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Auctions and Antiques Examiner
Showing entries for Category: retro
Showing entries for Category: retro
Things go better with Coke, but sell better when they're the right size
 Original paint, just the right size price, $2,395 Therefore it commands a premium of $2,395. Now the gigantic sized "coffin" models that you see in country stores etc. may have a high price tag, but usually won't sell very fast at all, and the seller will often be very eager to cut the price. After all, how many people have room for something like that? Things go better with....Coke! But things go better when they're in the "cute" size which means a larger percentage of the population has use for them. If your investing in collectibles for resale, be very cautious of buying things like oversized hutches, massive chests of drawers or anything that's so big very few people will have room for them. Thanks for reading, AW
For more info on Coca Cola and other collectibles go to Auctionwally.com If you've found anything in this article useful please consider adding it to your favorite bookmark.
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Opening Day Report of the Brimfield Antiques Show With Prices
Categories:
antiques values ,
antiques ,
values ,
vintage ,
retro ,
collectibles ,
flea markets ,
brimfield antiques show ,
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There is nothing in the antiques world like the opening of the largest show in the US in Brimfield MA. It's an overload of sensory perception, a carnival of the unusual, a mind boggling plethora diversity, and that's just the people! Seriously, there are over 5000 dealers that set up over the course of a week. The show runs on Tuesday through Saturday May 13th - 18th this year. The show comes to Brimfield 3 times a year, May, July, & Sept. and always starts on the 2nd Tuesday of the Month and runs until Saturday. Tents and displays are set up at more than 20 massive farm fields along RT 20 in Brimfield. There are 19 on the official roster, but there are a few renegades as well. I'm lucky enough to live just 45 minutes from the town of Brimfield, so being an antiques auctioneer, I naturally get to it at least once per season. I usually go as a buyer, not to sell. This year it was fun to cover the event as a blogger, allowing me to view it from another perspective. It was refreshing to cover the event without the concerns of purchasing items and promoting an upcoming auction, which are my usual motives for attending. I covered 2 fields for this trip and will be going back later on in the week, here are the results of my first visit. One of the strangest things I've ever seen at Brimfield or anywhere else for that matter, was a Corona. Upon hitting the first field, (Brimfield Acres North) I saw several hundred people looking straight up in the air at a rainbow around the Sun. I'd never seen one before and it was breathtaking, I'm still rubbing my eyes however. If you think a rainbow around the Sun is strange, the site of a field full of people looking up in the air all at once is even slightly more so! See kids, antiques are MAGIC! .JPG) The state of the antiques market seems to exist in it's own world that operates outside of the normal economy, and here's what I found to be the buzz topics of this show.
Items and asking prices.
Here are a few things I found interesting and their asking prices. The dealers contact info appear next to the item if I was given permission to print that. Wendy & Chuck LaVigna of Stone Cottage Antiques did well and had the following items for sale. stonecottageantiques.net A wonderful faded yellow painted primitive foot stool $165 Super pair of Torino mfg Chrome Retro Lamps $375 A large Petit Point of a Biblical? scene. $375  A dealer from Maine offered one of the nicest spool cabinets I've seen. Belding Bros. 3 foot tall spool cabinet, $1500  George Clark spool cabinet $1495 The Great American Game an early tin Baseball Game by the Hustler Toy co. of Sterling Illinois. $295 There was a companion Football game priced at $295 as well Antique Slot Machine $1500 .JPG) Dennis Carlson Antiques of Moodus CT had a very interesting display which included the following A circa 1920s Mr Wood boat model $850 A fully working 3 foot long Railroad Steam Engine circa 1920s - $4250  From dealers who did not wish to have contact info published I found. A Hurdy Gurdy cart fully working at $950  An antique motorcycle, (the dealer was not at the booth, and this item did not have a price tag A miniature hand-made cupboard $475 A White's 4 gallon crock with cobalt blue floral decoration $485 Clark Jr Crock of NY also cobalt blue decorated $475 An Oak bow-front curio cabinet with applied lions, $1295 What I took away from the show was this.
Thanks for reading. AW For a complete 2008 Brimfield Shows Schedule click here. |
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antiques ,
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It IS Easy Being Green, With Antiques.
