Dreams

The year was 1986.  I LOVED military jets.  I loved flying.  I owned a wall full of posters of jets.  I had books dedicated to them.  Every time we went to the public library, I checked out books about F-14s, F-16s, the SR-71 Blackbird and more.  That same year “Top Gun” came out.  I dreamt about becoming a naval or air force aviator.  Then the song of songs was released….with the end all be all video on MTV.  “Dreams” by Van Halen.  It featured the Blue Angels.  I can’t tell you how many times I watched that video.  How many times I set my Ensoniq keyboard to the closest sound I could find and play that song.  I set my VCR to record it one day and watched it over….and over….and over.   You see I was dreaming.  That dream actually last until my senior year when I felt God calling me in a different direction.

Fast forward to present day.  I have a new dream.  I think about it a lot.  I know my brother does too.  One day we would both love to open up a killer vintage store and do this full time.  Right now it’s our “hobby/2nd job”.  It takes up many hours of our week.  Many mornings, weeknights, and weekends are spent buying, selling, photographing, packing, shipping, and researching.  Lots of research.  There is sooooo much to learn.  We are learning every day.  Matter of fact, Jacob and I both took a big leap this week.  We are both going back to school (sort of).   We have both enrolled in AIA (Asheford Institute of Antiques) classes.  This will allow us to become certified antique appraisers.  Insurance companies, banks, businesses, and home owners use these appraisal services every day.  It will be a busy year over the next year, but at the end of it all, we should both be closer to our dream.    We will both have a lot more knowledge about all aspects of antiques.  Not only will we be able to appraise, but we will also be able to spot some undervalued items when we are buying that we might not have otherwise known about.  All of this will help us in obtaining the dream.

So where does that leave us.  To be honest, I’m not sure.  I love the dream I have.  I also love working towards that dream every day.  The pursuit of this dream is actually a lot of fun.  Maybe it’s in God’s plans for that dream to become reality and maybe it’s not.  And as the Van Halen song goes…..”that’s what dreams are made of”. 

Jason

I should start this blog with a bit of a warning.  Auctions can be addictive.  I often hear of adrenaline junkies needing one more fix so they go sky diving or rock climbing.  I suggest they go to an auction.  It can definitely get your heart racing.  At least that is my experience.  Auctions can be a little intimidating, especially the first one.  Yet there are some things I have learned to help keep the sweaty armpits at bay.

I’ve heard people say they wouldn’t want to go to an auction because if they coughed or stretched or scratched their cheek, they would accidentally bid on something.  Some gestures can get the attention of the workers on the floor looking for bidders, but they generally know when someone is truly bidding.  Everyone has different ways of bidding.  Some hold their auction card high in the sky for all to see.  Others will call out.  I tend to raise my hand just enough to be seen so as not to draw too much attention.  If I’m not seen, I have been known to wave my hand a bit.  I also have yelled out just prior to the “Sold!” declaration to make sure I got in on the action.  The important thing to remember is that bidding is a definitive act and not generally a mistaken gesture.

When I go to an auction, I will try to get there a good hour before the auction starts.  I will already have done much of my research using Auctionzip.com and using some of the resources mentioned in the blog “Knowledge is Power.”  Many auction houses will take pictures of some of the items they plan to sell and show them on their Auctionzip page.  So I will take my list of items with the price I am willing to pay and compare it to the actual items on site.   I will be looking at three things: condition, condition and condition.  I would say 99% of the time condition is a huge factor in the value of an item.  Except for that extremely rare piece, condition rules.  As I look for the items on my list, I always find items that were not listed on the auctionzip website.  I will make notes on my paper about the items so I can research these when I take a seat.  I also will look through box lots.  These are always fun and can truly hold valuable items.  It is a good idea to have a flashlight when looking through boxes, especially in darker auction houses.  On a side note, I think some auction houses purposely make the rooms a bit dim just so you don’t see small flaws.  A flashlight can really be an asset to help look items over for condition issues.  Anyway, after I have looked the room over, I take my seat.  I prefer sitting on the outside chair of the row of seats.  This gives me the opportunity to easily get up during the auction to look at anything else that may catch my eye.  At one of the main auction houses I attend, they place items around the sides of the room as well as the front. So sitting on the side lets me easily glance over at the tables along the wall and box lots under the table.  I will always try to carry something with me, whether a bottle of water or a jacket, to place on my seat as soon as I enter the auction house.  That way, I can be sure to sit on the outside of the row.  I try to take my seat about 15 minutes before the auction starts so I can use my phone to research items I may have found.

