Book Board Chat

Wow, I'm so bad about checking in here and posting....I have to stop with the facebook stuff. I have found another site similar to the Vintage Kitchen..... etc site that has 40,000 members so it's hard to put up a listing and not have it buried down the way within minutes (and you can only "bump" or bring the post, album or pictures to the top of the heap every 24 hours. If they don't jump on it right away, it doesn't get noticed until the bump. This last few days I listed a few things on a Pyrex site and got bites on two out of 3 within 10 minutes. I had shown 3 mixing bowls by different makers and was gratified that they sold that quickly. Using paypal, it's quick to invoice and no ebay fee to pay. What I've begun to do is build in my best estimate of shipping (usually it costs me a little extra) but that's okay, assuming I bought pretty cheaply to begin with. These pyrex collectors are rabid! Rabid, I tell you. Oh, must tell you that I went to an auction yesterday featuring hundreds of pieces of Fiesta (all the old original colors. I was hoping to get a few examples of the uranium red (which was really a deep orange and was a little radioactive) but Bidder 17 came loaded for bear and probably drove a Brinks truck full of money. The auction was outdoors, at a nice place in Cody, WY, things set out in the front and back yards on tables. Plenty of shade, and I got there super early so was able to park almost in front of the house. I can't traipse very far when it's hot, carrying things to the car, so I make it my business to get out of bed and leave early. More and more I find myself understanding my Mom, who just couldn't find the energy to bother getting up and going anywhere after awhile. I won't let that happen to me, just for the sake of a little extra sleep. Back to the Fiesta! The auctioneer sold "choice", per piece on each table in turn. First table had mostly pitchers, vases, carafes and casseroles. First round of bidding, I kid you not, ended with Bidder 17 winning choice for $450 PER! He took several pieces. Next round was still high, about $200 per piece; he took more....it went like that through 4 tables and he got nearly every piece of any consequence. Amazing. I have no clue how much money he spent, though I might ask next time I see the clerk who likes me - - I would guess $5 to $8000. I bought a Frankoma casserole in the wagon wheel pattern....there was a whole table of that and it will sell, unlike so much of the Frankoma nowadays. I found some unmarked Coors pottery from Colorado and was thinking I might get away with it....did get a bowl early on for $5, but there were two pitchers on a tray that came up later on. I ran it up to $90, and thought I had the bid, but directly behind me was the winner...whom I hadn't seen bidding against me. Maybe the kid was paying attention to HIM and not me, while I thought I was in all that time, can't be sure. There was another bidder or two in the mix, too. Anyway, I'm not sorry, once it went that high, it isn't a hot seller either. Hard day. I was able to leave by a out 1:30 and just get home. We're going to another auction next Sunday over the mountains...another trip to Buffalo, our favorite town, overnight, then 15 miles to Story, WY to the auction site. There are a lot of tools, and I don't know what else...stuff I might want, though it may go high.

Reading back through, I hope Jerome and Jack are feeling better, congrats to Irene on 70 years! And bon voyage, Jim (again!!) Gives new meaning to the term Globetrotter. I see Jim mentioning selling books on ebay years ago. It was VERY good pickings in the early 2000s. I sold old children's books; mine and my sister's - and some went for amazing money. It was what you picked to sell that mattered. I had a copy of "The Haunting of Hill House" 1st Ed. that mom had on a shelf here...in primo condition...sold it for $450. I remember selling a golden book "Little Black Sambo" for well over $100 and that's how I met the book board! The buyer wrote to say there was a rip on a page. I found the bb and posted, to ask a question about what I should do. Some advised me to just refund and let him keep the book. I smelled a rat and decided not to, so I replied to him, telling him to send back the book and if I ascertained that it was the SAME book I'd mailed, I would refund. Never heard another word from him. That was when I made a small mark inside expensive books I sold so scammers had a hard time of it. Always a good idea anyway. I sure miss selling books...I did dabble in buying first editions for a few months and then found like Jim did, that they didn't bring anything because of how many were printed. Remember 3 or 4 years ago when a Vanity Fair article suddenly made the Manchester book, "Death of a President" a very hot item for about a month? I had one, and bought two more quickly from a collectibles dealer I knew who did not know of the sudden surge in interest...I know a few of us in here did well for that go-round. You never know.