ed with albums packed with valuable stamps and postcards. First thing I found in the box was a newspaper, totally tatty, disgustingly dirty. Next came a book, torn and damaged, foul smelling and every page scribbled beyond recognition. Then came a few better books, a couple of maps (worth a fiver apiece on eBay), more half decent stuff followed, and half way down came a huge scrapbook pHere’s a great idea, it’s never let me down, and it involves buying items no one else wants which can generate 100% to 1000% profit for you every time. And it works whether you buy at auction, car boot sale, jumble sale, charity shop, even on eBay itself. You are looking for items which, on the surface, look so disgusting that no one even gives them a second glance. At auction they’re the lots right at the back of the room, or under tables, wherever they’re unlikely to get in the way of serious bidders’ viewing more attractive auction lots. Those words ‘disgusting’ and ‘unlikely to get in the way’ are operative here, because even the auctioneer doesn’t expect serious bidders for rubbish like this. But this rubbish is like gold to some people, myself included, and normally reveals itself in dirty albums, torn and tatty boxes, books with ripped and filthy bindings, plastic bags tied at the top with elastic bands and time ravaged so you can’t see through their once transparent surface.

The big secret about items like this has to do with people judging a book by its cover. If the cover isn’t good, it’s assumed the contents (the story or information contained) is also deficient, and so people don’t buy.

The experts know, the dirtier the cover (or other container such as box, book, tea chest), the older the contents are likely to be and the more valuable the contents become with every layer stripped from the top. Case in point: two months ago, at a Yorkshire auction sale, I spotted a dirty cardboard box poking beneath a table covered with albums packed with valuable stamps and postcards. First thing I found in the box was a newspaper, totally tatty, disgustingly dirty. Next came a book, torn and damaged, foul smelling and every page scribbled beyond recognition. Then came a few better books, a couple of maps (worth a fiver apiece on eBay), more half decent stuff followed, and half way down came a huge scrapbook pa

he lots right at the back of the room, or under tables, wherever they’re unlikely to get in the way of serious bidders’ viewing more attractive auction lots. Those words ‘disgusting’ and ‘unlikely to get in the way’ are operative here, because even the auctioneer doesn’t expect serious bidders for rubbish like this. But this rubbish is like gold to some people, myself included, and normally reveals itself in dirty albums, torn and tatty boxes, books with ripped and filthy bindings, plastic bags tied at the top with elastic bands and time ravaged so you can’t see through their once transparent surface.

The big secret about items like this has to do with people judging a book by its cover. If the cover isn’t good, it’s assumed the contents (the story or information contained) is also deficient, and so people don’t buy.

The experts know, the dirtier the cover (or other container such as box, book, tea chest), the older the contents are likely to be and the more valuable the contents become with every layer stripped from the top. Case in point: two months ago, at a Yorkshire auction sale, I spotted a dirty cardboard box poking beneath a table covered with albums packed with valuable stamps and postcards. First thing I found in the box was a newspaper, totally tatty, disgustingly dirty. Next came a book, torn and damaged, foul smelling and every page scribbled beyond recognition. Then came a few better books, a couple of maps (worth a fiver apiece on eBay), more half decent stuff followed, and half way down came a huge scrapbook p

ly reveals itself in dirty albums, torn and tatty boxes, books with ripped and filthy bindings, plastic bags tied at the top with elastic bands and time ravaged so you can’t see through their once transparent surface.

The big secret about items like this has to do with people judging a book by its cover. If the cover isn’t good, it’s assumed the contents (the story or information contained) is also deficient, and so people don’t buy.

The experts know, the dirtier the cover (or other container such as box, book, tea chest), the older the contents are likely to be and the more valuable the contents become with every layer stripped from the top. Case in point: two months ago, at a Yorkshire auction sale, I spotted a dirty cardboard box poking beneath a table covered with albums packed with valuable stamps and postcards. First thing I found in the box was a newspaper, totally tatty, disgustingly dirty. Next came a book, torn and damaged, foul smelling and every page scribbled beyond recognition. Then came a few better books, a couple of maps (worth a fiver apiece on eBay), more half decent stuff followed, and half way down came a huge scrapbook p

ntained) is also deficient, and so people don’t buy.

The experts know, the dirtier the cover (or other container such as box, book, tea chest), the older the contents are likely to be and the more valuable the contents become with every layer stripped from the top. Case in point: two months ago, at a Yorkshire auction sale, I spotted a dirty cardboard box poking beneath a table covered with albums packed with valuable stamps and postcards. First thing I found in the box was a newspaper, totally tatty, disgustingly dirty. Next came a book, torn and damaged, foul smelling and every page scribbled beyond recognition. Then came a few better books, a couple of maps (worth a fiver apiece on eBay), more half decent stuff followed, and half way down came a huge scrapbook p

ed with albums packed with valuable stamps and postcards. First thing I found in the box was a newspaper, totally tatty, disgustingly dirty. Next came a book, torn and damaged, foul smelling and every page scribbled beyond recognition. Then came a few better books, a couple of maps (worth a fiver apiece on eBay), more half decent stuff followed, and half way down came a huge scrapbook packed with news clippings and autographed photographs of Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier (I made ?100 from the scrapbook, several hundred pounds from the autographs). And I hadn’t got to the good stuff yet. There followed theatre programmes from the 1930s and 40s (autographed by Olivier, Leigh, Bud Flanagan, Margaret Rutherford, and many more). After that I found …. better stop there, because I really don’t have time or space to list the contents of that dirty old box no one else look at or bid against me that day.

Much the same goes for dirty books which often contain valuable prints or maps, plastic bags of seemingly yukky beads which often contain valuable gems, dirty albums containing boring postcard views behind which hide valuable postmarks. Get the picture?