Once the auction starts, it is “game on.”  Sort of.  I say that because there is a lot of waiting at an auction.  I am not going to be bidding on everything that comes down the line.  However, I still use this time wisely to take note of the prices items are selling for.  There are a few strategies that I use when it actually comes time to bid.  Let’s say an item comes up and I am willing to go as high as $100.  The auctioneer will start bidding at say $200, then $100, then drops it to $20.  People start bidding.  I will generally bide my time to see how far people take it.  If the bidding starts to slow down and it is still under my high limit, I will start bidding.  I have to be careful though because the auctioneer has been looking at other bidders, so I want to make sure they see my bid.  Once I am in the game, I will bid without looking too eager.  If the item gets to, say, $80, I will stall for a while.  This may give the other bidder a second to possibly question whether the item is worth more since I am not showing as much interest.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  If the bidding gets to $100, I am not necessarily out of the game.  Many times, my limit is reached with one other person being the high bidder.  However, nice round numbers like $100 are good limits for most people.  I am not like most people.  If I am willing to go an extra $10, the item may very well be mine.  I started this example saying my high limit was $100 but I generally never set my limit on a nice big round number.  If my limit is $100, and I have determined through my research that I can probably sell the item for $200, I’m not going to let $10 come in the way of a $90 profit.

Another trick of my trade is to jump the bid.  Let’s use that same $100 item.  Bidding starts at $20 and there is one other person bidding against me.  So it goes back and forth at $20, then $25, $30, $35, $40.  I may jump the bid to $60.  That puts the other bidder off rhythm and may stop them in their tracks.  To jump the bid, you have to call it out so the auctioneer can hear it.  He is expecting the next increment as well.  Again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Finally, the best advice I can give is to stay to the end.  You may be ready to pull your hair out by then, which is probably why I am nearly bald.  But some amazing deals can be had at the end.  Don’t be tempted to want to leave with a key item yet to be auctioned.  I see many people ask for a particular item to be taken to the front to be auctioned because that person wants to leave.  I understand the rationale behind that.  However, the longer an auction goes, the more people will be leaving.  That means less competition.  Also, it is amazing how many times I have found an item worth a hundred dollars or more at the very end of an auction.  The auction house generally knows the value of items, but sometimes you can find a piece that is passed off as basically worthless.  I’ve bought my most profitable items at the end of the auction.  The audio cable in the picture above was in a box lot with 9 other similar new cables.  I bought the whole box lot for $14 and sold them separately for around $45 each.  I just happened to be the only one at the auction to know the value of the cables.

So do some research, grab a flashlight, get your bidder number and head to an auction.  They can be fun and even entertaining.  Oh, and don’t be afraid to sneeze.

