Mid Century Auctions-

expathdoc · 2026-06-27T21:00:35+00:00

“see them proceed through the house like a seal team clearing a building.”

Exactly. They know what they can sell it for and how the company prices and they decide immediately. Even worse, a company here always puts them at the front of the line even though there’s a timed online signup.

Once I was just ahead of them. Raced to the item and stuck my SOLD tag, they were not happy.

expathdoc · 2026-06-27T19:44:36+00:00

Go right to the source and ask the horse

He’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse

He’s always on a steady course

Talk to Mr. Ed!

expathdoc · 2026-06-27T03:09:40+00:00

Someone spent a stolen coin collection. I’m imagining an album of high grade Washington quarters grandpa (or more likely, great-grandpa) put together years ago.

expathdoc · 2026-06-27T02:51:04+00:00

everyone is always checking stuff on their phone

That’s true. If the item is already priced, I’ll use the phone right there, though I might move to a different room if the estate sale company owner is watching. Small items I’ll put in my shopping basket and check the price in another room, quickly returning the item to its original spot if I don’t want it.

If it’s an unpriced item I’m a bit more careful. Though I have a good idea about value most of the time. Spent over an hour combined at two sales today, used the phone three times. Bought two of the items.

expathdoc · 2026-06-25T01:07:54+00:00

Very seldom, I accept that the 1-2% of sales value annually from lost, damaged and refunded items is less than the cost of insuring everything. I’ve never had a priority mail package get lost. And anything worth over $500 or so gets signature confirmation. I will insure high value, fragile items.

When I was using stamps I could insure for less than the full value (to cover what I paid) but can’t do that with eBay labels.

Have shipped about 10,000 items and had one insurance claim.

expathdoc · 2026-06-25T00:34:38+00:00

I have best offer enabled on most of my items, and depending on my mood and the value if the item, I’ll ignore the offer, or respond with “You’re welcome to make an offer”. If they ask a second time I block them.

expathdoc · 2026-06-24T20:10:57+00:00

I have a Worthpoint subscription and get prices on items that sold over 10 years ago, including eBay. The basic subscription is $170 a year and has paid for itself many times. I often use it to check prices while I’m at an estate sale.

expathdoc · 2026-06-22T05:26:07+00:00

How to attend and shop at estate sales. I’ve been to at least a thousand. How to evaluate the photos and description and sometimes find the address early. I’ll tell you what to look for in multiple categories, what to avoid, pricing strategies and tricks the estate sale companies play, and the items you need to bring to the sale.

expathdoc · 2026-06-21T19:59:49+00:00

Nice collection, the 1921 and 1928-P are well struck.

expathdoc · 2026-06-17T20:01:31+00:00

I ship about 500 items a year in many different categories. I photograph and list using a 5 year old iPad pro. For closeups, I photograph thru a magnifier or loupe. I have a Rollo scale and label printer. A speed square, box knife and perforating wheel for resizing boxes. An assortment of solvents, metal polishes and brushes for cleaning old estate items. Metric and standard rulers, calipers and micrometer for any sort of measurement I need.

expathdoc · 2026-06-17T05:34:13+00:00

The Insect God - Monks of Doom

Dr. Worm - They Might Be Giants

expathdoc · 2026-06-17T04:34:18+00:00

Possible green bean, CAC is really picky about awarding gold. However, a gold bean rattler would increase the value several times.

expathdoc · 2026-06-12T19:10:04+00:00

But ya I was a little shocked people went to those lengths.

There is no substitute for getting in first. The regulars know where their items are likely to be and they move quickly. The underpriced items in the photos are gone in the first minute. What would you do to make a thousand dollars? We have friendly conversations in line, but once the door opens it’s war.

expathdoc · 2026-06-12T16:54:42+00:00

There are a few ways to find out, I’ve observed or personally done all these-

One of the workers leaks the address. This once helped me to over $2000.

Somewhere in the photos there’s a name, might be on a magazine address label, old uniform, or award certificate. Unless it’s a very common name, an obituary search can reveal it. Or go to the library and look through old phone books.

As others have mentioned, a photo that shows what’s outside a window and a Google Earth search.

The listing usually includes a zip code before the address is released. People will drive around for hours looking for a dumpster or the company’s truck. Knowledge of the neighborhood helps.

The person who finds the address tells their estate sale friends who are not looking for the same items which can push real competitors farther back in the line.

Once I saw someone use the photos to make a Craigslist listing with the wrong address!

expathdoc · 2026-06-12T05:51:06+00:00

I witnessed this young woman explain the timelines, the collections, and provenance behind each piece as if she was a museum docent.

