What’s Selling in Vintage & Antiques
Hi there! Today we’ll be taking a look at what’s selling in vintage and antiques for the month of September. Sales were generally brisk with an online emphasis on costume jewelry, but other than that, no single category of collectible stood out. This makes it difficult, of course, to make any sort of helpful predictions, but that’s the nature of the current business, isn’t it?
Sweet husband and I hit two small estate sales on Saturday and came away with a couple of cool finds. Among the best were a pair of leather-spined books and a hand-written recipe booklet, date December 10, 1946.
After the sales, we had a chance to enjoy our lovely weather here in Upstate New York by attending a small Farmer’s Market held in Albany’s beautiful Washington Park. We perused the vendors and strolled around the lake (see photos on Instagram), watched the ducks, chatted with other strollers, and basked in the sunshine. Such a lovely day!
But now it’s time to take a look at the $600.37 worth of items that sold last month…
Vintage & Antiques Selling from My Antique Booth
A vintage style wire basket (without the yarn) sold for $12 (cost: $1).
A wooden mushroom-shaped candle holder with an aqua “Sweden” sticker sold for $5 (cost: 50¢).
A collection of six restaurantware type butter pats sold for $12 (cost: $1).
Related posts: Collecting Butter Pats
A Catholic holy water font sold for $15 (cost: $1). If it failed to sell I would have considered donating it to St. Vincent de Paul’s Religious Articles Ministry, which redistributes religious articles to interested parties.
A souvenir balsaam-stuffed sachet pillow sold for $5 (cost: 50¢).
A pair of brass maple leaf candle holders sold for $8 (cost: $1).
A strap of Christmas jingle bells sold for $28 (cost: $2)
Related post: Collecting Vintage Christmas Decorations
A beautiful chippy resin(?) swan sold for $35 (cost: $5).
A copy of The People’s Cookbook © 1956 sold for $10 (cost: $1). I should note that I sell quite a lot of cook books via both my antique booth and eBay. In fact it’s one of the ten categories I identify in my brand new eBook: What to Sell on eBay.
Related posts: Collecting Cook Books Part I, Part II
A copy of The American Family Cook Book © 1950 sold for $8 (cost: $1).
Related post: Vintage Cook Book Price Guide
A miniature English – German Dictionary sold for $5 (cost: 50¢).
A copy of The Country Mouse and the City Mouse illustrated by Richard Scarry © 1961 sold for $3 (cost: 50¢), while a 1st edition copy of The Billy Goats Gruff, also illustrated by Scarry © 1953, sold for $6 (cost: 50¢).
Related: Little Golden Book Price Guide (gain acess to this member-only price guide HERE)
A metal shelf sold for $48 (cost: $3).
A small oak splint basket sold for $18 (cost: $3).
Related post: Vintage & Antique Basket Price Guide
A set of numbered ceramic balls sold for $10 (cost: $1).
A canning jar embossed simply “Masons” (left) sold for $12 (cost: $1).
Related posts: Collecting Canning Jars, Canning Jar Price Guide
A pair of red-handled garden shears and green garden fork each sold for $10 (cost: $1 each).
Related post: Collecting Garden Supplies
A small corn-on-the-cob shaped pitcher, signed “JAPAN” on the bottom, sold for $10 (cost: $1).
An antique yellowware batter pitcher sold for $15 (cost: $1). I should note that it had a large crack and chip on the reverse, hence the low price.
Related post: Collecting Vintage & Antique Yellowware
A large wooden bowl sold for $35 (cost: $3). I bought it in extremely rough shape and it took a long time to ready it for sale. So much oil and grime caked both the inside and out that I literally had to scrape it off. In the end, I brought it to the shop despite the fact that it wasn’t perfect, but the price reflected that fact.
A sterling silver and turquoise bracelet sold for $22 (cost: $1).
