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Antiquing Biz Deal

I guess it’s the Starbuck’s coffee bar at Barnes and Noble that sparks conversations and business meetings. I’ve seen entrepreneurs carry on job interviews with flip charts, friends chatting away with their lattes and brownies, and students half visible behind a pile of books as they plug away on homework.

I was one of those with a coffee, an oatmeal cookie and a stack of antique books when a man asked if I liked antiques. From there and a little conversation later, Darrell and I ended up with a $3,000 truck load of antiques. This young man had inherited a shop inventory from his mom and decided against opening a shop himself.

His mom had amazing antiques collected over the years, and he had worked in imports earlier in his career, buying pottery from the orient.

Among this collection of lamps, wooden gears, skeletan keys, pens, pottery—Van Briggle to Ming Dynasty—china, cloth dolls, art, jewelry and a myriad of things, was a collection of postcards. He handed them to me delicately, without touching the art, with his hands facing forward in robot fashion, so that only the inside of his palms touched the outside border edge of the cards.

As we went over the inventory, he would pronounce it’s value. The postcards rang up at $200. When we tallied the list of antiques, the sum was $3,000. He was delighted and we were numb.

We didn’t haggle or ask questions about the prices. We trusted him and deemed him the authority on value having worked in the industry. What were we thinking? Fast forward: We have been selling this inventory on eBay for over two years. Many of the pristine, expensive items are still listed for sale.

Fortunately, this young man was generous and wished us well. Along with the boat load of antiques we bought, he gave us two trunk load of tools. We have sold frog gigs, pitchforks, bicycle seats, horse shoes and goat bells all over the world and have made more money on the free items then we could have imagined.

We have learned much about the world around us and American history from researching all of the incredible items he sold us that day, and we look forward to having a great conversation with him whenever we hit Barnes and Nobles!

Posted in Antiques, eBay.

By Patricia
September 1, 2010

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Did you put a frog in the toilet?

Ummnnn, “No, I did not put a frog in the toilet.”

I thought my husband knew me better than to put a frog in the toilet, but one was there. After rescuing it, Darrell, being a true photographer, rushed it upstairs to his studio and took a photo of it. As you can see from the photo, it was an unwilling subject. Darrell had the 70-200 lens on his camera, and it was impossible to get a photo between hops.

The mystery remains, how did the frog get into our toilet. My husband reasons that the frog is so small that it came up through the drain hole in the shower and hopped into the toilet. Sure. Another theory, Mr. Frog came in through vent pipes underneath the sink and was on a pile of plastic bags I stash under the sink so that when Darrell carried the bags into the bathroom, he had this secret stow away frog.

We know that Mr. Frog didn’t ring the doorbell and come in through the front door. And he hadn’t been hopping around our house earlier because we would have noticed him, however diminutive.

He’s now back in the great outdoors. We believe in catch and release!

Darrell said it was a little chorus frog or cricket frog, and that it measured about an inch in length. He can sail through the air with each hop and he has suction cup-type feet, perfect for toilet bowl entry.

I missed seeing Mr. Frog in the toilet, which would have been funny! Almost as funny as my husband asking me if I had put a frog in the toilet…
Mr. Frog did not have a secret entrance into our house. Rather he came in with the groceries. Darrell likes to grocery shop in the wee hours when Wal-Mart is deserted. When he carried the groceries in, Mr. Frog saw an opportunity and followed the light. The way we know this? It happened a second time!

Posted in It's in the Genes, Wildlife.

By Patricia
August 19, 2010

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Turns out the deer antlers came with a laughable family story

Deer Antlers
We shipped the deer antlers today! They sold on eBay.

My husband boxed the antlers and brought them to me  for postage. On the hand-off he started laughing. There was a family story behind them, unbeknown to me. The antlers were his fathers from a hunting outing in the Arkansas Ozarks. It wasn’t one of those bragging stories but a funny story told by his hunting companion.

Darrell’s father was an sportsman who loved fishing and hunting, and always for food: trout, turtle, frog legs, squirrel, rabbit, deer, pheasant, turkey, venison, moose, etc.

He was on a steep hillside when he shot the deer. He chased it down and sat astride it to slit the neck to bleed it. When he did, the muscles on the deer contracted and the deer leaped enough to land his father on a rolling deer down the hillside. It was a funny site and somewhat of a first so that Ralph came home with the deer but his friend came home with the story.

Posted in It's in the Genes, eBay.

By Patricia
August 17, 2010

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Tourist Chatter from Wisconsin

Mug from Ehlenback's Cheese Chalet

On July 25, 2010, both of my family trees converged in Wisconsin for reunion picnics.

