monkeybox

I went grocery shopping at the Wal-mart SuperCenter yesterday. I get a lot of deals and do a lot of stockpiling at the other smaller grocery stores in my area. But, for the bulk of my actual shopping (You can't live on puddin'). I shop at Wal-Mart. The checker scanned and bagged my groceries and told me my total. When I handed her my stack of coupons I heard this big breath of air behind me in line. The couple behind me was not happy that I was using coupons. "Up your's" I thought to myself. Anyway, my total before coupons was $112.00 and $77.50 after coupons. So, I saved $35.50. Not my best, but a good deal at that.
I finally have a few items on ebay this week after not having sold this summer. I have bids on about hialf my items with several days left on each item. One thing I have up is a Hallmark ornament. I learned to go through boxes of Christmas decorations at yard sale and thrift stores looking for Hallmark Ornmaments. In the original box is the best, but harder to find. Out of the box is okay too - I just make sure it's not broken or damaged. It seems almost any Hallmark ornament will sell for at least $8.50. If I only pay 25¢-50¢ for it - that's a good profit. This is a Series Ornament from 1980 - new in the box with all the inserts and packaging. I paid $1.00 for it. (Which is high for me to pay!) I had a bid on it 20 minutes after listing it. It is up to $27.75 today with 3 1/2 days left to go on it. There is only one other one listed and it has a "Buy It Now" price of $150.00. Kind of fun to see what it will end at! A nice surprise to get me back into the ebay mood!
I have learned what to sell on ebay by reading Kove's Price Guide and other price guides. Not that the pricing informaitn is always correct. But, I have lerned about all the different types of pottery - Haegar, Hull, McCoy, Shawnee - types of glass - carnival, slag glass, vasoline, depression,etc. I know about vintage toys and old advertising items and even new collectilbes like PEZ dispensers and Beanie Babies. The most important thing I ever found out is that "Everyone collects something and everything is collected by someone."
I watch the Antiques Roadshow a lot. I don't have priceless heirloms like those people shlep in - but I have learned a lot by watching it. One man brought in two big shiny black pots. Together they were worth $55,000.00. They were made by a Native American woman and simply signed, "Maria" on the bottom. Well, the shiny pots looked familiar to me and that "Maria" signature looked even more familar. (I better go back and mention that I have many, many collections. Treasures I have found one of, then another, then another and wah-lah, a collection has been formed. One of these such collections is a basket full of miniature pieces of pottery that I have picked up here and there - all small vases, pots, vessels, etc. It all started when I found ten of them at one sale (at the shop of an antiques dealer I call Ms. Snot Britches - that "knows her stuff" and sells off the rejects inexpensively) for 10¢ each.) Anyway, b ack to the $55,00.00 pot story - So,I dug out the basket full of pots and searched through them. There at the bottom was a small shiny black pot - I turned it over -"Maria" it said. Now, I knew this wasn't going to be a $55,000.00 pot. But, it was worth researching and listing on ebay. I did a lot of research on the internet about Maria and learned even more about her pottery. I listed it with a beginning bid of $9.99 and it sold for $367.00. (This was one of the pots I had bought from Ms. Snot Britches for 10¢!) This pot was about as big as a golf ball, so it was certainly not worth $55,000.00 - but a $367.40 profit was alright by me. And, I enjoy this story a lot more than I ever enjoyed that little black shiny pot.
Hint of the Day: Read and learn all you can about everything - there are treasures out there just waiting for you to find.