Vintage Pearls

My  One Dollar Pearls.

 

Frustration

 Sometimes things don't go the way you think they should go. Sometimes the atmosphere is entirely different, the people have too much money, and the items are top quality. If that is the situation, be prepared to have your bids shot down and be shut out, totally shut out of the auction. Never have I left an auction empty handed. Always a first time I suppose, and Saturday was the day, 

I swore as I stomped out, as I huffed out after dropping out of bidding for a convex antique oval framed picture of a child. I do not have an antique shop where the clientele is adapted to paying big bucks for a valuable item. I sell on line and in a humble peddler mall on the wrong side of town. No way was I going to bid over 50$ for the picture/photograph and make my margins. I folded and left the auction in a somewhat sour and agitated mood.

Only a Bloody Mary calmed me down as I met up with an old friend from grammar school at the local hot spot. Now I was out of my general area of sourcing. I actually was back in my home town,one of the richest counties in the state, if not the richest per capita. Every time I attend of the auctions in my home town I am blown away on the bidding that builds and builds until I am squeezed out. I am so use to the average Joe type of auction, box lots going for 1$. bidder pick for 5$ I will leave with a car load of items spending under 200$, but mostly spending around 100$ and selling an item or two and making my money back and in the profit area after a few days.

This is totally different. Do these items sit in an antique booth waiting for that one special person to stumble upon the picture? Or do these buyers have someone in  mind, a sure thing, a slam dunk waiting for them?

A lot of costume jewelry, a tray of nice but nothing spectacular that would have gone for maybe at the most 45$  at My Favorite Auction House not defunt. The lot went for 400$ at Rich People Auction. A lot of 5 faux pearls, nice pearls but faux, five pieces - 200$ 

I had a hard time going to sleep that night because I mouthed the words "f*** Him" at the auctioneer after the relentless up bidding of the guy determined to get the photo. I felt ashamed that I lost my temper. And I actually prayed for forgiveness and the need for tolerance. To not be an idiot and to be better from then on out. And to never go to an auction there again. Unless I have won the lottery.

And the next day I went to two 75% off estate sales and really cleaned up. There was a basket of costume jewelry in the kitchen in baggies marked 2$ to 8$ at 75% off. I went thru and pulled about 15 bags, mostly the faux pearls. When I got home and began sorting the jewelry, pulling the Monet, Napier and Liz Claiborne, I ran across a dulled set of pearls and the clasp marked "Silver". I suppose God granted my confession and handed over a vintage strand of Akoya pearls. For one dollar.

But, never will I go to that auction house again.   

Obsession or Insanity

 

First it was Vintage Patterns. Vouge are the best. I sold one beauty for $150 last year and another 2 for 99$ I received two boxes from my SIL who was cleaning up her mothers things she no longer needed. There were some beautiful patterns and I just went nuts to begin hunting out older vintage patterns, preferably Vouge Designer patterns from the 50s & 60s. 40s too if possible. My house over runneth with boxes of patterns, I also sell a lot of them at the Booth.

Now it's silverware/cutlery. I have gobs and gobs of it, so super reasonable to pick up. But, the research and then the pain in the neck to polish and photograph!

I have a ton, and I mean a lot, of purses. They are piled up in my bedroom closet, I just ran across a cache in the garage, they are in totes in the photography room waiting their turn to appear! I don't know why I feel compelled to pick them up, but I do. I have coach, Vera Bradley, Aigner etc etc etc. I love them!

And I can not leave a bear behind. I see them and think that they are headed for the dump if I do not take them home. Mainly Boyd's Bears and the occasional BYOB, various brands of imported bears. Mohair, plush....you name it I've got it.

Books. I pick up a ton of coffee table books. I pick up a lot of reference books, I just pick up books.

They sell occasionally I buy obsessively. . 

Best week Ever

 

I won this sheet of uncut Beatle Cards last February. I sold it one year and one month and a couple of days later. I first listed it at 3500$ the 2500$ then 1999$ then 1599$. I sent out multiple offers I think, taking 15 - 25% off. Finally someone knew the value of this unusual and one of a kind item. I took the offer and it is highest selling item I have sold thus far. The other item that brought in a large amount was the vintage Lefton Herb rack with 24 little porcelain/ceramic shakers. That was a mobster to pack and ship, To Australia!! It arrived in one piece. The Beatle sheet has a slight tear in one corner, I hope he recognized that in the description.

As usual, as at least once a week, maybe less, but I have to tear the garage apart looking for 2 items. The first not in the box I assigned to it. The second is anyone's guess.

My sales have not been spectacular, but they have been steady. The on-line community is in an uproar over an adjustment in the algorithm that is causing many of the established stores to suffer. A deep dive, thanks to AI (that app/tool is going to take over the world) reveals that Ebay wants to compete with Amazon and move away from the image of a 2nd Hand Garage Sale site. I always thought the old idiom, throwing the baby out with the bath water was silly, but it certainly describes this adjustment to the bone.

So, what to do. Simple. Fill out the Item  Specifics in the Description as best as possible. Includes the origin of the Country, ounces verses pounds and units, ISBN, etc etc etc. I have always been pretty adept at filling in those blanks and I suppose that is the redeeming factor in my sales ;just plugging along. 

