In need of some more inspiration! Stories of your top three finds!

[luxetveritas]

Okay, so, I don't know about the rest of you, but I've hit a real dry spell this year as far as getting good deals- which is totally ironic considering the economy. But anyone, estate and garage sales, flea markets, thrift shops and the Goodwill just aren't giving me much these past few months. For some inspiration, why don't we all list our top three or so finds ever, these can include eBay deals, garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores, dumps , etc! If you want, just for more "shock and awe", list the values of each piece and how much you payed for them!

I'll start out by listing my top three. I haven't had many, but here it goes!:

1.) By far the best find I've had is a small collection of six Qianlong porcelain vases and one bowl. I found these at an estate sale a few years ago for $5 a piece. The kids of an older man who had passed away were selling his treasures he had collected during his many trips to the Orient (or so they said that's where he had gotten most of his things). I had a box they handed me at the front door and was making my way though the house. I put the six pieces immediately in the box and was excited to see what else I could find. He had really quite a large collection. Unfortunately the vases were the only things worth mentioning I found, but was thrilled. The whole time I wondered what I should give them for the vases, for those of you who don't know, $5 for a Qianlong vase is a once in a lifetime opportunity. At the end of my walk-through I stopped by a case of jewelry that was for sale. In it was the man's wedding band. It was cut in half by a pair of pliers. The kids actually cut the ring off his finger to sell it for 60 bucks. I was astounded, and ended up taking the vases and the bowl for the price listed. I think that's one of the worst things you can do to your dead father... cut his wedding ring off his dead finger to pawn when you don't need the money desperately and couldn't care less about keeping it as a family heirloom. Anyway, I spent $25 for the vases and the bowl, each one is worth about $750!

2.) A little while ago I found a Russian samovar on Craigslist for $75, they sell for $400 on eBay.

3.) Also a Craigslist find, a blue willow tea cup from the early 19th for only $5. Not terribly valuable, but a really cool find.


I'm looking forward to see what everyone else has found during their collecting experiences! My last two aren't great, but still my favorite finds. Your turn!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Here are my top three in no particular order:

My Chinese wedding bed. I paid $1,000 for it from a seller on Craigslist, which is by far the most I have ever paid for an antique, but I had been looking for one of these that I could afford and when I saw it, it was love at first site. It is covered with beautifully carved dragons, phoenix and scenes from the Chinese opera. I recently contacted a pair of Chinese antique dealers who produce a very helpful line of online videos about Chinese antiques. They looked at my photos and said that the bed is over 100 years old and from the Fujian Province in southern China. I just got a preliminary insurance value from one of them for $2,000 - $3,000 but he said that he wanted to check with his partner on that, so I will update this with the final value ASAP. (And yes, I do sleep in it! It's OK, everybody asks me that!)





Next is my ancient Egyptian New Kingdom bronze ring. I don't recall exactly how much I paid for it on Ebay, but I recall it wasn't much. The seller posted only a side view of the ring, but said it was inscribed with hieroglyphs. So I took a bit of a risk and bid on it. I've since shown it to 5 different Egyptologists, all of whom said they believed it to be genuine. The hieroglyphs read "Hes nefer Amun Ra" which translates as "High praise of Amun Ra".  The funny thing is that the band is very worn and quite obviously worn during life. But there is a large corrosion stain under the bezel where it laid against the finger of the mummy it was on. I was told this is unusual for grave good to have been worn during life. I think the ring must have been deeply treasured. This ring was donated to a museum in 1900 that didn't have an Egyptian collection, sat in storage for years, the Egyptian items were purchased by a professor who died and his estate was being sold on Ebay. No idea of the value, it's history alone is priceless to me!


Next is my carousel horse. This comes from the Happy Hollow carousel in San Jose CA, which I used to ride as a child in the 60's. The carousel dates to 1948. We bought it for $150 in the 1970's. I can remember climbing up into the loft of the barn the horses were stored in and seeing them all in rows in the dim light. They looked magical up there and I got to pick my horse from the herd. Recently the park sold several of these they still had in storage. The highest of went for $2,000 and it wasn't in nearly as good a condition as mine is. The horse was made by Arrow Development Co. and still has it's original 1948 factory paint. You can see the "A" on his chest.

[ironlord1963]

Wow tales that is some really nice finds, One day when I get beyond my nick nacks, I have some equal tales to give  .

