From the beginning

Ok, now I am gonna start from the beginning of our adventure. Remember the film Adventures in Babysitting? Hysterical! And that's what it has felt like sometimes. Here is where we have things posted, (can't say "sell" yet as I haven't sold a thing). www.bonanzle.com

what a great place to mingle and get information. And very easy and quick way to get things up for sale. I stumbled across Auction Wally's podcasts early on as I like to download them onto my ipod and listen while getting my workout done. I think his podcasts have been the single most influential source of info for me. He steered me to Bonanzle and Daryle Lambert, more on him in a bit, and Vintage List and lots of other places and things. See my favorite links below.

So, what does one do when they decide to fulfill their long time fantasy of dealing in antiques and collectibles and don't know a darn thing cuz they have always told themselves that there was too much to know and it would be too hard to learn? Well, first you stop that silly self talk and dive in with both feet, couple of arms, ears, eyes and brain. yes I did have all that going for me so what was this silly stuff about not being able to learn it? NO there is not the University of Antique Collecting and I wouldn't be able to afford it anyway. So now what? Well what you DO NOT do, I know cuz I did it, go out and buy everything that looked remotely old at every garage sale and thrift shop you pass by. Now I believe that every thing I have done or bought was a learning experience even if I was learning NOT to do something! But you can learn from me and not do what I did. If you are selective and cheap and buy only things that are in very good to excellent condition you will thank yourself later. Don't buy anything chipped, dinged, cracked, overly crazed or otherwise damaged just because it's old.

Buy very cheaply that way you can have your own garage sale later and maybe double your money when you realize that you have just loaded yourself up with so much stuff that it has become a burden.

There are 2 ways to go about this I think. The first one is what I call the shotgun effect. You buy anything that is trade-able, in that there is a market for retro/vintage items that you can still find cheap at garage sales. The trouble with this approach is that you find out that right now the market is so flooded and the economy so bad that these things are not moving or they are going for dirt cheap. So unless you really love to surround yourself with lovely retro things and are willing to quickly be over run with these items to the point where you don't really know what you have, find a niche you like and become very selective. The good old days of ebay I think are over. Cuz you can't sell it for much there anymore.

Ok, the second way is the Daryle Lambert way and he tells it best at http://www.31corp.com/ . Basically you leave all the common stuff alone and only look for fine collectibles, art and antiques. He tells his method the best and so if you are interested you should go to his site. I have come to the conclusion that this is the best way for me as I now have all my spending money tied up in inventory that I can't sell. I have gotten some really lovely things and have only some of them up for sale on my selling sites and I really don't want to go the ebay auction route as I would rather wait until things turn around and I can actually get a decent price for my item. PHEW! that was some run on sentence, wonder if my editor husband is going to smack me over the head with pedantry! So it is my choice really. I can afford to wait. ( thank God for pedantic editor husbands)

So I am thinking of going to a flea market and selling so as to recoup some of my money. I did have a garage sale last summer and was able to claw back a bit of money, but really when someone shows up at a garage sale are they not looking for bargain basement prices too?

The trouble with method two is learning restraint! How can I pass by that lovely old bowl? Never mind that is not marked! So one must unlearn method one!

So now that you have several (hopefully not gazillions) of items, research research research! Handle it, feel it, look it up all over the internet, go to the library, the antique malls and shops and hone in on finding something similar or the same and see what it is selling for.

Ya know, this was not going to be a blog of me teaching, cuz frankly I don't know anything, but it sort of sounds that way doesn't it. What do I, a newby have to teach? Only what I have learned the hard way if it is informational to others. Maybe I should try a different approach in my next post.

OK enough for now. PLEASE comment and help me out if you have any hints for me. Thus far these are my experiences, thoughts and feelings about the ADVENTURE IN ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES!