We really do find and try to rescue the most obscure things when we downsize a home. I am not above stripping vintage lights or fixtures if I think someone will want them and it keeps them out of the dump.
Old signage of almost any type or anything that has to do with transportation is usually a good seller. These were local pieces but the buyer was in NV - so we shipped them From Here to there :)
Not only was it about 100 years old - but where can you buy a US mailbox?! Collectors want to buy things that can't be found just anywhere and we love bringing them to the market.
It is such a pleasure to handle premium collections of things we just don't find on a typical house call. When it comes to selling off a collection of any given type of item, in order to get that 'top dollar' price, you have to sell one item to one buyer at a time and that's where we come in and do just that. I could not find a single comp value on this piece but I knew it was special and would go to a good home for a great price.
In order to get items sold quickly, we have to be willing to ship them to the buyers. With big heavy items, that cost cuts in to what a potential shopper is willing to pay. I wrote on the box 'Yes, it actually is a boat anchor'
Even in less than perfect condition, there are always buyers for vintage toys!
When it comes to jewelry, the name brand is a big resale factor as people collect pieces based on vintage designers. This piece was only about $3 worth of silver but it might as well have been gold!
This piece was made circa 1883! It would have been worth more had it been complete but we love saving old toys and there are always buyers for them
Contemporary sports memorabilia has really gone down in value in the past decade and only pieces that are truly vintage or have some kind of authentication will have a market.
We've talked before about how fickle the market is on Chinese antiques and now that China is such a wealthy country, their citizens are trying to reclaim 'lost treasures' pawned off by their ancestors. One piece could be worth nothing while another similar piece might be worth a fortune but without some kind of documentation from an authority on the subject, pieces like this could be anyone's guess on value.
Vintage advertising and toys of almost any type bring good money. We had to wait a couple months for the right buyer to come along to pay our price - but we got it
Old suitcases are a dime a dozen and only pieces that have exceptional style or patterns are going to be worth anything. This set wasn't all that great but it was very clean - enough to justify the respectable sale price of 150
Just sharing another retro light that sold
We've mentioned that Native American related items are still somewhat in demand, but even that category has declined in value over the past ten years. There are so many newer made pieces on the market that it can be hard to tell the difference from true artifacts and only things with some type of documentation or provenance will bring big prices these days.
Jewelry is the most heavily marked up luxury item in existence. Name brands aside, the resale value is often tied closely to the scrap price of the metal. Only extraordinary pieces like this will bring more but when you consider the cost of eBay fees, we only got about $50 more than the gold would have melted down for. We of course hate to see nice things destroyed and finding something a good home always makes it worth the effort.
Just sharing another cool vintage lamp that sold for a great price. Sometimes when we know we have something good, it's worth sitting and waiting to try to get as much as we can. Unfortunately we only have enough space to sit on so many things so sometimes this strategy isn't possible.
Even in less than perfect condition, vintage toys are always in demand to those looking for lost memories. Our star associate G rescued this $75 fatty from a donation pile pick that was pretty slim otherwise.
