European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 19, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Out for High adventure try a garage Sale by Ron Alexander new York times he scene is Laminar. A hand lettered sign lacked to a Telephone Pale cars parked along the Roadside card tables on tha Lawn heaped with books and China figurines clothing hanging from a Redwood Lance. Yes another garage Sale or Lawn Safe or porch Sale or Patio Sale. Of it could be a tag Sale inside the House la there anyone who has l been to one in nol held one now such events Are Load for serious thought the subject in Tacl of a sociological study Stephen soil Fer. An administrator at the University of Rochester and Gretchen Herrmann a librarian at the state University of new York at Cortland have attended More than 500 garage sales in the area around Cortland and Hlaca n.y., and spent thousands of hours in other research Loi he Book they Are writing on garage sales. They found a 1961 newspaper advertisement Lor a garage Sale in the Cortland Llaca area but they suspect garage sales had been around before that. According to Soiffer the Lone of that Early advertisement was apologetic honestly Olks we be never done this sort of thing before a a cry from conditions a Quarter of Century later when frankly fearless ads boast of the merchandise interesting end  mahogany Coffee table with Oriental feeling Brown danish Eoo Wear and when in 1986, there was a garage Sale every 15 seconds nine million a year according to soil Fer and Herrmann across the United slates the seeds of garage sales according to the collaborators were sown after world War ii. It was a time of rising at Luence of items becoming expendable and disposable Shiflar said. The garage Sale came into its own As a result of the wide availability of mass produced goods in the late 1960s." one big Ture of garage sales has always been what soil Fer called the myth of a Grea bargain the Hope that the $3 painting in the five and dime Frame will turn out to be a Gainsborough. Garage sales Are an adventure Soiffer said. You never know what you re going to  people Are encouraged to hold such sales by the fact that Money made from them need no be reported As income according to soil Fer we Haven i found a state yet that requires it he said he said the study estimates that total National Revenue irom garage sales is somewhere above $2 billion pushing $3 billion the average profit per garage Sale the study reports is $200 to $250. But in Connecticut s Fairfield county sales at a tag Sale like those run by those two girls can average $5.000 to 88,000. For 21 years. Those two gifts pal Fay and Carole Mac Dock have been advising people How to go about holding a tag Sale. Indeed they will run the Sale Lor 25 per cent of the Gross. They Lurn Down any Sale they expect would total less than 13,000. The first thing they Tell their clients is thai garages and lawns Are not proper Sites or High class soles. Our concept Fay said is the House Sale the walking in Sale. The reason is that furniture and furnishings look their Best in a proper setting not scattered about on a Lawn. Besides people love to drop in to see How other people  Soiffer agreed. People want to shop at the Homes of those who Are a class above themselves we see our sales As More of a social event added Maddock who with her partner arranges for Security and a cashier our events Are upscale Midway Between a garage Sale and an  Maddock and Fay discuss prices and logistics with their clients. Before the Sale they tag and arrange items linens in one place Silver in another Knickknacks somewhere else and close off limits areas. The two suggest that the Sale run for two Days preferably 10 . To 4 p.m., when children Are in school. Women they said Are the big spenders at such events and Soiffer and Herrmann concur. Those two girls never schedule tag sales on weekends. The husbands make other plans and their wives go along with the husbands said Fay whose suggestion Boll Glubt and a Ca neater want among Tow big for setting the Price of an object is based on retail value. Maddock s Rule of thumb is How much would 1 pay for it myself in Livonia mich., pal a Lampien who runs Carlo. Inc., estate and household liquidators frequently refers to Warman s Antiques and their prices when lagging the sales she arranges. Like her Connecticut counterparts she won t do a House Sale of less than a. $3,500 or $4,000 and charges 25 per cent of the Gross. " she agrees with Maddock and Fay that people Are prepared to pay More for an item if in is in the House in a proper environment. Most people she says Don l know How to  in Many of the sales Stempien organizes the prices incidentally Are lowered on he second Day of the Sale. According to the Soiffer Herrmann study while people May expect too much Money for a Possession which has great personal meaning hey Are also surprised when less cherished items Felch High prices. Pack fats keepers in a throw away Socie  new York times hey Are the guardians of All they Survey string paper scraps old report cards broken buttons instruction manuals for appliances they no longer have most of which they keep. They Are the friends and family members who stay the hands of would be closet cleaners with those immortal words Don l throw that out. You never know when you might need  and All the whee you and they know you will never need it said Alan e. Entin a family psychologist who practices in Richmond a. " they of course Are pack rats. I should know i m  in can be economic said or Michael a Broder a psychologist specializing in relationships there could be a fear of poverty or deprivation a sense that i went without before and i won t be without again " or. Said Lucy papillon. A Dallas psychologist who deals with relationships and addictions it May involve transitional objects things people can hang onto like Linus with his Blanket that make them feel sate and  psychologist agree that pack rats often save objects As reminders of another Lime place or person. To a pack rat even a stapler May have sentimental value Broder said. So can " he ugliest vase in the world according to Kay Bartlett a features writer for the associated press. She has also saved a dumb looking Teddy Bear thai a Friend gave her 21 years ago a sewing machine she does t sew a piano Stool she has no piano and old old photographs of people she does t know and can t identify she just assumes they Are related to her in some Way. Both my parents Are dead bar Lett said. So in saving what they had. And adding More of my own i think i m also maintaining a certain continuity in the Lile of my family a link to who i was who they  objects can also be windows on the self. Much of what i be saved reminds me of who i was at different Points in my life like a physical diary said Robert Stuart Nathan a Anler whose novel the while Tiger was just published by Simon 4 schuster i have every Check i be written since 1971, All the research Lor every Story i be written Over the last 15 years and at least eight sweaters i Haven t worn in More than Fiva  it in t hard to divine some sentimental attachment to objects such As these but the original packing material for every piece of equipment purchased or instruction manuals Lor appliances thrown out years ago Iii Ever move i la have the packing Cartons Nathan Page the stars and stripes monday o