Estate and Yard Sale Finds.

rampco88

rampco88

Joined
Apr 22, 2020
Messages
95
I’m new and still building my collection. I try to hit estate and yard sales but honestly have yet to stumble across that special old quality pocket knife for a steal. I’m always interested in these finds. Let’s see your found treasures.
 
Me too, I like estate sales and yard sales too. I have only run across a few shell knives.
 
I suspect this is not going to be a banner yard sale and flea market year. :(

"Best" yard sale I ever saw was way back in around 1988.
A guy who did Colonial/Fur Trade Era and Civil War Reenactments was retiring from that hobby and selling off some of his gear.
I was able to pick up a lot of neato historically accurate/period correct stuff, including an original Confederate issue .69 caliber smoothbore musket. I was doing Civil War Reenactments at the time, as was Confederate. (roughly 6 grand cheaper than being Union) Sadly, I no longer have any of it.
Best I've found since then has been hard and soft sided coolers, and a vintage AM portable radio.
 
Many years ago I went to a Flea Market in NH, my good buddy was Bird Dogging ahead of me looking for good buys. One man said "I know what you two are looking for Winchester and Remington knives", which we were. Then in the shadow of an old large wooden radio, I see a bone handled, large folder. I pick it up and turn it over and there is the Bullet. It is a Remington 1123 (two blades) . The blades have been well sharpened, but lots of life left in them and very good walk and talk, and the bone is fine. On the knife is a paper tag with "$4--". I ask the man is it $4 dollars? and he says Yes. They were going for over or close to $100 at that time. best of all by buddy had gone by it and not seen it in the shadow! John
 
I’ll even include antique shops here too even though those places usually mark things up fairly high.

I figured some of you guys have had your collections for many years and during the hey day of grandpa’s pocket knife showing up for sale other than on the internet during the information age.
 
I love estate sales, and I've got a lot of stuff I've managed to bring home from them over the years. It's the best way for me to "trade up" and it gets me out of the house. Not so much this year though. Most of the time I see a lot of stuff I'm just not interested in. Lot's of cheap Chinese stuff too. Had one a couple years ago where the guy had hundreds of Japanese and Chinese knives, none in boxes. They were selling them in baggies, and I'm pretty sure they all wound up in a gun show or pawn shop.

Best I''ve ever done was a really nice haul a couple years back. Here's the thread:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/a-box-oknives.1612513/#post-18418266
 
eisman said:
I love estate sales, and I've got a lot of stuff I've managed to bring home from them over the years. It's the best way for me to "trade up" and it gets me out of the house. Not so much this year though. Most of the time I see a lot of stuff I'm just not interested in. Lot's of cheap Chinese stuff too. Had one a couple years ago where the guy had hundreds of Japanese and Chinese knives, none in boxes. They were selling them in baggies, and I'm pretty sure they all wound up in a gun show or pawn shop.

Best I''ve ever done was a really nice haul a couple years back. Here's the thread:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/a-box-oknives.1612513/#post-18418266
Click to expand...

Great stuff eisman! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I dream of stumbling upon a pot of gold like that one day. I just feel it’s getting harder and harder. With resale prices worth the effort and a quick check on google it’s not surprising.
 
I enjoy going to flea markets, but eBay is a great source for knife deals at least on the kind of post 1980 Case stuff that I look for. I got every one of these minty knives for $26 or less just this year (most closer to $20) on eBay ... granted, you have to put in the time and set up your searches specifically for what you're looking for, but there are remarkable deals out there in cyberspace - you have to be patient though ... deals like these don't come around every day, but they are out there --->

ohAMF4s.jpg
 
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I got this Schrade at an estate sale at an old farmhouse southwest of here. I got a Schrade stockman there, too, which had only one broken point on it (the clip). I regret now that I didn't buy the bag of shell-handled Imperials that they were with, but really, I have enough project knives lying around.
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The executive pocket chum was probably at an estate sale, possibly an antiques mall.
 
IMG_0336.JPG IMG_0337.JPG IMG_0338.JPG I found a German Bowie knife that were common back in the 50s to the 70s I guess, it was a good bargain considering at an antique mall, and it was surrounded by Pakistani and Frost stuff. I have shown it before. What surprised me was how sharp the edge was even after all the years, I have been eyeing it for several months and finally got it for Christmas. And yes, my wife was with me and she liked it too.
 
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