Book Board Chat

Hello, hello, hello, and a great good morning!

Re: hacking accounts. Got a phone call from Mastercard (at least I think so) on Saturday saying there had been a security breach on my card, and that they would be sending me a new one on Monday. Glad they caught it; seems 1.5 million were affected due to some data breach at Global Processing. Sigh This is the 2nd time it's happened to my one card, and now have to go and change the auto-billing numbers I have out there, yet again. However, it's nice to know Mastercard's on top of these kinds of things.

Flea Report: Yesterday was seasonally warm, not very windy. Rosemont was hosting the World Wrestling Expo later in the day, so closed at 2:15. Lots of vendors there nonetheless.

I picked up some hints for both buyers and sellers. 1) Take a kid or 2 kids, preferably a boy and girl with you if you're buying. I saw a man with his son. Son was looking at a Transformer with bafflement. The seller showed him how it worked (the father was watching). The father asked how much; seller replied $10. Father looked dismayed. Boy started to put it back (no verbal communication between father & son, however). Seller said, "Tell you what. How about $10 for both (there were 2)" No response from father. "OK, how about $8 for the box?" Sale made!

Overheard from another seller: "I might as well pack up. About this time my regulars have finished buying from me." Said at 10 a.m. Market opens at 6:30 for dealers; most folk stroll in around 8:30-9:00. Guess the majority of money is made early.

Tip from observation: If you have "stuff", don't necessarily spread it out on the ground where people have to walk around it to see the rest and/or bend over to see/pick up. At Rosemont, many, many buyers are older (some with walkers and wheelchairs, even) and simply walked past the area where things were spread out on the ground.

Also, don't put all your stuff in boxes alone. More than one seller had his/her stuff in boxes without having a table to entice buyers to look thru the boxes for more things.

OK, now for what was selling: gardening books (more recent) for $1-3; lawn mowers (one guy was pushing his purchase up and down the aisles!). Work clothes and gloves; Amish-made jellies, jams with "organic" label; "smalls". Little Tykes wagons (I saw 3 being sold for $25 - (am looking for one) but the 2 with a price of $40 and $60 were still sitting there when we left. Silk-screened tee-shirts and sweats that the sellers had done themselves as part of their larger silk-screening business. Oddly, magnifying glasses of all sorts along with small tools (maybe for watch repair?).

The baseball card sellers were out (boxed sets and some in plastic albums). The men looking at them were around 50-60, I'd say. Silver coins were selling, but the paper money didn't seem to be eliciting much interest. Again, postcards were not selling, or stereograms but this may have been because they were very common postcards and badly faded stereograms of "scenes of America." Larger shrubs and perennials seemed to be selling (seasonal) as did tomato plants. Strawberries were $1/large box; corn was $2 for 6 ears; green peppers, potatoes & onions were $1 for smallish box. Seems many of the buyers also pick up "impulse" purchase fruits & vegetables along with beans ($1.50 per pound for dried black and pinto beans).

Comment: Saw many McCoy vases. The large ones with handles, from the 40's/50s, were marked on average at $26. Saw a bright yellow small vase marked "Fiesta" for $18. I was looking at these kinds in particular because wellington mentioned her McCoy vase. Also saw a lamp made out of an old tin (?) candle mold for $20. Thought that was kind of neat. The mold had not been damaged by drilling. One dealer had pocket watches (non-working) grouped at $25 each. Working ones, Elgin, Illinois and others, were between $80-300. I don't know enough to say anything about them. Lots of picture frames were out, between $1-10, but didn't see anyone buying them from any of the dealers.

And that's my flea market report. Pouring rain here, so no gardening for me today. Had hoped to get the weeds under control, but guess not.

Have a wonderful day!