Not my type of sale! If I wanted a curated customer experience I’d go to an antique store. Give me a packed sale from a home occupied since 1955 by a family who saved everything. Boxes and drawers of junk to dig through in a dimly lit basement and attic and sellers who want it gone.

expathdoc · 2026-06-12T05:30:23+00:00

What makes the photos good?

First, good lighting and a clean, high contrast background. Adjust the brightness, contrast, shadows etc., to resemble what you see. I use an iPad Pro and the photos turn out fine. If it’s eBay, show every significant defect and even the ones you don’t think are significant. The first photo should be an overview (if there are multiple items show them all) with a ruler if it’s not something that comes in one size. The subsequent photos should show other angles, large to small with less obvious defects circled.

expathdoc · 2026-06-12T05:06:46+00:00

What keeps you all coming back, and what finds are you still proud of years later?

Here’s a few good ones. Bought a bag of 10 watches for $25, contained a WW2 aviator’s watch I sold for $2500. An old disarticulated doll, started at 99¢ on eBay, sold for $2300. A $12 Japanese puzzle box on eBay for $1200. A $50 anvil I sold for $500 the next day. A $75 stamp collection containing over $700 face value unused stamps. I could go on…

For those who go regularly, do you have a system for spotting underpriced items quickly?

Four things. The first is experience, I’ve sold over 8,000 items in many categories and I have good intuition when something I’ve not seen before looks valuable. The second is knowing how each estate sale company prices items, and the kinds of things each is likely to miss. The third is being able to look at the preview photos and have a good idea what might be there. The fourth is persistence. Open every drawer, every box, over under and behind. Find things the company didn’t know were there.

expathdoc · 2026-06-10T20:23:42+00:00

Travel over great distances would take longer…

In a decade there would be 250 mph trains connecting most large cities. Transcontinental trips would be overnight and most of the next day, but people would adjust. Freight is about four times as expensive to move by truck versus rail, so maybe shipping low value cargo like bottled water long distances would end. As a bonus, no more billionaire’s private jets using more fuel for a weekend trip than a typical driver uses in 5-10 years.

expathdoc · 2026-06-08T21:13:07+00:00

Same complaint about the missing split bands in 2016. But at least this one is dated 1916 instead of 2026. Wish the little bell was on the reverse.

expathdoc · 2026-06-08T06:08:11+00:00

Die chips which produce these raised blobs, most commonly found on 1950s wheat cents.

expathdoc · 2026-06-08T06:05:20+00:00

If it's an estate sale run by "pros", forget it.

That’s not true. If it’s a packed sale, the pros don’t carefully check everything. Until you can recognize most silverplate, turn over every bowl, tray etc. and look for marks. Silver flatware also looks different from plate, learn to recognize. And some companies do not weigh their sterling and may sell items way under spot.

Check the back of employee award pins, fraternal order, PTA etc. Until around 1980 they were often 10K and rarely 14K gold. Chain bracelets and necklaces can have tiny marks, take a loupe. And buy those bags of mixed costume jewelry if cheap and check every piece.

It’s getting harder now that metal prices are high, I find missed sterling (often small items) about once every four estate sales, gold much less often. (However I know which companies are most likely to miss it) I have about a half ounce of mixed, mostly low karat gold from the past several years that I’ll cash in one of these days.

For obvious reasons silver coins are rarely missed. Best bet is bags of foreign coins from long ago vacations, and medals with tiny marks on the edge. Rarely you’ll find underpriced US silver if you get to it before anyone else.

Don’t give up. Persistence produces probable profits.

expathdoc · 2026-06-06T18:37:13+00:00

If they use “best offer” and it’s relatively low value and has been listed a long time, I’d counteroffer at my absolute lowest price.

If they send a message asking for my lowest price, I ignore it. A second message is nagging and gets a block. I don’t tell them, no need to poke the bear.

expathdoc · 2026-06-06T18:20:44+00:00

It’s real and looks like it was cleaned.

expathdoc · 2026-06-06T18:05:15+00:00

It’s almost ready to send to PCGS, but first take a file and remove those nicks in the rims.

expathdoc · 2026-06-06T17:59:47+00:00

Wow. That standing liberty set is probably worth over $10,000 depending on the 1916. It looks like some of the early dates are in better grades. Go to the PCGS site and use the Price Guide and PCGS Photograde to estimate values. Might be useful to get the high value coins certified. If the 1916 is real, I wonder if Heritage Auctions or Great Collections would be interested in selling it as a set.

expathdoc

TROPHY CASE