freshvintage

Return of the Legos

Last Saturday morning, my husband and kids joined me on my yard-saling trip. Usually, I only bring Maeve with me, or I sneak out by myself before anyone wakes up. Before we left, I gave each of the kids a buck. We hit a few yard sales before they were both able to find something that they really liked.  And what does Finn find?  An unopened box of Harry Potter legos. I immediately had dollar signs in my eyes. Dammit. This is exactly why I don't like to bring the kids. I know...I sound like a mean, horrible mommy. But, believe me, my house is already FILLED with lego pieces. We have enough friggin' Spongebob legos to build a life-sized Krusty Krab.

I knew that this box was worth some dough from my previous Lego experience. And it was only two dollars! Finn wanted to buy it, but the evil side of me reminded him that he only had one dollar. I told him that he could buy it if he could successfully convince Maeve to give up her dollar. Oh - too late. She had already found something girly that she wanted to buy. And so the good side of me gave him another dollar and let him buy the Legos.

As soon as we got home, I looked it up on eBay. The same unopened Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Lego set recently sold for $105. By the time I looked up the price, Finn already had the box open and started to build. By the end of the day, he finished putting together the entire set. That's okay, though. The opened box sells for $50-$60 on eBay. (I'm not selling it anytime soon. I'm not that evil.) 

Luckily, I found some things for me, although they probably aren't worth half as much as the damn Legos.  Here are my fifteen dollars worth of finds...

I love this whitewashed bushel basket with the floral lining. The homeowner said it was from the 1950's. I also found a box of old sheet music for two bucks.

Read it and weep...FREE! The homeowner told me that I could have this box of old sewing notions.

With one stipulation...

Her grandmother had lost a sentimental treasure in her sewing stuff.

If I happened to find a tooth, could I please return it to the house?

Um, yeah sure.

Thankfully, I never did find one.

UPDATED TO ADD: About the Legos...I'd love to hear what you would have done. Let him keep the Legos? Or trade it for something else?  Let me know in the comments. 

The family that eBays together...

The mermaid glasses that I talked about here are now for sale on eBay!

And, if you are in the market for a funky retro martini set (or just want a laugh), take a look at my Father-in-Law's latest eBay listing. Yes, I am his only daughter-in-law.

As I have mentioned previously on this blog, my in-laws are antiques dealers in Washington state. My father-in-law, Jim, recently started selling antiques on eBay. This created such an excess of fodder for my blog that I don't even know where to begin. He seems to use the titles of his auctions as a contest to see how FEW words he can use to describe the object he is selling. He had an auction for a beautiful green Moorcroft Pottery covered bowl with hibiscus flowers on it. The auction title can be up to 55 characters long. What does my father-in-law put in the title? "Moorcroft bowl".  Nothing about the flowers or the lid or the fact that it was in mint condition. But then he sold it for $94, so I guess I can't mock him too much.

A few months ago, Jim had an auction for an antique miner's candlestick, known as a "sticking tommy". The next day, another seller put up five of the same style of antique candlesticks for sale. 

So, my no-nonsense father-in-law saw that the "sticking tommy" market was now flooded, and proceeded to go to an auction of the other seller and click the "Ask this seller a question" link. He sent the seller a message that read, "You idiot! Haven't you ever heard of supply and demand?"

While I would have never sent another seller a message like that, I can see his frustration. For anyone who sells on eBay frequently, you would know that it isn't too smart to put on several items of the same style at the same time. Potential buyers assume that there are a lot of that item in the market, so they won't bid as high. That seller was essentially screwing himself out of higher bids.

And the seller's response was exactly what I would have predicted: "Who the F*CK do you think you are? You can't tell me what to sell!"

The Results Are In!!

The Pommes Anna Pan went for $138.50! By the end of the auction, there were 81 watchers and 28 bids.

Congratulations to Nina and Amanda, who walk away with $69.25 each!

Stay tuned, everyone...I'll have another giveaway this week!

