Auction Scene #4...April, 2012

Getting a jump start on April, 2012 auction scene. May we all find that "1 in 50" locker that has the gold bars.

(and may the newbies buy the other 49 at prices which will drive them away once they don't make a profit). 

Bought 3 lockers on Friday and allthough that was March it is now April and I am finally getting them sorted. Crowds were moderate prices were high but not through the roof. Not very many lockers up for sale

I bought:

1) About a 6X8 odd size for $190 first auction up for sale. Saw a dryer and some boxes. Was a dud nothing good one small sterling ring lot of junk some clothes and a few books will lose money

2) A 5 X 10 for $275. 


3) a 5X10 for $175.  Saw some speakers and a few boxes some furniture looked okay. Was a dud empty whiskey bottles and trash. Found a first for me the Cremains of a dog. Firs box I looked in had a half box of .44 mag ammo. Figured I has struck it rich but that was it.


Now for unit number 2. It took them over a half hour to get the lock off as they lost the key.  We all waited around. Once off the manager said the locker had been rented to the same person for 30 years. Heavy dirt and cob webs. It did not look exciting a washer and dryer what looked to me like an old cabinet style TV some chairs a few small items showing. Well the thing intrigued me so I went higher then I thought it was worth. First thing I pulled out was a 70s vintage suitcase and it opened putting stuff back in I found a western style belt with a Sterling and 10K gold buckle on it. That got me pumped.

Ended up with 3 custom fishing rods one a Russ Peak (these can top $1000), a Heddon bamboo fly rod, a Browning rod,  a Fin-nor deep sea reel, 3 marble top pieces a Buffet a end table and a round table. In a box of Books i found a pass to the 1934 Olympics in perfect condition along with 3 $2 bills one a 1928, a $5 silver certificate from 1934, a 1918 Walking half dollar, 2 Buffalo nickels and a 1927 vintage dictionary that is 6 inches thick and a work of art.  Also got some Wedgewood China a bunch of other neat glass including some depression glass. Tonight in the rags I was tossing out I found a nice condition Hudson Bay 4 point blanket.  There is a Tres Pano Mexican Guitar and they are worth something not junk.  It truelly looked like the stuff was put in in 1982 and not touched since,  I have a Panasonic portable AMFM radio with 8 track new in the box and a Clock radio new in the box dated 1977.  Oh there was a wall mounted electronics Dart game from the 70s as well.  It was a dream locker! Not much trash I hauled a mattress and box spring to the dump and they looked good I just could not imagine sleeping on a mattress that old that had been stored in an unheated locker.

Great score(s) drbecker!  Reminds me of a unit we got that we call 'Joan's Locker'.  So many interesting items and I'm still selling unique stuff from it (some 3+ months later).  As a matter of fact I shipped out a 1968 Moulin Rouge program yesterday and I'll be shipping some 'vintage' luggage labels tomorrow.

I love units that are anything but boring.....but at this point, I'll settle for boring~I need the inventory!

Some picts

Nice drbecker, sounds like even with two duds you will do fine.

We will be getting a locker tomorrow have to cut the lock ourselves. 

Son left a washer dryer/ and two dressers for the x to pick up, and she did not get it, she also has the only key. So we will pick it up tomorrow. It is just a few miles down the road.

Might also be a dud she may have picked up and left the $50 deposit, but highly unlikely.

Son needs a sofa so may do some trading. 

Will try and get in with this facility, never have auctions. Think they work real hard with their tenants, they don't even own bolt cutters.    Will tread lightly though don't want anything coming back to us.
Letting us in on a unit we do not own, and knowing we don't even have the key, little on the side of not legal.    We have gone up and paid the bill so the manager does know us.  Will let you know what we find.

Very nice drbecker. 3 $2 bills one a 1928, a $5 silver certificate from 1934, a 1918 Walking half dollar, 2 Buffalo nickels - really wish I could find a unit with stuff like this in it.  So far I've found a few wheat pennies and 1 buffalo nickle.  Those prices for my area are actually reasonable.  Before the current madness you could figure a 5x5 = 100, 5x10 = 150-175, 10x10 = 150 - 225 depending on how packed, and then on up.

As for ammo - I keep finding a bullet here, another there, a shell casing in yet another.  Found what I figured was a police officer unit on day.  It had belt, sheriff's office patch, pistol holster, and 3 .40 bullets.  Thought ok this is looking like a good sign.  Next came the cleaning kit for a pistol (empty) - and then NADA.

We have 2 different auctions on Friday.  One at 9:30 that I'm interested in and then a 2 facility caravan starting at 10.

Here is what I'm interested in at the 9:30 (if not paid up...will be just my luck)
D-38: Empire Payphones, Inc. - Sevenpay phones & Parts.
R-58 L. Ware: Two beds, Sofa, Dining Table and chairs, end table, dresser and misc. boxes, pictures.
A069: C Reed: Four tool boxes, TC, Car ramps and misc. boxes.
D024: C Reed: Tool boxes, engine lift, ladders, dollies, and misc. boxes.

