(Editor’s Note: Occasional 20×49.com guest bloggers, Molly McCombs and her husband, Randall Ross, are wildly enthusiastic about the estate sale scene in Shreveport-Bossier. I asked Molly if she would share the story of a favorite local estate sale find, as well as some tips on how to get started. Molly was kind enough to oblige.)
I hurried home from the estate sale and Googled “sex head ceramic 1958.”
“LaGardo Tackett!”
The sale had closed fifteen minutes ago.
Saturday morning? Randy was the first person through the door. He scooped up the ceramic we had waffled on the day before, a hollow egg-shaped head with painted features and a sign “nailed” to its forehead that read “sex.” In 1958, legendary California ceramicist LaGardo Tackett designed a series of heads for Schmid International marketed through Playboy and Esquire. We wondered about the cork plug on the ceramic’s bottom. It’s a condom holder. They’re rare, and very collectible.
“Glad somebody bought that,” the cashier said.
After multiple garage sales and many donations, Randy and I moved from Austin to Shreveport in two large rental trucks. We were determined to keep our belongings to a minimum once we settled into our mid-century dream house. We didn’t anticipate the estate sales here. A midsize town with a storied and financially successful past and a nearby Air Force base seems to be the perfect recipe for a phenomenal estate sale scene. I would like to tell you about our other finds — especially the Milton Caniff drawing — but I’ve run out of words (in more ways than one). In short: Happy hunting!
Notes and Suggestions
Sign up for e-mail notifications from estate sale concerns with web sites. Concerns that don’t have web sites often have an e-mail sign up sheet available at their sales.
Begin checking Facebook on Wednesday for the weekend’s offerings. Several of the listed concerns offer on-line photos of their upcoming events. If there’s an item you can’t live without, show up at the sale’s beginning!
Most sales are held Friday and Saturday and close during lunch.
Discounts are often offered on Saturday. If there is enough merchandise left, a sale may open for a short time on Sunday. Sunday sales are listed on Facebook.
Most sales accept cash only.
AAA Estate Specialists LLC
Website: www.aaaestatespecialistsllc.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AAAEstateSpecialists
Twitter: twitter.com/Cindykwilk
Auctions Unlimited (Auction house, but also holds estate sales)
Website: www.shreveportauctions.com
EstateSales.net (Countrywide compendium of estate sales; subscribe to e-mail sale listings for regions of interest)
Website: www.estatesales.net
Lagniappe Estate Sales
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/lagniappeestatesales
Shreveport Antiques & Estate Sales (Compendium of Shreveport-Bossier estate sale listings)
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shreveport-Antiques-Estate-Sales/111945698916300
Thatcher Estate Sales
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Thatcher-Estate-Sales/127635900606019
Transitions Estate Sales
Website: www.transitionsestatesalesla.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SeniorTransitionsServices
