posted on June 4, 2001 07:30:19 PM new
I have a couple of them.
One was a group of about 10 pages that came from a book on the history of England dated 1577.
The pages where all about William Wallace (Braveheart).The darn things brought 500 dollars on ebaY.
Another was birthday book that belonged to one of Queen Victoria's daughters.It has signatures of QV and hundreds of others from people of the time.Some quite famous listing there birthdays and then they signed it.
Another where a couple of documents that where signed by members of Elizabeth I parliament.
2 of them where very famous parts of Elixabethan history and new Elizabeth as a friend.One of them was William Cecil.
posted on June 4, 2001 08:08:35 PM new
Interesting about the birthday book you mentioned. A friend of mine does eBay consignment auctions and just listed a Birthday book owned by Longfellow with a gazillion signatures as well - Presidents, authors, other dignitarys, etc. There were even some signed calling cards.
Book went up to $2,000 - unfortunately consignor wanted alot more. I frankly was surprised it went to $2,000. Just out of curiosity, did your book sell and did it do well?
This was the first birthday book I ever saw and I found it interesting that you mentioned another one.
posted on June 4, 2001 08:12:56 PM new
By the way, the most interesting item I sold, I actually was just trying to get rid of, so I didn't have to sell the remainder of the lot I bought it with. I love books at garage sales, especially older victorian lifestyle books. Well, at the bottom of this box of really cool books was this hardbound book that contained only a large fold out map of the Colorado Territories. It was ripped and torn in a few spots and I figured I would be happy with $9.99. You should have seen the look on my face when the ending bid hit $1535.00.
After my initial fear of "did the bidder see the condition", "did I describe it fully", etc., etc., I learned the bidder had been looking for that particular map for over 15 years. The underbidder was a friend of his who also had been looking for the map and the third bidder was a museum in Colorado.
I specifically look for those little books everywhere I go now!! I know I will never find one again, but the hunt is oh so much fun.
posted on June 4, 2001 08:49:08 PM new
Last year I came across an ORIGINAL menu for Christmas Dinner on the navy base that was scheduled for Pearl Harbor.....in 1941...It listed the menu, the staff, had a lot of pictures, history of Pearl , etc...Its a dinner that never took place I am sure...It went to the California Pearl Harbor Survivors.....That was my most interesting item....SOmetimes I was sorry I sold it but it went to a good "home"
posted on June 4, 2001 10:23:29 PM new
A hair "photo" album.
It wasn't mourning jewlrey, but it was similar. It was tons of locks of hair tied to one sheet of paper. Had names written underneath each one. Nastiest thing I've ever seen in my life, let alone put in my scanner.
Unfortunately, I was a newbie, and sold for under reserve when ebay went down back in June 1998. I've regreted it ever since, since I only got $80 for it. BUT, the lady who bought it was thrilled with it, and it included some of her family names so it got a good home.
posted on June 5, 2001 01:07:23 AM new
I married into a 4th.generation pioneer family, and my late mother-in-law was the eclectic collector supreme. From this background of both "acquired" collection and "ancestral" stuff, a certain widget got pushed to the back , and totally overlooked, and then intellectually and summarily dismissed.
I myself dismissed it as a family piece, assembled by a long deceased schoolboy , maybe as the Victorian forerunner of the now familiar "science project".
My father-in-law finally said, "put it in our annual yard sale for $25.00, and take $10.00 for it". I'd just started ebay, 2 years ago FB of 7, and said, "Hell, why not try it on ebay?"
My FIL said " In that case , start it at $50.00". I, from my vast ebay experience thought it expedient to start bidding at $35.00 with a reserve of $50.00.
A cursory glance in the category listings turned up nothing remotely similar or as crude. I only knew what it was because my FIL vaguely remembered it from his very early childhood, as an eccentric antique item, and that most of the cylinders broke when used with it.
Turned out to be one of the earliest cylinder phonographs ever, and the inventor was instantly intimidated by Thomas Edison and bought out,( read threatened,) to never produce like item again.
