One Saturday morning this summer, I was getting my yard sale list ready for the day. I noticed a yard sale had been running since Thursday. The last day of the sale was going to be Sunday. As this was the third day of the sale, I wasn’t putting it on my high priority list, but when I was in the neighborhood I would stop in to see what they had. Well I made it to the sale mid-morning. As I was walking around the sale, the sellers told me that tomorrow was the last day of the sale, so anything left they’d be willing to take offers on Sunday. There was some costume jewelry that I checked out, but nothing that stood out. I kept walking around looking at their stuff when a pair of candle stick holders caught my eye. I picked them up and looked at the bottom it said Sterling Weighted. Then I looked at the price tag, $20.
I put the pair down, continued walking around the sale. As I got back in my vehicle, I looked up the candle sticks on the internet. They were selling around $25-$35, so they were asking around the retail price. I remembered they said, tomorrow they would be taking offers. I figured I’d stop in again tomorrow to see if they were still there.
On Sunday morning, I stopped at the sale again. They were true to their words, they said make offers on anything you see. I walked back to the location of the candle sticks, and much to my delight they were still sitting there. I picked one up and looked it over again. Then, I asked them how much they wanted for the pair of candle sticks? They said, “how about $10”? I replied, “I was thinking more around $5 is in my budget”. I no more got the words out of my mouth and they said, “We can do $5”. I picked up the candle sticks and walked around a little more before checking out with my prize.
Here are some lessons from this story:
Listen to what the sellers tell you. If they are going to hold the sale the next day you might get a bargain at the end of the sale, especially if something was overpriced for a yard sale. Sometimes they’ll tell you the last hour of a sale that day they will negotiate. Other times, they tell you they will take offers right away even at the start of day 1.
Don’t be afraid of countering with a lower offer (remember, don’t insult the seller), just give them your honest price you were thinking of, they just might take it or counter back. Notice I didn’t say $0.25 as that would have been an insult. I was testing the water when I said $5. I was actually very surprised they took my offer.
Here are the particulars on the pair of sterling candle sticks. They are a matching pair of Empire #42 Sterling Silver Weighted Candle Sticks. They measure about 2.5” wide X 2.75” tall. They weigh 4.896 troy ounces.
Remember, the stamp on the bottom says weighted. So there is wax or a substance inside to give them their weight and shape. It is not solid Sterling silver. It is basically a sterling silver shell. Keep this in mind if you are reselling them as scrap sterling silver. I’m not going to rip these candle sticks apart as there isn’t much damage to them. However, I cover this further in my other blog article found here: https://www.treasurefever.com/post/weighted-silver-candlestick . Be sure to read it on weighted sterling silver objects. I even open up another weighted sterling silver candle stick holder.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting,
~Vicki Priebe Author of “Cheap Gold and Silver”