This Weekend’s Finds: Costume Jewelry Galore!

One of my specialties, albeit a strange specialty, is vintage costume jewelry. It’s definitely a specialty that you wouldn’t normally associate with a guy in his late-20’s, but I learned quite a bit from my mother over the years as well as the huge inventory of jewelry that she had after she passed away.

Due to the selling of that inventory and the abundance of jewelry I’ve found during some of the great years I’ve had in re-selling antiques, it’s tough to pass it up. This weekend ended up being a huge week for jewelry. Here’s some of the great finds:

• Huge Ledo Clear Rhinestone Brooch with Baguette Stones
  

  Ledo Clear Rhinestone Brooch

• Very Unique Gold-Toned Enameled, Link Cheetah Brooch
  

  Vintage Cheetah Brooch

• Gorgeous Hong Kong Orange Plastic Brooch and Earrings Set
  

  Hong Kong Orange Plastic Brooch and Earring Set

• Vintage Layered Navette Rhinestone Brooch with Unique Center Stone
  

  Unique Layered Rhinestone Brooch

• Gorgeous Forrest Green Flower Rhinestone Brooch
  

  Gorgeous Green Rhinestone Brooch

• Renoir Matisse Triple Leaf Copper Brooch and Earrings
  

  Renoir Matisse Brooch & Earrings

I also bought roughly $300 worth of jewelry that nearly filled my entire van in order to grab these items, so we’ll see if all of the vintage Avon and vintage Trifari/Monet pieces I found will make me some profit. A lot of colorful vintage wooden jewelry from the 1970’s and 1980’s as well. I’m still a bit hesitant as to how I’ll do.

This Weekend’s Antiques & Collectibles Highlights

This past weekend was somewhat of a dud for increasing my inventory, but it did provide me with enough inventory to work for two straight weeks on eBay sales. Some of the more interesting pieces we picked up are below:

• Devon Ware Fielding’s Stoke-on-Trent England Wash Basin
  

  Devon Ware Fielding's Wash Basin

  Very neat painted wash basin from the “Stoke-on-Trent” conglomeration of cities that include Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton.

  

  Devon Ware Fielding's Wash Basin Mark

  I was able to track down the exact marking at ThePotteries.org, a site devoted to Stoke-on-Trent pottery. I found that Fielding’s was founded in 1879 and shut down in 1982, but the mark above dated the piece between 1917 and 1930.

• Royal Albert Bone China “Val D’or” patterned Creamer & Sugar Bowl
  

  Royal Albert Bone China Val D'or Sugar/Creamer

  I wasn’t too sure about this buy, but the gold trim of both pieces was in immaculate condition, leading me to believe that it’s probably a rarity to find that type of condition for these pieces. They generally sell, but we’ll see if my $3 investment turns into something bigger.

• Antique Cast Iron Door Knocker
  

  Antique Cast Iron Door Knocker

  I bought this simply because I thought it was a neat, old piece. I imagine the previous owner painted it, but the ornate designs and facial features made me believe I could get some solid return. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like door knockers are a huge return on investment.

• Our best costume jewelry finds of the weekend
  

  Vintage Enamel Leaf & Rhinestone Flower Brooch

  

  Coro Multi-colored Rhinestone Floral Brooch

  These were probably my two best pick-ups this weekend. I was able to get steals on these as they were in one large lot of other goodies. The top piece isn’t marked, but it’s very unique in that it has the enameled leaves with iridescent stones.

  The bottom brooch is all Coro, and it’s gorgeous. The only problem is two missing baguette rhinestones on the frame, but other than that — excellent find.

Saturday was an excellent day, but Sunday was more or less a bust. Jewelry went out of control for pieces not really worth the bother. Little old ladies battled it out like pit fighters over pieces that probably could have been bought new for less.

Glassware was a bust as well. I was beaten out consistently by one man who bid over my profit margin, and I just wasn’t going to blow money. We came away with some furniture to re-sell for profit, but certainly not worth the trip.