Jacob

So let me tell you about a typical weekend day for me.  This one may be a little more hectic than usual, but it’s pretty typical.  It was a few Saturdays ago.  I woke up at my usual time (which is between 5:00am and 5:30am).  I’m an early morning person.  That is a good thing when it comes to garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, and the such.  When I woke up, while still in bed, I immediately grabbed my ipad, went to my Craigslist app, and then checked out the garage sale section.  I really didn’t find anything so I decided just to drive around the “good” areas of my town while waiting for an estate sale that I had seen the night before by chance.  My wife and I just happened to drive by the tents in the yard after going out to eat for dinner.  When I say I was going to drive around the good areas, I’m talking about the older, nicer parts of town.  These are the parts of town where I’ve had the most luck looking for vintage relics.  I drove around street after street, cross-street after cross-street.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find any good sales.  So I decided to head over to the estate sale to start looking at all of the goods during the preview period.  I can’t stress enough how important the preview period is at an auction.  I take that time to really see what I’m interested in.  What items could I possibly make a profit?  If I find an item, what condition is it in?  What can I resell it for?  Whatever I decide on that particular item, it’s time to take some notes on the most I’m willing to pay.  Then I go through the box lots.  I honestly get excited about box lots.  I’ve always had pretty good luck with them.  Too many people just skim the surface when it comes to box lots.  That’s fine by me.  I’m willing to take my time with every box.  This past Saturday, I happened to find 3 boxes of ephemera that had some interesting items deep in the box.  On the surface, they didn’t look that great.  But deep down was the treasure.  I would have to see how the day went.  As is typical with these types of estate auctions, the box lots would be late in the day.  So I knew already, I was going to be there a while.

The previous night, I had received a text from a previous client of mine that was interested in purchasing some additional tools from me out of my storage locker.  He wanted to meet at 10am.   Well, the estate auction was at 9.  I definitely didn’t want to miss a definite sale for the possibility of some purchases, so I decided to meet at 10.  I only stayed at the auction for about 30 minutes.  I knew in my mind, if I spend 2 or 3 hours with my client rummaging through my storage locker, I may get back to the auction in time for the box lots.  This particular auction was for a gentleman who passed away who had owned a John Deere dealership for over 40 years.  There were lots of unique John Deere items that brought out the collectors from all around.  Well, after the first item went for more than double what I thought it should bring, I knew that missing the first part of the auction wasn’t going to be a big deal at all.  I just hoped I would be back in time for the items I was interested in. 

 At 9:30, I left to meet my client.  I was excited to meet him and make some sells.  We spent over 3 hours going through everything.  By noon I was getting anxious to get back, but I definitely wasn’t going to rush my customer.  Luckily, at 1pm, we were done and I had an additional $400 in my pocket.  That made for a good day.  I was on my way back to the auction.

When I got back, I was so excited to see that they were just getting to the “side” area where the boxes lots were located.  They were still going through some of the furniture.  This furniture was furniture that wasn’t “worthy” enough for the main auction stage.  The prices were very reasonable.  That was a good sign.  The auctioneer finally got to a pair of mid-century modern chairs that I was interested in.  The thing is, I wasn’t interested in these for resell.  You see, my wife and I just bought a house built in 1965.  We’re talking about the Brady Bunch at its finest.  These chairs were for us.  That is VERY rare for me.  I hardly ever buy anything to keep.  Unfortunately someone was more interested in these particular chairs than me.  I took them up to $75…and that was without any seat cushions.  Unfortunately, I was the backup bidder.  Next was an anvil.   I was prepared to bid pretty hard on this because just weeks prior, I had done really well with an anvil this size.  It was approximately 100 pounds.  I had previously sold 110 pound anvil for $300.  Again, I took this up to $150 before I bowed out as the backup bidder again.  I would have gone higher, but I could just tell the other bidder wasn’t anywhere near their high dollar mark.  They were buying to keep…not resell.  So I knew it was going to go too high for me.  After a short wait, they got to my first box lot of maps.  It also included a record player that I was interested in and an old lamp that I had no interest in.  I won this lot at $25.  I was thrilled.  I was prepared to bid $50 for the record player and another $50 for the maps.  To win both lots for $25 was great.  Then what topped it off was I had the other bidder come up to me and tell me they really wanted that lamp….would I be willing to sell it.  Priceless.  He gave me $5 for this lamp and I didn’t have to take it home.  Even better.  SCORE!!!

