Now on Twitter

I finally broke down and joined Twitter for Iron Horse Estate Sales. 

Join me there, won't you?

https://twitter.com/IronHorseEstate

Pop Goes The Weasel

Now you know - "Pop Goes the Weasel" comes from this: Spinning weasels, aka yarn winders, like this (see far left) make a popping sound. "Each time the wheel turned, a wooden counter would move a notch until it hit a final peg and made a loud "pop." As the nursery rhyme said, "Pop goes the weasel."

Detroit Man Finds Famous Motown Musician’s Passport At Estate Sale

http://987ampradio.cbslocal.com/2014/02/04/detroit-man-finds-famous-motown-musicians-passport-at-estate-sale/

Look What a Couple of Our Customers Made For Us!

So, a couple of our customers made this for us to show their appreciation of our sales. How much do we love this? TONS! Thank you Kimberly and Kerry!!

You Never Know What You'll Discover...

Seems like every sale I work on I come across something completely unexpected. Check out this odd, but very cute, shell-people poker party:

How can you not smile looking at that?!

Do You Have WEIGHTED Sterling?

So, you have an old pair of sterling silver candlesticks. You weigh them and think, 'wow, I have lots of money sitting right here!' However, if they are stamped "weighted," you need to know it's not all sterling. Most people don't realize what is then inside...

In this example, only 1/10th of the weight was sterling! Rest of weight was from the ceramic/resin form. Note that sometimes the filler can be sand. After removing the filler/form, all you are left with is a "skin" of sterling. Yes, 10 ounces ended up being only 1 ounce of sterling silver.

It kind of looks like opening a can of jellied cranberry sauce.

 



Fantastic 1880s Cylinder Music Box

Recently, we had this wonderful antique (ca 1880) cylinder music box by Mackie & Co at one of our sales. It features 1 Drum and 6 Bells. Check out the lovely enameled butterflies as well! This item brought people in from all over the midwest. It was estimated to sell for $1,800 to $2,400. It sold for $3,000!

Below there is a video of it in action. NOTE: I did not wind it up all the way as I was being cautious -so it runs a bit slow in video. Neat to see, heh?!