What would you absolutely love to find at an estate sale?

An old antique that is way under valued. Something that if I took it on the Antiques Road Show, they would look at in astonishment and ask “Do you know what you have here?” Then they would marvel and say “I have never seen one of these before in person.” When they fianally say “Do you have any idea to the value of the piece?” I would smile and say “Why no I just bought it at an estate sale because I liked it.” ” I paid $100— for it.”
They would reply “You are either quite lucky or have a very good eye for antiques because we estimate the value at somewhere between $350— to $500— thousand.”
Why husband and I have been buying and selling antiques for quite a while. Mostly just for fun. The scenario above is our dream. LOL!

art, art, and more art. A massive reproduction of a Turner would be divine. Ooh or a Klimt.

The thing about art is that you have to unerstand it. I see stains on the garage floor that ar about as interesting as framed pieces I see at SAM (Seattle Art Mueseum).

A good find for me would be a book I have been looking for in the $.50 section.

an old wallet with a hefty sum of money in it.

Half of the stuff in my house, being bought by someone other than me.

All very nice.

A beautiful piece of jewelery, a gorgeous plate, an old doll, doll clothes, pretty pens, old pretty tin toys, old books (first edition, of course) or old coloring books – paper dolls! That was fun walk into fantasy land…thanks!

Cardinal: I didn’t used to appreciate postmodernism. Once you educate yourself about it, though, it takes on a whole new meaning. I’ve absolutely learned a love for it. One of my favorites, that you might be able to look at, is someone like Joan Miro. He was an absolute genius. I love everything he ever did.

Or Mondrian. Mm.

A good image to look at to get a feel for a lot of what they were doing:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y127/Delightedly/desktops/PicassocubismexplainedDESKTOP.jpg

A saw his work in Madrid, very nice. Are you a fan of the Dadaists?

I absolutely am. Its cliche, but I am in love with Duchamp. Not only was the man an ironic genius, but he was an incredible painter too.

How tasteful and erudite everyone here is. I’m embarrassed. I was going to say; a big case of MIB Star Wars figures from 1978, a working Apple Lisa, or a NeXT Cube. What a nerd!

A collection of love letters spanning the years. That would make me really happy. Or a bunch of photo albums from the same family. It would be sad if no one in that family could collect them, but I love to peek into other people’s lives.

The “valuable antique” story above would be nice too. : )

Sharl! Don’t be embarassed! I’m with ya on all that stuff you listed. And good ol cheap books! And old piano music.

@TheHaight Whew! That makes me feel a whole lot better, thanks! Books? Hell yes. It wasn’t in an estate sale, but a work colleague was making space and sold me a whole big box of early Philip K. Dick paperback editions for £40. That was nice.

I’ve been looking for a Pre WWII, pull-down, school map, vintage science beakers, antique, educational science materials, overlooked Eames furniture, and a gramophone.

Nice. Was at a flea market in Paris that had a dude with nothing but vintage Pyrex®, expensive though.
Hi, btw