The next box lot came up.  This is the one I wanted the most.  On the surface were cross stitch and needle point magazines from the late ‘70s.  Nothing exciting.  However, below the surface was a lot of sheet music, in great shape, from the 1920’s and ‘30s.  Also, there was an album full of old holiday and architecture postcards.  I was prepared to go to $40 for this box.  Luckily for me…I won it for $5!!!!  I was the only bidder.  Again, on the surface, it was a horrible box.  But since I took the time to search, I found the treasures underneath.   Since bringing that box home, I’ve found a few rare maps, and a couple of rarer books too.  The first map I sold was a map of Wright Air Force Base (Dayton, Ohio) from 1943 that I sold for $30.  One of the books I currently have listed for $60 and another I have listed for $40.   These 3 items just scratch the surface of what was in my $5 box.  If I have one piece of advice, it’s take the time to do your research.  It will pay off. 

Minutes later, another box came up.  It was another box full of old road maps from companies like Esso, American Oil, Gulf, etc.  I had talked to Jacob earlier in the day.  I knew he had pretty good luck with a box lot of similar maps.  He told me what to look for and the sale prices I could expect.  I love having my brother as a resource.  It helps me make wise decisions.  I was willing to go approximately $30 on this box.  Well I won it for $25.  Lot of good maps that I’ll be able to sell for a profit.

That evening, after mowing the lawn, grilling steaks, and working on the house I sat down with my box lots and began sorting them.  Two or three hours later, I knew what I had and the prices I could expect.  It was a long, but profitable day.  Just the way I like it. I spent $60 on all of my purchases (which I believe I’ll turn into $300 to $400).  I sold a lamp for $5.  I sold some of my stock for $400.  I did get a parking ticket for $35 (that stinks).  Actually, everyone at the auction parked on the streets and had tickets waiting on them when they left.  This is a business expense, so really I spend $95 on the day.  But I’m happy because I’ll still come out ahead.  It’s just another day in the life.  It’s just another day of breathing life into yesterday’s treasures.    

I quickly learned early in my career as an engineer, i.e. my day job, that there was no way I could remember every equation or procedure that I may need. It isn't my elevator doesn't make it all the way to the top floor. I graduated at the top of my class. There were just too many squares, variables, cube roots and quadratic equations. However, I could learn and remember where to go to find the equation that was required for the various problems I may face. As long as I knew which book to use and could quickly find what I was looking for, I could be productive and confident. The same holds true for picking.

Just like in engineering, I quickly learned in picking that there was no way I could remember all the particulars about the millions of items out their or their value. However, I found several resources I could go to for answers. Some of those are in book form, some on the internet, and others through word of mouth and experience.

Early in my picking “career”, I tended to lean more towards glass. The funny thing is that when I started out, I swore I would stay away from glass. There are just too many makers, types of glass, colors, patterns, and on and on. And a lot of reproductions (repros). However, after seeing tons of glass at auctions, I figured the supply was in my favor. Being from West Virginia, the glass capitol of the world at one point, there is a lot of glass available in the local market. Even though the laws of supply and demand are diminished in this global internet market, I knew there was a great supply I could tap. So I bought some glass price guides. I have a depression glass book, one on Fenton Glass, one on Blenko glass, a pattern glass book, a couple of carnival glass books, a book on glass lamps of the 180 and several others. I also have found some great websites for determining glass patterns, colors, etc. The daunting task of figuring out a piece of glass was becoming less daunting. There is still a TON of stuff that I don't know, but I'm gaining a better of understanding of where to look to find out.

One place that some may not consider as a resource for information is Facebook. You would be surprised how many Facebook Groups exist for all kinds of collectors. There is a Facebook Group for carnival glass, Fenton glass, depression glass and many others. And that is just some of the glass pages. There are pages for knife collectors, camera enthusiasts, pottery aficionados, and just about anything else you can imagine. There may even be a collector's page for belly button lent. You'll have to look that one up. I'm not even going to look. The thing is, if you get a piece that you may not be sure about, you can post a picture on one of these pages and people seem quite eager to lend their knowledge.

