Here’s one of my latest treasure acquisitions. It is a sterling silver, horseshoe with a gnome standing inside it (see the pictures below). As you can see on the back, it is clearly marked sterling. I bet you want to know how much it cost me. Keep reading and find out.
Vintage Sterling Silver Horseshoe Pin with a Gnome Acquired from a Yard Sale.
Back of a Vintage Horseshoe Pin Marked Sterling.
Here’s the story. I found a yard sale on Craigslist mentioning 50s vintage jewelry. I made sure this was the yard sale first on my list for the day. I arrived at the sale about 50 minutes after it opened and the jewelry was still there. It turned out the seller was still setting it all out.
I picked up the lucky little horseshoe pin and a few other jewelry pieces (I’ll tell you their stories in the next few blog posts, later this week). Then, I continued walking around the yard sale. I found some more vintage non-jewelry related items to buy (you’ll understand why I mentioned this in a minute).
After I was done shopping, I asked the seller for a package deal on my vintage non-jewelry items. We agreed upon a price. Then, I handed her the jewelry I was holding and asked her for a price on them. Here’s the awesome part; she said, “I’ll give them to you for free.”
I was shocked! She gave me the vintage sterling silver pin and other jewelry free, because I was buying other stuff from her.
Here’s the lesson this reminded me to tell you guys. If you are buying other stuff, get the seller to give you a price for the non-jewelry items first. Then, ask for a price on the jewelry. They will be so happy you are buying the other stuff; they may throw in the jewelry for free (or for a very cheap price). This has happened to me on more than one occasion, but this reminded me to tell you about it.
Consider yourself in the knowledge loop. Now, you know about this trick too.
Do you have a trick to share with me? If so, send it to me via the contact page. I’d love to know about it.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting,
~Vicki Priebe Author of “Cheap Gold and Silver”