Lamp Lights Up My Life

About a month or so ago I purchased an old table lamp at a lawn sale a few blocks from my house. The lamp has a dark brown heavy metal ornate base, a large globe top with etchings, and about 25 crystals hang from the globe. Mint condition. The only way you could tell it was old was from the electric cord.

It was a front yard / back yard sale, and this lamp was "lost" in the back yard sitting on top of a tall filing cabinet. I doubt many people had seen it. Worst place ever to display it. I took it down and looked it over. Very clean. It had 2 small price stickers on it. One read 4--- and the other had 2---, so it appeared they were asking two dollars.

I talked to a woman running the sale about it. She said that she did not own it. She was selling it for a friend. And she said it came from an antique shop. I bought it for two dollars, placed it on a table at home, and kind of forgot about it, until David, my antique dealer friend arrived to look at my recent purchases.

For starters, David said each of the 25 crystals were worth $3 each, and he said the lamp, which was likely made in the 1920s, was quite valuable, at least two hundred dollars. An excellent find. I am hanging on to it while David tries to come up with more info on it.

Here's what I think happened: I believe the lamp was actually priced to sell at $200, but both the seller and I thought the sticker meant $2. My guess is the original price was $400. Think about it: Who would sell an old lamp in mint condition for just $2? The dealer certainly would have known the crystals alone were worth much more than that. And who marks a lamp down in price from $4 to $2? Reducing it in price from $400 to $200 is much more likely. I think the owner simply failed to tell the woman running the sale that the price was $200.

So I have a genuine bargain on my hands. It proves you can buy an item worth several hundred dollars for just a few bucks at a garage sale. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen. That's what keeps people going to garage sales.