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I did almost no scavenging last week, so here’s a trading card printing plate auction from the week before where I was the highest bidder. Always exciting to win! Printing plates are used in the card manufacturing process and have been inserted in packs for about 25 years now in very rare numbers (since there are only 4 plates compared to tens of the thousands of the regular base card) as something for collectors/flippers to chase. Anyone who buys modern cards is also a flipper, that’s just how the market works with constantly fluctuating card values, the high cost of cards and how easy it is to sell on eBay. Especially since the pandemic renewed a lot of people’s interest in cards. So many flippers in the game now with more money than knowledge.
Generic printing plates used to make a regular card of an average player sell for about $5 each including shipping. But plates can get a lot more expensive (hundreds and even thousands of dollars) depending on the player and if the plate was used to make a specific card, like the player’s rookie card from a desirable set, or if the plate has special features like an autograph or jersey piece.
The trading card arm of my eBay business exists somewhere in the lower-middle class of the trading card world. I’m not selling the cheap cards for $1 each but I will never touch the expensive cards, heck I feel dirty just looking at jpg’s of them.
There is a lot of profit to be made on the in-between cards. This printing plate auction cost me almost $200 but most of the plates will sell quickly between $15 and $50 and I should net close to $500 profit once they’re all sold. Some cards are longtail items, you need to wait for the player to improve or get on a better team, but plates usually sell fast.
There are lots of collectors out there who have this fantasy (usually impossible) that they will collect all the different cards of one player, so they set up saved searches for rare cards of their player and as soon as they see my listing, they send me an offer. If they’re too slow, some other collector who lives somewhere far away from them will snatch the card up first. eBay has transformed selling online for so many different types of items, and trading cards is definitely near the top. I’m not sure modern trading cards would exist as anything more than a novelty if it weren’t for eBay.
Still kicking myself a bit for getting outbid on printing plate auction #2. I could have gone $100 higher and still made $500 profit (maybe as high as $750), but I just couldn’t bring myself to spend another $250 this week. So I didn’t. But there is always more stuff to buy!
What did you scavenge this week?
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I purchased a couple of pictures from a local hospice thrift shop.
https://imgur.com/gallery/SrC2bA3
This is a small oil painting on board of a windmill. According to a penciled date on the back it was framed in 1974, but the painting’s probably mid-19th century. The mill’s an old-style post mill from the 17th or 18th centuries; there were about 5,000 of these so there’s not much chance of identifying the location.
According to this week’s episode of Antiques Roadshow if an oil painting’s not varnished it develops a whitish bloom, which can be cleaned off. That’s what’s happened to this one. I’m not going to have it cleaned and varnished as (I gather) that makes it less desirable to the trade. Cost £15.
The other picture was a mezzotint by Percival Garrick; a Mediterranean scene with pines in the foreground, sea and distant mountains. Cost £10; it’s got a certain sombre mood, but not particularly saleable- dealers are asking £200 plus for others, but they have them on markdown, which is never a good sign!
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@antique-frog – I only can see the windmill painting in your IMGUR link, not the other one.
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@sharyn Ah, right! Haven’t uploaded it- will do that later.
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https://imgur.com/gallery/xiMtGla
It’s a mezzotint. I thought it was a photo until I noticed the plate mark- the way the printing plate has been pushed onto the paper, leaving a mark around the image. If it were a photo the paper would be flat.
Mezzotints are made by pressing a tool with lots of little spikes into a copper plate. It impresses thousands of holes onto the plate, each hole being surrounded by a rim of copper. Ink is squeegeed into the holes, and this prints as a black dot, so if you need grey or white you have to push the copper from the rim back into the hole, reducing the amount of ink left in that area after squeegeeing. Over the print run the plate wears out, so the black areas will become greyer in later prints.
The paper’s a bit brown- I don’t know whether it’s degraded or if he actually used toned paper. The print’s framed under glass, so there’s some odd reflections.
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/234971367901 The flea market is overpriced for resale but I found one guy selling off his mom’s interesting stuff. He gave me prices like $2-3 and threw this in for free with my other items. Sweet. This price is strong for the mini and I’m likely to take a bo.
Also for those who follow this thread, I did figure out my iphone camera zoom problem. Apparently there must have been an update at some point that requires you to use your fingers to spread and get it to zoom in if super close. I’m not a fan of that change and it took me a bit to clue in.
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