Best Item You've Ever Picked

Hey all! I thought I'd kick off another topic in this new forum with this. What is the best item you've ever picked, whether it be from storage auctions, yard sales, estate sales, thrift stores, or some other means. Tell us what the item was and the story behind the pick.

I'll start us off. I should caveat that I am cheap and don't spend much money on items. I have a hard time laying $20 for anything. So my best is not going to be a thousand dollar item.

My best item is actually something I just picked up last weekend. I decided to take another path in my yard sale route and it paid off big time. I hit this one sale where they had a lot of vintage board games, my speciality, but at the bottom of a junk box where they had a bunch of broken toys and other worthless stuff, there was the prize. They had a quarter on it.

It was a Game & Watch Manhole game, in the original box. The box was in fairly good condition and the Manhole was mint. I had to buy batteries to test it because the original batteries were dead, but it worked perfectly. I paid $.25 for it. I'm not sure exactly how much I'm going to get out of it because the auction doesn't close until Sunday, but it's currently at $109.50 with 18 watchers and 4 bidders. This find was a super rare find and I'll probably never find another Manhole game like this again. And if I do, it's not likely to have the box and be in such perfect condition. That is my best find to date.

What's yours?

What is the best item you've ever picked, whether it be from storage auctions, yard sales, estate sales, thrift stores, or some other means. Tell us what the item was and the story behind the pick.


What's yours?

A piece for an industrial grade paper binder, bought for $5 sold for $185.

Rhino-Tuff was bought at a piece by piece auction (hence, picking)

Water testing kit, $5 sold for $400. This one was bought at the flea on a Saturday morn before I started selling.



These "specialty" items are so rare to find I don't mind sharing this info. If someone finds one it will be like winning the lotto (though not as lucrative) and I know I won't find another in the next 9 years...that's how long it took me to find these two.

Not sure if it's my best pick, but picked up a leather dual recliner on the side of the road for FREE and sold it for $150.

I also picked an old trumpet for $50 that I sold for $400 on Ebay.

Martha Washington style sewing cabinet $24 at yardsale sold for $150.

Update on the Game & Watch Manhole game. It sold for $305! That's my biggest sale on eBay to date. Scares the bejeesus out of me.

Congratulations! That will buy a lot of garage sale Candylands.

Bought a set of Christmas dishes at an auction house for $5.00 recently. Listed them on EBAY and sold them for $300!