2012 & My Cat Collecting Continues

My friend, Danna Crawford, aka Powerselling Mom, posted this blog on PracticalEcommerce - 100 Top - Interesting eBay Categories.  And I don't disagree with her that those are interesting. In fact I found one I never really looked for on eBay - Immigration Lists  that one is fascinating to me because I do Genealogy - can't find anyone I'm related too but found some of my inlaws and outlaws relatives.

I was wondering about some of the other categories on Danna's list so I think I'll explore them over the next few months and share here... But meanwhile, I've continued to add to my "cat collection" but these were two real cats - feral kittens who are now learning how much trouble there is to get into INSIDE the house.  Here are the "Whippersnappers of Levittown"  - 2 girl princess cats

This is Whipper - she's the smaller one..but feisty - except with me. She   hates me...

This is Snapper - the bolder braver one... she only likes me when I have food or a toy in my hand.

tThey join the "Boys" - the Vice Presidents

So, you know I've been busy - the girls are only about 6 mos old now and we've only had them inside since Mid-December.  Lots of learning going on..and now I need all those tabby cat statues, postcards, pictures, art work etc. that I used to be able to pass up.

See you next week, meanwhile in comments post which categories of Danna's blogpost you like best and we can explore them!



Even Collectors Can't Know "Everything" so...

You know by now, I'm terrible at keeping up with posts here.  Part of that is I'm currently overwhelmed with vintage collectibles that are my inventory for eBay selling.  But I have a resource for you that is just too good to pass up.  First a disclaimer - THIS IS AN AFFILIATE LINK! So I'm making money if you  buy this eBook or even if you buy it as a smart phone download.

That said, I still think this book will be an amazing resource. It's called The Home Run Guide and will be available as both an eBook and a smart phone download.  There are 90 topics, here are some of them:

Handbags and handbag related things
Ephemera
Southern Heritage Cookbooks
LongabergerGolf Collectibles
English Registry pottery
Music memorabilia
Vinyl records
Golf Collectibles


The Guide is due out in late September 2011, so, I recommend you order your "Pre-Launch" copy now at the introductory price of $25 because you know you're not gonna be happy when you come back later and it's sold out.
HOME RUN GUIDE - Pre-Launch Price

Real Or Repro ?- part 3

The Short History of Trading Cards

I wrote about this before but wanted to discuss Trading cards again. The obvious reason is I have some listed and has others listed last week (August 10th, 2010) on my "other" eBay Id. Here's what I know about trading cards - admittedly I am NOT an expert.

In the late 1800's, tobacco companies, among others, inserted cards into cigerette packages. They also tried "silks" small silk banners

This is for sale on Bonanzle here ZIRA TOBACCO SILK

and Felts..many of which were flags of different countries - I've seen whole quilts and blankets made of these

This felt flag, from a series produced for tobacco tins I believe is for sale on Bonanzle here - French Flag

In 1894, James Duke, effectively eliminated ALL of his competition by patenting the "cigerette making machine" and strangling his competition (He owned American Tobacco company) in the tobacco industry with the resulting demise of many card producers.

In  1908, he once again began distributing cards in cigarette packages but from there was incredible variety in the cards available. In 1911 the Government busted up Duke's cartel and once again, when he disappeared so did many of the trading cards. BUT candy and gum companies stepped into the breech.

In the 1930's Goudey revived the "quality" card in trading cards putting it in a pack of bubble gum.  But by World War 2, they'd been left in the dust by GUM maker of the Horrors of War cards I'm going to post some pictures of and links to next.

No one had ever seen a set quite like The Horrors Of War cards when they debuted. The art work alone was sensationalism and graphic,  so intricate and the headlines or titles so topical that it was so successful, they issued 288 cards.

The 3 most prized cards, are also the hardest to find, the Hitler cards.

The Horrors of War were torn from the headlines of the time - the Spanish Civil war occurred between 1936 and 1939  - many of the cards in the set refer to battles, events or atrocities that occurred during it.

Other cards referred to the 2nd Sino Japanese war which occurred between 1937 and 1941 and which eventually blended into World War II.

Look at some of these: 4 Horrors of War Cards including #1

The headlines on that group include 1 Marco Polo Bridge is Scene of First Fighting =Slightly rounded corners and back has some slight yellowing.

5 Chinese Pursuers Shoot Down Jap Planes - corners are slightly rounded but the back is still very clean and the color is bright.



2 - Chinese "Big Sword" Corps Resists Jap Forces - rounded corners, worn edges, yellowed back and corner crease on the upper right corner of the front that runs thru the airplane on the right (the red one) down thru the neck of the man with the sword to the edge. - there is another small crease at the tip of the corner as well.



