A Bargain at Any Price?

I saw this article on Yahoo! Sports today: Baseball granny cashes in big with sale of rare 1869 card. It first interested me because it was a Cincinnati Red Stockings baseball card (before they were just the Reds), and I’m from Cincinnati. Then, I noticed the card sold for over $75,000 on Ebay! Now why can’t I find something like that?

My husband is always watching Antiques Road Show, and he repeatedly says the same thing: “Why can’t we find that rare relic in our attic?” (We don’t have an attic.) Sometime ago we lived in a house that was nearly 100 years old and found the walls stuffed with newspapers from the early-1930’s, used for insulation I assume. They weren’t worth anything.

Some folks know I have a small Ebay store called The Whatsoever Shoppe (banner to the right). While I’d like to say I’m a Power Seller, I’m not; but it is fun, and I have made a buck or two. Once I bought a used autoclave for $100 from a permanent makeup artist friend of mine and sold it for $650. Not a bad profit.

Bought several Fitz and Floyd Glass Fishes at an auction for $3 each; sold them for between $15 and $45 each. And more recently, I sold two 1960’s Jim Beam “I Dream of Jeannie” bottles that I inherited from my aunt and uncle’s estate and they brought $26 and $36, respectively, on Ebay. More often than not, though, like I said, I make a buck or two.

I’m so glad spring is on the way and yard sale season is fast approaching; in fact, the parking lots and roadside stands are already filling up. Hunting through thrift stores and the like is fun, but there’s something exhilarating about the outdoor scavenger hunt called a yard sale. Yard-saleing is big business in East Tennessee, and I expect it to be an even busier season this year because of the economy. Buyers and sellers alike are cutting corners and employing thrifty measures to both make ends meet and to conserve less and less spendable cash. I, for one, like a bargain, and sometimes even bring home something for myself.

Buying & Selling

I have a small business buying and selling things, mostly over there on the 'bay. It's more of a hobby and a pasttime (same thing?) than a business, as I seldom net any cash when the books are reconciled. But it's fun, it's an outlet for me, and since I have a love of flea marketing and thrift shopping, it provides for storage in someone else's house rather than mine. I have enough clutter as it is.

Lately, I've used Craig's List locally in the Knoxville area. It's a classified advertising site which allows one to post all manner of ads for items being bought, sold, traded, or wanted, as well as community and local activities, resumes and job postings, business services, freebies, and personals (no porn or illegal activity, please). Best of all, it's totally free; no listing fees, final value fees, payment processor fees, picture fees, etc., etc., etc.

I have reasonably good luck. Once I sold a vintage 6' tall Chianti bottle (empty) to someone in California. (He said he googled Craigslist: chianti bottle and found my ad.) The man was opening an Italian restaurant and not only paid me my asking price for the bottle, but also $125 to have it professionally packed and shipped from Knoxville to Southern California! Last night I listed a 4' tall oak finished lingerie chest my husband found on the side of the road. It sold for $50 within 1 hour of listing it. I've also purchased a few things at great prices and even traded my living set for someone else's because I needed to downsize.

I'm also noticing that there are lots of folks disguised as buyers who really have other alternatives in mind. For instance, with many of the ads I post, I frequently get multiple responses that say something like, "Saw your ad. If it's still available a week from Friday, please contact me." Invariably, such ads include a signature line that lists several url's for various money-making and network marketing websites. Could it be they want me to click on one of the links, just in case I'm interested? Is this called spam? I usually simply delete them.

Last night, I received a phone call from a fellow who expressed interest in a capaccino machine I am selling. We ended up talking for an hour. Seems he was a long-distance truck driver (like my dh) who's just come off the road only to find his wife of 12 years was apparently "doing better without him." Now 38 and going through an impending divorce, I think he was more interested in having someone to talk to than the coffee pot. I was glad to oblige as I, too, was home alone and it was good to hear another human voice. Whether he was looking to Craig's List as a social networking option or not, I don't know. He could have found that in the personal ads on the same site, but maybe he didn't want to appear so obvious. Haven't heard from him since and he didn't buy the capaccino machine, so in either case, I guess he wasn't interested.

