Featured Sold Thread

I collect ephemera from the town I was born, which is where most of my family has lived for generations. Also from the town we moved to and I spent my formative years in. Such a neat look into the past. Especially the latter town which is very small and has so little associated with it in the way of historical artifacts.

I have sold a handful of things or more to the descendants of the people that made the things. Once a beautiful hawk decoy to the son of the carver. He was buying up all of his dads work he could find. Recently I sold a piece of silver to a guy whose grandfather or great grandfather had started the firm. His relation was the financial backer and half the company name rather than the silversmith. The family were prominent in the city of manufacture and are still quite well off it seems. They have a large family collection of the silver output but this guy wanted to start a personal collection. I’m struggling to remember other scenarios off the top of my head but I know there’s been a few. Always neat to reunite a piece with a family. A home near me recently put out two big boxes of military uniforms on the sidewalk. I scooped them and found the dog tags in a pocket. I keep hoping I’ll see them outside so I can stop and ask them if they want them. It’s a multi family and I’m not sure what unit they are otherwise I’d probably just drop them off.

Leaflets, catalogs, manuals they are virtually all good once you go back far enough. Many you don’t even have to go back too far for. Most of the stuff I take would get trashed if I don’t take it. Of course once you get into 19th century and earlier historical documents most people know they have value and they stop being dirt cheap usually but the printed materials are nearly always overlooked.

 

I still remember selling some painted wooden bird pins on eBay. They turned up for peanuts in the local Ill Will, when they still sold jewelry. Bedarned if most of the lot weren't Takahashi. The firm was started in a Japanese internment camp, and the family kept making the colorful painted birds for a long time. Some were signed and some weren't.

I sold them on eBay years ago, and one buyer had the last name Takahashi. It wasn't a coincidence; the buyer was the one who literally wrote the book! I'd found a bird she didn't have. More recently I found one that I think was actually camp-made. Not signed, but it's made correctly and not going anywhere.

 

Just don't be surprised if they can't understand why you bothered.

Back in 2007, an elderly woman would come to the same beautician I used. She loved to tell stories of her very privileged upbringing. Her father worked on the Island of Bataan which is where she met her future husband a pilot in the Army Air Corps. His last assignment was here in SC & he retired as a Brigadier General.

Whenever I saw her she was dressed to the nines & I always complimented her on some part of her ensemble. Sometimes it was the obviously wonderful vintage handbag or some gorgeous piece of costume jewelry. She would just laugh & say "I've had this for ages".

When she would walk away I would lament that her children (she had 2 sons) were going to throw it all away.

One Sunday afternoon I got a call from my friend (the beautician) to tell me that they were putting it all out on the curb.

When I arrived at her house I took note of the 12 to 15 black plastic garbage bags piled in the driveway out back. I knocked on the door & introduced myself to her sons. I told them I would be glad to buy what was left in the house & they laughed saying there wasn't anything that was worth buying in the house. In the first 15 seconds, I knew that they were mistaken.

We chatted for a while & I mentioned that I knew their father was military & that there was a very strong market for military items, especially WWII stuff. They looked at me like I had 3 heads & said with a laugh what like old uniforms? When I replied that yes very much like old uniforms. That's when I knew where they were.

I made an offer for the contents of the house & told them I would be back the next day to get everything. I then asked if they would like me to haul away the garbage bags out back & they were thrilled.

Turns out the first pile got put out to the curb & the neighbors called the police because of the mess that was made when the street shoppers showed up.

In those bags I hauled home I found all of his uniforms & many other items. I also found a clear plastic box that contained all of his medals & the ribbons from his uniforms along with a set of dog tags. The medals include the Silver Star he was awarded for flying General Carlos Romulo from the Island of Bataan just before it fell to the Japanese.

They had to have seen what was in the box & they threw them away anyway.

My friend later told me that the guy was a real horse's rear-end & the younger son especially did not get along with him.

You also would not believe what I saw come through the auction house in the 20+ years I have been working/attending the auctions.

I will never in my life understand how someone lets go of a Purple Heart that belonged to someone in their family.

 

I will never in my life understand how someone lets go of a Purple Heart that belonged to someone in their family.

