggered the obsession? Experiencing a house fire, perhaps? Or was it something out of left field, an obsession even the person themselves did not understand?

I have run across (and still run across), weird, wonderful and bizarre things, places, people, events, and situations. Perhaps these stories are more valuable than the items I have bought and sold along the way. It is those experiences that have molded me into who I am. They have made me think, contemplate, consider, be aware. These random occurrences have opened my eyes; caused me to deal with my own life differently, adjust my own habits, made me aware of "obsessions" of my own, seeing what the future could hold if things were to get out of control, or if I were to follow a certain path. I have learned much in this business. Not just about "stuff"...but about "life" and its many facets. It is something you can't really say about many jobs.

I guess it is a good thing.

I have had some experiences in this business that, at the time, were not pleasant, but they certainly were experiences....Yes, I will be blogging about most of them!

Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes, laugh at the follies, and get inspired by the finds.