Collection of World War II 35mm Slides

I sell a lot of stuff that simply seems to "disappear" once it is packed and shipped at the post office. I almost never have the opportunity to see what its new owner does with it.

I recently sold a slide collection with a few originals from a WWII soldier, stationed in the Galapagos. The buyer asked me a few more questions about the lot, and I was able to dig up some more info on the soldier from other paperwork in the lot. With a name (and a broader knowledge of WWII than I have!), the buyer was able to piece together a nice blog posting about the soldier.

It's nice to see the slides within an historical context. Check out: portraitsofwar.wordpress.com

Breaking News: Tightwad Donates to Wikipedia!

Today, I was doing some research on this late 17th- to early 18th-century little pewter salt or nut dish. I knew the crest was German, but I was hoping to find some more useful keywords. A Google search brought me to this Wikipedia page: Coat_of_arms_of_Germany
Within moments, I had black eagle, Bundesadler, and Federal Eagle to use. Now, I'm usually pretty cheap, but I use Wikipedia so much that sometimes I think about all the reference books I don't have to buy. This Wikipedia page is so full of useful information and graphics, I did something I've never done before: I clicked the banner and actually donated to Wikipedia!
The historical articles on Wikipedia are great sources of information, usually free from all the politics and pranks of more topical pages. (Although, I do seem to recall reading that "cast iron is a great material for sex toys" a few years ago!) If you use Wikipedia as much as I do, think about sending a few bucks their way. Or just DONATE.

Sometimes, the Early Shark Gets the Fish

This is what my local fleamarket looked like at 6:30 this morning. Yes, I was the first buyer there, but it does not do much good when no sellers are ready. I sat in my car. I walked across the street to get hot chocolate. I looked for constellations, twiddled my thumbs, etc. Sigh. Let's go, people!

Anyway, another dealer recently called me a "shark." It was not intended as a compliment, but I am certainly taking it as a compliment. I've learned over the years that nice guys don't go home with the good stuff. I like to go home with the good stuff.

(UPDATE: I found out later a friend/competitor got $500 worth of gold from this fleamarket for $5. Sometimes, it's not about being first; it's just about being in the right place at the right time.)

Oh eBay. You make me laugh.

Oh eBay. When I see something like this, it makes me laugh. eBay makes this whole listing thing seem so glamorous and simple: "Hey, everybody! Look at this wad of cash I have from selling stuff on eBay!! Woohooo!" The "FREE" part is funny too, because they don't tell you about the 10% they'll get when you sell something. A wad of $20s in your back pocket?!? Ha! You'll never even see that cash, it's all ones and zeros in Paypal. If you want cash, go to Craigslist.

Tip O'Neill's Ashtray ... Maybe

A few years ago, I picked up this House of Representatives ashtray at a flea market. It was only sort of interesting. The person told me it was from the desk of Tip O'Neill, which makes it a lot more interesting. I actually found a photo of him at his desk with a similar ashtray on it. It sold for $46 bucks on eBay. A good story, but not much more than that without any provenance.

The Problem with Legos (and Lego Strategies)

First, an amusing anecdote: I was once at a yard sale where the seller had carefully sorted all the Legos by color into different tubs. Can't imagine how long that took. She was a little appalled when I bought them all and proceeded to dump them into one large box to load into my car. Anyway...

Buying Legos: For a decent mixed lot of Legos, I usually figure they are worth $5/lb. This assumes that Legos figures, known as minifigs, from the kits are also mixed into the box. The problem, which has been increasing over the last few years, is that kids are KEEPING the minifigs. This decreases the value of a random tub of Legos, and it's not something that's immediately obvious when you're buying it. Especially with character minifigs, like Star Wars, Spider-Man, Batman, Indiana Jones, etc., I can see it being too tempting to keep the minifigs and let the blocks go (when the kid has his eye on that next awesome piece of technology).

Minifigs have kind of hit the pop culture big time. I don't blame anyone for keeping them. It is pretty satisfying to display a minifig Boba Fett or Darth Vader on your shelf. Who needs the blocks? These character minifigs are usually worth $2-3 each. That's some serious demand for a little piece of plastic!

More Lego Strategies: A few years ago, I did really well with a bunch of Legos from a yard sale. I decided, as a test, to take that profit and buy $500 of off-the-shelf Star Wars Lego kits. Two years passed, the kits were all out of production, and I sold those kits for nearly double my money. Not too shabby. Then, since I am nuts, I took that $1000 and bought another batch off off-the-shelf Star Wars Lego kits. They are still in my basement, approaching 1-year old. I'll let you know what happens next year.

Who Is Your Favorite Civil War General?

I was speaking another antique dealer recently, and she mentioned off hand that her favorite Civil War General was William Tecumseh Sherman. I immediately thought, "Hey, that's weird! I have a favorite Civil War General, too!" It's Joshua Chamberlain. The Big J.C.
The question is, Is it mandatory for people who deal in old stuff to have a favorite Civil War General, the way some people would have a favorite pop star or Disney character? Who's yours?