Old Display Case

So a friend of mine wants me to sell this display case for her. It is old. It also has obviously been repainted at some point, probably more than once, which is a shame.

She says that there is a metal plaque on it somewhere that has a date but I couldn't find it and she had a client the day that I was there to take pictures. I didn't want to start dismantling it while she was working. I figured I would do a little research before trying to unload it for her.

She doesn't use it for anything and that is why she wants to get rid of it. It weighs a ton. She said she got it from a guy that used it as a jewelry display. It has been in her shop for a good 20 years now so ignore the spiderwebs. ;-)

Anyways figured I would post it over here and see what you guys thought about it. I tried to get some pictures that may give some tell tell signs of it's age like how the glass was put together. I have had this for over a week now but I have also been sick all week with a sick kid to boot. Meaning I am just now getting around to getting the images re-sized to post.

I did a search for antique display cases but none of them looked like this. The ones I have been seeing are more like curio cabinets taller and not as wide. Maybe I should be calling it something else? Store display or something. IDK. Anyways, I always love to hear what you guys have to say so have at it.

 

Okay adding store display to my search seem to help a lot already. duh.

 

I don't think it was originally a display case; top part looks added-on to older bottom part. Offer for local pickup only $49.99. May be hard to sell. No antique value at all IMO. Maybe put on CL since you really don't want to spend $ to sell it. Or save yourself a lot of profit-less trouble and just tell the owner you don't think it is something u can sell as it would aggravate your hyalophobia, casetrophobia (or whatever.)

 

I've got nothing except to say I like the front of it and the legs. I would re-purpose it to a coffee table with a glass display top, lose the drawer handles and use nice rounded over holes/slots for pulls, or inset pulls, or marry it to something else that's lost its way as well. .

 

Yeah I had already figured it as a craigslist piece. I am mainly doing it as a favor for her. She knows a lot of people so she is a great connection to have. I figure I do her a couple of friendly favors and help her unload some junk and maybe she will remember me when someone she knows has something better. ;-) plus she's my friend so ehh.

 

When I was selling a lot on Ebay, friends and family would occasionally ask me to sell something for them. It never ended well. People who are not in the business have no idea what it entails. They think there's no work involved. I finally learned to say no. I almost lost a very good friend and it wasn't worth it.

 

I have sold for a lot of things for friends and people on ebay for a cut of course.

Although I have some ground rules. The first is if you are looking to stick a reserve on it and won't take less than some crazy amount well here is what I say to that...

You better take that home and love on it a little more. When you're done loving on it bring it back and I'll sell it for you. I very rarely use reserves.

There are a few exceptions to the rules but generally speaking my thing has always been do you want to sell it or love on it?

I was also always very clear about all the fees that would be deducted from the final price.

But I could see how it could go bad for some friendships. For sure especially when you get into favors. This lady has sent me some good business before. She older and don't do computers at all. I don't mind posting an ad on CL with some pics for her in the slightest.

 

My friend had some items that just didn't sell. I relisted several times at her urging. I printed out the fee list for each and never took a dime for myself. She was somehow convinced I was cheating her. Then I get stuff from relatives that I'm embarrassed to list - imagine me, an antiques & collectibles dealer - selling Garbage Pail Kids cards for a young relative. After one round of listing I politely declined to relist.

 

LOL! I thought those garbage pail kids were pretty collectible these days. LOL! I don't worry about it too much there is something for everyone. Seriously I would love to get my hands on some of the toys I had in the eighties. I mean some of them are worth a fortune now even though they are no where near antique. Heck I would even have a hard time calling them vintage. ;-) LOL!

 

Sorry about your friend though. It sounds like she wasn't very appreciative and not a great friend to be honest. Some people just kind of suck.

 

I have a bunch of GPK cards...

 

Ok, I confess, I still have my Beatle bubble gum cards plus Freddie & the Dreamers and the Dave Clark Five.

 

Hehe - Monkees, Addams Family, and Batman for me...

~Cheryl

 

When I went to University in Ottawa , my Mom ( love her dearly..) cleaned up all my collections.
Read....threw out my Batman, sports, & all other trading cards she could find.
She knew not to touch what comics I had left ......& also I hid them well !

 

I swear I've seen coffee tables with that base. All things considered, it would probably move better that way!

 

I assume at least 5' long? This is a very nice turn of the century display case and appears to be all original to me. Unfortunately, this horizontal configuration is not in favor for those seeking a case to sell antiques and collectibles from. It takes up too much real estate and there is always the issue of breakage and liability with that glass top. Consequently, your best customer might be someone who wants it to display a collection.

Used to be that a case like this would easily bring $350.00 or more in my neck of the woods. I think a value somewhere South of $200 is in order these days. My local thrift store gets more modern cases in all the time and gets in the $60-100.00 range for them without any problem. This ought to be worth twice that I would think.

 

Ha!!!!

 

Freddie and DC5 too! Very cool!!