The Garage Sale Millionaire: Make Money with Hidden Finds from Garage Sales to Storage Unit Auctions and Everything in Between, Revised and Updated

What to Buy

I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine so you don’t get off track or overly excited when you find something you believe to be of value. Don’t be fooled if an item is old or looks expensive. Just because an item is old, doesn’t necessarily mean it has any real value. An item that looks expensive very well could be a lesser-valued reproduction or replica.

Many people see something old and don’t understand that there’s a lot more to be considered than age when determining an item’s value. Of course, sometimes older items are indeed worth money, but age is not the primary determining factor in assessing a collectible’s level of value. For example, a newspaper from July, 1969, when American astronauts first landed on the moon, has no real value. A 200-year old family bible, although having an emotional value attached to it, also has no market value. By comparison, however, an empty liquor or spirits bottle that is 150 years old, could actually be worth $30,000.

Animation Production Cels

An original animation production cel is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn to create an animated cartoon. Animation production cels are currently hand-painted from behind onto celluloid acetate. In the early years of animation, these cels were made out of a thin plastic or nitrate, with paint on the back or front of a cel. Each cel represents one frame of a character’s movement on film. The animation production cels that have high collectible resale value are from the 1930s ...