Other free resources online are blogs (like this one), mailing lists, auction companies that list their “sold” prices, eBay's completed items searches, and websites specific to your particular interest. There are also some pay sites that provide great information. You can find price guides like Worthpoint, Invaluable (previously ArtFact), Kovels, FindArtInfo, and a lot of others. The thing is, even with the monthly fees, some of these resources can easily pay for themselves during the month when you can easily find the right information. For instance, lets say you go to a yard sale. They have a widget that is somewhat rare. They looked online but couldn't find any real information or prices. However, you take a quick look at Worthpoint on your smart phone, and voila, you know the widget is worth 83 rubles. Or whatever. Well, you get the idea.

While it may seem a bit overwhelming with all the potential resources, the key is knowing where to go for a particular item. And that knowledge is definitely power. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” So sit back, read some great price guides, peruse internet forums, and learn.

Jacob

Today I'm going to talk about my first "mega-pick" that really jump started this full-time "hobby" of mine.

One day my cousin emailed me and said that her best friend's dad lived in Knoxville (about 3 hours from where I live).  He was getting up there in years and was getting ready to sell his 40 year collection and move to Cincinnati to be closer to his daughter. He only wanted to sell everything as a lot. He didn't want to be cherry picked for the good items, leaving him left with the not so good items. Also, I would have to meet him on a Saturday morning and have everything loaded and out of there by that evening.  Sounded like a plan. I knew he had quite a few old tools but that was the extent of what I knew about his collection.

During the next 3 weeks I was both giddy and nervous with anticipation. I went to a Barnes and Noble and found a pocket price guide on tools. These little pocket books are great for a quick reference. They can teach you what to look for between the true gems and the average item. I studied this book quite a bit leading up to that Saturday.  I also studied "completed item" sales on eBay.  It was all I knew to do because I really didn't have a clue about tools.  I also didn't have any idea what else this gentleman had in his collection. Looking back, even though I thought I had a good idea of what to look for in tools and in their values, I knew nothing. I was as green a newbie as they come. This has taught me that it takes years of hands-on experience to become even somewhat familiar with any specialty, whether it's glass, sports memorabilia, or civil war artifacts.

Leading up to the pick, I knew I might need more money than I had. So it was time to find an investor. Not only an investor, but someone willing to take a chance on me. I had only a few months of buying and selling items under my belt. I had a really good, but short, track record.  After talking to the seller's family I determined I needed about $5,000. This was at a time when the most expensive item I had purchased was about a hundred bucks. What could possibly go wrong with this situation???  My wife thought her dad might be interested so I talked to him about it. He was all for it. He sent me the money.  We came up with a repayment plan and percentages of profit that we'd split. When I withdrew the money I felt like throwing up. I was in WAY over my head.  Shhhhhh. Don't tell him I said this.

The Friday night before the mega-pick my wife, son, and I drove to my step-daughters house to spend the night. She lives in Knoxville and was close to the seller's home.  I had my truck and trailer in-tow.  At least i didn't have to rent a box truck. I hardly slept that night. Both my nerves and excitement were getting the best of me. 9 a.m. couldn't come fast enough.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!  I finally fell asleep just a little bit before I had to get up. My alarm was not my friend. I wanted to throw it out the window. I quickly realized why it was going off and the nerves were back. I got ready and headed to the seller's home. It was a few miles out a country road. That got me excited. Really excited. I finally found the house and pulled up. It was a pretty old house and looked like it was in pretty bad need of repairs.  All of the bushes had started to overgrow the house. You couldn't really get an idea of what the house even looked like.  My excitement quickly turned to disappointment.  "Surely there can't be anything too good in this old house", I thought to myself. Then after a short introduction with the son-in-law we stepped inside.

