Strangest things

[K8MHZ]

What is the strangest thing you have ever seen for sale at a residential yard sale?

A couple years ago I thought I had seen it all when I saw an entire radar unit, rotating antenna and all, off a WWII ship for sale.

Today I was browsing about when I saw for sale this white leathery looking flat thing for a quarter or something.

It was labeled 'Bottom of a turtle'.

Now if any of you out there has seen something weirder than this for sale, I would like to hear about it.

[al2n]

Saw a taxidermy cat once. Was a tabby if I remember right.

[N0KLT]

The usual crowd that hits garage/yard sales around here is weird enough for me. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[KE5FRF]

A better question would be "the wierdest stuff you've bought at a garage sale" http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[w5klb]

Around here, it is local protocol to hold a yard sale at the busiest corner in the neighborhood. It is a requirement to block traffic and to open car doors, park illegally, and to walk across the street to visit yard sales in front of moving vehicles without the slightest concern for safety for their own lives or courtesy for other people. It is also local protocol for our local donut brigade to ignore such minor infractions of traffic laws and safety.

[n2ize]

never bought anything "weird" at yard sales but I did but a few interesting things such as:

1) An old all brass straight key for $1.00

2) An old fashioned copper tank soda-acid type fire extinguisher

3) Some old fashioned perloid/celluloid combs and jewelry boxes for my girl friend.

4) Two antique electric fans for $5.00 a piece.

5) A box of assorted tubes. Most were old TV tubes but a few useful types appeared as well.

6) A "Violet ray generator"

[N5NPO]

How about this twist.....
Things you would like to find at a yard sale... CHEAP

[K8MHZ]

I forgot to mention that at this same yard sale there was a bullet proof vest for two bucks. #Anyone here know how to tell a good yard sale bullet proof vest from a bad one? #Aside from checking for holes, that is.

[n2ize]

How about a yard sale with plenty of acid shrooms smoke and dope ? How about a yard sale with a secks machine ? And instructions ?

[W1GUH]

I forgot to ask 'MHZ,

How much for the radar, and did it work?

[N2RJ]

Yard sales? Don't go to those.

At hamfests, however, I've seen:

- One guy selling a menorah (I guess Judaism wasn't doing it for him anymore?)

- A genuine NYPD sew on badge (illegal, but what would I do with it?)

- Civil Defense radiation test kit (I bought it just for shifts and giggles)

- The Avon lady (I bet she made a lot of money... not!)

- ANd last but not least, a guy selling inert bomb casings.

[KC9ECI]

I bought a can labeled 'Turtle Testicles' at a sale once. I got them for a guy I work with who likes gags like that. I was out and about on the 100 mile yard sale in MN yesterday. I bought a Firefighter Only Parking sign, a DeVRY 1S14 multimeter (pristine and only $3) and an ELO CD. Other than that, my daughter cleaned up. She came home with a pile of toy. Pretty shrewd for 5, he always asks the person holding the sale 'will you take less?'

Learned it from her mom.

[KD6NIG]

The strangest thing I've noticed at yard sales is that the stuff I've put out that I would think NOBODY would touch sells first. The stuff you think people would be clamoring over you sometimes cannot give away.

About 3 years ago the City of Stockton went to a 3 can system for trash. Trash can, Recycle bin, and Green Waste bin were provided to all houses here.

Before then, I had bought my own 40 gallon can. It was now unused. It had seen steady trash service for 2 years prior. The thing stank, was probably getting close to beginning to fall apart.

I put it out. As a joke, I stuck a $5 pricetag on it. I figured it would go to the dump along with the other junk I had cleaned out that was, honestly, junk-but I put it out anyway. I mean, who knows. Maybe someone could use the floor jack I had that didn't go up anymore among other things.

The trash can sold first. Much of the other junk-broken chairs, stuff like that.....stuff that was dump bound was inquired upon.

A nice, pretty new, dining room table and chairs sat there all day. I finally took an offer which was $20 less than the $80 I was asking for. It was an ok, but cheap set, but it was the nicest thing there.

Moral: Put everything out. You'd be surprised who will buy things. Even the old spare tire from my old car that somehow didn't go with it when I traded it in garnered me $10.

Its just amazing what people buy.

[K8MHZ]

Quote[/b] (W1GUH @ May 05 2007,11:28)]I forgot to ask 'MHZ,

How much for the radar, and did it work?
The radar unit was pretty much free to anyone that would take the entire thing, which weighed hundreds of pounds.

I just wanted the Amphenol connectors and cables but 'no deal' if I didn't want the entire unit.

[ka5piu]

Hello.

I was in shock to find that a 7 year old understood what the thing did (the sex machine).
The site linked was for an "Art exhibit" thus somehow making it fine.
But, again, this is one of where most kids not only have seen something like this but also know more about it than most adults.
And, I was quite careful to post a warning.

[ka5piu]

Hello.

The link has been removed.
I do feel that there is something of a double standard.
Profanity is taboo, that is a given.
An "Art exhibit" is fine.
This is based on not what the Zed finds acceptable but the FCC.
But, yes, in hindsight, this should have not been posted to begin with.
I am sorry.

[KA9VQF]

Probably the strangest thing I’ve seen at a yard sale was a miniature replica of the Eiffel tower. Maybe scale replica would be a better word for this thing it was around 20 feet tall.

The asking price was $2000.00 the seller even offered to haul and reassemble it for an additional price. There were blueprints that were verified copies of the originals, and a book full of photos the builder had taken when he was in Paris, that went along with it.

Probably the best deal I ever got at a yard sale is the radio I brought to work. I saw a pair of Sony speakers that go with a Sony boom box with a $2.00 price marked on them and thought they would be a good deal so I picked them up and brought them to the table they were collecting the money at and the woman said “That stereo goes with those speakers ya‘know.”

The stereo is just a cheap Yorks brand but it has dual cassette and a phonograph built in. I screwed the speakers to the sides of the stereo and was allowed to bring it to work. It sure beats the ghetto blasters most of my coworkers bring in.