Estate Sale Leftovers: The Quirky, Weird and Oversize in a Massive Weekend Warehouse Sale
Author:Lindsey ShookNoah Sanders, one of the partners in Old Hat Estate Sales, is honest about his (and his co-workers) addiction. “We are horders,” he says. “But we are horders of a certain quality.” This weekend, their struggle is your gain as they throw open the doors of their warehouse and sell the remains of seven sales. The large and bizarre items tend to be overlooked during an estate sale but, since Sanders and company can’t stand to leave them behind, the odd bits will be out in force at this event–and their low prices are bound to find them good homes.
‘People come to an estate sale and want to buy something they can fit in their backpacks,” says Sanders. “That means the bigger furniture is usually the last to go. And the weird shit tends to get passed over because people can’t envision how they will use it.”
Just what do they mean by weird? Try a table whose top is a shellack-covered potato sack. (“Actually, my partner and I found this on the side of the road in Point Reyes,” says Sanders. “There are two made of sacks from local potato farms that operated some 30 or 40 years ago. They are very cool.”)
Other items that tend to get left behind are clothes and books. “We have some great vintage outfits for sale,” says Sanders. “And we also have what’s called a Nero-edition dictionary, because it was used in the Nero Wolfe Mysteries television series.”
When you are in the estate sale business, it probably doesn’t pay to get attached to things. But when the Old Hat trio takes a shine to an estate-sale orphan, it’s been easy just to bring it back to the company’s Bayview warehouse and store it. Now that they are moving to a smaller place, the time for collecting-intervention has arrived.
“We don’t just have big stuff,” says Sanders. “We have small pieces, prints, a saw from the 1930s, a vintage Coleman chest and old television dinner trays. If we kept it, it’s interesting, and this weekend we are pricing it to move.”
Check out the goods at their soon-to-be former warehouse at 250 Loomis St. until 4 p.m. today, and Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 11 and 12) from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
