What I Bought, What I Didn’t, What Sold

I’ll admit I had this large aluminum “chip and dip” roulette wheel thingy in my basket at Goodwill. I thought it was kinda fun, but as I continued to shop I changed my mind about it. Yes, it was nicely made (by Metal Works, India), but it wasn’t vintage and it is big (13.5″ diameter) and with my storage issues, not what I need. And realistically I couldn’t picture many people wanting this. It’s one of those novelty items you use once and never again. And it was priced at $17. Yikes! Currently other online sellers are selling this from $7.50 to $54. So potentially it could be a big dud. I put it back on the shelf.

I also decided against a silk scarf with an Egyptian theme. Again it was a newer item and I might have gone for it, but it had scratchy gold thread throughout and I didn’t find the pattern appealing. I used the “Would I wear this?” test. And the answer was no.

And I wisely turned down a small Lenox crystal bowl at $7. Crystal is not a fast mover and I doubted there was much money in this. And I was right. Currently, folks are listing that particular bowl for $15 or so and on Worthpoint a set of three of them sold for $25 in May.

But I did buy this large 15″ wood crucifix icon. Quite magnificent with a bit of gilding around the carved border. I can picture this in a house with French antiques.

And I found this framed and matted watercolor by Nancy Feldkamp. She is a long-time artist and a member of Chelsea Painters in Michigan. Most of her recent work seems to be cool, abstract landscapes, but I found this more representational ink and watercolor painting of a community called Labro in Italy.

I thought it was rather fetching! Somewhere I’d want to visit. I even found a photo online of this very spot.

But here’s the weird thing…I haven’t been able to find any prices for Nancy’s work! Nothing is showing up for sale online, there is no sales info in Worthpoint, nothing anywhere. Finally after digging for over an hour, I pulled up a PDF from a charity auction where she had donated several paintings and found that the opening bid was $250. Okay, well at least that gives me an idea. I’ll likely price this around $100.

What’s Been Selling

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time you’ve seen photos of many of my finds, but you may wonder if they actually sell. They do! Though typically most are long tail. Here are my recent Etsy sales.

I was pleased that my reconditioned cutting board found a home. I’ve had my eye out for others to recondition, but they’ve all been thinner, bamboo boards and not worth the effort. Hoping to find an old maple board someday!

Happy hunting,

Karen