Sunday, September 22, 2019

Two Days of Awesome Yard Sale Finds (TMNT, GI Joe, Star Wars, Marvel, Precious Places)

Another fairly successful weekend out yard saling, on both Saturday and Sunday. People are really cleaning house for the end of yard sale season so there were tons of them, didn't even come close to having enough time to make it to all of them in the area. Question though, what the hell is with all the people who spend the money to advertise in the paper, take the time to hang up signs, and then just, nothing, no yard sale? Encountered soooo many of those this weekend, one was en entire community sale that had zero participants. Luckily I didn't drive too far for most of the abandoned ones.


One of the first stops of Saturday, I picked up a bag of Fisher Price Little People and Little Tikes Toddle Tots for a quarter. There was a Fisher Price parking garage but I knew it wasn't worth much after seeing it in a search recently, as well as some old Disney and Hannah Barbera puzzles that I almost got. I've looked up old puzzles before and never really found any that were worth anything, I'm always hoping for ones from my favorite lines though, like the ones I found this spring in NH.


Found some of the more modern Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the last of the acceptable Turtles in my opinion, and even these are pushing it. They just keep getting simpler and more childish. I think the only logical place to go from here is infant Turtles, oh no, don't anybody go pitching that to Playmates, please. I got these at a dollar a piece, kind of a lot considering they're only worth about $3 a piece, max, but they're kinda cool. I hate to admit it, but I might keep these guys for display since I now have I think three of the four Turtles, multiple Shredders, April, Foot Clan and now Splinter, Metalhead, Slash, Leatherhead and Rat King as well.

Next yard sale, they had tons of CDs and some cassettes, including some 1990s hip-hop which is right up my alley. So I had to grab still sealed cassette singles of Capone N Noreaga's T.O.N.Y. from their first album, and The Set-Up sampler from Loud Records featuring some of the all time greats Wu-Tang, Xzibit, Mobb Deep, Big Pun and Dead Prez. Don't know how much the sampler is worth because I can't find it for sale anywhere, let alone sealed, but the other one is worth about $10. I paid a dollar a piece. Might keep these as memorabilia, I've been considering doing a display of some of my favorite music from back then since it played such a large role in my life.

Then, as I ran out of time because I had to pick up my wife from work for lunch, I ran into the Brewer High School yard sale to benefit the football team. And there was a giant tote of toys, five for a dollar. I poked through it beside a little girl and her mom for about five minutes and had to go, without sifting through the bottom of the box, dammit. I ended up grabbing a couple GI Joe Valor vs Venom figures from the 2005 line (Night Creeper and Sand Viper), a movie Dr Doom, an Iron Man, and a Nickelodeon Michelangelo because I couldn't remember if I had him already, I did. Wish I'd had more time but I was already running late when I got there. I did manage to pick my wife up on time by the way. And now I'm gonna have to buy the boxes of toys from Goodwill and Salvation Army when whatever doesn't sell gets donated.

On Sunday, my wife wanted to go yard saling on her day off, so we hit a bunch of Sunday only sales, and a few I missed yesterday due to time constraints. Didn't find much but I did grab a salad bowl full of some random toys for a dollar, they just wanted them gone. Among the batch was an Elite Rey Mysterio figure from 2011, worth about $10, that is if I decide to sell him. He'd be worth about $40 if he were in better condition and had his accessories. There were also a few modern Star Wars figures, Five Nights At Freddy's, a Minecraft horse, of course some McDonalds toys, and some other random pieces I'll have to look up. And from another yard sale, from the free pile, my wife grabbed a stack of magazines, two of which had my girls Hillary Duff and Gina Rodriguez on them. And I grabbed two more cassette singles, of the R&B variety from the early 90s, All-4-One's I Swear and Shai's If I Ever Fall In Love. Overall, an awesome weekend of yard sales.

(And then the following week, while out yard saling and not finding anything, I spotted a pink and white box in someone's trash, a dollhouse. I turned around and grabbed it, knowing sometimes boxes are worth money, I know I'd pay for an empty box for items I love. Well, turns out it wasn't empty, the dollhouse was still in it. In 1989-1990, Fisher Price released a line called Precious Places, where magnets moved the figures around the houses and shops and sidewalks, and it turns out they're quite rare and worth a bit of money. This box not only has the Magic Key Mansion, it also has a buttload of furniture and accessories, the Ballet Studio, the Nursery Cottage, sidewalk pieces, figures galore, even the instruction manual. In other words, I just found a goldmine sitting in someone's trashcan. I'm tempted to hang onto this just because it's so cool but it's a rare piece, none of them even on eBay, just the parts, so I'll sell it and let it go to someone who will appreciate it. And I'll make at least $150 off of it. Not bad at all for garbage.)

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