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There’s a junk market near me where the stuff for sale comes from house clearances. I picked up a fancy wooden box once that was next to a pile of adult magazines. Then I read the nameplate on the box, and realised there was someone in it. I put ‘im back. Presumably he’d been in a cupboard on top of the mags.
I let him name his own price, which turned out to be £100 plus petrol for the delivery plus an overnight stay in the New Forest (in a house, not in a tree!) One of these items where there’s a kind of moral obligation to only sell it to one customer!
I sold a box of negatives yesterday to a gentleman whose father took the photographs. To confirm that it was his father, I emailed a scan of a schoolboy standing outside his classroom. The photograph was taken over one hundred years ago, in about 1910!
They’re mostly glass plates dating from the 1900s up to the 1920s. If the photographer hadn’t written his name on one of the boxes, and gone on to become an author, writing about his experiences in WW1 (and hence got his own Wikipedia article) I would never have identified him.
I just checked the eBay response- the email has the same eco.de address in the headers, but has eBay.co.uk rather than eBay Europe in the text at the bottom of the message. Also says “we sent you an email” so they’re admitting it came from them.
Just watched the video to see what the US version looked like. Don’t rub your nose on camera, it looks uncouth 🙂 It’s identical. I don’t think this is a glitch.
I got one as well, so it’s not just a US thing. Didn’t show up in messages; the subject line is in block capitals and the English seems a bit off, as if it was written by someone with English as a second language (the first being some European language). Header on the email included an eco.de address (German).
The three links appear identical- I clicked on the first and it took me through to ebay.co.uk. The repeating of the links seems odd if it is an officially commissioned email.
Down the bottom there’s this:
This administrative email was sent by eBay Europe S.à r.l., which may make use of its affiliates to provide eBay services. If you are a non-EU resident, please find the contact data of your contracting party in the User Agreement.
So… off-English, amateur use of block capitals in subject line, identical links repeated, accurate use of name and bill amount, sent to both US and UK users.
David playing the harp for Saul. The second one looks like an action painting, but it appears to have certain elements which are more considered- reminds me a bit of Anselm Kiefer or some other European artist crossed with Jackson Pollock. Might be worth getting it checked out as it seems to be by a “professional” artist- whoever painted that didn’t stop at one, and someone might recognise the style.
Artists. Either they don’t sign their work, or they sign it indecipherably, or they sign it in block capitals kindergarten style. I just had to pass on a good oil of a ruined church because it was painted by Squiggle Squiggle.
They all look to be modern Chinese, with the exception of the one with legs, which is probably modern Italian. Older Chinese porcelain, mostly from Jingdezhen, through the Ming, Qing and early Republic, tends to have 6 or 4 character reign marks on the base, or a double circle with perhaps stylised leaves. Communist period porcelain often has “China” with a number denoting the factory. Vases 6 and 7 (counting down from the top) look Cantonese.
I see a lady walking round here occasionally with a six-character reign mark tattooed on her arm.
The manufacturer’s probably M H Rhodes, whose main speciality seems to have been parking meters.
I share a cabinet in an antique shop with a friend. Doesn’t make much money, but it does have the advantage that pottery can be displayed without having to describe its faults (just an “AF” or “as found” on the label plus warning the shop owner about any issues) and there’s no packing and posting involved. There’s no selling fees either, just a flat rent of 55 GBP per month.
On the other hand, as Inglewood mentioned, we get given other people’s junk to sell! Like a chipped Torquay Mottoware jug at £20 when the true market value is 20 pence. I’d donate that creamer- it’s too bland.
Psychedelic art from the 1970s? Reminds me of the Pot Head Pixies from Planet Gong. I just sold a run of “Raw Art” magazine which specialises in outsider art. These drawings look “sensible” compared to the stuff in the magazines.
Now I’m wondering whether a “d-list comedian” is actually a comedian, or just a monologist.
Reasonably sure it’s a linocut- no visible grain, and the artist doesn’t seem to have had a problem cutting in different directions (such as the lettering). The “streaks” left in the white spaces are also characteristic, as is perhaps the size.
Might be a “Desert Father”. Looks like it’s in the Orthodox tradition (but most Orthodox use Cyrillic or Greek or a variant alphabet). If the name’s got ‘j’ at the end might be Czech, Slovakian, or Slovenian.
Terrj
I did try to chase up the patent number, but no luck. I don’t know whether “patents pending” have a different numbering system to patents granted.
Thinking about it, the firm also seem to have produced “mechanical compressors” for their microfiche cabinets. Maybe what they are is a device for physically compressing microfiches back in the drawer, and nothing to do with air-con! Are those grey metal strips magnetic?
Terry
Acid-free tissue paper, hot glue gun and lighter fluid (Nancy’s “Ronsonol”). The fluid’s probably available from your local bong salesperson- the one here carries two brands with “Swan” being twice the price of the cheap stuff I use. Maybe it tastes better.
The fazing out is called “vignetting”. The signature’s probably that of the photographer who ran the studio; looks to me like a 1930s to 1950s portrait- colour photography was available from before WW1 but expensive, especially printing.
