Bargain Hunting!

ROLL UP ROLL UP TO THE CAR BOOT SALE....
EVERYTHING YOU NEED, EVEN A BLOW UP WHALE...
LOTS OF JUNK THAT SHOULD BE THROWN OUT....
BUT IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY THERE ARE BARGAINS ABOUT!

Hello again,

This week I am going to try not to spend the whole blog writing about the dog but it is hard. Especially as I bought her a new bright purple coat and it makes her look like “Super dog” in a cape! Rob absolutely refuses to walk her in it, as he says it’s bad enough being a 6’ 6’’ man walking a little girlie Jack Russell without her dressed in pink too! (I still say it’s purple not pink!)

Anyway moving on, this week we went to one of my favourite places to go on a weekend, the car boot sale. I think you either love them or hate them, but I always have a dream like many others, of finding that antique rarity amongst all the junk and making my fortune.

At one time I sold a lot of old clothes through an online auction site and used to try to sell car boot treasures on there too. My best one was a little egg cup with penguins round the edge that I bought for £3.50 and then sold for £24, as it turned out it was made by someone collectable. Unfortunately this success has not been repeated so far. I honestly did think that a thimble collector somewhere in the country would really want my Charles and Di wedding thimble, but unfortunately I was wrong. I couldn’t sell it for 99p let alone make a profit!

I think there are too many programmes like “Bargain Hunt” and “Cash in the Attic” that encourage people like me to think I can become the next David Dickinson, when I really have no idea what I am doing! After the Charles and Di thimble mistake I work on the advice they give you to only buy items that appeal to you, as well as thinking they might have some value.

It always amazes me what people think they can sell at a car boot sale. As we wandered around I saw; a tin of chicken soup; some value supermarket furniture spray; dolls with no legs or heads; books with no pages left inside; jigsaws with no pieces and cars with no wheels! I’m no snob, and enjoy a quick rummage in charity shops whenever I can, but even I draw the line at buying second hand underwear or pyjamas, but it’s all there at the boot sale!

In my house I have a cupboard that is known as “the cupboard of doom” because every time I tidy up in a rush, anything I’m not sure what to do with gets shoved in there out of sight. In there you will find things like sellotape, tea towels, screwdrivers, hammers, plastic toys, bouncy balls, books, stickers, old magazines and many other random objects. Some of the stalls at the boot sale look like they too had their own “cupboards of doom” and just emptied them straight onto the table.

Anyway, we began looking through the junk for treasures and the first thing that caught my eye was a tall oak table that is meant for putting plant pots on. I thought it would look very nice with my new lamp I had for Christmas on top. Part of the car boot experience is bartering with the sellers. So I asked the man how much, he made up a price, then I told him what I would pay, and then we met in the middle!

Next, I saw a family of 3 black wooden elephants and asked how much. This deal ended up in me paying £5 for all the elephants the seller had (7 in total), even though I only wanted three and being offered a free scotch egg into the bargain! I declined the Scotch egg, but now have more elephants than I know what to do with. At this point I thought I should stop buying things for my new house before it ended up looking like the car boot sale was being held there, and concentrate on my bargain hunting.

I saw a very nice looking pottery Tom and Jerry but the seller wanted £25 and I thought this was too much of a gamble. I have since come home and seen them selling on the auction site for double that, so perhaps I should have taken the risk. I don’t really like to spend more than £5 on any one item, as it really is just a hobby to me and then even if it doesn’t sell it’s not the end of the world. In the end I found a saucer with the original Pinky and Perky on it in good condition, with the pottery name and “made in England” on the bottom. It had a price ticket saying £3.50 and I had great pleasure in getting the price down to £3! I actually like it so haven’t decided yet what I will do with it. There were no others like it on the auction site when I looked, but I have found the matching teacup for sale on there so perhaps I will buy that and then sell it as a set!

I think it’s safe to say I won’t be appearing on the “Antiques Road Show” as an expert just yet but it’s still a fun hobby. Sometimes Rob and I will both buy one thing with a £5 limit and see who can make the best sale with it. I think I just have to learn not to keep all the things I buy as that isn’t part of the game.

If you are off to a car boot sale this weekend good luck with the bargains, and if you see any more Pinky and Perky china for sale let me know!

Thanks for reading

Ellie
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