Have you ever watch "Hoarders" on television?  This house wouldn't qualify to get on the show but it sure was an aspiring candidate.  Boxes. Tons of boxes. Mountains of boxes. I was going to need a u-haul. A really big u-haul. The living room had a path to the front door, kitchen, and bedroom.  Other than this 2 foot wide path, there were boxes. Anywhere from knee to chest high. There were lots of items not even in boxes....just piled up on top of one another.  The floors had even started to cave in  from the weight of everything. I recognized old lanterns, signage, crates, books, and more. The vast majority of items were tools. Some I had seen. The vast majority I hadn't. However, everything looked old. Very old. So I knew there had to be a market for it. There was no way I could go through everything to get an idea of value. So it was time to wing it. Wing it with $5,000 of someone else's money. Yeah...nothing could go wrong with this. I asked the gentleman how much he wanted for everything. He said $6,000. My heart sank and I felt sick all over again. I'm sure I was sweating. This was my first huge negotiation. I had seen American Pickers.  I knew I had to haggle. I started talking about expenses, u-hauls, storage I was going to have to pay while I tried to sell everything. I came back with $4,000. He countered with $5,000. I countered with $4,500. After a long pause, he agreed. I was the proud new owner of a lot of stuff. I was super excited.

Quickly the honeymoon phase was over. "Okay...now what", I thought.  To make a long story short, I had two huge things go in my favor. I was allowed to just pile up the trash and items I didn't want in a room. They would take care of it. That was great because I had to be out of there that night. There was no way I could get it all in a day...or in one 27' truck. The seller's son-in-law also had connections at a local college to get me some cheap college labor. Big blessing there too. I called my wife and tried to explain what had just transpired and frantically told her I needed her to drive over to the house. We needed a u-haul, boxes, tape, etc. I had 4 college boys showing up soon and we had a ton to do. I think I lost her somewhere between u-haul and hired labor. Last she knew, it was all fitting in my truck and 8 foot trailer. Not so my dear. Not so.

The look on her face when she walked in to that dilapidated house was priceless. I wish I had captured it on camera. Luckily the college kids showed up at about the same time. That probably saved my life from a quick gruesome strangling from my wife.  The next 8 hours were a blur. Somehow we rented a truck, bought a lot of boxes and tape, and packed the truck. I told the college kids to fill the boxes as quick as they could. There were hundreds of items that I didn't even see until unpacking that particular box back at home. A few hours in I was realizing how quick we were filling the truck and how many items we still had in the house. I started moving ahead of the college kids and began consolidating boxes to make as much room as possible. In the end, I would have loved to have gone back to see what we left when I was rested and had fresh eyes. In the end, we had packed a 27' box truck, my full size pickup, and an 8' trailer and were able to leave that evening. It was such a long exhilarating day...but the fun was just beginning. In one of my future blogs I will talk about my first few weeks with all of my new finds and what I've learned about vintage and antique tools.

As Jason told you, this past weekend was our annual pilgrimage to the Nashville Flea Market. For me, it is a great opportunity to do a little spring cleaning to make more space on my shelves for better items. And once in a while, a nice piece will sell. My goal was to come back home with empty totes, but I know that is stuff of fantasy.

We were very fortunate to have a gorgeous weekend. Crowds were very steady throughout most of the days. As Jason told you, my dad and I had to man the booth on Friday due to his bout of Montezuma’s Revenge. As you may have noticed already in the blogs, Jason has been dealing largely in tools from one man's collection. He had planned on tagging some of his items on the first day, but that didn't happen.  I know next to nothing about the value of old tools. Since my brother was looking greener and greener, I made quick notes of some of the prices for his items on the tables. Of course, I had no clue as to the value of most of what I sold of his. I kept telling the folks buying his tools that what he doesn't know won't hurt him. I'll just hand him the cash and say we sold a lot of “things.”