Then consider yourself lucky that you don't have any family members that so mistreated you , or were so unkind, or evil , that given the option of putting a 45 right between their eyes....... would sound appealing !

 

Yes Komo, I agree cept for the gun part.
Many so called honorable family members can be monsters at home.

 

I bought a silver christening cup at auction, once, because it was Exeter silver. Tracked down a slightly sideways descended fellow in Australia, who had literally nothing of his uk family. He bought it with huge pleasure, and it’s now his family’s treasured possession.

 

This story is from so long ago, that I can't even remember the title of the book. I picked up for $2 at a thrift a fancy copy of a short story or poem with some woodblock prints. It was one of the upscale editions with nice cover and a sleeve. I put it on ebay and it sold for $40. Not a lot of money, but a healthy return on $2. My only other "big" score was from ebay. I was perusing the art category for some reason and noticed the signature on a few pieces of paintings done on brown paper towels -- the kind you used to get in washrooms, etc. back in the day. They were painted by a local artist. (Gad, I can't even remember her name now. Pat something, LOL!) Anyway, I auctioned them through a local auction house and I made over $400. What did I pay on ebay? $5.00

 

Upon reflection, my post might have been better put in the Finds thread. Oh well. Yes, I do like ephemera. But these days mostly for collage. However, I often say that I've never met a piece of paper that I didn't like.

 

Yes, people have personal reasons and complex emotions that lead to difficult decisions. Perhaps the elderly woman's children didn't value their father's military belongings in the same way Anna did... And, as Anna mentioned, the strained relationship between the father and the younger son may have influenced this decision. Every family has its unique dynamics, and sometimes actions can seem incomprehensible to others. I claim it's a shame that these valuable and meaningful items were discarded, but it serves as a reminder of how family relationships and emotions can play a significant role in such decisions.

 

Hello @georgege & welcome to the forum!!

The stuff may have been discarded by the family but it all went to collectors who were thrilled to have them.

 

It makes me crazy when militaria is discarded. I collect ruptured ducks, probably for that reason. (honorable discharge buttonhole whatsits) I think everyone who served and was honorably discharged got one, so there are a lot around. People just discard them.

 

I brought home two big boxes of uniforms and uniform parts. Was shocked to find them on the sidewalk. I’ve only listed a few pieces so far. Sold two pairs of pants for over $100 so far. They also lest some folks out the same day. Got $60 for one of those. I hope they held onto something that belonged to their relative. Of course there is a chance the stuff was just left in the house and wasn’t a relative I suppose.

 

I am totally prepared for that being a possibility. I’ll be bothered by it if it does happen even though I know it’s a possibility.

I guess I should be grateful that I have a desire to rememberer all of my family rather than a want to forget some or all of them.

It sounds like you hit a major score on that one. Good you made friends with the lady that notified you. What was the best thing you found in that house?

 

Definitely the military stuff. I quadrupled what I paid for everything just on those items alone.

 

Good to know about paper, etc. I have an old, huge, multi-page handwritten indenture of someone named "Campbell," on what appears to be velum. It's been in the family for a while, and I would like to sell it to someone who'd appreciate it. Any suggestions? If I sell it I can add it to this "sold items" thread...I don't know if it would be considered "ephemera." It's more of a historic legal document.

 

I once sold two antique aquatints to the great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of the artist. I had listed them three times, no takers. This person got them for a steal, but I didn’t care because of the ancestry bit.

 

Two good recent eboo sales for me...

Bought a set of 8 at a yard sale for $12. I planned on selling them in pairs but after the first pair sold very quickly I offered the other 6 to the buyer and he snapped them up. Set of 8 Fostoria Wisteria (neodymium color changing glass) footed tumblers for $540.


McCoy Ram's Head vase bought at a yard sale for $15. I offered it to a regular customer but she said no thank you. Just this week, flew off eboo in less than a half hour after listing for $125.


I had no idea either were as valuable as they sold for, I just bought them because I liked them

 

Both are so pretty and so is your photography.

 

Thank you

 

Nice. I can understand the McCoy selling well ... but surprised at the set of glasses - wow!