So, I think I’m going to take a few hours and hit the Goodwill and buy up all of their antique and semi-antique Persian carpets. No silver or gold today, just carpets.

Ha, it doesn’t work that way. I’m lucky if I find one good carpet every six months or so of hunting every day. Mind you, I’m not going to high-end shops stocked with goodies, I’m going to junk stores. Less good stuff, but, when I find something, the price is right.

I go out and I look for anything that I can resell. I may only get one or two things a day. A good day will be closer to ten items.

The other day, I got a nice women’s Burberry trench coat with the wool liner. It cost me $20 and I hope to sell it for $125. You’ve got to be open to anything in order to make a good living at this. Last month, I bought eighty pounds of mixed Legos for $40. Yes, the kid’s toy. I bagged up some of them in one-gallon food storage bags (from Market Basket) and sold two bags for $30. Now, I only have to sell one more bag to make my money back. I have thirty-two more bags left to sell. I think I’ll do fine with that purchase.

Not everything is smooth sailing though. The auction house passed on a painting that had some paint loss. The artist is listed, the subject is of the South West which is hot. Now, I have to hustle it around to see where else I can sell it. It’ll sell. I may put it on craigslist.

I found some trench art last month and it just sold. It’s a pair of empty 75mm artillery shells from WWI that have had floral designs crudely hammered into the soft brass during a lull in the shelling. I’ve had a few in my day but never a matched pair. I bought the pair for $8 at a junk store. Obviously, others haven’t had a matched pair either because at auction, they sold for $239. I was pleased.

Bob Adams has been in Somerville 27 years but was a frequent visitor prior to moving here. He worked as a jeweler in a few shops in his younger years, owned his own shop for a bit, sold real estate for 10 years and is always hunting for his next treasure. He has been an antique and collectibles dealer for 30 years. He can be reached at 27winter@gmail.com. Visit his website at www.Somerville.com.