1. I walk into a thrift/crafts shop, look at a few items and was asked what I am looking for.  "silverplated flatware is mostly what I coll ........ I replied, well I have abox of old silverware in the back.   She brought a box of say about 60 pieces of mixed silverware, I glance and said how much for the box (rookie move)  .  I paid $30.00 which is my top for a box of 60, of course I didn't count them either (rookie move #2).  I paid and happily walk out.  Well at least the rookie moves didn't matter this time.  Half the box was Sterling, and a few grapes too. 

2.  For #2 I will just make it #3 too is I have found lots of items that I paid under $1.00 that are worth the $20.00 and $30.00. too many to count.
   

   If you want some thrift store tricks, I learned many and from the best, Family of thrift shop junkies and a lady friend that use to be worse then me 
they won't find you the big $$$$ Item but they will pay for a great thrift shop hobby.

[regularjoe2]

I'd have to say that in over 4 decades of doing this stuff , primarily as a side-line , the coolest deal is that I have made many loyal friends & trusting/trustworthy customers ( even when things get a little heated-up ) who are welcome in my home (and vise-versa) ; relationships that have transcended the transactional ones .

In the world of actual item/commodity transactions , a friend/business partner and I purchased 3 complete crops of syncopated bearing Shamouti (Jaffa) oranges (and delt with all the 'arrangements' ourselves) , sold them in the Middle-East & walked away with nearly a 1/4M. apiece .
They were the best of the best that year .
We tracked and studied individual orange crops in the Middle-East for 8 years before we made the move , and I still think we were exceptionally LUCKY , in that our statistical projections & models panned out just right .
There's more to the story , needless to say , but it was pretty much my biggest one-time 'buy & sell' hit .


I'm waiting to see which I'll call #3 ....

[luxetveritas]

Wow, beautiful bed Tales. I love Chinese furniture- and I checked out those videos you were talking about, very helpful. I have a friend who has a Chinese cabinet and I want to try some of the dating techniques from those videos to see if it is really old- looks like it Is it usual for the wedding beds to be so tall? I don't really know since I haven't seen many, but it seems like a rural home in China wouldn't have such high ceilings- am I wrong? I really have no idea, just curious. But then again, this certainly doesn't look like a rural piece, although what I have seen on Fujian province is. Such a cool bed. I want one now --Also, that is the nicest Egyptian ring I have seen! Now that is a valuable piece of history! I have seen a few of those in a book I have on the treasures of Tutankhamen. Neat piece, as is the carousel- good deal!

Ironlord, that is a great deal on that box of "plated" silverware! I am interested to here your thifting techniques. Also, buying $20-30 pieces for less than a dollar adds up REALLY fast. I am trying that, but haven't had the best of luck.

Oranges! That's not an antique Jk Joe, that's a great investment. You remind me of my brother and his coffee plant investments I don't think he makes 1/4 of a million though! That's an excellent return! I tried salsa once, no clue why, but I was living in California and it just seemed to fit I still have hundreds of labels left.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Thanks all!

Lux, my bed is actually shorter than some of the Chinese wedding beds. Some of them are VERY elaborate with tall fronts on the top of them. Chinese brides brought them with them into a marriage and during the day they would roll back their sleeping mats and serve tea to friends on a low kang table. They served as a room within a room, and I've heard tales of grandmas who would take the children in to tell them traditional Chinese tales. Some of them are incredibly ornate and even have a second entry room to the bed! Run a search for Chinese bed and you should see a lot of examples for sale. If you get one, I want to see photos!  I absolutely love mine. They are surprisingly sturdy and they make you feel like there is no place more wonderful in the world to be, when you curl up in one and fall asleep! There is something so wonderful about that!

RegularJoe, that was really interesting about the oranges! Wow!

Ironlord, neat story on the silver! Can you elaborate on why asking for the box price was a rookie move? Also what are grapes?

[regularjoe2]

Liked all the stories !

The horsie reminded me of the ones I rode in Balboa Park , (San Diego , Ca.) as a kid .

...and ironlord , getting sterling from ANY thrift store the way you did is NOT a rookie mistake ... that's the kind of thing that earns you merit badges !!!

[ironlord1963]

Sorry lux, I meant that I didn't even look at them before asking and paying for the box, just grab and run is the rookie move.  Grapes are flatware with grapes on them, popular in the turn of the century about the most collected of the flatware.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Got it! Thanks Ironlord!

RegularJoe I looked up the Balboa Park carousel, it is a beauty! It was carved in 1910 by the Herschell-Spillman Company. That's a famous name in carousel circles. My horse was part of the brief "next generation" technology between wooden carousel animals and fiberglass. Mine is cast iron and doesn't have the high value of the wooden ones. $2K was the highest of the six or so horses that were auctioned, the lowest went for under 1K. The company that made it, Arrow Development Co was founded by two guys who were WWII buddies and took their metal fabrication skills into building carousels after the war. They went on to build some of the classic rides at Disneyland. I can post more info if this is of further interest on a different thread.

