A Few Good Sales and a Few Fun Finds

July started out with me needing to go back on antibiotics (arrrgh!!), but at least the weather here in the San Francisco Bay Area has been stellar (50s fahrenheit at night, 70s daytime). When I’ve felt up to it I’ve puttered around in our front yard. I still have landscape holes to fill in our garden, but with the drought I’ll hold off putting in new plants.

A Few Good Sales

Not all sales are created equal and some please me more than others for a variety of reasons.

Finally found a home…

I have good, interesting items that seem to take forever to find a buyer. Years. And when they linger I do revisit them and investigate. Are the photos good? The title and description adequate? Am I using the best search terms? Is the price too high? Too low? Is the item too off-trend? I adjust what I can and then wait.

I bought this little toy wood barrel filled with clothespins at an antique store three or four years ago. I thought it was sweet as could be. There was some interest in it over the years, but it remained unsold in my store…till this weekend. I didn’t make much $ on it, but I’m glad it’s found a home.

This pleasing large woven cotton coverlet was fabulous and it got “favorited” a lot. Still, it lingered and lingered, again for years. It finally sold and the buyer is thrilled with it.

Didn’t appeal to me…

While I tend to buy things that appeal to me on some level, some I buy because of their brand name or popularity. I am always relieved when these items sell!

This Waterford Clara crystal vase purchased in 2020 was one of them. I adore crystal and display/use some of the pieces I have for sale. And Waterford has been a consistent winner for me. But the style of this vase didn’t ring any bells. I found it “old fashioned” and never used it. I had it stored in my china hutch and was glad to see it go.

The perfect home…

Some buyers contact me or leave a review that lets me know the item is going to be treasured! And that makes my day.

The buyer of these Chinese finger puppets sent me a photo of the ones she had already had and said she was looking forward to having these “join the family.” Isn’t that fun?

A Few Good Finds from Here and There

I haven’t been sourcing a lot because I haven’t needed to! But I have been doing a little here and there for fun.

A few days ago I popped into my neighborhood thrift store and found another piece of MacKenzie-Childs enamelware. While it’s not my kind of thing, it does have a fan base and good resale value. This particular piece in their squashed pot series is in a discontinued pattern called “Morning Glory” and is now harder to find. A recent one sold for over $200 and one is listed on eBay for $205.

I spotted this vintage Mexican pottery box on a new merch cart and snagged it right away. And bonus, it’s a signed Erandi piece.

On Freecycle someone posted a listing for “foreign money” and no other details. I have sold lots of foreign money before and I was happy to have this…whatever pieces were included. (And free is the best price!) And it turns out that some of the money appears to be worth selling on its own. I’m guessing the previous owner tried to sell this at a flea market or yard sale as there were prices marked on the baggies. I’ll need to do research to figure out what I’ve got!

The most interesting to me were the Canadian 25-cents paper money from 1900 and 1923.

On eBay I won this antique Dutch wood snuff box, a souvenir from the city of Marken. The hand carving has a charming folk art feel.

Some antique wood shoe snuffboxes can sell for $$$, upwards to $800 with some of the best having delightful nailhead decoration.

Concluding Thoughts

Like many in the vintage/antique reselling space, I’ll just keep plodding along during those slower summer months. I know many use this time to take advantage of yard sales, flea markets, rummage sales, etc. to stock up on items for the fourth quarter/holiday season, but I don’t have that need. Still I will do a little sourcing!

Wishing you happy hunting,

Karen