Our business in being a Long Island Flipper, has lead to some amazing and unexpected findings. I’ve always enjoyed browsing garage sales. I love a good buy. You truly never know what treasure you’re going to find. The key is patience! You have to sift through each table; each pile; examine each item. The saying “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” certainly is true for me! I’ve gone looking for hockey equipment and baseball cards and walk away with that and more: Christmas decorations or lawn equipment!
As I mentioned in my earlier blog “Long Island Flipper” sometimes the owner of a house leaves the contents of the property. They leave it for me to discard or sell. Usually they don’t have the means or desire to empty the house. Sometimes I have had to remove an entire house full of furniture, clothing and miscellaneous items and other times it is completely empty bare. I truly love when the house is full. I do enjoy “picking” through the house….you really never know what will be there.
I have a few favorite finds. I have come across a tuna fishing pole from the 1950’s. I have found silver and gold in the form of jewelry and a bike from England from the 1960’s. I have found a 1966 Gibson guitar and original plans of a tomcat plane from a former Grumman employee.
One of my ultimate favorites was a World War II helmet found in a basement of an East Meadow home that was just left there. The veteran had passed away and the children wanted to get rid of both the house and the contents. I keep the helmet in my office to remind me of his time serving our country.
I found an original washing machine from a Levittown Levitt cape. It was never used and still had the tag inside! It is from 1948. At the time when you purchased a Levitt house, a washing machine was offered as a “bonus” item.
As seen posted in my previous blog I came across a 1968 Cadillac coup Deville. The sellers wanted nothing to do with it and I searched the house for the keys. I wound up reselling it to a father and son looking to fix up an old car.
I have found other WWII memorabilia. I came across very interesting paintings by an owner looking to sell a home and its contents. When I further investigated the paintings, I came to find out that the artist was a prominent Jewish artist during WWII who survived the Holocaust. I let the owner know that he should clear out those contents as there was clearly significant value there; both monetary and sentimental!
Many times I tell my wife I found “something good” and I’ll get a yawn along with an eye roll! Sometimes I’ve surprised her with the cool aforementioned items. But of course, there’ve been quite a few doozies that deserve her eye rolling yawns. A box of “brand new” Christmas decorations turned out to be yellowed and dried out snow globes. Two old Victrola’s turned out to be invaluable. There’ve been dusty, moth-eaten dolls. I have found sexual items too odd to even write about here! For more info, give me a call: it was an entire roomful! There has been dead fish in fish tanks and roomfuls of feces. I mostly find garbage, clothes and stained furniture.
As I come across some interesting finds….or flops…I will continue to post and share. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a treasure or two for you!