I paid £15 for an antique at a car boot sale that’s worth £1,000 – my five tips for spotting treasures

CAR boot sales can be a goldmine for bargain hunters, but to sort the treasure from the trash you need to know what you’re looking for.

Mum-of-two Emily Anscombe has become so good at snooping for secondhand relics and reselling them for a profit that it's now her full-time job.

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The 32-year-old lives with her partner, Ben, 34, and their two sons, aged eight and three, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Emily told The Sun: "My most exciting recent find was a set of three gold-plated Art Nouveau bowls which I bought on a whim for £15 at a car boot sale in north Wales.

"I was lucky to spot them as they had been chucked into a grimy box full of old cutlery, but I spotted they were hallmarked and snapped them up."

When Emily later looked online she found a similar bowl selling for £2,000.

A local auctioneer estimates hers are probably worth £600-£1,000, but they could go for more when they go under the hammer next month.

Emily normally lists her car boot sale finds for sale on her website oddeyesvintage.co.uk and her Instagram page @oddeyes.vintage.

She also sells them at vintage markets up and down the country.

But with certain valuable antiques, like the bowls, it makes sense to go to an auction to help reach a wider audience.

Auctions can attract collectors from around the world who tune in online to find rare items.

Typically, Emily heads to car boot sales every Sunday in search of bargains to sell on.

She said: "I spend a lot of time treasure hunting – usually several hours a week – and aim to visit as many car boot sales as I can within a 50-mile radius.

"If we travel to visit family in Devon and Cornwall, we visit car boot sales while we are there.

"We do the same when we go abroad – I found a great one in Malta when we went on holiday with the kids."

She first got into secondhand treasure-hunting a decade ago.

"My first win was a puppet which I bought at a car boot sale in Brighton in 2015, costing just 50p," she said.

It was made by the highly-collectable vintage toy brand Pelham Puppets, and she resold it on Etsy for £40.

It wasn't long before she really got the bug for finding bargains.

"For a few years, I went on doing this alongside raising my family and my little business went from strength to strength."

In 2022, she decided to make it her full-time job and set up her website.

Over the past year, Emily's had some notable successes.

She said: "I bought a huge haul of Snoopy stuff, including rare toys and books which cost me a total of £200.

"I resold all of this on my website and made around £2,500."

She bought four rare 1980s rare art posters by American painter, John Kacere, for £40, and resold these on her website for £400.

And she has made some major mark-ups on furniture she's found at car boot sales, too.

"There was a 1970s Italian chair which I bought at a car boot sale for just 50p and resold for £60.

"And I found a set of mid-century bamboo side tables, which I bought for £10 and resold for £80."

Mid-century Scandinavian homewares are her speciality.

A few weeks ago, she bought a collectible Norwegian bowl with a lotus design made by the Cathrineholm factory.

"I found it at a car boot sale in Wales for £2 and resold it to an American customer for £80," she said.

"I also bought a Finnish coffee percolator at a car boot sale for £3 and resold for £150."

The whole family get involved in her car boot sale scavenger hunts.

She said: "My kids help me out by digging through boxes and lugging stuff through muddy fields.

"They have a good eye for it and my eight year-old son is even boosting his pocket money by buying and selling vintage car badges.

"Back at home and I clean the items, fix them up, photograph them and get them ready to sell."

If you want to follow in Emily's footsteps and make some extra cash she has some expert advice:

1. Keep an eye on what's trending in interior design to get ideas on the best things to pick up – look at magazines and see what modern items are being sold on the high street that are replicas of vintage decor as lots of trends are recycled.
2. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty and dig through the grime at the car boots - that's often where the best treasures are hiding.
3. Research each item properly and make sure you consider its condition when pricing for resale – you can speak to local auction houses or look on websites like Worthpoint.com.
4. Be prepared to put the time in – set your alarm to get up early and go to a car boot sale every single weekend, trying out different locations to see which ones are best.
5. Post your items on multiple different platforms including Vinted, eBay and others.

Emily is also a dab hand at upcycling items that she finds.

"I make lamps that I create from vintage ceramic cats and dogs purchased from car boot sales," she said.

"I pay between £1 and £30 for the ceramic animals and can then sell these lamps for between £80 and £300."

She loves giving these old and unwanted items a new lease of life.

“I strongly believe we already have enough beautiful things in the world, so there is no need to buy new,” she said.

And Emily also gets paid to source items that interior designers need for their projects and for TV and film crews looking for props.

She said: "I source things for those who don't have the time or energy for a 5am wake up on a Sunday to go treasure hunting themselves."

Some of Emily's finds have even made it to the big screen.

"A few of my pieces have been bought by Warner Bros studios as props.

"Earning money from car boot sales doesn't really feel like hard work to me, as it's my passion."