These are the upscale cousins of the yard sale. They are usually well organized by a pro who has been hired to liquidate the possessions of a deceased person. Since I’m on the hunt for vintage clothing and jewelry, and my husband collects rare books, we like buying from dead people. These two-or-three-day events can be pricier than ordinary yard sales, so I tend to go on the last day, when things are usually half-off.
I walked into one such sale and they had a basket of sunglasses for $5 each. The lenses were scratched-up and useless, but the frames were Fendi, Armani, Prada, and the like. I bought them all, and had the lenses replaced with my prescription. Clever, yes?