Airport Hangar Pick

How do you pick an airport hangar?  The first step is to meet someone storing a doll and teddy bear inventory in his airplane hangar.   I met Norm at a local estate sale one Sunday morning.  We began chatting, and he mentioned that he had a lot of teddy bears stored in an airplane hangar.  I gave him my card with few expectations. 

Norm called, and explained that he lost his first wife about 15 years ago.  She left him with a huge doll and bear collection, including the inventory from her gift shop.  Norm wanted to donate or give the collection away, but we ending up negotiating a purchase in the four figures.  This was a win win situation for everyone involved.  Norm reclaimed his hangar space, and we got some great new old stock inventory.

Estate Sales On My Radar

I received an email about a Santa Monica estate sale this weekend.  According to Zillow, there is no historical data available on this home.  Zillow values the home at $2.1M and the property taxes are reported at $1,546 (very low for Los Angeles, real estate taxes are normally around 1.25% of the purchase price).  Bottom line:  This house has been owned by the same family for many years.  It's in a posh area, this could be a good estate sale.

Text of email:

"Estate sale this Thur., Fri., and Sat (July 26th, 27th and 28th), from 9:00am to 4pm each day.

Address: 420 Mesa Dr., Santa Monica, CA 90402 (Channel/PCH)

This is an estate with the house has not been occupied for last 6 years, please bring your flash light, glove and mask if your are allergy to dusts. Lots of antique furniture, 18th century walnut server, mahogany dinning set with table extended to 12 feet, 50's furniture, lamps, porcelain and glasses. Antique porcelain, crystals. Books, records, vintage clothing, antique bath tub with claw feet, old stove. Costume and fine jewelry, watches. 1972 Cadillac, tools, plants, and lot more."

Estate Sale Pickings

I had minimal time for estate sales this week, but still found a few interesting items.

These items came from a local Palos Verdes estate.  The husband was a veterinarian, the wife was a crafter and collector.  Interesting house!

Madame Alexander 21" Bridesmaid doll, late 1940s.  Very lovely condition.

Vintage NASA charm bracelet, ca. 1970s.

Vintage NASA charm bracelet, ca. 1970s.

Vintage NASA charm bracelet, ca. 1970s.

English pewter and enamel sewing accessories, some by A.E. Williams.

Small jointed bisque baby doll, similar to Nancy Ann Storybook but unmarked.

One lady owned a doll shop in Lomita, California for many years.  Since closing the shop, she has been storing the inventory in her garage.  Her husband wants to recover all flat surfaces, especially his pool table, and turn in the garage into a man cave.  The lady graciously parted with her treasures to help him achieve his dream.  Here are some of those treasures, including a pretty Furga doll from the 1960s or 1970s.  She retains her hang tag and is about 16" tall:

This one is a limited edition doll by Corolle of France (Mattel Timeless Creations).  The doll is from 1989 and from a limited edition of 2,000.  She is signed on the tummy by artist Catherine Refabert.  The Corolle dolls from that era are really special.

Doll Crafter's Estate Sale Los Angeles Area

Looking for doll crafting items? I went to an estate sale in the Los Angeles area yesterday that was chock full of items for a doll crafter. The house had plenty of doll wigs, doll shoes and socks, doll hats, fabric and notions for doll clothing, doll clothing patterns, Doll Crafter magazines, plus some handmade doll clothes and some reproduction bisque doll parts. The garage is also full of greenware molds for reproductions of classic French and German bisque doll heads, plus tools for doll making and even some kilns. The address is 1824 W. 154th Place, Gardena, 90249, and the sales runs 9-4 today and tomorrow, Jul 13th and 14th. This is what I scored: