For anyone unfamiliar with a carboot sale why not, just to have a look, consider visiting a Birmingham car boot market site or sites? You will find car boot information on the Activ Birmingham website in the events section. Other websites may also provide details.
The majority of City car boot sales or markets operate on a Saturday or Sunday
Obviously, for a first visit, choose a dry day, one of the markets at a place or places near to where you live and have a wander around to see what car booting is all about.
You will see hot food vender's selling things like tea, coffee cold drinks and the like, plus hot dogs with or without fried onions, burgers, egg, bacon and sausage sandwiches with the addition of HP and tomato sauce if required.
As far as the articles for sale are concerned you will find examples of virtually everything from garden equipment, DIY, hand and electrical tooling, car radio and CD player examples, sporting goods covering football, cricket, rugby league & rugby union, fishing etc., from clothing to the actual equipment needed to participate in any particular sports & fitness regime and many other thousands of household goods and memorabilia of bygone days.
You will find stalls staffed by individuals selling items for home de-cluttering purposes, those selling for house clearance, and of course official traders selling brand new items.
For those people looking at car boots for the first time and who suddenly become interested in actually purchasing items make sure, especially when dealing with the professional and those wholesale markets traders, that the items offered are genuine and not simply fakes or copies imported from abroad, especially cigarettes, CDs, clothes etc. Trading Standards and Police Officers are making frequent trips to car boots in an attempt to cut out the sale of illegally imported spirits, beer and cigarettes. Also remember when buying that bartering is all part of the car boot experience.
Many buyers have been very fortunate to pick up valuable items at minimal cost, examples of which can often be seen on the television programme, Antiques Roadshow and at country wide auction houses.
Stalls will offer sales of virtually every type of fine jewellery and costume jewellery one can think of, from watches, necklaces, pendants & charms, rings, bracelets and earrings, some of which will be made of gold, silver, platinum, etc, look for the hall marks. Further information on hallmarks can be found in our article titled Birmingham Assay Office.
Under the heading of general household units you will find, if you search, examples of vacuum cleaners, push sweeper, waste bins, dust pan and brush, heaters, door handle, tap or even taps, plus the kitchen sink.
Kitchen equipment covering the likes of the cruet set, trays, jug, teapots, kettles, sugar bowl, soup bowl, cereal bowl, side plate, dinner plate, dinner service, tea plate, tea service, cutlery, individual knife, fork and spoon, look for the silver ones, all of various shapes and designs are also usually well represented. You will even see the odd wall unit, base unit and door on offer.
For living rooms there will be picture, ornament, clocks, pouffe, cushion, examples plus book and text book or books covering virtually all subjects and encyclopaedia sets covering numerous subjects and topics. You will also find examples of the spherical spinning world atlas, wall unit, shelving, occasional table, book stand, corner unit, paper rack, sideboard, stacker unit, wall and ceiling lights, table lamps, lamp stand, televisions and radio items for sale. You may also see the occasional central heating radiator, clock timer and pump on offer.
For bedroom usage you will find examples of such things as a bedroom unit, duvet, bed spread, sheet, pillow or even a mirrored dressing table
In the field of porcelain ornaments, china and figurines, look for the base marking which will identify the manufacturer, like Beswick, Royal Doulton, Royal Worcester, Lladro, some of which could carry, unknown to the amateur seller, a high auction value, with some running into hundreds and even thousands of pounds. The same applies to antique oil and water colour paintings and even old photographs, cigarette cards, Christmas cards, football programmes, stamps, coins and medals
You will also find numerous items of clothing, some of which will have never been worn by its previous owner or owners.
Rabbit, guinea pig and chicken hutches may also be found.
General bric-a-brac will also be available in large quantities.
For those looking for genuine antique bargains there are numerous books available on the subject matter.
Many people, because of previous buying success, now take car booting very seriously and armed with their book about antiques, are slowly becoming experts in what to look for and dependant on the price and possible profit, what to actually purchase.
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