Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Jewel

I have been having a really good time selling my finds online. It's so nice to just have a bit of pocket money to spend and know I don't have to dip into my bank funds as often. People have been really nice, and the site I'm selling on has been great, but every once in awhile you run into trouble, and that's when what I call "potatogate" happened.

I found this really cute potato bin in a pile at the curb. Nothing wrong with it save for a few onion and potato stains on the wood inside. I thoroughly cleaned it, yet they remained. I thought since it was stained, I'd list it at a modest $20

It's cute, but nothing really special that I could see


Well, instantly I was getting notification after notification that people were interested in buying my potato bin. My computer, email, and tablet were blowing up. I listed it on the sections for 2 different city areas since I'm kind of in between them both. I'm telling you, there were line ups about 50 people long on both sites. People were privately messaging me asking if I would skip over the line (a rule breaker) to sell it to them because they "could pick it up right now!" etc.. it was crazy.

However, I am a follow the rules gal and made sure I went person by person.The first person in line decided to pass, so I moved on to the second person. They could not pick it up in my area. When I suggested the second area, she said it was impossible as well, and then told me to pass to the next person. I went on to person #3, made arrangements for pick up and that was that. Or so I thought...

The next morning I woke up to a snarky email from person #2 saying I should have been more accommodating and that I should have met her somewhere. She then reported me to the moderators. I replied back to her that I gave her 2 options, that she declined both of them, and that she told me to pass to the next person. You can't just tell me to pass and then change your mind! The moderators contacted me and told me that because I had replied to her (which she took as me being hostile) and didn't contact or go through them about it, I would receive an X on my sellers file. If you get 3 X's you're banned from the site. WTF? 

Anyways, I fought it and got the X removed, but the mods say that if they get another complaint about me, I'd get an automatic 2 X's. I'm not too happy about that, but I guess I have to live with it. As I explained to the mods, right now we're just a 1 income family and this is pretty much a small part time job for me to earn a little bit extra while I'm still at home with my youngest. Why would I jeopardize that in any way? Some people just don't see the bigger picture and realize there is a person on the other side. I'm not some big faceless corporation. This petty complaint could ruin a good thing I have going, but they don't care, they're just all butt hurt because they didn't get their potato bin.

Now whenever I list something that gets a lot of interest, I'm always thinking "Oh man, I hope this doesn't go all "potatogate" on me!"


So, let's get on to the rest of the finds for this entry!

In one town I hit, it's rather large, so I do the most populated area at night, and then in the morning I hit another area that has a few side streets. I always have to get there nice and early because by the time I'm done, my nemesis the garbage truck, is crusing in. I think he's on to me because he has been coming earlier lately.

This time I'm so glad I beat him because I found a big clean out pile full of vintage treasures :)

This old Kodascope movie screen is from the late 1920's





Here's the cool old label on the back




There was also a large box full of frames marked "garage sale". Inside were a whole bunch of dusty old framed prints with beautiful vibrant colours. The series is called "Great moments in pharmacy" painted by Robert Thom. Unfortunately, some of the prints did sustain damage, but others look pretty good.


 



Can't say that I know what I'm going to do with them yet, if I'll attempt to take them out of their frames, or try to sell them as is... For now they're properly wrapped up and being stored in my shed.


There were also 2 original boxes full of vintage mason jars with original zinc lids. The boxes are in pretty good condition considering their age. The colours still look as if they were just printed.

 


 One box was full of Jewel brand jars. I don't think they had ever been used.

 




The other box had a bit of a mish mash of jars of different sizes

 




There was another box as well of Shell insect sprayers. The box is marked 1939. Check out the price in the top right corner marked in grease pencil...$2.48 for the whole box. I wonder how expensive that was back then compared to today.

 


They were all used and the amber bottles of spray were all empty, but again, everything looked like it was still new. No rust, no corroding, nothing. Just a good coat of dirt and dust.

 


A little wipe down and they look amazing




The extra amber jars look nice too

 

I'm so glad the garbage truck didn't get to chew up these treasures!


 I also managed to pick up...

A working DVD player

 


Two old farm house windows that I sold very quickly and easily for $20

 


and a cute little wooden shelf




The next day I went on to another small town where I picked up...

A nice little side table from the 1940's. It's a little worn on top, but the rest looks great. Most small pieces of furniture I end up selling ends up to the "shabby chic" painting crowd anyways, so I'm sure someone can re-vamp this piece.

 


This thing which I thought might have been a magazine holder or something, but I later found out is  a fireplace accessory. I think it's used to hold logs by the fireplace.




 and this cute gold leafed mirror

 


At another pile I pulled out a few electronic things, like this voice recorder...



and a bunch of Apple products. Unfortunately I couldn't get the ipod to charge up or turn on, but I'm pretty sure someone will still buy it for the right price



I also picked up this outdoor light up Christmas tree, because from experience, all the ones I have picked up and taken home have worked just fine. This time luck wasn't on my side. I went to plug it in and discovered a scrapper had cut the cord off. Grr!

Nevertheless, I took 10 minutes to unravel and take the lights off the tree, listed it, and sold it for $10.


Took my lemon, and made lemonade thankyouverymuch! :D

Keep looking out for treasures, and happy picking!

7 comments :

  1. awesome finds!! The jars are AMAZING!!! Don't undersell them, it's incredible what people will pay for the zinc top jars.

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    1. The only problem is finding that person!I'll probably have better luck selling them once garage sale season starts up again.

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  2. Those Jewel jars are special. And those sprayers are fascinating - I love steampunk and for some reason I'm getting that vibe from them.

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  3. DVD players seem fairly common, I think they get dumped due to upgrade.

    But DVD players with remotes are less common. I've done okay with universal remotes, some features may be missing, and you can't know ahead of time when buying remote that it really will work with the equipment.

    I even found a blu-ray player a few years back, July 1st, but no remote. I had to wait till I found a used Blu-ray movie to test it, and then the lens needed cleaning. But it's been fine since. Even blu-fay movies appear at garage sales and book sales, sometimes not even a premium price, so having the player means I can watch what I find. And now I remember, I've found some blu-rays in the garbage.

    Michael

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    1. I hate it when I find good electronic stuff and the remotes aren't with it. I always wonder where they went or what the people did with them. How can you throw out the whole thing, and not throw out the remote with it? Very frustrating!

      True, the DVD players are being chucked due to upgrades and more modern ways of viewing and storing movies. There are poorer people in the town where I drop off some my finds at the thrift store that are still watching movies on VCRs, they just can't afford newer technology. I never see any dvd players and rarely movies donated there, so I always feel good about dropping off the ones I find :)

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  4. I guess you are in a different area but I don't find vintage items very often. I enjoy you blog tremendously as we find very different things.

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    1. Yes, I'm in an older area, there are lots of old farm houses where I am and older generation neighborhoods. The younger generation or relatives clean the places out it seems when their older relative passes away or moves to an old folks home. Sometimes when new people move into an old homestead, the cluttered barns and attics get cleaned out as well.

      Have you tried dumpster diving at smaller thrift stores? A lot of times they will throw out vintage stuff because they figure "Nobody wants this old stuff"

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