Yard Sale Addict

McConnel Dr. – Toco Hills “Estate Sale”

Encountering two full estate sales in the same week is difficult for me. It’s a bit of clutter overload. This one attracted me since the term ephemera was used in the ad in the AJC. The sale started on Friday but there was still a lot remaining in the roomy ranch home near Emory when I arrived. I walked past the estate seller’s tables in a living room with walls covered with Japanese prints and headed to the kitchen. There I found a mug with the logo of the Society of Former Special Agents and a wooden box with the word Spud on the cover. The box was filled with 38 caliber bullets. Next to the kitchen was a solarium like dining room. This was the room where the ephemera was on display. Most of it was personal photographs taken by the estate owner while he was a marine in the south pacific during the second world war. Among the photos were men in uniform, severed heads, and topless islanders. Other artifacts were a variety of military medals, ribbons and commendations. While I delight in examining the lives of others it seemed sad for the family to divest itself of such remarkable artifacts. Other less remarkable artifacts included a diploma from a Polygraph training institute, a card shuffler and an ice bucket with the number 72 on it.