June sent me an ad for an estate sale. I looked at it briefly and thought if I had time Friday morning, I would go.Friday morning, I finished whatever I had to finish and had about 45 mins before I needed to pick Neil up. I decided to go to the sale. I reached the house at 10.45,giving me only 30 mins to browse. The place was insane. Cars were parked on both sides of the street. The house teeming with people.
I held tightly onto Samar’s hand, threw a packet of Gummy bears at him and dove into the first thing I saw. The jewellery stuff. It was labelled $2 a piece. I bought these for $2 each.
Then I saw this big entangled mess of jewellery. I was trying to get the individual pieces out but it was too tight a knot. I asked the lady selling, how much do you want for the entire bunch. She looked at it and said $20. And $20 was what I had left. The other ladies beside me looked at me enviously wishing that they had their hands on it.
From this jumbled up mess, this is what I got..all for $20
4 brooches. I didnt have a single one prior to today
necklaces
More
Pay special attention to the necklace 2nd from the right
It opens up into a tiny delicate fan. Dragon designs on one side and willows on the other
These were the plasticy ones
I gave them to Ashwina to do her beading. Avasha has claimed the colorful jellybean ones for herself.
$20 for all that. Go on,die of jealousy. Most of them look really nice. I dont know whether its 14k gold. It’s very shiny and new despite the way it was thrown out. Need to go to a jeweler to asses value. Each week, I think I cannot top my previous weeks’ bargains and yet I do. Good garage sale karma? Good instincts. Good bargaining skills? I dont think the other women thought to ask what the person would sell the bunch for. I have a thick, thick skin and dont hesitate to ask for discounts.(only at garage sales/estate sales/craft fairs) I mean whats the worse that can happen, the person would say NO and you decide whether its worth the initial price to you and you either buy it or put it down and move on. But you have to make smart decisions. If the lady had said $50, I wouldnt have bought it(because I didnt have that much cash in the first place) . If she said $20 and I had bargained with her to $15, she would have refused to sell it to me, since $20 is already a good price. Do you see how instincts come into play here.And just to drive the stake further into Bini’s heart,
All for $20
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Seriously !! Whats with the area you live in S. These sales are awesome and look at all the pretty jewellery you’ve got
Me: Too many millionaires who have no one to give their stuff to when they move into a nursing home or die. Sad.
Nice! In the third-from-bottom picture, what is the wide necklace? It looks really interesting.
M
Me: The pearl choker type?
Oh my goodness! That is an absolute steal! Wow!
You sure live in a very interesting place! I have never even seen a sale of this sort here!
Me: Oh you know when we were in Bath, NK’s kakaji took us to a car boot sale. It was in a open field and they sold stuff out of their car trunks
It was an interesting concept.
Not Fair! I live in the same area as you. But then you have the Garage sale karma, who can beat that right?
Me:
Next time, I will email you if you are into that sort of thing. Its not everyones cup of tea 
Bini at workdesk “Faints”. Manager tries to revive her but in vain. Might have to take the rest of the day off…
Great going S..You definitely have Garage sale Karma:)
Me: puts some smelling salts. I told you so.
Wow! Now I want to see each of these modeled.
Me: It will take me a long long time to work through them. But one of the necklaces is in the green-black outfit below.
Love love love. I should come there asap to get some crash courses on bargain hunting!
Me: Please do!
I am such a good friend, no?
I love the fan necklace, it’s so pretty! And the ivory looking one. I was thinking of going to the sale on Saturday, but then I ended up being sick all weekend. Oh well.
Me: Oh well, you get some good friend karma from me .:) Fwd me more interesting ones that you come across..
Great bargain
Me: Yup.
HOW do you keep all these things organized????!!!!!
Me: Nk made this for me http://asaaan.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/reason-12527-that-nk-is-awesome/. I have 2 of them now and when he gets back, he will make more.
Have been a silent lurker all this while. But had to comment on this one. OMG, what a haul!
You absolutely have the best karma ever. I have been drooling over your collection now. That necklace with the fan is so pretty! You need to out it on and show us.
Me: Waves hello. I will make sure to point out pieces from this haul when I wear them.
I am very envious of your dragon fan necklace, as I love dragon jewelry/patterns. But I’m so glad for you that something went right for you, with all that’s been going on in your life!
Me: I was happy on Friday when I bought that stuff.
Hey, did the voting for the sam-e close?? I have been voting twice everyday but havent been able to since yesterday.
Me: Thanks P you are sweet. I gave up on it a long time ago
And yes it over.
THAT’S A LOOT !!!
Would have never thought of asking for entire bunch ….hmmm. Good going
love most of the stuff, but that fan necklace is extra awesome!! u must design an outfit around it sooner rather than later
how/where do u get the estate sale ads?
Me: Craigslist? Friends who know you love bargains and fwd you ads?
awesome stuff S!!
but then you know that! you showoff!! bah!! :p
Awesome! I’m not into jewellery but I would love to have those pieces too
wotalotugot!they are very pretty..my sister used to have one of those fan ones..i used to eye it..dunno where it went.cheers to more garagesale karma
Me: Yup… although I doubt anything will top this.
I wannnnttttttt toooooooo…..i think your collection can compete with mine now….but earings i still beat you…coz at last count i have a 100 +++ pairs …but necklace you win…i think i only have about 15…..sigh never mind…shall i come over there to visit you..then u bring me to these places…
Me: I dont really wear earrings right especially since I have short hair.. I have really enviable collection now. but you know who wins us both. Barki bhua. She has tons and tons, will you ask her to read this and look at the pictures when you are with her the next time. Also your comment went to SPAM…because I marked a stupid Singaporean troll who made rude comments as SPAM…:)
I have been stabbed and churned. Those long necklaces with pendants are lovely and the green brooch. THIS IS WHY YOU AREN”T GOING TO YOUR SISTER’S WEDDING AND NK IS. Sorry, but it’s true.
Me:hahahaha.. You with Swasta astuff are jealous of me!! with the gladiators and the beautifool blue baubles jewelry.
I am right now into brooches – was looking in Etsy for some interesting ones.. may be I should look in thrift stores instead. I am totally J!
Also love the tree necklace. Super duper shopping!
Me: I had been looking for them for a while now, but the ones at the thrift store looked really gaudy. This was my lucky day. You know right, when I pulled the bunch out, I wasnt even aware it had brooches in it.
Awesome – where are u located sraikh in CA where there are such awesome deals
I am dying of envy, I wish I have estate sales, garage sales, any sale here!
[...] there is no fucking (since I am trying not to curse on the blog) way, I can top this find. From the $20 jewelery loot to the vintages scarves, to the recent trash can findings…each week I think, I will have [...]
Thank you.
I am into that sort of thing, I have bought lots of stuff from garage sale except clothes…
Me: I will email you then next time.
Ah, so it is a pearl choker – still nice, but it looked like gold beads in that picture, and choker of gold (gold-tone whatever) beads would have been fantastic!
M
Oh! Let me hunt around for car boot sales around here
Did I tell you that I have started picking up a lot more accessories, inspired by you 
Me: YAY! Good luck and do a post if you come across anything interesting.