Neil Armstrong - Cashing in on Dead Celebrities (sorry!)

Neil Armstrong died. A quiet American hero.

This was NOT opportunistic price gouging, but I had literally been processing some photos to list on eBay when the news came through my BBC newsfeed. I had a pair of small bronze medallions, probably common pieces produced in the tens of thousands, featuring the likenesses of the Apollo 11 crew, manufactured shortly after the moon landing in 1969. One had sold on eBay shortly before for $15. With the news of his death, I knew mine would go for more, and I got a $50 Buy It Now within a few hours for the pair.

This happens a lot. Michael Jackson's death immediately turned Thriller LPs into $50 to $100 records (up from $5) for a few weeks. They sell for $5 again today. I know record dealers who had dozens of them in stock at the time of his death, and really cashed in with all his albums. Ditto for the World Trade Center tragedy, catapulting the prices of souvenir pieces into the hundreds before eBay prohibited their sale for a few months.

Sentiments aside, I think this is a good argument to leave out the emotions and approach your collecting or dealing rationally!

Civil War Bullets - Unusual Yard Sale Find

I love unusual stuff. Just the idea of Civil War bullets makes me think of something so historically important that I can't even imagine someone's thought process when they decide to put them out at a yard sale. It's not every day things like a bag of Civil War bullets show up at yard sales. In fact, it's a first for me! They were priced fairly at $1/each, but I bought the whole bag (80 of them) for just $30 after some haggling.
Sometimes, an item's provenance adds to its significance. The seller told me these were dug at Fort Donelson, the site of U.S. Grant's first major victory in the Civil War in 1862, which earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender." These bullets are "dropped," which means they weren't fired in the battle (the soft lead would have flattened on impact). An expert could tell you what type of gun fired each bullet. Note the round musket balls in the lower right corner. I will sell these as a lot on eBay; estimate: $125-$150. Update: Sold for $100.

Souvenir China - Gas up the Model T, honey.

With the advent of the automobile and improved infrastructure, travel became easier and cheaper over long distances in the US around the turn of the last century. When just a generation earlier horse-drawn carriages on dirt roads was the fastest way to get around, motorized vehicles revolutionized the "vacation." And from around 1895 through the 1910s (up to WWI), the idea of travel souvenirs became fashionable. In my experience, the souvenirs were mostly sterling spoons and trinket china pieces, each with the location and sometimes a picture of the destination to-be-remembered (in an era before cameras were widespread). While it's unlikely you'll find sterling souvenir spoons at a yard sale, the souvenir china does come up frequently. I've found it's often overlooked by the "old school" dealers who don't want a piece of china from, let's say, Maine sitting in their shop in, oh, Pennsylvania. But the internet has opened up the market for people looking for specific scenes. Most of the pieces are not too expensive and usually sell in the $10-$25 range, but rarer scenes (not like any shown above!) can go for $hundreds to the right person. Keep an eye out for it, this stuff is usually very easy to spot!

Buying Broken & Repaired Things

No matter how carefully I inspect glass or porcelain at a sale, the moment I get home I realized it's chipped and flaked. Most of the time, this damaged stuff goes right in the trash or recycling. But sometimes, I think pieces that have been badly damaged and then repaired, show that the item was of significance to its owner: it gets my attention. Sometimes, it's a clue to value.

I have a really hard time picking old brass candlesticks. So much is made in India these days, and when covered in wax, sometimes it's just really hard to tell. I bought these simply because of the old repair on the bottom. To me, it meant these were important to their owner when the break occurred. Even with the questioning phrase "Antique?" in the title, someone agreed with me and they went for $105 on eBay.

This interesting pottery vase has a great Modernist design, and an intriguing signature on the bottom. The break is horrible and messy, but it's a nice piece for art pottery, probably circa 1940s or 50s. If it's valuable, the break could be repaired. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out who made it, so it will sit on my shelf and collect dust for a while longer.