I checked out the maker on the belt and they went out of business in the 60s. This belt is unused. 

Went to empty our free unit. (Son's)

Husband had to work.

Borrowed bolt cutters, drove to the storage place no one in office. So went over could not cut the huge master lock off. Handles on bolt cutters not long enough to get good leverage.

Went and Got my Uncle and two pieces of pipe. Between the two of us we get it open. My uncle needed a washer so got his help for free.

 4 dressers, 3 bags of garbage, one mirror,  TWO QUEEN SIZE MATTRESS AND ONE BOX SPRING......

2 of the dresser are solid wood one old so not bad.

What was not there the WASHER AND DRYER

Son forgot to mention the the mattress's... I mainly did it to get the washer dryer (fast cash)..

Guess the ex came and picked up the washer dryer and left the garbage.

 So might be able to sell the dressers or bargain for a sofa. (son needs one)  Oh well I will remind my son of this when he tries to put me in a nursing home.... 

And now I owe a favour to my uncle.

So for a free unit and from a retaliative same as any purchased locker.

and sure am glad I don't have to cut locks for a living.

Not that you'll ever need it but I got a hydraulic kit from Harbor Frieght years ago. Mainly for the press for  various autobody projects but it had a cutter. Like a mini jaws of life. Pretty cool. Had to play and cuts thru the most protective locks!

Just a future FYI for ya.   

Not that you'll ever need it but I got a hydraulic kit from Harbor Frieght years ago. Mainly for the press for  various autobody projects but it had a cutter. Like a mini jaws of life. Pretty cool. Had to play and cuts thru the most protective locks!

Just a future FYI for ya.   

     Husband uses a cookie cutter, but no power at location so had to go the old fashion way. Almost took the small generator, but it was just a few dressers. 

 

Well today's auction was pretty good.  The 9:30 saw 2 units and only a dozen people.  Didn't make the 10 am auction.  The 11am auction had 3 units and about 20 people.  So the crowd was much lower then last few months.  Don't know if that is due to spring break and people traveling or what.

I did get my phone unit I mentioned in post above.  Bid $101 on it.  Was only 2 other people that I know was interested in it.  One said he just put a token bid on it but I jumped my bid from 51 to 101 just in case.  Will post some pictures of the unit if people are interested.

Can't make any of the auctions next week.  So my next auction will be the 19th I think /sigh.

Back from my vacation and got a call from a fellow buyer who started the conversation like this:

"Want to hear a REAL storage wars story?"

Seems another buyer got two 10x40s just packed with good tools, etc.  First one went for $4K; second one went for $2500.

It gets better.  He found a box of pre 1964 silver coins...sold it as a batch to one buyer for $4,300.

It does happen but remember this guy's been buying for over 20 years too....he's bought a lot of lockers and
they weren't ALL this good !

Well it keeps coming, going through some small I though were junk I took a careful look at this and saw the name!  These are worth around $50 to $100. Some were real gold this one is not marked so must be plate. Probably from the 50s.

Auction today was 17 units so we were pretty excited. Turns out this company pulls everything out of the unit and sells stuff individually. First unit 3/4 done took 2 hours. We left at that point. Will probably not go to another one of their auctions unless we are really low on inventory and there are no other options available. There is only one more storage auction in our area this month so looks like picking will have to fill the shelves.

Went to a HUGE auction in a smaller city of 15,000 about 75 miles from where I live. They advertised 40+ units, and I think they auctioned 48 if I remember correctly. It was advertised on AuctionZip so you know what that means! HUGE crowd, largest I have seen, well over 200 people, some folks were estimating 300 people. I did not even attempt to do a count myself. Crowd was so large they had to open 3 to 4 to 5 units up at a time and had the line snaking up and down various rows of units for folks to look. What was really bad is you had to bid on units while you where in line waiting to look at other units.

I managed to win 2 units. a 10 x 15 3/4 full and a 7 x 12 1/2 full for a little over $1200. (when I say 1/2 full & 3/4 full, I am talking total volume, not floor space) Prices were on the high end of making a profit, but still a little bit cheaper then what they have been going for in my city the last four to five months. I didn't see any "jackpot" units and no single unit broke the $1000 mark.

It will take a while to sort and research, so the treasure chest update will be a while. I did find a practically brand new leather Harley Davidson jacket that retails for $400, and I got 11, yes eleven, vacuum cleaners out of ONE unit. I hope it's not 1 working and 10 broken. 

What was intersesting was I didn't see a single regular buyer from my city at this auction. I thought that was strange because our city is the closest metro area to this smaller city, I didn't think it was that far a drive.