So what's my take on all this? While my ads remain pretty straightforward, I've come to believe there's a lot more buying and selling going on at Craig's List than meets the eye.

The Rhinestone Pony

In my treasure hunting this week, I found this beautiful vintage rhinestone pin in the shape of a pony. Made in a silvertone (radium plated ?) material with a brushed finish, my little pony has bright, shiny rhinestones outlining his body, ears, and tail, and a red rhinestone eye.

I noticed the unusual mark on the back which I did not recognize—a capital "H" inside an elaborate heart, and then the copyright mark. So, I did some research.

I found this is a Hedy pin manufactured in the mid-to-late 60’s by the Hedison Manufacturing Company of Rhode Island. Actually, this is only one of three of their marks, the latest mark used by Hedison until the company went out of business in 1985. Their first trademark was the word “Hedy” written in cursive, used until the late-1950’s. Later, the mark was changed to a capital “H” within a heart, and the “edy” portion of the name outside the heart. Finally, in 1964, the logo was change to just the capital “H” within the heart, as seen on my pony. This dates the pin to somewhere between the mid-60’s to the mid-80’s, still a vintage collectible.

The Hedison Manufacturing company was founded in 1909 by Harry D. Hedison, Sr., an Armenian immigrant whose family name had originally been Heditsian (meaning "from the" or "son of the" ancient village in Armenia where his family finds its roots). As with many immigrants, the name was “Americanized” upon arrival in our fair land, and the family’s surname was changed to “Hedison.” Mr. Hedison’s sons, Harry, Jr. and H. David, took over the family business in 1954 when Hedison, Sr. passed away. They continued the family business for the next 30 years.

Not only did Hedison manufacture and plate their own costume, gold-filled, and precious jewelry during this time period, but they made jewelry for many other companies as well, and also operated as a jewelry importer/exporter. Often, only their boxes were marked with their logo, leaving the jewelry inside unmarked.

Hedy jewelry has become highly collectible over the years. You may even have a piece of your own but don’t know it because there is no mark.

If you have an authentic vintage Hedy piece, send me a photo and I’ll post it here. In the meantime, you can see my Hedy Rhinestone Horse Pin, and all my other unique auctions, here: The Whatsoever Shoppe!

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Stringfield, Dottie. "Hedy & Hedison Jewelry." Illusion Jewels Presents: Researching Costume Jewelry. 2009. 11 Jan 2009. http://www.illusionjewels.com/hedisonjewelryarticle.html.

Vintage Cartoons

We found these vintage cartoon/poems among my late uncle's possessions as we sorted through the remnants of his and my aunt's estate. I've never seen anything like them before, and find them most interesting, if not entertaining.

I've tried to research their origin to no avail. I've seen similar cartoon pages, but nothing quite like these; and most of the ones I've run across have been printed in black-and-white, with or without poems, mostly without. They probably also pre-date these quite a bit, perhaps the early 20th century.

So, where did these cartoons come from? Some sort of book or magazine? When were they published? By whom, and who is the artist/poet?

Why did my uncle keep these (besides the fact that he apparently kept EVERYTHING, down to dime store receipts and operator manuals from appliances long since discarded)? Did he find them personally significant, some sort of commentary on his own life or emotions? Did he just find them humorous, nothing more? Could it have been my aunt who saved them, and not my uncle? If so, the same questions apply.

If anyone knows anything about the origination and history of these or similar cartoon pages, please comment. It's a mystery I would like to see unraveled.

Have a blessed day!

Freebies for the Thrifty-Minded

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Enjoy, and have a blessed day.

P.S. I'll be posting more to let you know about all my fabulous freebies and bargains I've received thus far, in only a few short weeks!

This Week's Fabulous Finds...

This is a new weekly article I am going to post on my blog to--well--promote myself, and of course, my fabulous finds.

Look at these gorgeous handcrafted and mouth-blown exotic glass fish from Fitz & Floyd's "Glass Menagerie" Collection. They were very difficult to find as, I believe, they are all retired. They come in their original burgundy oval box.

They're just so pretty. You can find them in my Ebay store, The Whatsoever Shoppe, here:

http://tinyurl.com/67gno6

Enjoy, and have a blessed day.