[luxetveritas]

Oh, I had a guess that grapes referred to flatware with that particular motif. I have a silver on copper grape two handled platter I've been meaning to sell. Perhaps I'll try out some of the time mentioned above

[Skinny]

I'm on a very limited income, so anything I buy of any value has to be a particularly good deal for me to end up owning it. That said, here are three items that stand out in memory as quite a good return on investment.

When I was around 12 years old (circa early to mid 1990's) and already an antique freak, my dad told me about some people he'd met that were selling some stuff. He described one of the items as an old ship picture, and as he know I was into old sailing ships he brought me out to look at it. It was at an old house out in the country down a gravel road. The idem was a late nineteenth century lithograph of the "Great International Naval Review" a part of the Colombian Exposition of 1892. The subject was steaming warships from many different country's in a great parade near Washington D.C. It even listed the nations attending and named the ships. It was in a beautiful hand carved frame. They wanted $75 for it, but that was out of my league as a twelve year old with a summer job. I offered them thirty dollars and they took it. I've been told the litho is worth about $500, I don't know about the frame. I've enjoyed looking at in on my wall for many years now.

I recently bought a leather bound book on Ebay called "Notices OF The Emperor Charles The Fifth", by William Sterling. It is only fifty-six pages long, and says it is one of only 25 copys made (for the Philobiblon Society of London, 1858). It is printed on what looks like handmade rag paper, and printed very much in the manner of a book from the eighteenth century. For example, the old english "f" is used for the lower case "s".
It has an inscription on the title page reading "Presented by the author to Charles Sumner, then to George Livermore Aug 1 '60". It appears to be in Sumners handwriting.
Charles Sumner was a famous abolitionist Senator from Boston, nearly beaten to death on the floor of the Senate by a Senator from NC prior to the Civil War. George Livermore was a wealthy Boston merchant, abolitionist, antiquarian book collector and armature historian. He wrote a book about the contributions of free African Americans to society. I don't recall the title. It has been said by "some" historians that a copy of his book was given to President Lincoln (by Sumner), who read it frequently while drawing up the Emancipation proclamation. What is know by all historians is that Lincoln gave Livermore the pen with which he signed that historic document.
I have no idea what its worth. I can't find the book online (obviously, so few copys were made). Sumner would have been the only American to receive one, and the surviving others are probably tucked away in the private libraries of descendants of the intellectual aristocracy to whom they were given. Also there is the provenance of its owners to consider. I paid $12 for it. If anyone has an inkling about its worth I wouldn't object to hearing your thoughts.

Lastly, I sometimes go to an antique store a few blocks away from my home and look around. I came across a matching set of fourteen works of science  printed in the 1890's. I took in a deep breath of air when I saw that "Origin Of The Species" was among them. Any old copy's of that work are always of at least some monetary value, and I'd never been able to afford one online. I tried to buy only those (my "Origin" is two volumes) and was told that I would have to buy the whole set. With a grim set to my jaw I asked how much they wanted for the set. I got the whole lot of very interesting nineteenth century science classics for $20. Worth as it turns out a good $500, more if sold individually.   

[regularjoe2]

O.K. , well .... moved this back up the list ....

I made a great deal for myself (and 3 for clients too) & finalised the deals this morning .
Everything signed & sealed .
All that's left is the delivery !

I'll be posting images , after I get this thing in my sweaty little hands .
I'm guessing a couple of weeks , what with customs , international etcs. to deal with .

It's rare when/if I get pumped up about a deal anymore , but this one is a real winner .

I'll keep you in suspenders until I post it .

[railman44]

My late Father got all the deals.  Six foot jeweler's walnut wall hanging regulatior clock for $150.  I remember at an antique show in Omaha I begged him to buy a matched pair of signed (base and leaded glass shade) Tiffany small leaded glass lamps.  Drews wanted $1,500 each.  I begged him to buy them but my Mother talked him out of it.  I think they were two bulb.  Beautiful lamps.  Today I'm lucky to be able to afford a Bradley and Hubbard lamp.

[KC]

regularjoe we are still suspended.....any hints?

[regularjoe2]

I guess it's not mine until it's in my hands , KC ...'things' can happen when an object is in transit !

I will say that not too many people in the world own one of these items .

Looks like I'll be the only one who owns two .