Auction Update, Finds & Vintage Home News

Here are the current stats on the Pommes Anna Pan auction:

Current bid: $71.02
Number of bids: 24
Number of watchers: 74

(Here's the original post about the pan.)

And now, on to my $54 worth of finds from this weekend...

Orange apron with green rick-rack and four wooden hangers:

Set of aqua Royal Traveller suitcases. They are pretty dirty, so I am going to give them a once-over with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser:

Vintage Cosco office chair with aqua vinyl seat. About an hour after I bought this, Erin called me from the Vintage Home Annex and told me that a customer bought the black one that I found last month. The same person also bought some suitcases from us. Eerie.

I got the next piece from an estate sale run by Sales by Helen. The last day of her sales are usually half-price, so I scrambled to the sale early this morning and swiped this up for a painfully low price. I had spotted a photo of it on her website last week, but I didn't think it would still be there on Sunday. Thank God for the snowstorm on Friday! This cabinet is mahogany and needs a little work. It is missing a few knobs and needs a new coat of paint.  If I was really adventurous, I would strip it. But I am entirely too lazy for that.

In other exciting news, Vintage Home has been featured on the Country Living website in editor-at-large Jane Dagmi's blog! Jane stopped by the store a few weeks ago and snapped some photos of the store. I'm so happy for Margie, Gloria and Leslie...it was so nice to see them get some recognition for all of their hard work. Unfortunately, Jane didn't get a chance to visit our space at the Vintage Home Annex (just a few doors down), but maybe she will be able to stop by when she is in the area again.

And in related news, the Annex is actually changing hands next week. It will no longer be run by the ladies from Vintage Home. Kristen, the former owner of Chaumiere in West Chester, PA is taking over the shop and bringing in her lovely antiques to sell on the first floor. We were so happy to hear that she is letting Erin and I keep our little space on the second floor. Thanks, Kristen! We're really grateful to Margie & Gloria from Vintage Home for taking a gamble with Erin and me (and for putting in a good word with Kristen). They taught us a lot about running a shop and selling antiques, and we will always appreciate their honest and friendly attitudes. Of course, they'll still be right down the street at Vintage Home, so we will keep in touch. We're sad to see Margie & Gloria go, but we are excited about this change...the Annex was only open on Sundays, but the new shop will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. That means we have to BUY MORE STUFF! I know, it is hard to believe that I would ever run out of stuff to sell. 

By the way, if you ever stop by the store, please let us know if you read the blog. Erin and I only work there a couple of Sundays a month, but we love to hear when someone reads the blog. Erin worked today and a few people mentioned that they read the WWJB post. Thankfully, they also mentioned that they laughed when they read it.

I have it on good authority that you will not go to hell if you laugh at that post. Go in peace.

Auction Update & WWJB

Here are the current stats on the Pommes Anna Pan auction:

Current bid: $50.01
Number of bids: 20
Number of watchers: 53

Have you ever heard of eBay Pulse?  For each category of items sold on eBay, you can view a list of the most popular searches and the most watched items in that category. Well, our little auction is on the Most Watched list for the Cookware & Bakeware category! I think we can attribute that to you, the freshvintage blog readers, who have added the auction to your own watch list. My personal record for watchers was 50, when I sold my nun doll on eBay a few years ago.

Now on to my finds for the week...

Yes, another metal card drawer. I know that a few of you were asking about the red drawer, but I think I'm keeping that one. Sorry. I also bought a hexagon Haeger planter and a metal cash box.

It's definitely not from the colonial era, but this sampler would look cute in a nursery:

 

In honor of Lent, I picked up the Last Supper print. Actually, it was the old frame that caught my eye. And the tablecloth.

That is one cute tablecloth. Rumor has it that Jesus scored it at a wicked estate sale in Jerusalem. When he got home and unloaded all of the junk from his donkey's back, he busted out his red thread and embroidered the apostles' names along the bottom edge, in lieu of placecards. 

Henceforth and heretoforthwith, I've answered the age-old question: What Would Jesus Buy?