Overall, it was a two-faced weekend. The good and the bad. Hopefully, it’ll get better.

Determining Which Auctions to Attend During Hectic Weekends

Going, going, gone!

One of the dilemmas that constantly hits my radar around Wednesday and Thursday of the week is what auctions I’m going to attend on the weekends in order to gain some inventory. Right now, I’ve had a problem keeping a weekly stream of inventory to push to eBay, and I’m currently running on a week-by-week basis as to whether I’ll list or not. Preferably, 50 items per week is my limit, but I’ve fell well short of that this year.

There are a number of contributing factors to this is that I haven’t pulled the trigger during junk auctions on the boxes of stuff to be bought in fear of having too much inventory in my one-car garage, but when I have started to bid heavily — I’m normally able to get rid of the inventory fairly quickly with nice profits.

The hot auction season is also a factor as the early months of the Spring are pretty competitive for dealers with the same mentality as myself… I need inventory! Prices fluctuate from rather high to a medium level while the late auction season sees a lot cheaper prices.

This all correlates to the question as to how dealers strategize about which auctions to attend. Some dealers tend to go to the upper-echelon auctions that feature better quality antiques and collectibles while others tend to drudge through the less-advertised auctions that feature bidding on large lots rather than choiced-out pieces. I tend to hit the latter, although I love to hit auctions that are somewhere in the middle.

What’s your strategy, and how has it worked out? Is attending auctions with higher quality items worth it, or do too many dealers drive prices out of this world?

eBay Remains the Key to Successfully Turning Trash to Treasure

Economic downturn affecting Antique businesses? Lower your expectations.

I consider myself a quick turn-around seller when it comes to selling antiques and collectibles. My goal is to pick up various lots of items at auctions or garage sales, quickly inventory and photograph those items, and immediately bulk load them into a system developed to mass upload them to eBay on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

In the past, my parents were very good about creating a massive inventory of items to which they wouldn’t need to rely on hitting auctions every weekend… and today, that massive inventory has allowed me to keep my profits high in the black for at least the last year.

Interestingly enough, this isn’t a widely-used system from my experience. With much of my experiences with dealers all over the World Wide Web and even in the local market, the economy seems to be heavy to blame for a huge downturn in the industry. Antique shops continue to shut down, but garage sales in my neck of the woods seem to flourish with buyers. This is mostly due to the fact that buyers want to spend much less, and the misconception that antique shops are morbidly expensive.

The keyword there is misconception as I’m in the group of people who don’t really feel it’s a misconception, but fact. The fact of the matter is that antique malls and shops across America can be very expensive for their goods, and I’ll be the first to tell you that I have to think long and hard about spending money at an antique mall on an item I desire due to the price tag.

Back in the day… when eBay hadn’t taken off yet, antique malls and shops were fairly profitable. My mother did a great job making a living, but eBay made her a huge success. And today, eBay remains the best way to turn trash into treasure.

Buying flats of glassware, knick knacks, or anything else for a buck will always turn profit on eBay, even if you might think it won’t.

Sure, there is definitely a disparity in the amount of profit to be made these days. It’s obvious that there aren’t as many buyers out there spending the money you’d like to see in your pocket, but there is one rule of thumb to live by: An antique or collectible is only worth what someone is willing to pay.

If you want to make money and keep afloat, it’s time to suck it up, do your research, put the item up for sale, and click the upload button with a giant 0.99 cent tag stuck to that item. It’s only worth what someone’s willing to pay, and sitting in an antique shop for six months to a year with almost no interest is killing your profits.

Think about it. You’d probably sell the piece for possibly half to three-quarters its actual value, but the profit alone and the quick turnaround would allow you to purchase more and sell more. One week to two weeks of turnaround versus six months to a year? I’ll have made up for that 1/4 of lost profit in another week, and the dealer will still be waiting and negotiating. No thanks.