The most interesting things I've sold: Bottles

This is the last post of this series as I've run out of interesting things to write about. lol! This one is about some bottles I've sold.

1. Prince Matchabelli Windsong Perfume
Are you old enough to remember the jingle, "Her Windsong stays on my mind?" Well keep these little bottles in mind on your thrifting hunts because they can fetch a good price with or without the perfume inside. This bottle was really really small. I got it at an estate sale for $3. The table with the smalls next to the checkout is usually where I find a lot of neat stuff and this was one of those finds. I put it up for auction and I can't remember exactly, but I think it sold for about $25.

2. Another Prince Matchabelli.

This bottle fooled me. Hubby spotted it at a flea market. He saw the cross on top and thought it was a holy water bottle. I thought I saw the word France on the bottom. Well, when I got home and got out the magnifier, I saw the word was Prince, not France. Prince Matchabelli. This bottle sold quickly for $15.

3. Holy Water Bottle.

This could have gone in the religious collectibles post, but I had another bottle there, so I saved this one for here. I don't remember what this sold for and I can't find a post that references it other than I had listed it for $35. I'm sure it didn't sell that high, but it was a really cool looking bottle.



4. Brass bottle

This was a cute little sniff bottle that's small enough to wear around your neck. I think it sold for around $12.

5. Vintage Toy Baby bottle

I was going to list this in my most interesting toys post, but I decided to save it for this one, since I don't have that many bottles to talk about. lol. This sold for $15.00. It has a kangaroo on one side and ounce markings on the other. Pre-plastic bottle days.

6. Glass Ink Bottles or Inkwells.

I started collecting these and couldn't stop. Finally I decided to list some in this lot. It was my very first Etsy sale and these went for $30.00. I kept the ones that are green glass. These usually sell at flea markets for at least $5 each, sometimes more depending on if they're marked on the bottom or not.

Here is an example of an inkwell I sold that came with one of these types of bottles inside it. I think this sold for around $40. It was pretty cool. A lady bought it for her dad and she was so excited to find it and give it to him as a gift.

7. Pottery Ink bottle

Ink bottles like these made of pottery date back to the Civil War. They are often found in digs. I sold the one on the left for about $15, but some can go for more. One of my favorite finds was the one on the right which I have kept for myself. It was the first inkwell that started my collection. I got it for 25 cents from a man who thought it was an Avon bottle. I had no idea what it was when I bought it and then research revealed it was a Civil War era inkwell. Cool! 

8. Vintage Wheaton Bottles.

These were little miniature bottles. A few said Wheaton on the bottom. This lot sold quickly for $15. I think I listed them too low. I got the whole lot for $1. You can find these all over. I guess they're collectible. I just found another blue one this past weekend.

9. Oops! Fresh out of bottles.

Well, that concludes my series of the most interesting things I've sold over the years. I've actually sold some even more interesting things, but they were commissions I did for my brother. It was so long ago that I don't remember what kinds of prices I got and since I didn't source them, I decided not to include them in my lists. 

The most interesting things I've sold: Toys and dolls

In my series of interesting things I've sold, this is the toys and dolls post.  Here's a list of the top ten most interesting ones I've sold, in no particular order....

 1. Creepy dolls.

Some of you may remember an older post where I had purchased a giant bag of old baby dolls at an estate sale. They were moldy and very creepy looking. Sadly, I was only able to salvage a few of them. I listed them under the "Everything Else" category and included "Creepy Dolls" in the listing title. It took awhile, but they actually sold. If you've got some old creepy dolls laying around somewhere, list them now and include "Halloween Props" and/or "Creepy Dolls" in your title.

2.Trolls.

The original vintage troll dolls with real mohair hair and glass are valuable. I found these at an estate sale. The lot of three sold for $67.00. The one with green hair and eyes sold for $28.00

3. Vintage Miniature Barbie Doll.

This miniature Barbie doll was actually mine as a kid. It goes with two of Skipper's outfits named "Me N my Doll" and "Day at the Fair." It's worth anywhere from $15-30 depending on condition. Mine sold for $25.

4. Texaco Fire Chief Helmet.

This was a cool find last year at only $5. It was filthy when I bought it, but I cleaned it up and it sold for $65.



5. Tron Identity Disc.

The movie was a bomb, but this toy wasn't. I got it at GW for $1.59 and it sold for $59.99. Keep an eye out for one of these. I've been looking for another one ever since I discovered their value, but haven't been able to find one.

6. Breyer Horses.

Not all Breyer horses are valuable, but some can be. I've sold a few over the years and I think the most I've gotten is $25 for one, but I always hope to stumble on one of the rare horses.  If you're lucky enough to find them at a good price, here is a website that will help you identify your model. They're a nice quality toy. Look for the Breyer stamp inside the leg.

