Toys and games always have a strong following and people from all over the world collect them. Some forgotten titles can be worth a pirate's treasure :)
Can you believe at one time people would pay a parking ticket by putting money in a curb-side box? Anything old related to transportation is always of interest.
We never underestimate anything as silly as it may seem. An old brand like Steiff still has a good following of collectors.
Anything vintage pertaining to emergency public services can be collectible.
Old toys are always in demand and having the original box is a huge plus to value
Old pottery has declined in value over the years but obscure pieces like this are still somewhat in demand
Such a killer piece. We had initially found the petal shades at a customer house but the fixture was buried among hundreds of boxes which we didn't have time to look through. The owner promised to bring it in when found but I had very little hope she actually would. Months later she did and we made a nice sale! Funny thing is I saw an identical lamp sell for $375 and was tempted to put mine up at the same price but my instinct told me to 'let it auction' and I was pleasantly surprised!
This little group was pretty cool and fairly priced but it took months to sell. Sometimes we just have to be prepared to wait which is the difference between $50 and the $5 these would have sold for at an auction or yard sale.
If you put the words 'mid century' in your title, you can sell almost anything for good money these days
Old metalware and Americana always makes for a nice sale
More killer lighting we passed on to a good home. Shipping these shades was a total chore
Old cast iron pieces with good subject matter always make for a nice sale
Yet another light we sold. When selling things on eBay, we are held accountable to the Nth degree which can be very frustrating. I gave the buyer a discount on this piece but then he complained about a blemish and wanted an additional discount. Over the years we've had a number of people abuse our accountability and at a certain point, I just have to ask myself: Is it worth $dollars to ruin my flawless reputation and will usually just give someone a credit or refund even if it's really not fair.
Vintage pottery - especially decorator plates - can be a really hard sell as the market has dried up. Shipping fragile stuff is a lot of work and risk too but we're here for just such a task.
Another old light we sold. This sat on my shelf for months before I got around to posting it as I wasn't sure if it would sell and shipping stuff like this is a pain. Again, anything old Chinese right now seems to be pretty hot. It pays to visit museums and learn fancy terms like 'famille verte' to help get items seen by the educated buyers.
Most old books are a dime a dozen but we do try to look at everything we find. This book, originally published in 1898, told a flawless prediction of the Titanic disaster of 1912 - 14 years later. The work was re-issued at that time and is still worth $100 but a first printing would sell for $500 or more.
As you know I like to share all the lighting sales we make. We were hired to do a clean-out job for an abandoned house and I totally took the time to strip this off the ceiling. Well worth the effort!
Tis the season! Remember true vintage Halloween stuff sells pretty well!
We actually found this in someone's trash as the next of kin was cleaning out the family estate. Would you throw away $600?!
I generally don't post furniture sales here as most pieces simply aren't exceptional. This set retailed around $12,000 in 1994 and ONLY because of the name brand AND condition was I able to get such a wonderful second hand price and it took MONTHS of waiting to get it. MOST old brown furniture simply doesn't hold value.
These shades were not attached to any lamps but I probably would have split them just the same as shipping shades with the lamps is a nightmare. Once again - Mid century stuff AND vintage lighting - these sold very fast on eBay
Yet another light we sold - we should change our name to Curiosity lighting or something...
Just sharing another vintage light we sold
Having some basic knowledge as to what things are collectible coupled with Internet research can yield some great results. Knowing that old chess sets can be desirable, plus recognizing this heavily stylized pattern, and comping it based on the name brand told us that it was valuable. So instead of throwing it up for an eBay auction, we sat and waited for the right buyer to come along who recognized the value and paid a fair price.
The market for 'old stuff' is not what it used to be and some pieces just aren't in demand. I knew this big hundred year old basket would have been desirable ten plus years ago but without a name brand I was taking a chance on it.