9 Items At Garage Sales That Are Worth More Than You Think

garage sale
garage sale
Image By FollowTheFlowStudio From Envato Elements

Artwork

It’s not unheard of to find paintings at garage sales. And while people generally want to get rid of replicas, it’s not bad to have a look at the framed paintings you may see at one. If you have seen the documentary “Who the #$% Is Jackson Pollock?”, you may know why we recommend this!

Otherwise, just know that a truck driver once bought an original Jackson Pollock painting for $5 at a garage sale. Needless to say, the amount of money he later got for it was way more than that initial $5. And while the chances are quite slim for someone in this day and age to sell priceless artwork, you never know what people decide that great-grandma kept in the attic for too long.

And if you stock up on some artwork that isn’t actually an original, you can still end up racking up some good prices for old, vintage painting frames. So some of the money from your initial few bucks will come back one way or another.

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10 thoughts on “9 Items At Garage Sales That Are Worth More Than You Think”

    1. Great Information. I recently went to a lawn and house and I for two original pieces of and one signed print. The two originals I sold for a total of $5300 and the signed print I sold for $1275. I paid a total of $15 for the three works. 😊😊😊

  1. Random records at garage sales tend to be iffy for resale in my experience unless you know what to look for.
    Key for getting return on investment is condition. Of both the vinyl and the jacket – even light scratches on an album can drop the value – and frayed or torn jackets usually mean dollars off resale – same with missing inner sleeves.

    And looking for discs that are high dollar takes some knowledge of genre, artist and labels. Reissue labels have minimal value but original labels can hike the price 10 to 100 fold. Think Elvis 50’s or Beatles early 60’s lps versus the reissues in the 80’s.

    And then there are labels – find a 1950’s Blue Note jazz disc in great shape and you are probably going to do well. Same thing with some RCA and Mercury Classical Discs from the 50’s (Living Stereo and Living Presence) – Reader’s Digest compilations with the same tracks are great to listen to but don’t command the same dollar value.

      1. I suggest you do some ebay searching to see if others are being sold and the asking price. Or, invest in record price guide. But, as Geno mentioned, MANY things can change the value: is it rare? what is the condition? is it by an artist or on a label that is sought after? Elvis/Beatles/rockabilly/doowop/etc originals are generally worth more than reissues…however, some reissues might be valuable because of their scarcity. A misprint on some labels might add to a record’s value…or it might detract. Many things to consider…and a rare record has little value if you don’t find someone who wants it. Good luck!!!

  2. I bought a 1979 45 record Blondie, Heart of Gold, for $1.00. One of the last 45’s made.
    Priceless to me

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