Hunting in the New Era

I'm a jewelry hound, and a cheap one at that - I won't pay for anything I'll lose money on if I change my mind later (a hangover from digging out from under a mountain of debt). Trouble is, while the WOW finds still exist in the jewelry realm (and I've had a few lately) that segment is drying up - too many people know the price of gold, and too many believe the current stasis denotes a "new normal".

So, even though I've always glanced at other things, lately I've been widening my scope even more. Art is my current training ground, but (maybe because everyone is focused on jewelry) non-jewelry silver has given me the biggest surprises.

The occasional piece always slips through the cracks (examine everything!) but some lately have been stunning. A few weeks back, in fact, I found a snuff or pill box in a jewelry case that had just two marks - a star and a letter. Plate, right? I bought it ($2 is always worth a risk) and researched just a bit ... to find I had a Spanish silver (915) box from the early '30's.

Then there was yesterday. I'm visiting family, and went to a local shop. A pair of earring (925 with 14k wires) was a nice find but a quick sweep of the knick-knacks have me a tarnished nut dish that had incised numbers and what looked like "sterling".

And if you look very closely, you'll also see "Cartier".

Good Hunting to all!

Franken-stuff

A friend of mine told me once that when you have a timepiece that has the case of one company, the dial of another, and the works of yet one more, you have a "Franken-watch."  I've found several in my treasure questing - in fact, I recently found out that making a generic gold case that would fit several makers' watches was fairly common (as well as "dipping" rose gold, which wasn't as popular, into white gold to mimic platinum).  We as collectors disdain these, but if it works it works, yes?

A few months back, I found another Franken-thing.

Uninspiring from the back, I know:  brass plaque with something soldered to the front and back ... badly.  What do you expect with a $4 price tag, right?

Then the story unfolds.  Shiny edges.  Hm, the price on the sticker looked as if it might have once been forty-something but the "something" had been scratched out with the same ink.

Look at that attitude.  And that hair!  She's really lovely!

So I said I'd take it, telling the clerk, with a smile, that I can't go wrong for that price. 

"What price do you think it is?" she asked after frowning at the tag.

"Four," I said.  "Isn't that right?"

She looked at me, then at the tag, studying it from different directions, but I had been right there while I looked and she knew I didn't change the price.  "Sounds right," she said, and I paid and walked out.

It was only later I saw the "10K" mark on the ring base.  I'd already figured out the cameo was stone.  Edged in 14K gold.  That had been there, sitting in the costume jewelry, for who knows how long.

Remember ... look at everything.

Angels

'Tis the season.

I found another one.  Seriously, it's the third I've seen in a year or so, and this one was a quarter.

Look at everything even when you've seen a million of them.  (Especially when you've seen a million of them.)

Happy Holidays!

And happy hunting!

December

And I thought I was out of it in October ...

I've been selling some things on eBay.  More like obsessed with it.  I've spent more hours photographing, writing up, and mailing than I have hunting, which is fine since yard sales are always labor intensive.  The fact that this is an internet yard sale shouldn't matter at all.  It's just a different kind of labor.

Anyway, I cleared closets from July to October (steadily - the rest of the year before that intermittently) and I figure I sent half the crap to the landfill, two-thirds of what was left was inherited forward - to thrift shops all around my area - and that last one-third went to family and friends (some) or to the line waiting for eBay.  I've sold maybe ... one-twentieth of that.  Because I'm so tired, I'm thinking I need to donate some more or get a booth at a flea market somewhere; eBay is a pain.  But I'm not completely ready to stop the yard sale yet.  See, I'm using the proceeds to get some things done around here, like this ...

Before:

And after:

Not too bad, huh?  My goal is to get the main floor at least painted and refurbished - this was definitely the most extensive work done so far.  You might notice the bath tile is still the green but I put up a curtain that linked the blue and green - not too shabby for someone with no taste at all, huh?  (But I had to hire a plumber for more work than I'd wish on my worst enemy, and I even had to hire a tile guy - my back, and the rest of me, is currently on a strict yoga diet so I'll never have to do that ever again.)

Anyway, eBay didn't pay for all of it, but between points from my credit cards (the tile, textiles, and towel bars) and selling things I didn't even remember I'd bought (the tile guy), the great deals (mirror) and the tax break I foresee with all that donated stuff (the sink and vanity), the hit to my checkbook wasn't nearly as painful as I'd imagined it would be.  It was even kind of fun.  I'm turning my sights to my kitchen now (I'm thinking the walls should be orange ...)

More on that later ...

Happy Holidays!  And Happy Hunting!

Alive

Wedding over. Guests gone. Four months of my life now just a gut-spot on my mental windshield. Is it really October?

Didn't hunt too much but what I did find is amazing. Pictures of best and quirkiest soon (and the DIY stuff I did) as soon as I catch up on my sleep.

Guess that means another month then.

Happy hunting! And happy holidays!