Thankfully, Jason was back to near 100% by opening time on Saturday morning. Crowds were very good and sales were rather brisk. The cool thing about working with my brother is that we can draw several types of people to our booth. Where Jason has a lot of tools catching the eyes of men, I have a lot of glass, silver and antique items to keep the misses busy too. Yet there were a lot of women going through his boxes of tools and tool parts. It is amazing how so many things can be used for decorating and the creative juices were definitely flowing as I eavesdropped from time to time.  And in all honesty, I probably sold more glass to men than women.  I knew I wasn't weird.

One of the “trade secrets” that we use is to have certain items out in front of our booth to catch the eye of someone passing by. It may only take a quick glance to bring someone into our booth. They may not buy the thing that catches their eye, but they may buy something else. We were constantly moving our inventory to best attract potential customers. One of those items was a Coca Cola cast iron sign base that was used for either a lollipop coke sign or for a crossing guard sign at a school zone. Even though it didn't sell all weekend, it definitely stopped a lot of people in their tracks. Another eye catcher was a couple of large amberina Blenko pieces. Thankfully our booth was mostly in the shade of the shed roof, except for our front tables. The sunlight hitting those large glass pieces brought people in from booths in other sheds even. Again, even though they didn't sell, they definitely served their purpose. One final item that was used to attract attention (much to the chagrin of Jason) was a battery operated yodeling old lady. The face gestures and that song that just sticks in your head all day really drew attention as well as keeping the kiddos occupied while parents shopped. Somehow Jason sold this item while I was helping another customer. Now that I think about it, I bet he bought it, stuffed it in one of his boxes and is now on its way to the dump. Either way, I made a sale and it drew some people to our booth.

Finally, even though we made some extra money, what I took away from the weekend was a better knowledge of the business. There are dealers that specialize in certain items such as vintage clothes or antique radios. I am what is called a generalist. While I presently know more about glass than other vintage or antique items, I am constantly reading and studying about all aspects of the trade. It was fascinating talking about a tool collection with an elderly gentlemen that brought pictures of his collection to share with anyone that was interested. It was awesome to talk intelligently with another dealer about the arts and crafts movement and learn about other artisans of that era. And it was eye-opening to find out about the collectibility of vintage magazine advertising – just using the cool ads in frames for decorating. So next time I see a box lot of 1930's magazines, I will know the value may be inside the magazine and not in the name on the cover.

We would love to hear about your favorite flea market finds.  I know there are many stories that could be shared, so feel free to share yours in the comments below or on our facebook page.

As many of you know, this past weekend, Jacob and I set up a booth at the Nashville Flea Market.  This was our first time selling together as Rust and Relics Revival.  Many hours of work and preparation came down to this three day monthly sale held at the Nashville Fair Grounds.  Jacob and I sold here last Memorial Day too, but as separate companies.  Here’s a little bit about the weekend…

On Thursday, my dad (who came in town to help us sell) and I loaded up our truck.  Jacob was driving in town that afternoon and we met to set up.  Around 2pm or so, we were in the fairgrounds unloading our trucks.  Set up was pretty easy.  There was some threat of rain so we didn’t want to put out too much and run the risk of getting everything soaked.  We knew with the threat of rain, it wouldn’t take a long time to get the booths ready for action.  As we were setting up, as is customary, many other dealers were already going through our boxes seeing what we may have that they would want to purchase.  You see, a lot of action is taking place before the show among all of the dealers.  It’s almost its own economy.  Matter of fact, we talked to one of the dealers who we’ve seen many times.  He sets up a really small booth every month just to get in early every day (including Thursday).  He uses this time to hunt for deals and items that he thinks he will have an easy time reselling.  He gets free parking every day (typically $5 a day).  Most days he isn’t even manning his booth.  He has a phone number on a table so if anyone is interested in an item, they can call him and he’ll be there in a minute or so.  For him, these flea market weekends are all about finding mispriced items from other dealers.  To him, his booth fee (probably around $50 for the weekend) is completely worth all of the perks…even if he doesn’t sale a thing.  I can say I’ve never done this….but it’s not a bad idea.  After looking around a little bit too, we headed to the house.  That evening, we worked on a sign to hang over our booth that Jacob had made.  We’ve had many comments about our business cards and sign….well they were all created by Jacob.  We’re very proud of them.

