Blog

Readers know I'm a bit of a toy collector. I had bought a really clean collection of SW toys and these were figures from my collection that I had replaced in favor of slightly better pieces. After months of fishing for a big price, I finally let them auction from $1. Sadly, I had turned down a better offer the week before. Oh well, I guess the Force wasn't with me on this lot. 

No, no one wants your Beanie babies.....

Planes, trains, and automobiles. Love original boxes! Tyco is a really low-end brand but TV and movie themed toys seem to sell well no matter the quality.

There was some debate around our shop as to whether these were original or not but someone in Germany of all places agreed that they were legitimate and off they went

Someone had asked me what I thought this might be worth and at the time, I said about $50. There were in fact several similar pieces that had sold around that price when I did my research but then there was another that sold for $500 which made me think maybe I should fish - so I did and it paid off.

Another somewhat obscure item that sold in under a day. Vintage hobby collectors have eBay 'programmed' to notify them when certain items are listed.

These were pretty old - they were made of zinc pot metal but I'll add words like 'bronzed' to my titles to pick up extra potential views.

Young adult video gamers want back their 'vintage' games for nostalgia so prices are going up!

Some people love funky folk art. I might have fished for a higher price and waited but these days I'm just trying to turn inventory to keep the lights on.

Maybe I just like them but I seem to have good luck selling bookends

I'm a big toy collector of things from when I was a kid. This was mine but I actually got a much nicer one from J and some collectors like me will upgrade and sell off their so-so stuff to offset the cost of collecting.

Nobody reads anymore was my mantra but since quarantine, I've actually been having some luck with books.

Movie and music media have been on their way to extinction for a number of years but some specialty recordings can still fly off the shelf

Nice pottery can be hit or miss but some regions have a big following

It can sometimes be hard getting a fair price for fine old furniture these days and while pieces like this are worth the effort it really does take months to find that perfect buyer.

I sometimes get calls from people asking to buy the things here on our blog that were already sold of course and this could be one of them. Contemporary high end designer stuff can sometimes have an almost cult following.

Hundreds of dollars in books that were group lotted together just to find them a home and make the sale worth the effort. 

This was a barn find that was originally covered in rust but J took it home and blasted it clean and painted it and turned a $20 item into $280! Sometimes it can pay off to restore certain items or at least make them more presentable. 

Wow - I'm thankful to the turkey who paid $100 for this platter.... too much class and style for my table though

And hippopotamuses like me too...

Another toy - my favorite type of thing to sell. 

Old boxes and woodenware items seem to do well.

This knob wasn't much of a turn but I always like selling reclaimed and salvaged hardware and fixtures.

In the interest of saving time and creating more value, we sometimes make 'group lots' of similar items. Boy Scout related things are fairly collectible and in hindsight, I could have made more parting this lot out.

Authentic period items like this are in demand, the problem is there are so many good quality 'aged' reproductions that it takes a trained eye to tell the difference.