I had sixteen years of Catholic school. I'm allowed to say stuff like that.

Pommes Anna Auction

I polished it up all nice and purty for the eBay listing:

(Here's the before picture.)

Follow along with the auction to see the how much money Nina and Amanda are going to win. I started the auction at $9.99 to drum up some interest, and we already have a bid!

Ho Potatoes

Nina was the first person with the correct (and most specific) guess! It is a hammered copper Pommes (potatoes) Anna pan. Did I know that when I bought it at Goodeals for eight dollars? Ummm...that would be a Hell No.

I had never seen anything like it before. Before I even picked it up, I told myself that if it had a mark, then I would take a gamble and buy it. With some kind of mark, it would be much easier to research and might possibly be worth more than eight bucks. I picked it up and was sold when I saw that magical five-letter word: "Paris". 

As soon as I got home, I googled "E. Dehillerin".  I've never been to France, and I'm not a gourmet cook, so I didn't know that E. Dehillerin is a famous French cookware shop that's been around since 1820. I have a feeling that many of my highly intelligent readers have heard of it. The same readers who know how to pronounce fancy terms like "mise en place" and "ménage à trois".

The sole purpose of this pan is to make the French dish called Pommes Anna, which is layers of carefully arranged, thinly sliced potatoes with clarified butter. Using a pommes anna pan, you're able to easily brown the potatoes on both sides by simply flipping the pan over. The dish was created by a 19th century chef named Adolphe Duglere. And the best part? He dedicated the dish to a courtesan named Anna Deslions. Hey, any dish named after a whore must be delicious!

I couldn't find this pan on eBay. But I learned that Mauviel is the only company that makes them. This one must have been purchased directly from Dehillerin, since it doesn't have the Mauviel mark. There are a few other Mauviel/Dehillerin copper pots and pans on eBay that had a final price between $40 and $296! If you do a search for completed listings, you can see that every single one of the pans has sold. That is just crazy. 

Of course, you can also buy a brand new pommes anna pan. Dehillerin sells the same 6.3" pan for 74 Euros ($108). I found the same 6.3" pan under a different brand name on Amazon for $194. Williams-Sonoma sells the 8.5" pan for $275. The wonderful Sur La Table sells the 9.5" pan for $413.

So, we know that Nina won a prize. Who had the wackiest answer? There were so many! It was a tough decision, but I chose Amanda for her comment, "My Grandpa had one of those. You put toenail clippings in it." Yum.

Now, on to the prize. I'm going to polish up this baby and sell it on eBay....and our prizewinners are going to split the final amount! So, they could win $20 each...or maybe even $100 each! If the pan sells for more than $1000, I reserve the right to cancel the whole contest pretend that this never happened.

I kid, I kid.

Congratulations and good luck, Nina and Amanda! I'll post a link to the auction after I list the pan so we can all follow the progress.

PS. If you didn't win this game, I have another great giveaway coming up in a few weeks. And you won't need to be a gourmet or a comedian to win!

What the Hell Is It?

Old Business:
The 25 cent Pyrex mug sold for $46! Yea!! The winner lives in Japan and paid $25 for shipping. Unbelievable, huh?

New Business:
On to my finds from last weekend. There are two Haeger planters ($1.50), king-size pale yellow chenille L.L. Bean bedspread ($6.00), six Alfred Hitchcock & the Three Investigators books ($1.00), a wooden child's chair ($3.00) and some crazy blue thing that I bought for five bucks.

Introducing the "What the Hell Is It?" game!

So, what the hell is that crazy blue thing?  It is made of blue enamel (or agate), has little windows made of mica and a metal spiral-shaped handle. Both ends are open.

An antique megaphone? Goggles for Beldar Conehead?

Here's a close-up:

So...tell me. What do you think it is? Just take a guess!

PS: Isn't that the cutest damn chair you have ever seen? Look at the decal of the little astronaut boy:

Game Day!

We're going to play a game today.

