Mine was both a fun 'find' and financially profitable sale.
I went late to a well advertised garage sale. People were browsing with arms laden.
But there was one couple, she was darting from table to table grabbing all the 'good' stuff, vintage crockery, etc. and he was kneeling on the floor near a huge pile of gathered items, arms outstretched to 'protect' their haul. (You know the type, they grab anything that looks remotely valuable and take so long about deciding on what to keep most of the first line buyers have already left leaving the owner fewer buyers and needing to reduce price to the couple's rejects so much later in the day).
I wandered along the table and there, sitting alone and unwanted was a whale's tooth. I can only imagine no one knew what it was and even the owner didn't because when I asked the price he said $1.
I took it home, emailed a US university with a photo and description who confirmed it definitely was a whale's tooth (though I already knew this as my father worked on whaling ships in NZ and had in his possession two scrimshawed whales teeth which I remembered clearly from my childhood).
I listed it on eBay and had the most wonderful 10 days filled with enquiries from around the world from lovely buyers and a few numpties. One eBay member emailed me from a UNIVERSITY in Tasmania stating I needed to pull my listing as 'whales don't have teeth'. As you can imagine, after I finished emailing him in the politest but firmest manner he is now very aware of the dental properties of whales' mouths. How does someone get to university without knowing whales have teeth?
At the listing's end I had reaped $167 for the tooth. It was a wonderful find. A wonderful listing. And one I have never forgotten. That was the eBay fun in the 'old' days.
