I recently purchased a large collection of Beatles memorabilia. As I was going through it, I realized I had quite a large inventory on my hands. When you buy a collection this size, you have to take the good with the bad. This collection definitely had a lot of good items, but it also had a […]
Worth its Weight in Gold
Last week, a friend of mine approached me looking to have some of her gold and silver melted down. She brought me a combination of watches and jewelry that she thought contained some level of gold or silver. She wasn’t sure of the content since most of the pieces weren’t stamped. If an item isn’t […]
Auctions Can be Fun, But Watch Out for the Hidden Costs!
In the last several months I’ve been participating in an increasing number of live and live online auctions (As a side note, a live auction is conducted at a specific time in a physical location, whereas an online live auction occurs within a certain time frame, but conducted completely online). I’m not talking about eBay, […]
A Cautionary Tale
I just recently had an enlightening experience participating in an online auction. This particular auction was a fundraiser for a fantastic cause, raising funds for cystic fibrosis awareness. Before I go any further I want to make it clear that what i’m about to share is in no way a reflection on the cystic fibrosis organization, but […]
Closing a Two-Day Deal
This past weekend I re-learned a very valuable lesson. Even with all of my years of experience, I still manage to not follow my own rules, and it usually gets me into trouble. In this particular instance, I was buying a woman’s Disney collection. It was such a large collection that after going through most of the items I ran out of time […]
Time for Lunch!
I was recently doing some treasure hunting when I came across a real gem; A vintage Beatles Yellow Submarine lunchbox from 1968. It’s not in perfect condition, but it had something that made up for all of its imperfections: the original metal thrermos! Typically, after 40+ years, the thermos tends to be missing, and this can as much […]