The Metal Collectors

I got so many nice comments on my post about the metal collectors from this weekend that I thought I’d tell you even more about them. They were all super nice people and all very different with different stories.

Starting off the day

The first person that stopped by was asking about something I had put out by the road. Then he saw something by the house that we’ve had for awhile but didn’t know what to do with. He didn’t know what it was so I told him. It was an old vintage fire extinguisher. All metal. This thing is huge and my yard isn’t huge so it takes up a lot of space.

He said he was interested in it and asked if we’d part with it. Then he sheepishly asked how much. I’m pretty sure he was expecting us to say at least a few hundred dollars. We said take it. He couldn’t believe it. He had to leave to find someone with a truck to help him pick it up but he got back to our house as fast as he could. I’m sure he was worried we’d give it to someone else or change our minds about giving it away for free.

There’s even more to this one’s story though. He’s a reseller like me. I see him at rummage sales all the time with his son and I know he does what I do. During our discussion, I told him that I know it’s worth a lot, at least a couple thousand if he’s good at restoration, but he still tried to convince me that he really just likes it and wants it for himself. I’m not buying it but I don’t mind helping a fellow reseller if he can make some money off it. At least I know his name now for next time I see him at a rummage.

Next…

The next one to stop by was a neighbor from up the road. I don’t know much about him or his family except that they say hi every day on their daily dog walks. He went to get his son to help him take a few things. What I didn’t know about them is that they don’t speak much English. A few words and some hand signals and they left with a lot more than they came for.

The Last Ones

Lastly, there was an older gentleman with a much older man with him. It must’ve been his father who looked to be in his mid to late 80’s. They were both wearing Tyvek body suits over their clothes and some gloves. We talked to them for quite awhile. He was the one telling me that everyone knows to drive by my house because I know to put all my metal out front for them to pick up and I do it quite often.

He said that he’s using the money from picking up metal to build a workshop and buy all the tools. Since he doesn’t know me, I could tell he wasn’t sure how I would react to that but I told him that I do eBay so I get it and I’m happy to help him out. I took his number and told him that I’ll let him know when I’m putting stuff out. I kind of like the idea of helping multiple people when I can though so we’ll see.

One more thing about him. He had a really nice car! Way newer than anything I own or maybe it was his dad’s car. Either way, I can tell he works hard and I think it’s great when people hustle to get nice things instead of whining about not having enough money. Good for him!