So I am a Geek/Dork/Nerd to the 10th degree. I like Star wars and computers and video games and bluetooth headsets. I also have this other dorky secret...I like to go to garage sales and thrift stores. I don't just like it either...I sorta have a passion for it. I love to buy something for really cheap and then sell it for a lot of money (A few examples to follow).
I think I am really good at this stuff too. I guess I could liken it to a gambler who walks into the casino and thinks he is going to beat the house. Every time I walk into a persons driveway with junkloads of crap on tables I truly believe I can beat the house. Somedays this is true...Lots of days it is not.
I am going to show you a few of my successes but one must realize that for every success story there are literally 10-15 failures. I'm still learning a lot about being a smart buyer but sometimes you just gotta know if a vintage "A man called Horse" poster is going to settle some old accounts.
First I will start with my most recent and proud success:
The Beatles Yesterday and Today Album.
The Story behind this beaut is on an ordinary Saturday morning me, my wife and 2 children hit up this "ongoing garage sale." The person who runs the garage sale has this place open all the time and I have been to the house before but never into the garage and here is why. the garage has almost every time been blocked by 3000 dog kennels and tarps covering mildewy dog and cat toys with a few 1970's skate boards and old tires thrown in the mix. But a true garage sales person must look just-in-case...this time it paid off. The path to the garage was clear and inside was a warehouse of "could-be" jewels.As I wade through the masses I stumble across some old records. I don't normally look at records but I noticed the top record was a Beatles album. I thought to myself, "I wonder if I could find a Beatles White Album in here" (For I thought all Beatles White Albums were Valuable but that is not true). As I'm looking my hands start to shake because the first 4 records were Beatles albums and I can see that the next album has a white spine. As I uncover the next album I nearly lose my breathe when I see an all white album with, "the Beatles" printed on the front.
The Beatles White Album:
I grab another Beatles Album and cover up the White album and ask the lady out front, "How much you want for all this junk?" Ok actually I offered here a dollar for 2 albums and she took it. I went back into our minivan all excited about my purchase when Priscilla was nursing our 2 week old baby. I asked if I could go back in and Priscilla said, "Sure". This time I went straight to the albums and bought the final three Beatles albums for $2. I honestly don't know if I had the Beatles Yesterday and Today Album in hand the first time or second time, but all I can say is that I was glad I went back in. I thank Priscilla often for feeding our child at that precise moment.Little did I know that the White album was not the real treasure in the stack of records I was carting home. The real jewel was the beatles album "yesterday and Today" and here is why. The Beatles White album has been reproduced several times. In short the ones that make the good money have and embossed "The Beatles" title on the front with a Number on the front of what pressing it is. Needless to say the lower the number on the front the more collectors are willing pay. My beatles album was not embossed and had no such number on the cover and therefore was worth around $30 (Not bad for paying 50 cents).
The Beatles Yesterday and Today however has a cool history to it. The Original album cover is not what you see up top. The Original cover for this record looks like this:
Original Beatles Yesterday And Today Cover
Pretty gross huh? Well Capitol records thought so too and recalled this album. But since they had already printed off a ton of these covers they decided to cut costs by pasting the new "Trunk Cover" over this butcher cover. This of course means that if you own and original butcher cover (AKA: 1st state Butcher Cover) you can easily fetch upwards of $2,000 on e-bay if it's in mint condition. I however found a "Trunk Cover" album with the butcher cover underneath (AKA: 2nd state butcher cover). You can tell you have a 2nd state butcher cover if you look to the right of Paul in the trunk and can see the black "V" of Ringos butcher jacket underneath like this:Ringo's black "V" barely visible
As I looked this particular 2nd state butcher cover album up on e-bay I saw that one sold for $400 and it nearly blew my mind. Here is the facts:Bought for: $.50
Sold For: $350.00 (On e-bay)
all in all a good day at the dog kennel garage sale.
3 comments:
That's pretty sweet! I wish I could find stuff like that, but generally I'm too lazy to go out and search through all the crap for stuff I don't really want myself.
Good job you!
Yeah wading through the junk is the tough part. It is especially hard when you see something that could be worth something but your not sure.
Then there is of course always the added desire to buy something you need or have been wanting for a while. I try and douse those desires before I go in...otherwise they have you!
My Dad has a reissue of it which he bought on his trip in america and he searched it to see if it had it underneath but the thing is if it has a gold star on it, I can't remember exactly where, then it will not have the butcher cover underneath. If it doens't have the star, well then you're in luck!
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