6 Suicide Squad of Japs is Blasted at Woosung - the corners and edges are a bit soft (not horrible) and the back is yellowed but over all VG condition.

6 More Examples of Horrors of War Cards

For 38 more auctions of Horrors of War, please visit my other id on eBay - Superjunk - click this line to go straight there HORRORS OF WAR


Toffee Cards: The Tobacco Years

The Price Guide to Golf Cards Part 1; Tobacco Cards

Cigarette card cavalcade: Including a short history of tobacco
Combo Magazine #8 (Latest News & Prices for Comics & Non Sports Cards)

Pokemon Collector's Value Guide: Secondary Market Price Guide and Collector Handbook (Collector's Value Guides)

The 3 Stooges (Non-Sports Trading Card) #42

Previous blog posts on the same topic:
Trading Cards did not start with Pokemon!

The Philadelphia Gift Show and Blogging for B&M - what it teaches us

Last week I went to the Philadelpia Gift show looking for products to supplement my antiques and collectibles sites.  Frankly, in this economy, books and colletibles and antiques are NOT anyone's highest priority.  That's a shame but reality.  The Gift Show management had several seminars set up for attendees which I took advantage of.  And even though I've been "blogging" or trying to for the last year or more,, I learned a lot - Here is my synopsis -
1. remember that this was geared to B&M retail GIFT SHOPS (sort of.. more on this in a minute)

The seminar was given by Brian Linton - his credentials are here - http://www.brianlinton.com/
http://www.sandshack.com/
http://www.unitedbyblue/.
He's basically just like us... 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 hands, 2 eyes and a serial entrepreneur. He presented a lot of info in a very short time and at his website he has the slides available. Definitely take a look at the slides - VERY concise and informative. 
So, here is what I learned -

TIPS:

1. USE the same format and layout (logos, artwork and color) on ALL your pages so your blog pages should match your website pages (and/or eBay pages).



2. Keep blog posts under 400 words - (short and sweet)



3. Give away "secrets" , tips, ideas etc. 10 at the most (at one time). People like "Top 5 Reasons to use Twitter" types of posts.



4. Link each post to some of your previous, RELEVANT posts. So I should be linking to ONLINESELLING


5. You can find free images from Flickr.com - search under "creative commons" - those images are free to use for headers, logos etc. IF you credit the originator. Make sure you give a link to the originator and mention them.


6. Find competing blogs and comment there - Competing blogs are good, because by commenting there, you'll draw their readers. Try to only comment on BIGGER ones.
7. contact the blogger (#6) about doing a guest post on your blog -
8. set up a "community" by doing that with more than one.


9. Integrate your blog into your website (he explained the mechanics of it and I do understand it but will explain it more AFTER I finish the Problogger book and putting MY blog on wordpress.

It involves making a sub-domain in your url for your blog..



8. Embed Videos from Youtube (same idea as #5) use the ones available under creative commons - give credit - make the video relevant to you topic - (and there are a lot to choose from)



9. Share Customer product reviews on your blog - this is a little hard on an antiques blog but my friend Kat could do it on her blog   or her Facebook Fan Page  because SHE sells shoes and skin therapy products.



10 - On your blog - ASK A QUESTION and allow comments so you build "community". - I think this takes time to build up but it does work.



11 Announce new product lines (this was geared toward B&M stores but remember that is US ... we're etail so it should work for us)



12. Write product reviews - if you try something - software, merchandise, service - write a review...(I'd say be careful of negative reviews so you don't get sued. You can say I didn't like it but I wouldn't say something like "the biggest piece of "s***" i ever bought"



13 - WORDPRESS can manage your entire site... (this goes with integrating your blog into your site.) use plugins (he had a list of them which I saved somewhere (Picture me, head down ina trunk, throwing stuff ALL over the place looking - LOL - that will be me later -) - I'll post them in a follow up



** just saying "good info" etc and no name and/or no link to YOUR blog or website is a waste of your time. You need to use a signature link inside the comment if you are allowed - similar to what I've done on Suzie's AskTheeBayQueen blog - SHE is more of an authority than I am so the link there has benefits because if someone clicks thru - it gives ME credibility with Google cause it comes from HER site not mine.



Brian has the slides from both his presentations up on slideshare and you can get the link from his website HE DID - and his slides from his facebook presentation which we didn't sit thru cause we was hungry.... so we went and ate... the soup was good (does that constitute a product review? Maybe)

http://www.brianlinton.com/

#blogboost

I LOVE this site! Collectibles Corner TV

First of all, she stole my idea. I would love to do what she does in terms of showcasing collectibles. And maybe this year I will pull that together after I start collecting Social Security next summer and don't have to list more/sell more to eat anything or pay a bill.