7. Vintage GI Joe Dolls.

Who doesn't love GI Joe? He's such a cool guy. I got these three at the same sale where I got the creepy dolls above. I paid $20 for the three of them, listed them for $99 or best offer and they sold for full price 25 minutes later. A great flip!

8. The General Lee Car

This was a great find at a church sale. Love those church sales! It had lights and sounds and I put a video in the listing. It sold for $29.99. 

9. Robin Doll.

This doll sold too quickly because, like a jerk, I under-priced it. My search of completed listings led me to make the wrong decision when pricing him and he sold almost instantly for $25. I was lucky to get him at a very low price. Vintage toys like these are not easy to find at good prices, that's for sure.











10. Little Bear Figures Set.

I may not know about Little Einsteins and other popular current kids' TV shows, but I know the stuff that was popular when my daughter was little and Little Bear was one of her favorite shows.

I got this set at a flea market for $7.50 and it sold for $76.50.

Toys can be fun to source and very profitable to sell, especially vintage ones.

My next post in this series will be about bottles.

The most interesting things I've sold: Unusual collectibles

This is my second post in my little series of the most interesting things I've sold. Today, I'm going to show you some of the more unusual collectibles that I managed to find. Again, these were all sourced up north at flea markets and estate sales. Here is my top ten and they are in no particular order.

1. Carry Nation pin.

This has got to be one of my all time favorite finds. It's a Carry Nation pin which was sold to raise money for the famous activist's legal fees after she'd attack drinking establishments with a hatchet in her campaigns against alcohol. I wrote a post about it here. I found this pin after shaking it out of a tangled mess of jewelry at a flea market. I paid $1 and it sold for $55.

2. Love token.

Love tokens are coins taken out of circulation that have something engraved on the back of them. They're referred to as love tokens because most were made for a special occasion and presented to the receiver as a gesture of love and/or affection. They were most popular here in the U.S. during the period commencing shortly after the civil war until the early 1890's. I didn't know this was a love token until after I sold it and checked the feedback of the buyer. (That was back when you could see what other items people purchased). He was a big collector of love tokens. Had I known what it was, I probably could have fetched a higher price. It sold for $11.00. I acquired it with a bunch of religious medals I had purchased and I knew it didn't belong.

3. Mannequin (or Manneken) Pis figurine.

Hey, well, it was embarrassing listing this figurine, but it sold. It's a miniature version of the famous bronze statue in Brussels. I don't remember what it sold for, but it wasn't very much. It was mostly a very memorable piece.

4. Nativity made in Zaire

This probably could have been listed in my previous post of interesting religious collectibles. I got this amazing nativity at an estate sale. The pieces were thrown in a shoebox. I think I paid $8 for the set. The name of the person who made it was scrawled on the bottom of each piece as well as "Zaire." It sold to a woman who collected different nativities from around the world. I think it fetched around $75.

5. Cast iron string holder.

I bought two of these really cool string holders from a guy who had great stuff at his sale. I kept going back for more stuff and making deals with him. I had never seen one of these. Apparently, years ago they hung in general stores and butcher shops and held a ball of string for tying up packages. Now, if you ever see one, you'll know what it is. They also made versions that sat on the counter. Some look like beehives.

6. Fountain boy.

This little boy, or girl, or whichever it is, was a puzzling find. At first I thought it went to a fountain. After a lot of research, I came to find out that it was a gas light fixture. I had high hopes that this would make me semi-rich, but it only sold for $50.

7. All Good Plaque

"Hear, Speak, See, Think, ALL GOOD." This was a heavy cast metal plaque with a painted bronze finish that was so unique, I couldn't find any information on it other than the fact that the man who sold it from me got if from a bakery that had closed and this plaque had hung in that establishment for as long as he could remember. I held onto it for awhile, then eventually sold it. I think I got $50 for it.

8. Bug sprayer atomizer pin.

This is a little brass pin that looks like one of those old fashioned bug sprayers. In fact, it's a vintage perfume atomizer pin. You can still find these for sale. They're worth about $25.

9. Gaudy candleabra

This is one crazy way to get some illumination, wouldn't you say? I got this piece on the last day of an estate sale for $10. I think I sold it for only $33.00. Again, I thought this piece would make me rich, but it didn't. The cool thing about it was that it came apart easily, so it was not the nightmare to ship that it appeared to be.

10. Clock Faces

I wrote a post a while back called "There's gold in them thar clocks."  Well, that still rings true. If you happen to come across a box of old broken clocks and you can get them cheap, you can make tons of money with them by taking them apart. Clock faces are going for a lot of money these days. Hubby is sorry he gave me all these to sell because now he needs them for his top hat clocks. Also valuable are the gears, the springs, the winders and the hands. No part of a metal wind up clock should be thrown away. Before you take a clock apart, check first to see if it's a valuable model.