Related post: Vintage Costume Jewelry Price Guide
No pictures available
Cast metal plant hanger sold for $4 (cost: 50¢)
Aqua Hires bottle sold for $10 (cost: 50¢)
Related posts: Clean & Care for Vintage Bottles, Collecting Amber bottles
Miniature brass teapot sold for $5 (cost: 50¢)
Large Encyclopedia Britannica World Atlas sold for $12 (cost: $2)
Boho style wind chime sold for $10 (cost: $1)
Green blown glass sphere sold for $8 (cost: 50¢)
Italian-style gold gilt jewelry box sold for $8 (cost: 0)
Old slot machine “face” sold for $10 (cost: $1) (4)
Misc. butter pats sold for $8 (cost: $2)
Clear glass flower frog sold for $5 (cost: $1)
Related posts: Collecting Vintage Flower Frogs, Decorating with Vintage Flower Frogs, Vintage Flower Frog Price Guide (gain access to this member-only price guide HERE)
Kodak 154 Instamatic camera with black case sold for $18 (cost: $2)
Related post: Vintage Camera Price Guide (gain access to this member-only price guide HERE)
Vintage & Antiques Selling on Etsy
A blue velvet jewelry presentation box, with some crushing of the velvet, sold for $15 (cost: $1).
A long strand of freshwater pearls sold for $31.99, after a 20% discount, (cost: $3).
A large ornate rhinestone brooch sold for $18.99 (cost: $1).
Vintage & Antiques Selling on eBay
A large blue rhinestone brooch in the shape of a leaf sold for $9.99 (cost: $1).
A unique strand of mercury glass Christmas beads sold at auction for the surprising amount of $30.01 (cost: $1).
Related post: Vintage Christmas Price Guide
A collection of five vintage Railroad schedules sold for $11 (cost: 0). I purchased a small bag of these schedules for a dollar a while back and this is the fifth set that I’ve sold in the $10-12 range.
A German camera distance gauge sold at auction for $18.99 (cost: $1). I sell a fair amount of cameras and camera-related items, especially on eBay. In fact, it’s one of the categories in my new book: What to Sell on eBay.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the vintage and antiques that I sold in September. If you’re a dealer like me, my ambition is to have encouraged you in some small way or given you new insights into the business–we vintage sellers have to stick together!
Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂
Bye for now,
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I’d love it if you’d pin for later–
Enjoyed your latest post _ what sold in September. BUT the sale price of the brass leaf candleholders did not come thru on your post – and I have an identical pair, so the sale price is very important. Could you email me this info?
thanks so much – I so look forward to reading your posts when I get them at work 🙂
Thanks so much for pointing that out Paula! I just added the amounts to the post: the candle holders sold for $8 (cost: $1). And FYI, they took a long time to sell at that low price! SO glad you enjoy my posts – you put a smile on my face today 🙂
Thanks Diana for these “what sold” items. I have to tell you, your article on the Vera scarves had me searching for them at the estate sale I was at on Sat- Found one! plus 3 other vintage silk scarves. I have MANY vintage pins and other jewelry from the estate we inherited. I should get busy and see if I can sell them. Love your inspiration.
Woo woo! That’s so fun Terry 🙂 I think her scarves are pretty amazing–maybe you can post a picture in the FB group?? Glad you find my posts inspiring – that makes my day!
Hallelujah, Diana! For some unknown reason I am now able to access your blog! It just suddenly happened with no help from me and I am so thrilled to be able to keep up with your posts. And I love seeing the ones like today’s post with the prices and sales amounts. I have a lot of Little Golden Books which I am considering selling so I was especially interested in your price guide for them but I couldn’t access it when I clicked on the link. Anyone else have that problem? I could access several of the other price guides, but not that one.
That makes me SO happy Naomi!! I’m glad things resolved themselves. I went into the Member Library and clicked on the Little Golden Book price guide without any trouble and no one else has reported any difficulty. For now, I’ll email you a copy of the PDF, but it does seem like your computer could be the culprit.
Diana, I just wrote and posted a comment but I don’t see it. Is there a lag for approval of comments?
There is not typically a lag but both your comments are here!
Diana, I was thinking that the brass maple leaf candleholders look an awful lot like a pair I have that are actually Christmas holly candleholders. Do you think they resemble holly maybe? Anyway, love your updates.
Always, always love to see what sold! It never ceases to amaze me what sells in my booth after something has been there for 1 year plus–just takes the right person who wants THAT thing! Baking crazies for my Sat. church bazaar–good to sit down and read for a bit! Hope your Shaker show is going well!
I hope your bazaar was successful today Kathy!! Does that mean you get to relax for a little while? My show is going well and I’m happier with a smaller spot. I’m rethinking my business and deciding how best to spend my time to maximize my income (kids in college and all that!). Hope the rest of your weekend is blessed, friend.