Which one of these things that I bought at yard sales this weekend is very rare and highly sought-after by certain collectors and valued between $50 and $100?

Here is everything I bought on Saturday:

Item	Price
Porcelain wall sconce	0.50
Small ServeWare mixing bowl	0.25
Pyrex Advertising mug	0.25
Pyrex snowflake creamer	0.25
Anchor-Hocking peach lustre bowl	0.25
Small chicken planter	0.25
Ironstone Imperial dish (free)	0.00
White Fire King hobnail vase	1.00
Scroll-work shelf	1.00
Oak bench with lid	2.00
Red child stool with saying	0.50
Ladder (for linen display)	2.00
Pink/white/red floral tablecloth	3.00
Total:	11.25

Did you guess?

If you guessed the Pyrex mug...you are right! Can you believe it?

I thought it might be helpful to give you some background on why I bought the mug. Because, normally, I wouldn't give it the time of day.

A few days ago, I read a comment that someone left on this post at The Auction Rebel blog. Gary, the rebel himself, just started a new weekly post called "Weekly Winners" where he asks his readers to share a few of their recent eBay triumphs. A reader named Stephen A. posted that he sold a group of 65 Anchor Hocking/Fire King mugs for $436. He had bought most of them at various yard sales for a quarter.

Stephen's comment made me pay more attention to mugs when I went to yard sales on Saturday. At one sale on Saturday, there were a few boxes of 25 cent mugs. When I saw the Pyrex mug, I remembered that Pyrex Love has a pattern category for Advertising/Specialty items. I didn't specifically remember seeing this mug on their site. But, I assumed that if Pyrex Love has a category for it on their website, then it must be something that people might actually collect. So...I shelled out a quarter and bought the mug.

I found a few sites that have the mug for sale right now: TIAS, RubyLane and CyberAttic.

I listed the mug in a seven-day auction on eBay. The sites I listed above are typically overpriced, so I'm guessing that I will get between $25 and $50 for it. Let's see what happens...

Lassie, go get help...my snowmobile's stuck!

Here are a few things I picked up at Goodeals in Stanton, Delaware this week. That's the place that adds a 10% markdown for each week that an item remains in the store.  That tall, white matte Haeger vase has a few chips in it - but you can't see them when I put it on my shelf with my collection of white pottery. It was 90% off! Eighty cents! Sometimes I wonder if I actually got a good deal, or if I am really just a big sucker.  Why didn't anyone else buy that vase in the last nine weeks? I know what my dear father-in-law would say: "Because it is a piece of crap"!

Anyway, I paid $34 for everything here:

That metal thing on top of the Redmon picnic basket is a hand-cranked card shuffler with its box.  And look at this Ohio Art lunch box. Too damn cute.

I told you a few months ago that my favorite thrift store lets you buy a bag of books for three bucks. I bought another (smaller) bag this week.

I just couldn't pass up a book that has Lassie in a snowmobile:

At the same thrift store, I bought this not-so-complete set of Mikasa dinnerware for six dollars. The pattern on the dishes is called Bonnie Blue. Does anyone collect it? I'll give you a good deal on the dishes if you want them. A few of them have chips, though.

I think I'll keep the butter dish and sugar bowl. Don't they look cute with my new Target dishes? They are total Cath Kidston knock-offs. I thought Chris would hate the floral pattern, so I mixed things up and bought the striped set, too.  For the first few days that we had the dishes, I only handed him the striped ones out of the cabinet. I wanted to avoid the beating that I usually get when I buy girly dishes or sheets or anything with flowers.

I listed a few of my vintage finds on eBay a few days ago. The bidding on the Wolverine tin kitchen cupboard is getting heated! There are 17 bids on it...all from 2 people. I love it...a virtual cat fight. And there are 22 people watching it, which typically means that a few people are planning to snipe it in the final seconds of the auction on Sunday.

And, I put my vintage Peg Perego pram on Craigslist. I don't want to have to ship that monstrosity, so I am trying to sell it locally on Craigslist before I try eBay.