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I have been doing some spring cleaning and took a big box of donations to the local library this week. No profit made but it sure felt good!
I only did online scavenging this week and it was mostly trading card focused. I did add a few more World War 2 autographed documents to a pile I’ve been building. I must have 15 or 20 by now. Once I have accumulated enough to fill a flat rate box, I’m going to start the process of doing more thorough research, then photograph and list. It’s a small step outside my comfort zone, but learning about a new area is one of my favorite things about selling online. I have been making flat rate boxes of varying sizes and I really recommend it as a way to move inventory if you have a large number of related $10 and under items.
I also have a sad scavenging story this week. A thrifting tragedy? A scavenger disaster? Call it what you want, it was a big bummer.
I was going through the rest of the box from last week’s big anime score, and among the leftovers that I hadn’t photographed yet was a live Phish CD set from 1994. Phish fans are really fanatics, kind of the Deadheads of this era. So the live and rare Phish stuff goes for nice bucks. The set I found sells quickly for $50. But when I inspected the set this morning as I was sorting items into my to be photographed box, I had a bit of trouble getting the inner CD case out of the outer slipcase. Not just a little trouble, the discs wouldn’t come out at all, to the point out where I started to wonder if the set was child-proofed or something.
It wasn’t child-proofed, but the inside of the case and the CDs were all beat up and covered in some kind of slick substance. Glue? Oil? I couldn’t tell. I thought about licking it, to do a little taste test. But I decided against it. I messed around with a microfiber cloth and just made more of a mess. So I made the executive decision to throw everything away. It felt like a waste. But there was oil all over the cases and the discs were in rough shape, scratched up with flecks of paper from who knows where and more mystery substance. Sorry, Phish fans. I really tried.
What did you find this week?
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/334859806893 I bought this on Facebook Marketplace for $75. I never usually source there but was looking for something else for our house. Perhaps I should keep an eye out now and then. A steep buy in but I think I can double my money perhaps and it’s a strong brand name. Retailers are getting stiffer with returns and especially free returns so it might create an opportunity.
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I picked up one of these at Goodwill New in box for $29.99
https://www.ebay.com/itm/125322675643
Digging into the research shows that $350-400 will be what I get. That listing above shows up in Terapeak and he sold 5 of them for $361 each with the last one selling in January of this year. On amazon there are listings in the $400 range.
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@craig-rex Once, while working in a thrift shop as a volunteer, I came across a book belonging to Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO & Two Bars, DFC. Signed on the flyleaf, without the accompanying post-nominal alphabet. Or the ‘Baron’ bit, which rank he achieved due to his charity work. I pointed this out to the manager, but I’m sure the book just ended up being chucked.
Anyway, scavenge of the week <cough> was a print of a painting by English Surrealist Tristam Hillier, from a 1947 painting of a flooded meadow, for £20. Re-learnt some stuff I’ve forgotten. Don’t go out of the house without a magnifying glass. Maybe fork out for mobile data, so I can use Google Lens in the field (it worked at home; it told me I had a print, and not a £40K original). Just because something’s framed by professional framers, doesn’t mean they don’t trim the signature off, or frame it with cheap materials which leave brown “matte burn” on the print.
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Wow, the framers of your Hillier must be brutalists. Unbelievable. The previous owner might have treated the print with more care had they framed it themselves or rolled it up into a poster tube.
Related, it’s amazing how often thrift shops and libraries disregard unusual items. When I really make an effort to scavenge in those places (like this past week), I typically find at least a few items which are signed or have some other unusual provenance, but they’re priced normally. I suppose it’s good they’re being sold and not donated to some “charity” which will resell the books on all online platforms in a haphazard and inconsistent manner.
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