I listed fairly late at night, and awoke to a stack of e-mails begging me to close the auction and sell privately. I had a very helpful e-mail from a museum in Canada, which alerted me to the true value. Only then did I check my auction, and saw that overnight it had gone to $1,200 !!
There were several offers of $2-3,00 which my DH begged me to accept..and it was then that I applied my still-standing maxim, i.e. if there are bids, they've bid in good faith, respect it..don't close the auction. It closed at $7,000+ and the charming buyer came up and stayed overnight at a hotel where we wined and dined him, and the "packaging trauma" was mercifully averted. He was even more delighted to find that the item was in its original Wells Fargo packaging crate, which I've since learned is another very collectible item in itself!
Turns out my FIL's grandfather, who ran a general merchandise store and rural Post Office, had sent for one of these phonographs by mail, as a promotional item!
That was my most intense, and quick learning, week on ebay ever!! I don't think I showered or fully dressed for four days straight!
( I've never seen another since, and jeesh, have I ever looked!)
posted on June 5, 2001 04:38:03 AM new
Not as exotic as yours but I thought it interesting. I bought the contents of a storage locker at auction and there were a number of items for the professional chef and pastry chef. I only paid $1 for the locker so it was pure profit. There were a few pastry stencils for putting frosting or sprinkles on in a fancy design and I was surprised they went for $187.50. There were two cookbooks in French that went for a hundred but sad to say although I packed them well in a big box to keep them away from the edges and corners the lady informed me the box looked like it had been run over by a truck and the books were folded and one had the cover ripped off.
They were interesting. They showed in some detail how to make all the very decorative items like you would see at a state dinner or a nice cruise ship. Things like appetizers that look like dominoes and playing cards.
Lobsters made to look like butterflies and
Pate formed like a suckling pig with little vegetable eyes. They detailed how to do things like cut a whole large fish so it could be served in a buffet - not Betty Crocker for sure.
Right now I have a museam quality ship model of the Cutty Sark about 2 foot long and high and I am wondering how I would ever ship it.
The detail is staggering. all the little planks that make up the deck and all the rigging all knotted and strung with pullys and such. 1200 little copper plates all over the bottom of the hull and rudder. I think it may have to be a pick up only item.
posted on June 5, 2001 07:11:59 AM newuglimouse That was a great story about the phonograph. I love to see and collect stuff like that.
As for me, many, many moons ago, when I was a young man, I was playing in an old wharehouse with my cousins. It was totally empty except for a huge stack of boxes in one corner.
Being the little packrat I am, I carried this stuff across the railroad tracks and up the hill to my grandmother's house. From there, it was piled, packed, stuffed, wedged, etc... into my mom's stationwagon. Boy did I here about that one!
Fastforward to the present; As I dig thru this stuff, I find 6 blank sheets of letterhead from a local Coca Cola bottling company that existed in the WV coalfields at the turn of the century. I sold 5 of these for a grand total of about $450.00
posted on June 5, 2001 01:16:44 PM new
Bought a stack of old magazines from an antique dealer closing shop . Paid about $10 for about 30 magazines.
Found one old Family Circle magazine with a familiar looking face on it but no name credit. SO i went internet surfing & researched the photographer's name. Turns out that the unknown model on the cover was Marilyn Monroe!
Put it up on eBay with " I am really not sure if this is marilyn but it might be her" blurb.
It was a 3 day auction & got a stack of emails & finally it ended at $350!
Turns out this was her 1st US cover while modeling when she was still Norma JEan!
posted on June 5, 2001 02:19:11 PM new
a second hand vaginal speculum?
I have sold a lot of stuff but that one comes to mind. Sold for about $10 or $15 with several bidders in medical & science instruments.
Odd thing is, I don't remember where I got it.
T
I edited to change "used" to "second hand", then I remembered that "used or second hand" cars are now advertised as "previously enjoyed"...will just stick with "second hand" in this case cause was never enjoyed...that I know of. Sheesh. Perhaps I should just shut up.
