WHAT GOES AROUND THERE IS A GOLD MINE OF PROFITS TO BE GENERATED IN 'RECYCLING' OTHER PEOPLE'S COLLECTIBLES - OR YOUR OWN TREASURES - AT FLEA MARKETS, GARAGE SALES, ONLINE.Byline: Barbara Correa Staff Writer Forget stocks, bonds and real estate. In these times of economic uncertainty, savvy pack rats have found they can help make ends meet the old-fashioned way: Scouring scouring characterized by scour. scouring disease a colloquial name for secondary nutritional copper deficiency. garage sales, swap meets and their own closets for a profit. For those needing extra income, identifying little-used or unwanted items around the house that have resale value can prove a painless way to bring in ready cash. For sophisticated scavengers with an eye for diamonds in the rough, buying and selling items at flea markets, garage sales and on the Internet can become a way of life and even a livelihood. Tim Saunders, a veteran swap meet and flea market enthusiast, recently spotted a large collection of Disney articles, a category known as Disneyana in the collectible world, on sale at the Rose Bowl swap meet for a fraction of what it was worth. ``I felt bad for the woman selling it,'' said Saunders, 54, who still enjoyed making a handsome profit from his find, though it was far short of his greatest coup: Buying two gold watches at a garage sale in Diamond Bar for 50 cents and selling them for $1,800. ``Swap meets can be good (for buyers) because people don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what their stuff is worth. In the last year or so. I've been noticing people are selling things they wouldn't have sold before.'' Southern Californians have been buying, selling and supplementing their incomes at flea markets and garage sales for generations. The extent of such underground economic activity is aided by the climate and several other factors as well. When people come to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, with dreams of becoming the next Britney Spears or Vin Diesel, they more often than not wake up from the fantasy and run back to wherever they came from, leaving all the stuff they've accumulated on the rough road to stardom behind - in storage units. Many of the items sold at local swap meets and flea markets come from these storage spaces, the contents of which are auctioned off after the owners stop making payments, said John Schoen, manager of the Roadium Open Air market in Torrance and former president of the National Flea Market Association. ``It's a whole system in Southern California,'' says Schoen. ``They buy the containers sight-unseen. All they know is they paid $400 for the load and they need to make $800 from it.'' Another factor that makes the storage spaces, swap meets and garages of Southern California unusually good places to hunt for attic treasures is that there is something inherently kitschy about the region. A lot of that can be pinned on the proximity to Hollywood and the theatrical environment that has always defined the region, said Charles Phoenix, a collector and curator of ``God Bless Americana,'' a slide show performance of vintage vacation slides from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Phoenix himself spends most Saturdays away from his Silver Lake neighborhood, trolling (1) Surfing, or browsing, the Web. (2) Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding. (3) Hanging around in a chat room without saying anything, like a "peeping tom." estate sales in communities built between the 1930s and the 1960s - like Long Beach, the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , Downey and Whittier. He said the crowning achievement of that particular era of kitsch was Disneyland, the source of one of the most active categories of collectibles. Disney-themed paraphernalia has been a mainstay of Southern California's collecting-for-profit community. Certain subcategories of Disneyana - such as animation cells and maquettes, which are 3-D sculptures animators use as references - could be called the blue chips of the collecting world. Maquettes can trade at anywhere from $500 to $5,000; animation cells can start at more than $200 and sell for thousands, depending on age and other factors, said Rob Nelson, director of merchandise for Disney auctions. Still, as in the stock market, collectible blue chips are subject to cyclical downturns. Demand for Disneyana isn't what it used to be, said Allyson Vought, a commercial artist in Azusa, who started collecting Disney items in the 1960s. ``Disneyana was good for a long time. But now there are fewer shows, ... less interest.'' Changing tastes and fickle buyers are a consistent problem for flea market wheeler-dealers. Motoko Henry, a retired pharmacist in Glendale, says the crowd at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet has changed and isn't interested in her Japanese dolls Japanese Dolls In Japan some dolls relate to luck. One example of this is the daruma doll, a round doll composed of a head and body. Daruma represents Bodhidharma, an East Indian whose limbs withered after prolonged meditation. and handicrafts anymore. ``We used to come from Japan every summer and winter and we made a profit,'' says Henry. ``We tried to sell there a few years ago and we lost money.'' Marlene McKinnon, 71, of Palmdale, also says she's been struggling to sell amid competition from new products imported from Asia. To compete, McKinnon reduced her overhead to next to nothing by creating her own crafts, such as dolls made of neckties, which she sells for $20 to $25 each at outdoor markets like the Palmdale Fall Festival and the Ontario Christmas Festival. Another threat to these small-scale sellers of stuff has come in electronic form: Online auction site eBay. The access to an international buyers market that eBay offers has forced some old-school trinket traders to reinvent themselves. Josef Purkart, a serious book collector and professor of German at the University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside, commonly known as UCR or UC Riverside, is a public research university and one of ten campuses of the University of California system. , shut down his Inland Empire In·land Empire A region of the northwest United States between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, comprising eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Farming, lumbering, and mining are important to the area. bookstore last April because competition from eBay caused sales to dry up. Now, he is selling rare books directly out of his house and has joined forces with the enemy, putting some of his 20,000-volume collection online. ``For me, it's a godsend god·send n. Something wanted or needed that comes or happens unexpectedly. [Alteration of Middle English goddes sand, God's message : goddes, genitive of God, God ,'' says Purkart, ``I sold $1,000 last month.'' When Rich Roth of Covina got a $198 bid for a 1932 Chevrolet Cabriolet hood ornament on eBay, he thought the buyer was toying with him. ``I thought it was a joke,'' says Roth. ``I thought I'd get 10 bucks for it.'' Andrew Smith Andrew Smith or Andy Smith may refer to:
