Home › Forums › Buying and Selling › Scavenge/Sale of the Week › Scavenge of the week June 8-14, 2025
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Antique Frog.
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06/16/2025 at 12:25 pm #105794
As we approach the halfway point of the year, my business goals are becoming much more defined each week. Last week, I really wanted to sort through a few boxes of inventory for another large consignment shipment, so I didn’t spend as much time as I usually do hunting through auction listings for new inventory. Saved myself a little money that way. I guess you could say I was scavenging from my own death piles instead. I definitely recommend a few weeks throughout the year where you do this. Clearing off a little shelf (or floor) space is so rewarding, and you end up finding some items where you say to yourself,”Oh, this thing…”
Then you do your research, and realize you’ll have a few extra bucks in your pocket when it sells. That’s a nice feeling!
I did find a few things for the consignment port, a few things for my card lots and a few oddball items. I like the oddball stuff best, but honestly those are the items which end up in my death piles because they’re not as consistently profitable as my card inventory. My card lots are a breeze to store and organize now that I have a good system in place, and the consignment stuff is a lot of work on the pricing side of things when a big shipment (500+ cards) hits my account, but the payoff is huge. I’ve built up a sizable consignment port, backlog of cards to price, and cards in the auction queue that I don’t need to do too much each week to keep the pipeline flowing. I thought my consignment sales might drop off this month because of some fee increases on their end, plus it’s June, plus gestures wildly outside, but that’s not really what’s been happening. I’m selling less items this month than any other this year, but at a higher average sales price.
On to the scavenging. My big card order of the week was only 27 cards, and the order included a bunch of modern graded cards which didn’t go much higher than the $10 start bid. One of the perils of not starting auctions at $0.99! You have a higher floor for what your item will sell at, but a lower ceiling. I got some real bargain deals, like this Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Bowman rookie card in a CSG 8.5 for $11. If you look up solds for this exact Griffey rookie card in this grade from this grading company, I paid about the going rate. But the consignment company I use has gone big into live auctions this year, and graded rookies of stars consistently go above comps. I don’t know if that trend will last forever, but it’s been consistent enough this year to change my buying habits. It’s important to trust consistent evidence of solds, even if it doesn’t follow the logic I would like it too. I had one bigger card in this order, and it was this Leaf dual shimmer autograph of 49ers Joe Montana and John Taylor for just under $50. This card should pull in close to $100 in a live auction because Joe Montana autographs typically sell in that range at lives, and the second auto adds a little value and uniqueness as well.
Many of the cards that I purchase on a weekly basis for my card lot inventory are bought to fill in the card gaps I have for certain teams. I have a system for how I make these lots, and because I’m spending a little more time each week creating new lots and sorting all of my inventory, I am keeping better track in my head of what I have and what I don’t. That’s why I buy cards like this Evan Carter Leaf jersey for just under $2 with combined shipping. It’s not necessarily that this card is “worth” $5, but it’s the perfect card for a team lot. I try to include 5 “hits” (jerseys, autographs, 1/1 cards or nice cards of the team’s best player), then round it out with 5 sub $1.50 (but still nice looking) cards and sell the lot in the $30 range. I’m always low on Carter’s team, Texas Rangers, because I have a regular buyer who snatches up my Texas team lots almost as fast as I can list them. Sometimes the buying is less analytical, like this Stephen Curry gold 1/1 for just under $5. Leaf is one of the unlicensed modern brands, but it’s still a Steph Curry 1/1 which is an easy $10 to $20 sold.
As far as oddball items I bought this week, I love finding authenticated cut signatures for a good price, and I love the unique ones most of all. This Al Lopez cut for $10 will do well at a live auction because it says on the front when he played (100 years ago), and on top of his playing career, he was a Hall of Fame manager. No research or knowledge required on the part of the live hosts because there’s so much info right on the cut.
The history nerd in me couldn’t resist these stamps signed by former New York governor Thomas Dewey for $12, even though I’ll need to get them authenticated to maximize their resale value. That process will take a few months, but I should clear $50 net on this once I get it slabbed.
What did you find this week?
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06/17/2025 at 3:25 am #105802
@craig-rex According to a website called Swedish Tiger those 6 cent airmail stamps were first issued June 1934, when the rate for 1 ounce was dropped from 8 cents. Catalogue number is Scott C19
The four stamps are a plate block; the number 21234 is the number of the printing plate. There were six plates- 21234 is the first- and the print run was just over 30 million. It was replaced in 1938 by a different design.
So, at a guess, the block of stamps date from 1934, as they were printed using the first plate made, and Dewey signed them 1934 or 1935 about the time when Dutch Schultz was planning his murder.
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06/18/2025 at 3:09 am #105806
Dewey, the “major gangbuster” according to Wikipedia, personally prosecuted Lucky Luciano in 1936, so that seems a good date for someone wanting his autograph but only having stamps in their billfold. The writing seems shaky, as if he was having to sign it while holding the stamps in his hand, maybe pressed against the billfold.
The stamps are MNH (mint not hinged).
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06/19/2025 at 5:20 pm #105813
I have been pretty good on my scavenging hiatus. But I did find 3 of the same Waterford branded tablecloths – didn’t know they licensed their name. Working on the piles.
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06/19/2025 at 9:10 pm #105817
@christiner I’ve got a Royal Doulton cut-glass ship’s decanter and a Denby chef’s knife with a plastic handle. There’s probably dinner plates “made” by Sabatier out there!
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06/26/2025 at 11:07 am #105846
@Antiquefrog I found a cool ship decanter last week but sadly it was missing the stopper. I loved the nautical, etched design. I’ve been challenging myself with the clear glass for about 9 months. You get used to spotting the quality.
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06/29/2025 at 7:06 am #105849
@christiner I saw a dealer’s tables at an antiques fair, where their large stock of clear glass was displayed on white cloth. Virtually invisible!
There’s a guy on YouTube ( @lovedecanters7981) who does lots of shorts on, er… decanters. He seems to be local to me- I guess one day I’ll run into him. He has distinctive facial hair.
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06/24/2025 at 4:10 pm #105832
this scavenge is from this past weekend. my wife and I hit a few estate sales. we were about to leave the first house with nothing but I decided to look through some stationary size boxes on a top shelf in a bedroom closet. Among some opened mail, mostly greeting/holiday cards, I saw some gift cards. I’ve run across this before. Some of the older generation like to keep everything financial including used gift cards…..but these appeared to have the pin numbers still hidden behind the scratch off material. So, even though they were old cards I bought a few boxes of this old mail, unused stationary and a bunch of gift cards mixed in.
Well….we hit the jackpot. almost $900 in unused gift card balances. most were for a specific business (Target, Starbucks, southwest airlines, etc). A few were visa gift cards and even though the card was expired the funds don’t expire so waiting on replacement cards or checks. and then a couple from defunct companies such as Borders Books and Zoeys Kitchen
So not a bad scavenge for ten dollars!
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