[ edited by jt on Jun 5, 2001 02:28 PM ]
posted on June 5, 2001 02:25:23 PM new
Well I kind of equate interesting to mean weird & wonderful, but that's just me I guess.
Lately a couple come to mind.
A 48" real hair ponytail that went down under to someone in Australia for $600
And a bizarre cartoon history book about Abraham Lincoln, printed in Korea in Korean language -- Abe even looks vaguely Korean in the cartoons -- just mailing that one tomorrow to the West Point Academy Museum!
I would really say though the single most interesting find I've had this year is a 24 minute "home" movie, original color super 8 footage re-recorded on a VHS cassette -- the movie was made by a U.S. army helicopter crewman in Vietnam, and is 24 minutes of awesome combat helicopter attack footage & some other very unique Vietnam helicopter content. I'm sure none of it has ever been seen publicly, so it is quite a treasure.
posted on June 5, 2001 02:41:25 PM new
I agree, it was an astounding price. I kind of think it was a fetish thing, but I don't begrudge my customers spending their money. If you search real hair ponytail on eBay, you'll see lots of them, ranging from $100 to $300, this one at 48" was longer I think than almost any had been on eBay, a local hairdresser told me that it would have taken the person about 20 years to grow to that well groomed length.
Some people actually buy them to make wigs for dolls, and if the hair is untreated with dye or chemicals cancer societies will buy them sometimes to make wigs for chemotherapy patients -- so its not quite as yucky as it seems at first.
Then of course (as I found out during the course of the auction from many bizarre e-mails received) there is the weirdo factor. By the way, I think that auction got over 1,000 hits, which was quite awesome in itself.
Human hair is actually one of the things ebay does allow to be sold, as for some reason it is not considered a body part like other things would be, including blood of course -- I guess the only blood item that could be sold would be if someone famous had signed a document with their pin-pricked thumbprint!
[ edited by upriver on Jun 5, 2001 02:42 PM ]
posted on June 5, 2001 02:51:36 PM new
I doubt you could clone someone from their hair (LOL).
You know I never would have believed it either, but when I had this item, and searched eBay out of curiosity -- then saw what the potential was -- I decided to go for it. Probably not something I will ever sell again, though, those weird e-mails during the auction certainly stressed me out & wore my tolerance just a little thin.
posted on June 5, 2001 04:18:13 PM new
I bought a pamphlet at a garage sale for 25 cents because of the date (early 1900's). It was about prohibition, a traveling preacher named Billy Sunday. Seems he would travel around the country preaching the evils of alcohol. Well, I had alot of interesting emails about Billy Sunday and finally sold it - to the curator of the new multi million dollar Billy Sunday museum in Ogden, Utah.
The weird part of this transaction? The curator was born here in Johnstown, PA. Talk about a small world
posted on June 5, 2001 08:45:13 PM new
I sold a Porsche 928 for a third party and did OK - made $675.00 on it, but I really had doubts how much interest I would get because it had NO MOTOR. I had over 2000 hits on that thing. More than I have ever had on any other auction. The fellow who bought it came from 3 states away and towed it home - Said don't worry I have several motors for it.
I read your very interesting story about the Marilyn Monroe cover. I think I might have the issue. My cover has a young lady wearing a red bandana and in overalls picking oranges sitting on a ladder. Will you mail me back at [email protected] and tell me if this is it or not. Thank you.
posted on June 5, 2001 09:59:16 PM new
I bought a book for 200.00 because the artist who did the illustrations signed the book and also drew, in ink, an original drawing of one of the illustrations on the title page. The illustrator is a famous artist & his father is our greatist living American artist & possibly the most famous artist in the world.
The bids reached 3000.00
posted on June 6, 2001 10:40:38 AM new
The artist is Jamie Wyeth & his father is Andrew Wyeth.
The book is "The Stray" written by Jamie's mother, Betsy James Wyeth. Jamie Wyeth did the illustrations.
[ edited by mcjane on Jun 6, 2001 10:44 AM ]