My next post in this series will be about some interesting toys I've sold.

The most interesting things I've sold: Religious collectibles

I thought I would start a little series about some interesting things I've sold in the past. The first post in this series is about religious collectibles. I've written posts about these items before, but they go back a ways, so this is like a recap.

I was thinking recently about a time when I was doing really well selling online. It was a few years back when I was still living in PA and one of my main selling categories was religious collectibles. I hadn't realized they were good selling items until I listed my first set of vintage religious medals and they sold for a good price. Then I bought a metal Jesus corpus (Jesus off the cross) at a Salvation Army store for a dollar and sold it for $24. My best sources for these items were flea markets and estate sales. Since I've moved to the south, I haven't come across a single religious medal. So odd. The really funny thing is that I'm not religious, but I find old crosses, medals, statues and rosaries to be very beautiful. I've even held on to some for a while before selling them, just so I could look at them for a while. I have a file where I've kept one photo of everything I've ever sold, so it was really hard to pick out just a few. There were so many interesting things, but I narrowed it down to a top ten list. They're not in any particular order.

1. Antique German religious book/bible.

"Bibles don't generally sell well. The most you'll get is probably $100." That's what an antique appraiser told me about this book. To prove him wrong, I went ahead and listed this and it sold for $565.  It was from the 1600's and in pretty nice condition.

2. Aspergil. Well, now there's a new word for you. Yup, it's the real word for a holy water sprinkler. This came apart in two pieces for filling. I thought it was the neatest thing. 

3. Rosary with skull and crossbones crucifix.

Did you know that very old crucifixes have a skull and crossbones beneath the feet of Jesus? I didn't. There are many theories as to the meaning, but I think it's supposed to symbolize Adam.This rosary sold for about $40, but I've sold quite a few of these types of crosses by themselves in the $25 range.

4. Crown for an Infant of Prague statue.

My grandmother was a Roman Catholic and she had Infant of Prague statues on her dresser in full robed regalia. I thought they were beautiful and I would often stare at them in awe. I came across this crown at a flea market and knew right away what it was. I got it for a dollar and promptly listed it. It sold very quickly for $25.

5. Infant of Prague robe.

This Infant of Prague robe was on a statue that was in bad shape. I bought it anyway because the robes sell well on their own. The fancier the better. The larger, the better. I think this sold for $18.

6. Religious medal lots.

I sold many lots like this and I enjoyed putting them together and photographing them. I had my lucky antique looking background that I used to use before the days when a white background placed higher in search. The highest a lot of mine ever sold for was for $160. 

7. Sacred heart pendant

I was shocked when I listed this sacred heart pendant for $50 and it sold right away.

8. Holy water bottle.
This was a really unusual find at an estate sale.

9. Reliquary rosary with spina christi seed beads.

 This was the first time I learned that some crosses contain relics inside them. There is a small screw at the bottom which is the release for the back of the cross to open revealing the relic inside. Usually it's a spot of soil taken from the catacombs where saints are buried. This reliquary cross is on a rosary made of spina christi seeds which supposedly came from the tree used to make the crown of thorns.

10. Brass Agnus Dei symbol

By far, one of the most interesting items I've ever sold....ever. It's a brass Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) plaque. I wrote a post about finding it at an estate sale here. This was like finding DaVinci Code stuff. It freaked me out having it in the house with all the Seven Seals, and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse type symbolism. It sold at auction for $122.50. I paid $2 for it. 

Some people think selling religious items is a sin, but of course I originally got them from someone who sold them to me. Some items were found thrown in boxes of junk at flea markets. Once in my hands, I treated each and every one of these items with the utmost respect and care and I appreciated their beauty, as did my customers. I never sold a 1st class relic, although there are many listed online and they sell (and have sold) for thousands of dollars. There are people that want these and similar items because they simply don't make them anymore and they truly are very special. Many Catholic churches are closing and they're selling off a lot of statues, crosses and other liturgical items. I even found a website that sells used church items. You can find it here.

Before I left PA, I went to an estate sale of a church and rectory that was closing and they had the most beautiful crucifixes and icons for sale. I was only able to pick up one small item there on the last day of the sale and I've held onto it for almost two years. I finally listed it on Etsy. It's this beautiful Infant of Prague chalkware figurine. No fancy robes are on it, but it's still a really nice piece. Photographing it and listing this piece is probably what got me thinking of the good ole days when I was able to source and sell nice quality items.

My next post will be about some unusual collectibles I've sold.