More than that, she pulls together, video, audio and INFORMATION!!  Gotta love it!  Ok, this is the first day of my new blogging routine so try to check back...better yet SUBSCRIBE - right over there is a button >>>>> that way, you get a "headsup email" when I actually do a new post!  And please stop by our new, activated website and take a peek at the new stuff being listed there. I'm thinking this week I should work on Valentines and valentine post cards...what do you want to see?? leave me a comment and I'll see what I know. (not much !)

Skateboards? Who Knew they were so collectible?

Surely not me - I tried my son's way back when (when I was at least 14 years younger. Darn near broke my neck... LOL but check out these 
Skateboard collection-

I wonder what's on ebay? I'd put a link but they don't allow me to make EPN money with it any more so..happy hunting (check SPORTS Equipment)

Easton Press Masterpieces of Science Fiction

This is actually a sort of self-serving post. Myhusband collected this entire series of books, along with many others in Easton Press's 100 Greatest Books series and also some from the Greatest Fantasy (I forget the correct phrasing but the same concept - the most important, influential books in Fantastical literature)

Like the rest of the world, we've been forced to liquidate things we'd have preferred to keep and the Masterpieces of Science Fiction is the latest "lamb" on that altar.

So let me tell you , in case you don't know, just a little about these books.

First, they are are all First Editions. They faithfully reproduced the First Edition - mistakes and all. BUT they marked them as facisimile first editions. I have only had one idiot get pissed cause he thought he was getting a real first editon. And truthyfully, many times, the Easton Press edition is worth more than the true first.

2. They have beautiful leather bindings with gorgeous blind-stamped gilt decoration.

3. The page ends are all coated in gilt and each book came with a bookplate to be affixed, and a "Collector's Notes" page.

4. The Collector's Notes explains which version of the first edition they used (meaning who owned the one they used to reproduce it) and what the author had going on in his life and his writing at the time it was published. There are folks who just collect these Notes.

5. Some copies of each book included in Easton Presses series are signed by the author. These books are also limited quantities - some particular books are so limited you might not ever get one.

And tomorrow I will be listing the last 10 from my husband's collection - so please bid ifyou're a book collector or if you need a holiday gift for a discriminating book collector.

Here's the link - http://budurl.com/EastonPress

If you don't collect books or can't afford to bid, please tweet these

Science Fiction - paperbacks -

Ok I told you in the first post here, I was married to "The Compulsive Collector". Well, even I didn't realize how nuts he'd gotten. He's cleaning out the bookshelves the other day and decides certain books, which he "HAD to HAVE" just weeks ago, he's never going to read. (he doesn't like the writing or the stories...isn't that what LIBRARIES are for? to test the waters?????? HuH?)

SO this week, I'm listing his "extras" and his castoffs. I can't tell you how many copies of the same ACE paperback versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar he gave me to sell. But, it's definitely more than 1.

Now I do understand the problem that when you buy multiple lots, you end up with multiples of the same book. And for some of these series (like Burroughs' Martian Series) the only way to get a complete set is to buy many multiple lots. They just don't sell as singles at a price that lets a seller make any profits after fees on the various venues. BUT.... 5 copies so far.

So why wouldn't you, as they came in, select the best version and kept that and immediately start compiling a "lot" to be resold?? I ask you?? He gives me crap all the time about shoes..well I have 17 pair but I accrued those over 35 years of working (mostly over the last 7 years of working). In the last 4 years I bought 1 pair of shoes. ONE. NOT 120.

SO.... if you're looking for reading material, come to my ebay store, http://www.depressionglasswarehouse.com click on the store category PAPERBACK BOOKS and there are about 12 lots or more of Science Fiction and Mystery/Crime/Romance paperbacks...as well as the 500+ books I've listed so far. (with a mere 2000+ more to go- THOSE I bought to read mostly - and did mostly read. AND that collection took 54 years to accrue. - I gotta work on the shoe collection more I think. LOL

My Glass Whatsthis for the week! ID'd!!!

I bought this pretty piece of orange custard for 10 cents - I think at a rummage sale. It's really pretty and I thought it was maybe part of a two part sherbet (Blue Royal Lace by Hazel Atlas has some short ones that are two part but the glass part fits into a metal base and obviously THIS is a glass piece.

BUT - this morning I had one of those friendly "Ask the Seller a Question" popups on my computer screen and it was another knowledgeable ebayer who told me this is indeed a base but, it's to a Westmoreland Glass FAIRY LAMP. Now I'm not as well versed as this person but now that she's told me what it is, I can really see it. And here's my whole ebay listing with more photos. And I'm off to research Westmoreland Fairy Glass Lamps for you.

Vtg Westmoreland Peach Custard Glass Fairy Lamp Base