Scavenge of the week October 29-November 4, 2023

[craig rex]

I had a quiet week for selling and a quiet week scavenging. I’m completely committed to organizing and consolidating my inventory right now, especially the trading card death piles. I have boxes and boxes of cards worth anywhere from $0.05 to maybe $5, and I’m going to make some flat rate boxes this week sorted by sport. Whether they make me an extra $50 or $500, get em out of here and make space for what’s to come.

I even skipped my favorite library sale, which is a 45 minute walk or a 30 minute bus ride or a 9 minute car ride. I like that I can take three types of transportation there, but I’ll catch them next time. Instead they’ll get a nice donation from me sometime soon.

What did you find this week?

[ChristineR]

I am still catching up from the two estate sales.  I only went to the flea market last week.  At one of the estate sales I found a rare antique plate similar to this one by this British artist.  https://www.carters.com.au/index.cfm/item/1296491-royal-doulton-plate-dog-and-pipe-titanian-glaze-ware-cecil-aldin/  There are not a lot of comps where I can see the sold price but one sold on Ebay for $275.

[Sharyn]

I bought 11 cups and 12 saucers in assorted colors made by Rostrand of Sweden in the pattern Kadett. They were in a MaxSold auction lot of some other Asian style tea cups & accessories. My bid was $14, which comes to $16.52. According to the solds, I should be able to sell each cup & saucer set for $80 or more.

https://www.ebay.com/sh/research?marketplace=EBAY-US&keywords=Rorstrand+kadett+cup+saucer&dayRange=730&endDate=1687330800000&startDate=1624258800000&categoryId=0&offset=0&limit=50&sorting=-datelastsold&tabName=SOLD&tz=America%2FNew_York

[ChristineR]

@Sharon nice find!

[Lukastreasure]

I tried my luck at another auction this past week.  It was part 2 for an estate I bid on a few weeks ago.  The guy seems to have been an amateur historian and had lots of very cool antiques, musical instruments, books and artwork.  Unfortunately, the bidding for the items was crazy and most of the items I was interested in went for way more than what I was willing to pay.  The guy had hundreds of books on topics from the Civil War, Woodworking, militaria and firearms.  Many of the books were valued at$200+ and many of the lots went for what I estimated was eBay retail value.  Only thing I can figure is that he had friends or acquaintances that had similar interests and came out in force to bid.  I usually find I’m bidding against one or two people on auctions like this, but I was up against multiple deep pocket bidders for these.

I still managed a few good lots that were overlooked.  My best find is a 1950’s Conn wood clarinet.  Seems relatively rare will only 1 sale I could find and no actives.  I paid $32 for it and hopefully it will go for $350+.

I also squeeked out on box of books, novels rather than collectibles, and got several first editions that should sell nicely, and I bought a kitchen drawer lot full of antique knives.

[craig rex]

@lukastreasuretrove

I was reading flipping reddit recently and someone mentioned how easy it is for resellers to start with books now. So much content related to it and easy to sell through Amazon FBA, so you don’t even really need to know shipping.

I’ve noticed the same at library sales and am re-evaluating how much time I will put into them in 2024. It’s often a lot of time spent coming and going and browsing for less than $100.

Maybe that means I will try to find my first auction! How did you find yours? Got any tips for a novice?

I’m an expert at bidding on eBay. My #1 tip by far is to use Gixen (or another bid sniping service, but Gixen gets the craig rex seal of approval) and my #2 is find big sellers (or small bad ones) who run auctions in your favorite categories. But I feel like I would become much more undisciplined at a live auction. At least the first few times.

[Lukastreasure]

@craig-rex –  This was an online auction by Maxsold.  I like those because I can research in advance and have a general idea of what I can sell something for and consequently have a target max bid in advance.  I generally wait until there is 5 minutes or less left in the time before placing my bid so that I don’t alert other bidders that something may be more valuable.   I wasted a lot of time reviewing the lots for this one, going through many of the lots book by book.  That usually works well for me, but not this time.  I’ve mentioned before that I usually won’t pay more than 20% of what I think I can reasonably sell an item for, many of these lots went to the 50% level with a few much higher.  That’s too little margin and too much risk for my business.

I’ve only been to a live auction once.  I did OK, but spent too much on many lots because I didn’t have time to properly research in advance and got caught up in the moment.  Much prefer the online experience.

[Sharyn]

@Craig-Rex – FYI, MaxSold does do business in NJ, so you should go to their website and put in your zip to see current auctions in your area.

https://maxsold.com/

For live auctions, I used to go to Sunrise Auctions in Chesterfield, but they went online during the pandemic. While I’ve seen them do a few live auctions, they’ve mostly kept it online. During the warmer months, they have a live one in Hightstown every Monday evening where he starts with extra produce from local farmers and then auctions off what people bring in. Right now, he doesn’t show any auctions scheduled, but he always has one on Black Friday (although, it is usually mostly guns) and one on Jan 1.

https://www.sunrise-antiques.com/

I also used to go to Bodner’s, which is closer to me in Central NJ. They also went online during the pandemic and haven’t gone back. Previously, their live auctions were held in the convention center in Edison.

Auctions

Lastly, there’s South Jersey Auctions, which I went to once just to see what it was about. I don’t know as much about them, but they seem to be more high end. Might be a good option for you.

Home

In general, AuctionZip is the website that lists most auctions, and you can sort by location & date.

Because all of these auction houses have gone online, they post mostly more valuable stuff rather than odds and ends, whereas MaxSold is willing to post most anything including contents of a closet, cleaning supplies under the sink, a pile of clothing, etc. During the summer I bought the books on a bookshelf that included a accordion style jewelry box for their minimum $1 bid. Ends up that there was jewelry in there including two high school rings, one 10k and the other sterling. I haven’t listed them yet, but these are the  hidden things that I love about MaxSold.

[Lukastreasure]

these are the  hidden things that I love about MaxSold.

@Sharyn – Exactly!  I always get a big kick out of finding something in the lot that wasn’t highlighted.  I ended up with a gold watch one time and another time a box full of vintage fountain pens.

[Sharyn]

Oh, yes, “contents of a closet” tend to hide the most. I’ve found two mink fur hats in a bathroom closet. Another bathroom closet had two vintage, metal Gillette shavers (there’s a cult following for those). Just a few things I remember off the top of my head.

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