 Today the focus of this post which is that antiques are Green, very Green, and right now being Green is "in", and arguably the most important thing to be as a consumer. Now maybe it's just that as I'm getting older I'm finding my need to have my field of work accepted by the tragically hip, as well as those who need hip replacements, but I really see a huge benefits younger generations in antiques & collectibles. Probably the best way to win you over and convince you that antiques are the ultimate Green products, would be to jump right in prove my case, but do I do that? Naw, not me, the big mouthed auctioneer, I gotta pick a fight with my audience first! Here are my fighting words. You guys gotta get shed your addiction to disposable material luxury, especially with the extra obnoxious items. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with a little flash, but c'mon, a Hummer?! Face Grills?! Do you need to display the fact that you have money so bad that you have to wear it on your face? nuff said. If your financially fortunate enough to be able to afford those things I've just mentioned let me make a couple of suggestions. First, instead of a Hummer, how about a nice vintage Rolls Royce? Something in a Phantom, or the Silver Ghost would be much more stylish, get you more attention, about the same gas mileage and which do you you think will be worth more money in 10 years? Right. Here's where the Green part comes in, "the Rolls Royce is already made". No extra production strain is put on the planet for raw materials, the same of course applies to any collectible or used item you purchase rather than a newly produced item. Think for a minute how hard teams of scientists work to invent ways to cheapen productivity cost and lessen environmental impact of new products. Something that's already made has cuts both of those factors to 0, with no effort. The Green benefit becomes even larger when you consider the potential disposal fee of the antique, collectible or used item that's saved. What about the landfill room saved? But what about the average person? So, let's say you're not, and will never be in the market for a Hummer or a Rolls Royce. How can you save a bunch of cash with antiques? Aren't antiques expensive? No, this is the biggest mis-perception that haunts the antiques world. Generally speaking, good quality antiques, used furniture and collectibles are much cheaper than new items of similar quality. The key part of that sentence being of similar quality. Let's take for example a nice Victorian solid Oak chest of drawers with a matching attached mirror. The average price range for such an item at auction is $150-$300 right now. You can go to Walmart and find something just as pretty for about $150 so were even so far. I'm sure most of you know that the pretty item at Walmart will be fake wood, what is commonly referred to as particle board or presswood. Don't put a drink on it, and DO NOT attempt to move it once you've assembled it. Spilled drinks will dissolve the finish and moving it, even once, will loosen joints and make drawers unworkable. Junk. Now you CAN go to a good quality furniture store and buy a new dresser of solid Oak, somewhat close to the quality of the antique Victorian Chest I mentioned above, but it will cost you about $1,500 to $2000 dollars. Again, which do you think will be worth more money in 10 years? Right. The same principles apply to virtually all quality antique items. You can get knock off new junk in stores for about the same money or you can get a comparable quality new item for about 10X the price or you can just get the antique item at an affordable price and if you take care of it, it will likely appreciate in value. For those just starting out If you're just starting out and have little money, don't go slapping your future down on a credit card to furnish your home. Every week throughout the country there are tons of small auction houses that would love your business, and in most cases you can fill up a truck and furnish a small apartment for under $500.00, lamps and accessories included! With the foreclosure market the way it is, many people are downsizing, as a result there is a glut of used furniture on the market at local auction houses and second hand shops. I'm watching pieces that used to auction for $150-$200 each, sell for $25 and $50! That's if the auctioneer can even get a bid on them. It seems that the dealers in the audience are all looking for small items to sell on eBay or only want the 1 or 2 outstanding pieces of furniture in the sale. Got Skills? If you're handy and are willing to do a little work, you can have something truly unique that will cost you nothing or very little. If you have the skill and inclination, I beg of you to go rescue one of those awesome vintage Stereo or "Hi-Fi" cabinets from the 1950s-60s.  Most people getting rid of them are willing to give them away. These can be converted into great liquor bars or buffet type pieces. Take out the record player and pop in a dry sink, take out the speakers and you have space to store things you wish to keep hidden. Keep the top down and it makes a great stand for a large fish or Iguana tank. Have you seen how neat some of those old retro Hi-Fi cabinets are? If you're a musician, they can be shelled to drop in new gear. If I was held at gunpoint, (no volunteers please) I could come up with at least a dozen other uses for this piece of furniture alone, and think of what else is out there that should be saved. If you go to an art store for mosaic type material, expect to pay big bucks, but you can find better, more beautiful and truly unique material for next to nothing. Just go to antique shops or auctions to purchase damaged porcelain and pottery. Etsians (those who sell on Etsy.com) are onto this and have started fashioning custom jewelry and other arts & crafts, which sell for good money.  Badly torn posters and antique books are almost worthless to antique ephemera dealers, but every day people get good money for them once they're transformed into collages, altered books and other unusual items. Jewelry making was just mentioned above and lots of people have found a niche in the market place making custom jewelry. You can go to supply centers and buy new, or you can hunt second hand stores for boxes of old findings or jewelry parts, which again will likely be very cheap when you do find them. There are millions of antique and used items out there waiting to be rescued from the back rooms of auction houses, antique shops and second hand stores, many of them are cheap or in some cases free. Make a statement, be unique, go Green, buy an antique. |
How Come She Can Sell That But I Never Could?
 Every once in a while, even though I know the answer, I still find myself asking on occasion, "how come she can sell that and I can't". This time I came across a great book that my friend Mitzi is selling or has sold depending on when your reading this post. Now, grant that it has an awesome cover, but I just had some great vintage Sci-fi up with super artwork covers for auction and didn't sell the lot. They were priced low too. I know Mitzi will have great luck with hers and the reason is that she's got such a strong vintage blog persona and has the perfect flair for lots like this. Anytime you go to Vintagegoodness.com you'll find fresh retro collectibles presented in a blog so entertaining you'll be wishing you could step into the screen for a visit. What to expect would be a usual large excellent dinner set or two, vintage cookbooks, accessories and lots of wildcard lots because the site doesn't tolerate ho-hum! A couple of weeks ago she sold the same year and model vintage radio that was on Gilligan's Island. That would sum up the site as well as anything. But I'm not sending you there dear reader to try to get you to buy something, I want you to see the fantastic job Mitzi does with social marketing, just to know what's possible and how important it is to put your own personality into your site if your going online to sell a product or service. That's the point of this blog, to demonstrate that certain people can sell certain products or services much better than others. The reason they create their own flavor. If you happen to buy something, it's not my fault! These days so many people are looking to take some kind of business model online, as the number increases, the need to stand out becomes ever important. As the "series of tubes we know as the Internets" becomes more clogged, people are going to seek truer niche vendors that are willing to stay fresh, and put customer service first. Go to Vintagegoodness.com to see one woman's zany and fun way of doing things, if not for inspiration, then just for the he** of it!  |
Auction Wally
AuctionWally has been an auctioneer and appraiser for 25 years. He runs an antiques appraisal blog where he writes about the value of antiques and how to sell them. You can find him at www.auctionwally.com.
AuctionWally has been an auctioneer and appraiser for 25 years. He runs an antiques appraisal blog where he writes about the value of antiques and how to sell them. You can find him at www.auctionwally.com.
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