On the personal side, I am still in funky depression over a multitude of things, some in my control others are a result of my procrastinating ways. Some hinge on the delusional assumption that I am going to live forever. That my health is so frigging good because I take no medications, my BP has always been exceptional, I quit smoking over 20 years ago, I exercised my entire life until covid and dementia came to roost. Now I face a myriad of health issues.  A heart that does not relax in-between beats, high cholesterol, basal cell carcinoma, diabetes, ( I haven't had a piece of candy in close to a year. Can't say that about cookies)  and now I'm faced with the mac daddy of them all and I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best.    

The first thing I have done facing this challenge is to begin to thin out my library. I have at least 2 life times of books to read. They are overwhelming. Can I confess that I have trimmed down my life long obsession with reading and book multiple times!! Car load after truck load of books I have purged. Never good enough, the impulse to read more means to go to every library book sale that is held every other week end. I peruse the book shelves at every Estate Sale. I find it fascinating to look through what other people read and keep. It tells a lot about a person. Those estate sales with out books confound me. How does one live without books?

Thats all the news that fits.

The Bane of my Existence

 

This week , which is only in day 2, I could not find this Pitcher I sold on Ebay. I spend a few minutes in the "Ebay room" looking for it to no avail. Today I sorted thru the room, moving everything around and still no pitcher. 

This is the way I list my items and if I did according to plan, it would be a great system. In the SKU section of the listing that only is visible to me I notate where I put the item, where I got it, the date listed and the cog. . Either E-bay room, book shelf, or the number of the box in the garage. 

This item incorrectly was identified as Ebay room. On to my next avenue to locate an item, which once again if I followed procol it would be so easy to locate an item. I keep a note book that I jot down the date and the area/box number I put the listed item. I go to the book and lo and behold, its just listed as "pink Pitcher".

So, now I go to the computer and go thru my photo history. I know the date, Nov. 26th, so I head to that area and look at the pictures taken to ensure it was Nov. 26th. Back to the notebook and I scan all the boxes I used that day. Back to the garage (where the boxes have taken over) and hunt for 2011 ( which is CRAZY of me because all, every single one of the other boxes, are alphabetical such as A-1 etc.

When I locate 2011, it is (as always) the bottom box behind the A's.

This happens most weeks. It drives me crazy and is so easy to avoid. 

It use to be Fun

I remember about 20 years ago I was on top of the world in the blogging world. I won a major award at AOJ Journals for the Best Travel Blog. I may even have the thingamajig on my main page. Now it's amazing when I sign on and its been months since I shared my thoughts, life, my reselling journey. 

I recently looked on Reddit and saw that the blogging community, though significantly different, is still alive and well. Maybe not a community as was AOL Journals, but still alive with content ranging from personal blogs to very commercial intended blogs. 

In the beginning I was just examining my life (as a life unexamined is.....) and exploring my writing abilities. I remained anonymous and continue to try and remain anonymous.  That's for Facebook, and the other thing I am not a part of. I use to be a fairly competent photographer and there were several web sites I published on, though I can't remember their names either. A friend ran across one of them and sent me a link and I, as I sometimes am, was astounded at how wonderful many of them were! 

All that seems to be in the past, as my Nikon, now 20 years old which I bought for myself as a birthday present in 2006. Now people just use phones and apps to create some magnificent photo's. The art is barely there anymore. Just an eye, I suppose. 

I plug on in my reselling journal making extra money to make ends meet now that I am a widow and lost a significant amount of income. This is what I call Life after Joe. I've changed and i many ways, not good. I'm introverted and I think I may be depressed. I have minimum joy in life, Unfortunately, my ultimate joy is shopping, AKA sourcing, for resell. I have a shit load (there is no other word to describe it) of stuff in two storage units and the garage, a room dedicated to listed items (and some not) and the garage is a death trap of boxes, clothes, listed items, storage junk etc. etc. etc.

I do not need to source, just go diving into the many boxes of loot I have lying around. I made some goals for 2026 and I have made some progress and much more is needed.

As I sit here, putting off listing, I listen to the dogs running wild to see a squirrel in the back yard knocking over a box of Wedgewood Peter Rabbit cups. Time to go.

This is new Day 2

Yesterday - I'm going to go backwards. This is the pick up for the estate sale on line auction. I did not overbid and picked up two mirrors and  a cheese dome, hand painted and I believe is an old porcelain piece.It's listed already.

This was the day before yesterday when I was packing up my sold items. This little black and white is the most curious cat ever. She even tries to help me pack by climbing in the box, chewing the tape, messing around with the packing.

Hmmmmm, driving around aimlessly Sunday because the estate sale opened at noon and it was 1130, so I said "to hell with it" and went looking for a breakfast place to once again, break away from my diet. I have been waiting for this Yard Sale for quite some time and have been haunting their web site for information. There was none but driving past I saw this advert for the sale! Yay. I memorized the number and once I called I promptly forgot the number! What the heck. I may set up and get rid of my costume jewelry.