Estate sale find

[Mjdd23]

Was checking for any estate sales in my area this morning and saw one advertising hunting and fishing equipment. It was the last day of the sale and there wasn't much left of the hunting and fishing items. Mostly camo clothes and some old rods. I was about to leave when under a pile of camo bags and pants I spotted an rcbs pro melt and it was full of lead! I put it to the side and kept looking. Wound up finding a wheeler fat wrench and a lyman 450 lubrisizer with heater attached. It was half priced on everything because it was the last day of the sale so, $15 for the promelt $10 for the lubrisizer and she gave me the fat wrench for free! I also got 2 pieces of pewter and a book on winchester rifles for under $10. This has to be one of my best finds in years. I'm very happy.

[Outer Rondacker]

Nice!

[Winger Ed.]

Oh yeah!

You have more than earned the right to gloat over that!!

My Pro-Melt didn't look that good 25 years ago, and its still on the job.

[Mjdd23]

I was thinking of getting a lottery ticket tonight but after this a think my luck is done for today.
The light on the switch isn't working and I thought it was not going to work but I plugged it in outside and checked it a half hour later and the pot of lead was melted. I drained it so I can give it a good cleaning. I'll get to it next week. It's not new but it appears to be working ok.

[Winger Ed.]

I drained it so I can give it a good cleaning.

Don't make extra work for yourself. Plenty of other people are more than glad to do that for you.

Take something to stir and scrape the sides and bottom as you flux it.
That's probably all ya need to do.

[ShooterAZ]

Fantastic score! Sometimes it pays off checking out the estate sales, it gets to be habit forming though. My father had to build himself a barn to keep all his "stuff" in.

[sharps4590]

Good fer you!!! Stuff like that never happens to me...

[Baltimoreed]

Super find.

[lightman]

Thats a Great Score!

[dverna]

I am getting old and soft headed as well as soft hearted.

The lady may have lost her man, or got divorced. I would have offered her half of the value of new stuff after telling her what is worth.

I suggest you sleep on it and decide if you are ok with what you did. If you have regrets, go back and give her $200. She probably needs the money more than you do.

[imashooter2]

Congratulations on it being your turn!

[TurnipEaterDown]

I just have to say: SCORE!
All I ever find at estate sales is piles of glassware, records from the 30s & 40s, old pipes, and women's clothing that reminded me that smoking pipes isn't necessarily the purview of old men...

I might say respectfully: the stated price is what it is. Maybe they just wanted it all gone, and it wasn't when the last person showed (the OP), so I guess the market wouldn't bear much that day over what he paid. I have a relative that when gone, I will be convincing my siblings that we need a 40 yd dumpster. And then, repeat until empty. No lie.

[remy3424]

Well done!

[Land Owner]

Seriously, THIS an example of what NOT to do to family - i.e., following an untimely demise, leave them to dispose of hobby equipment, without knowledge of its use, or value, in a garage-sale negotiation that both sides EXPECT to amount to PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR, just to be rid of it on the one hand, and to go "Weee, weeee, weeeee" all the way home on the other.

The LEAST a Hobbyist SHOULD DO is create and periodically refresh an Inventory and an Estimate of Replacement Value:
1.) value everything as new; the Net and on-line Suppliers make finding current value simpler.
2.) for insurance, in case of disaster
3.) as a portion of personal/household Net Worth
4.) as an interesting - what if I had to purchase everything today?
5.) as a Note to Self/Family - How much 'stuff' do I have, where is it, in what condition is it, what is it worth NEW, suggest its minimum value as USED (this is handy in garage-sale negotiations), and who, if any in the family, gets it?

An inventory and estimate should be refreshed from time to time (annually, bi-annually, max - every 5-years) to reflect its dynamic Status and Present Value. Excel spreadsheets are perfect for formatting an inventory and estimate of cost. So too is paper and pencil. Print/scan/store it, electronically, as a PDF. Make reference to it (Last Will, Hobby Assets, who gets what, etc.) for survivors.

I do not blame the OP!

[trapper9260]

You did great , glad it work out for you. Not a thing that happened on a common bases . It was ment for you to get it .

[LenH]

I need to do what an older friend did several years ago, he had a tag with a dollar amount on said tag. He was in his early 80's and didn't want his family giving it away or
selling it off cheap. I bought several things before he passed away and gave him what was on the tag.

[yetavon]

What scares me.... the corn muffin lead bars... I have acquired alot of Cast Iron stuff over the years...

[Mjdd23]

Thanks for all your responses they gave me some things to think about. The inventory is one which I will have to do. I tell the wife and kids not to scrap the lead and pewter but to put an ad in the pennysaver or online.
Most of the time in my area of NJ the estate sales are run by a company or service. This particular sale was at the home of one of these people who run the sales. She had passed away and the house was being sold so they were trying to get the house cleared out. The person who owned these things prior to this woman was several sales down the line I suspect. I would never intentionally rip someone off especially an old widow.
I'm chalking this up as a win for me. We go to quite a few sales and this was a good one for me. I really have to cut back and be more selective. I try to only buy the things I will use but I can't pass up a good deal! I am retiring in a month so maybe I can get the garage inventoried.

[bimus]

Some times people will pour lead in coffee cans and set it outside and the can rusts away and years later some one else finds this this when selling everything and not know what it is or what to do with it so it helps to ask .

[Mjdd23]

I've never found lead like that. I've found plumbers ingots and rolls of solder mostly and fishing sinkers. The scrap yard was good for me but prices are too high right now.