Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Weekend Finds

Saturday morning was cold!  There were no estate auctions, so I hit up a couple of garage sales.  Only picked up a few things.

Some cat-eye woman's eye glasses, some vintage drinking glasses, and a couple of Federal Glass white iridescent mugs.



Sunday was warm, sunny, and absolutely beautiful (except for the whole getting dark early part).  There was an estate auction that I attended after church, where I picked up several items.

Among them, this Made in Japan tea pot with cream and sugar set.


A Fire King red dot mixing bowl (large size).


A green glass batter bowl.  It isn't marked, but the handle on it sure looks like the handle I have on a couple of old Fire King pieces.  Anybody have any idea who made it?


A Queen Anne Glasbake bowl with two handles (I really like this one!).


Two Jeanette Jadeite shakers.  One is marked "Flour" and is in pretty good shape, the other is marked "Sugar" and the top is dented and the wording is faded.  However, the glass on both pieces is in great shape.


A vintage manicure / pedicure set.


A set of Lenox silver flatware (a couple of the pieces are pretty rough).


These Made in Japan salt and pepper shakers are really interesting.  They look like black kettles, but they have cat faces on them.  Anybody know anything about them?


I also came home with this Noritake lustre creamer.


I love vintage prints, and these two are great.  Now, just to clean them up!


This is my favorite out of the pictures I picked up.  I love that great antique frame!


Lastly, to appease the teacher side of me, I found this great set of subtraction flash cards for the "new math".  LOL...strange how we've moved on since "new math".  This set is copyright 1965.


I am wanting to either start a booth, or maybe put a few of these things on Etsy to get an idea if I would like selling that way.  Anybody want to give any insight as to their thoughts on selling on Etsy?  I think I would prefer to have a booth, as I can easily get out to restock it, and I won't have to figure out when I can make it to the post office (my job keeps me away during the hours that the counter is open at the post office).  Also, with a booth, I can put some bigger things in it that I don't want to send through the mail.  It's decision making time.

7 comments:

  1. The New Math... Ugh. I was one of the kids they experimented on with that. (Kindergarten in 1967.)

    With a booth, normally you are expected to put in some register hours. That might be tricky with your schedule.

    As for the mailing issue, set up an account with either Endicia or Stamps.com (I use Endicia), print your postage and labels all at once, and use the free package pickup service through the USPS. Either stop at the post office sometime to ask how it would work for you, or just cut to the chase and catch your carrier someday and ask how he or she would like to work it. Small packages go in your mailbox with your outgoing letters, of course. For bigger ones, work out some place to leave them for pickup and some signal (note in the mailbox? on-line request) to let the carrier know to look in your hiding place.

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  2. They don't have the sellers do any register time around here. It's all run by other staff. If indeed you mean an Antique Mall type place?

    Ha ha I was a "New Math" kid too lol.. Had a 4th grade teacher who saw how advanced I was, and by the end of 4th grade, he'd pushed me so hard I never was good at math again. Darn you, Mr. Beck, I curse you! lol...

    But back to the booth/Mall thing. You have to move a lot of inventory to make it worth your while, as booth space can be expensive. But, if you price to sell, instead of price it like retail, like all the other sellers seem to do, you will move inventory. Why they mark that stuff up to 25-100% over eBay prices is beyond me. Then they don't sell, and go out of business. Hmm, not a good business plan. The only one who wins, it the Mall owner. =)

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  3. Haha great finds! Maye the cat salt & pepper shakers mean good luck? I like the prints too I have a whole buch I got out of a "Life" magazine framed in my bedroom. and I get your "New Math" refrence ahhh Tom Lehrer I need to get some of his records! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wHDn8LDks8

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  4. The place I'm considering is run by an older couple that staffs it full time. No need for me to put in extra time. Sellers pay booth rent and a commission to the store for each item sold. Another place that I'm looking at is more the flea market type place, and the last time I was there they had a couple of their in the back / out of sight booth available for $15 per month with no commission. I'm thinking about putting some of the garage sale type items I come across in one of those type of booths and seeing how it works out. This place also has a full time staff, so I wouldn't have to put in any time there either.

    My plan is to sell things for around the same price as eBay, or a little less. I just want to get rid of things, and make enough money to feed the booth with new stock when needed. My goal is to make a small profit on each piece, and invest that money into new pieces at estate auctions for the booth, gradually focusing only on higher quality items, although I don't usually buy them unless they are in pretty good shape. I would rather keep inventory moving, than keep it around hoping that somebody some day might want it for an extreme price.

    As a side note, the items above haven't been cleaned up yet. I'm tired of cleaning things up only to box them back up and have to clean them again when I get ready to use or resell them. I'd prefer to just have one cleaning for each piece.

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  5. Good finds this weekend, Michael! I went to a couple vintage shows/flea markets and found an Aladin Lamp including the finial! Are you familiar? I got a couple little things, too. No Shiny Brites but I'm hoping at the Goodwill Christmas show this weekend. I saw some Pyrex I wanted but it was a little spendy. Are there certain pieces you're looking for?

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  6. Shiny Brite, I wanna see the lamp!!

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  7. Great finds! That green bowl looks like Anchor Hocking's Forest Green. I have a whole nesting set stored away somewhere.

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