First successful form of photography. It is named for Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, who invented the technique in collaboration with Nicéphore Niépce. of a man in a top hat for $100 at an antique shop antique shop n → tienda de antigüedades antique shop antique n → magasin m d'antiquités antique shop antique n in the French Quarter of New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded . He sold it on eBay a week later for $1,500. Smith also made $410 on a vintage 35-foot Spartan trailer he found in the El Cajon Recycler for $100. Another recent coup was a box of 1960s rock 'n' roll rock 'n' roll: see rock music. posters, including one of Grace Slick and the Great Society that he bought for $80 in Santa Cruz and sold for so much he said he lived off the profit for several months. ``I thought everyone knew about rock `n' roll posters,'' he said. Indeed, ignorance among garage-sale sellers about the worth of their merchandise is what allows these entrepreneurial scavengers to turn flea market trolling into gold. ``I found this Hummel hummel entire, naturally polled deer. good shepherd figurine,'' said Rick Rexroade, a senior program analyst at the electric propulsion lab at Edwards Air Force base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. in the Antelope Valley. ``The price was $5 and I knew it was worth $600. I sold it on eBay for $700.'' The rewards are all the better for sellers who find treasures among their own trash. Allyson Vought, the artist and airplane pilot in Azusa, was cleaning out a hangar she keeps in La Verne when she stumbled on a remote-controlled car she got from co-workers about 15 years earlier. ``I put it on eBay and got 1,000 bucks,'' said Vought, who was so thrilled at the sale she delivered it personally, jumping in her plane and flying it directly to the buyer in San Jose. Some traders say eBay's feverish growth is beginning to undermine prices sellers can get for every category of collectible, from World War II military gear to vintage Fiestaware pottery. The sales saturation is prompting hard-core collectors to explore other auction sites, such as Yahoo! Auctions and AuctionDiner.com. As a longterm investment, however, money spent on collectibles and other people's stuff - whatever it is - always comes back in spades, said Vought, who also collects Steiff German bears and other classic toys. And objects provide a sense of security that paper wealth just can't buy. ``If the economy goes rotten,'' said Vought, ``we can always barbecue our teddy bears.'' FREE TO FLEA The term ``flea market'' has been around at least since 1922, according to etymologist et·y·mol·o·gist n. A specialist in etymology. Noun 1. etymologist - a lexicographer who specializes in etymology David Wilton. The phrase connotes low-rent or cheap, because such places were often infested in·fest tr.v. in·fest·ed, in·fest·ing, in·fests 1. To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious: with fleas. The term flea market is a translation of the French marche aux puces, literally ``market with fleas,'' an open-air market where second-hand goods are sold. Some suggest that the term is also influenced by the fact that such markets are not fixed and jump around like fleas. While this may be a characteristic of the markets, it does not appear to be the origin. Here's a list of some of the larger flea markets - or swap meets, if you prefer - around Southern California. Smaller-scale garage sales can be found in the newspaper's classified ads almost every weekend. Antelope Valley Swap Meet at Four Points On Pear Blossom Highway at Highway 138, Palmdale Saturday 7 to 4, Sunday 6 to 4, year 'round (661) 273-0456 Bel-Air Swap Meet 17565 Valley Blvd., Bloomington 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (909) 875-3000 Long Beach Outdoor Antique Market Veterans Stadium Third Sunday of every month (323) 655-5703 Maclin's Open Air Markets 7407 E. Riverside Drive, Chino Chino (chē`nō), city (1990 pop. 59,682), San Bernardino co., S Calif.; founded 1887, inc. 1910. It is the business and processing center of a diversified farming (notably dairying) area. 14800 Seventh Ave., Victorville 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday (800) 222-7467 Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. second Sunday of each month (760) 257-0957 Pomona Swap Meet & Car Show Fairplex in Pomona Eight times a year; call for dates and times (714) 538-7091 San Bernardino Outdoor Market National Orange Show Fairgrounds n. pl. 1. same as fairground. 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Sunday (909) 888-0394 Saugus Swap Meet Saugus Speedway 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays; 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays (661) 259-3886 Valley Indoor Swap Meet 14650 Parthenia St., Panorama City 6701 Variel Ave., Woodland Hills 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday (Panorma City only); 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (818) 892-0183, (818) 340-9120 CAPTION(S): 7 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Vintage matchboxes Bought at estate sale for $2 GOING RATE: $6 (2 -- color) Inlaid in·laid v. Past tense and past participle of inlay. adj. 1. Set into a surface in a decorative pattern: a mahogany dresser with an inlaid teak design. 2. rhinestone rhine·stone n. A colorless artificial gem of paste or glass, often with facets that sparkle in imitation of a diamond. [After the Rhine (translation of French caillou du Rhin : seahorse set Bought at estate sale for $3 GOING RATE: $8 (3 -- color) Porcelain tai chi Tai Chi Definition T'ai chi is a Chinese exercise system that uses slow, smooth body movements to achieve a state of relaxation of both body and mind. figurine Bought at estate sale for $6 GOING RATE: $10-$15.50 (4 -- color) Tiki Tiki Tick of Dow Jones Industrial Average component issues. mask Bought at Rose Bowl swap meet for $8 GOING RATE: $17-$74 (5 -- color) 2001 Elvis music box Freebie free·bie also free·bee n. Slang An article or service given free: "such freebies as subway and bus maps" New York. from Hollywood & Highland mall grand opening GOING RATE: $9.99-$14.99 (6 -- 7) Above, Rick Rexroade and his daughter, Nichole, tag-team through garage sales during their hunt for unique and possibly valuable items. At left, Rexroade displays a pottery item he purchased for a dollar that he'll turn around and sell for $25 to $30 through his store or on eBay. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News Box: FREE TO FLEA (see text) |
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