To buy or not to buy?

On the second day of my friend’s estate sale, she called to ask me about several items I’d been looking at. Did I want to buy them on Half Price Day or wait until the sale was over? Puzzled, I asked what the difference was. She laughed and said, “Well, if you get them on Half Price Day, they’re...uh...half price, but if you wait till the sale is over, they’ll be free.” FREE? Whoa…I hadn’t expected that. “Yep,” she said, “the owners said to sell whatever we could and to give the rest away when the sale is over. They don't want to store anything.”

Immediately, the big question loomed: “Do I buy the things I really, really want when the sale opens the last day, or do I gamble that some of them will still be there when the sale ends?” I’m not much of a gambler. I’ve never bought a lottery ticket, and when I go to a casino, I limit myself to $40.

But FREE? That’s a very strong incentive to gamble. So, after agonizing all day Saturday and forcing myself to stay home when the sale started this morning, I watched the clock in nervous anticipation of the 3:00 closing. At 2:50 I jumped in the car and headed over to the sale, telling myself not to be too disappointed if everything was gone.

To my surprise, every single piece of furniture I wanted was still there. They simply hadn’t drawn a mid-century crowd, and my gamble had paid off…in a huge way! I ended up with a small blonde glass front bookcase, two green glass lamps, a huge Van Hoople picture, a blonde china cabinet and matching table, another piece of Blenko, and an Art Deco chest, dresser and night stand.

A stroke of luck like this might make me rethink buying a lottery ticket every once in a while.

Van Hoople painting, 59" x 29"
(You can see how much bigger it is than my fireplace.
Oh, and did I mention all these things were FREE????)

 Glass lamps with walnut and rattan base
(Yes, I'm doing the happy dance.)

 Blonde bookcase with sliding glass doors
(This was the piece I wanted most.)

Blenko pitcher, 569P
(Looks great with the decanter I got the other day.)