The hotel where we camped out served a so-so breakfast, but on our second day in DeForest, we enjoyed the best-ever breakfast at the DeForest Family Restaurant where the waitress proclaims, “You eat it or wear it” and where menu items marked ACE  signals “All You Can Eat.”

I ordered the vegetable omelet, which came with hash browns and toast or pancake. I went with the pancake so light and fluffy that eating it made you love life.

Darrell had the DeForest Breakfast Plate heaped with two eggs sunny-side up, sausage, bacon, hash browns and toast. The restaurant used prime ingredients, and Darrell pronounced the bacon and sausage links the best ever.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was hometown friendly. Patrons arrived with the Sunday newspaper tucked under their arms, looking forward to a good read over coffee and breakfast. They talked cars and called the waitresses by name.

My one disappointment with the restaurant was not spotting a single pair of bib overalls. I had to count the man in wide suspenders for my overalls sighting. I had seen a Wisconsin fisherman back at the hotel wearing a tee-shirt that read, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy—Benjamin Franklin.” Not a quote out of the text books, but a truism by Ben nevertheless and a good testament that I was in a state that had a long-running love affair with beer…. still, no overalls?

Being born and raised in Wisconsin back in the 40s and 50s, there are a few minimal things I expect to encounter on a trip back home—overalls, cheese, beer, and cows. I had my first disappointment with a devoid of overalls. The next disappointment was not seeing pastures filled with cows. I don’t know where Wisconsin is hiding its cows. It is the Dairy State.

We’re treading on sacred ground when we don’t see cows in Wisconsin. The state was so famous for its dairy industry in the 50’s that Walt Disney packed up his Mouseketeers and brought them all the way from Florida to Wisconsin to film Adventures in Dairyland.

I remember how proud Iwas as I watched the Mouseketeers romp around a farm just like my Uncle Sam and Aunt Ann’s, where I spent my summers in Wisconsin. (I could never decide whether Darlene or Annette was my favorite Mouseketeer.) Where is Wisconsin getting all the milk they need for their famous cheeses and dairy products?

I did shop at the best ever cheese store, Ehlenbach’s Cheese Chalet, located across from our hotel. If you want superb cheeses and the best cow souvenirs ever or one of those famous  cheesey CheeseHead hats, you need to stop by the next time you are in DeForest, Wis.

Sissy the Cow at Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet

Although I didn’t spot my fill of cows in Wisconsin, I did see fields of  windmills, a sign that the Dairy State has gone green.

Posted in It's in the Genes, Travel.

By Patricia
August 1, 2010

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We zigged when we should have zagged!

Rare Rauenstein bisque and composition doll  

Rauenstein Bisque and Compo Antique Doll

This boo-hoo incident no doubt has happened to other hapless eBayers. We sold one doll and shipped another. 

The Buyer either didn’t realize our error when he opened the package, evidently, or was happy with the substitute because my Feedback from the Buyer was  ”great seller great for eBay.” To put it in dollars and cents, the Buyer bought and paid for an all-bisque Rauenstein doll at $89 with $6 shipping, but my husband (Darrell) shipped a rare bisque and compo Rauenstein doll selling for $320, shipping included.
Darrell and I are an eBay duo, he undertakes the research, photography and shipping. I work on the digital side and create the ad on the computer. We are like two ships that pass in the night, switching off notes and photos to each other. Darrell passes photos and research when he wants me to list something for sale, and I pass him an invoice and address for shipping when something sells.
Well, the mail ship sailed without me.
Days later, Darrell’s looking at our eBay store and informs me that I have a doll listed for sale that already sold and that he should know because he packed it and mailed it! That’s when the plot thickened.
Well, I expected to find I had made a digital listing error when I reviewed my records. Instead, I found hubby had made a gargantuan shipping error.
I contacted the Buyer twice and thanked him for his good Feedback and assured him that if he wanted to keep the more expensive Rauenstein, he could in that it was our error. However, if he actually hadn’t noticed the shipping error and wanted the all-bisque Rauenstein doll that he had bought, we would switch them out for him. Not hearing back, I assumed all is well and re-listed the all-bisque Rauenstein.

All Bisque Rauenstein Doll
All Bisque Rauenstein Doll

This bisque and composition doll from the Rauenstein porcelain factory is 6-inches tall. Markings include: R /22 and the Rauenstein upside down crossed double “ff” trademark.

Posted in Dolls, eBay. Tagged with , .

By Patricia
June 16, 2010

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