Hot Finds at Yard Sales -the best of Hazel Atlas

Many people have found flea markets, garage sales, and church bazaars a great place to find bargains on things you use or need. However, have you ever considered the possibility of finding a treasure truly worth several hundred dollars?

As an occasional browser of these weekly yard sale events, I usually check my local paper for where the church and yard sales will be and try to set up a ‘route’. By doing this, I can efficiently travel to them all and hopefully find some bargains, to display and sell in my online shop. One Saturday afternoon, I lucked into such a deal that would change my whole thinking on how to buy and sell for profit.

I usually try to buy Depression glass, that is, the glass that was produced in the 1920s and 1930s by the various glasshouses in the USA. I mainly buy this type of glass, because it usually has a relatively high markup and most yard sale and flea market people sell it cheap enough that you can make a profit.

On this particular Saturday morning, I drove through to a few yard sales and had not yet found anything to make my trip worthwhile. Until the fourth stop on my route, this proved to be the most profitable of the year. As I approached the old house, I noticed a few browsers in the back yard and the usual household items displayed. There was a young lady holding a white glass and talking to another young lady, evidently haggling over the price. I overheard the customer tell the owner, “I will give you $5 for this.” To which the owner replied, “I’m sorry, that was my grandmothers and she had it since she was just a child, I really think it is worth more than that”

The lady set it back down on the table and moved on to look over the rest f the glass. I quickly made my way to the table and picked up the glass, it was a white tumbler (drinking glass) about 4” high and had a screen transfer print on the front of Mickey Mouse in black. It was very similar to several other glasses I had seen in books made by Hazel Atlas Glass Company, so I figured they probably made it. It did not seem too unusual; however, I just had a feeling that this was most likely a piece worth buying.

I asked the owner if she knew a little about the tumbler, and she replied. “Well, it belonged to my grandmother, along with a lot of the other stuff I am selling here today. She went into a nursing home and we are just tying to sell some of the things we do not want, so we can sell the house and have money for her care. I remember her having that Mickey Mouse glass since I was a kid, and she said she got it as a gift from a boy she had dated when she was a teenager.”

On the bottom of the Mickey Mouse character was the words “Mickey Mouse” and underneath “© Walt E Disney”. Now what I knew about Mickey Mouse at the time was very limited, however, I found it unusual that the copyright was Walt “E” Disney. I do not ever recall seeing the “E” in the Disney name before. I asked the lady how much she would like for the tumbler and she said she was not sure what it was worth. I figured this person was not going to give it away for a few dollars especially since I overheard the last offer at $5 get so quickly rejected.

“Well, I do not know how much it is worth, would you consider $20 for it?” I asked hoping this large offer would get accepted. I honestly really did not know how much it was worth, however I was sure in the worst case scenario, I could at least get my $20 back. The lady looked again at the tumbler and finally agreed that $20 was a good price. She wrapped it up, I handed her a $20 bill, and I went on my way.

As soon as I arrived at home, I decided to do some research on the tumbler and find out what a treasure I really had found. After spending a few hours trying to find a similar item on all the auction sites and a few Depression glass books I own, I finally decide to just do an Internet search for “Hazel Atlas Glass”. One of the first sites to come up was the Hazel Atlas Glass collector websites.

The Hazel Atlas glass website seemed to be the authoritative voice, so I joined the Hazel Atlas Glass website, and started to look around, I was absolutely surprised when I found the tumbler on the children’s glassware section of the site. There was my prized buy of the day. So I checked the price and discovered that the last one of these sold for $350.00. Wow! I was amazed, I had truly found a significant piece, not to mention a highly profitable one.

I contacted the owner of the website, who informed me that they had a potential buyer interested in the tumbler and were willing to pay $700 for it, more than double the listed price. The website owner told me that the buyer is a private collector of Hazel Atlas glass and does not have this piece in his collection. I accepted the offer and made the deal with Hazel Atlas Glass and as soon as I received the paypal payment, I sent the tumbler out.

About a week later, I got a very nice thank you letter from the collector as well as an open invitation to let him know of any other unusual Hazel Atlas items I find. Since joining the Hazel Atlas Glass website, I have kept an eye open for more items that are unusual and produced by this glass company. Their site has over 600 pictures on more than 150 pages and they list a lot of unusual and odd pieces that have a great return.

I recommend if you are a flea marketer, yard sale, or church bazaar junkie like me, you should check out this site, as it has so many unfound treasures people sell, not realizing the true value of the Hazel Atlas glass collectibles. By learning about these unusual items, I am not afraid to spend a few dollars more, after all, that is where the big money is!