Buying, Listing and Crossing My Fingers

These days I’m keeping my biz shopping to a minimum but still finding a few neat bits. This heavy tribal-style box by Boma or Pearlite (both of Canada) is a reproduction of indigenous carved argillite pieces (which have some serious value). The box was missing it’s lid and also had a small discoloration inside that I thought was removable. It was not. I decided it was not worth selling online so I’m using it as our key box and it’s working out much better than the bigger box I had there.

I don’t buy many brass vases/pots anymore, but this one was outstanding. The shape and etching were atypical of what I normally see and the weight was phenomenal at over two pounds! I’ve got this one on my mantel till it sells.

I found this 1950s black velvet doctoral cap (made by Cotrell and Leonard) tucked away in a cupboard. Here’s the shocker–I bought this at least seven years ago! The woman I bought it from said it had belonged to her deceased husband. Somewhere I have the gown the goes with it, but at least I finally got the cap listed.

Started listing some of the wonderful vintage cookbooks given to me by my friend Beth. (Haven’t managed to get all the musty smell out though I haven’t done my vodka spritz yet!) This Big Sisters cookbook was published in 1977 and has all the glorious food of that time like Mexicali Casserole.

I bought these two sterling silver candlesticks last month and was going to polish them to a high shine, but realized two things. One, it was going to be a lot more effort than they were worth, and two, one had a bit of damage I had missed. Still they would be perfect for folks who like the dark academia look or appreciate things that are wabi-sabi or perfectly imperfect. I’ve priced them modestly.

This vintage sterling silver squeeze box/accordion charm came off a recent eBay bracelet purchase and I am just thrilled with it. The bellows even move slightly. Turns out this is a fairly scarce charm which is just the kind of thing I like selling.

Like many of you I am continuing to work hard and continuing to add delightful and unique bits to my online store. At times it feels like I’m running in a hamster wheel and not getting anywhere! (For disclosure my 2025 first quarter revenue is down 45% from 2024–which is substantial!) But overall my biz still brings me joy and fingers crossed some of these items will find new homes!

Wishing you happy hunting (and selling)!

Karen