A good find at an estate sale!

[julianburke]

Sunday I went to a 2nd day of an estate sale not expecting anything because I went to a Hamfest in Dalton, Ga. the day before. (Yes, that takes precedence!) It was on Wellington Dr which in the 1960's was where the wealthiest folks lived. It still is a good address. The house had been closed up for perhaps 15 years or more with everything intact as both occupants were deceased. Downstairs was a large bar with a RCA 213G 186MU (CTC12 I think) 1963 color set installed in a cavity made for it on the right hand side. It was priced at $20 and no one even looked at it-good for me! It is in new condition save for the cataract and the small dent/scratch they put in the left side corner in getting it out for me which I did not ask them to do as I wanted to move it out myself. Sometimes you find all the books/paperwork for it on top of the set when they are installed like that. No paperwork but the black string for the hang tag is still on the bottom color control. On the other side of the room was a 1954 Admiral C2526N B&W console in very good condition save for the small amount of mildew on the bottom. I know the people who ran the sale and Joe let me have them both for $10. (He also published a book on "Household Antiques" and featured me for the Radio and TV section)

Now I have more sets to stack up with space at a premium. If they were not sold, they would have gone to the dump as this is what's happening nowadays. They are out there and finding wealthier homes that are being sold out by the children for the real estate value are currently the trend. I would love to do these sales in NY and Chicago where this kind of stuff should be plentiful and fun to find!

In the last few months I have found sets that are now scarce to find (and didn't really pay much attention to them until now) such as a early RCA 19" XL100 on its' original Gusdorf cart in mint condition, Zenith 21" Chromacolor 4B25 4 tube chassis in mint condition w/original cart and a white Zenith 16" remote control set (one with the slide rule controls on the top) with its' single button remote still intact all for free or a couple of bucks. Again, these would have been tossed if not sold. Even at yard sales I have encountered sets for free that I have had to take home or they would have met their demise. Sometimes that is a very hard decision to make!! If it wasn't for me, some of these sets would be history but are now still in existence. I hope many of you have made the same decisions with very few regrets.

Now is the time to get out there and find these treasures! Ten years from now they will be gone and many more will end up in the Dempster that are currently still around.

BTW, in this last Sunday estate sale did I mention in the carport of the rear of this house was a early 80's BMW and a 1983 Jaguar that hadn't been licensed since 2000 and 1986 respectively? Both were dirty and rusting/corroding from sitting in the carport. Both probably will be for sale but not worth a lot of money. This house was a time capsule. It is an interesting house with a great view, you can google it for a picture at 7004 Wellington Dr Knoxville, Tn.