Some of the best deals at garage sales are on the artwork. Of course, beauty if subjective, and a lot of the junk you will see in these sales is hideous. But there are magical works hidden in strange places all over. You just have to know what to look for and be able to realize that when a certain piece is in a different context, like your house. It might appear much more magnificent. Read on to learn more.
Instructions
Find Quality Art at Garage Sales
1. Scan the garage sale listings and start mapping out your adventure. Realize that there is a distinction between garage sales (never know what you might find) and yard sales (stuff that can sit out in a yard all day?; don't bother) and estate sales (someone dies and the heirs don't know what to do with all of the junk). Estate sales are the best. Make those your must visit places.
2. Selectively add some garage sales to the list. The best ones for art are in very old neighborhoods or in swanky parts of town, on the river, on the lake, on the top of the hill.
3. Get to the most promising looking sales the earliest in the day (say the estate sale in the mansion on the river), then work down your list. Try to map out the route so you can hit as many as you can in the most efficient way possible. Avoid criss-crossing back and forth across town.
4. Scan the walls all over the house. The paintings and prints and masks most likely will be hung. Sometimes, though, they will be in odd places. Look in laundry rooms and garages. The people selling good art for dirt cheap don't know what they have, so they very well might just hang it above the old washing machine.
5. Look at each table carefully. Often small sculptures and exquisite pottery gets shoved next to the rest of the knick-knacks.
6. When you discover something great, don't dicker for a $1 off. Just take your piece and savor it. The karma from that will lead to others.