Friday morning the show was from 8am to 5pm.  To beat the rush hour traffic, we left the house at 6am.  After arriving, we finished setting everything up.  We were ready to go by 8.  Unfortunately, there was one issue…I was sick at my stomach all morning.  I felt really nauseous.  I didn’t know if it was food poisoning, vertigo, a virus, allergies, or what.  I know this….it sure wasn’t a fun morning.  Friday morning, Jacob and I were making lots of sales, but I don’t remember much.  Every little bit I had to head to the bathroom.  I was sure I was going to throw up but never did….until….. (Due to the graphic nature of the following, this portion of the blog may not be suitable for all readers…you can just jump to the next paragraph).  I exploded!  It was the most violent bout of throwing up that I’ve had in a long time.  I really wanted to die for a while.  We are talking the movie “Sandlot” where after eating chew for the first time, all of the boys are on a spinning ride and none of them can hold it in any longer.  Thank goodness no one was in the bathroom at the time to hear the exorcism of Satan’s child from my body.   Even while all of this was going on Jacob kept the booth running.

Back to the action in the booth….I felt quite a bit better after my little “bout”.  Sales were still brisk.  After a time though, I started to feel bad again.  I was thinking “here we go again”.  Luckily, Mysti (my wife), my son, mom, and dad showed up.  Dad was there to assist in the booth.  Mysti and mom were there to do some shopping (there go my profits).  My son was there because he had to be.  Like most 13 year olds, he’d rather be on X-Box or playing sports.   Unfortunately, after just a little bit, I had to have my wife, mom, and son take me home.  The rest of my day was spent in bed or on the couch.  So I don’t know much more about the sale, other than Jacob and I did alright for our first day together.  I’m going to let Jacob tell you about Saturday and Sunday in his next blog.  I’m going to leave you with a few observations from this weekend.

1.        If a potential buyer tells you that “I’ll be back in a little bit to buy that” it probably won’t happen.  After countless times of being told that, only one person came back to actually purchase the item they were interested in.  Unfortunately I had already sold it.  This brings me to the 2nd point.

2.       As Mike Wolfe says, the time to purchase something you want is when you see it.  If you see something you’ve never seen before, chances of finding it again are slim.  Don’t regret not purchasing something that in your gut you know you should have.  I did that one time when I first started out.  I had the opportunity to purchase an old Pepsi machine for what I thought seemed like a cheap price, but the owner didn’t know if it worked or not so I passed.  I ended up thinking about it for a while. 30 minutes later I drove back to buy it.  Too late….it was gone.  I got home that day and found out that if the machine didn’t work, I would have still made about $400.  If it worked….well it would go up exponentially from there.  I should have followed my gut.

3.       The early bird USUALLY (not always) gets the worm.  Some of the best stuff sells on Friday morning.  Most of your serious collectors and dealers are out shopping on Friday morning to get the best of the best….however; it’s at the steepest prices.  As the weekend goes on, prices will drop, but so will the selection.  There are exceptions.  A dealer found a great hand hammered copper pot from the 1800’s on Sunday that many people passed over.  He could tell it was old.  He looked and looked with his jewelers loop and finally found a maker’s mark.  His $15 purchase will probably net him $500.  Those items are out there…but it takes a lot of work and digging (and a little luck). 

4.       There are some people who just kick tires.  No matter what you price something at, you can tell they just aren’t interested in actually buying that piece.  They may have the same thing and want to see what it’s worth.  They may just want to get an idea of value.  Could be as soon as you tell them, they realize that no matter what the price, even $1, they really don’t want the item.  This is just part of the selling process.

I love selling this stuff and money is only one aspect of it.  I love to talk to other collectors.  I love to tell the stories of these pieces.  I love hearing the buyer’s own stories.  I especially love to learn from long time collectors.  There is so much to learn from people who’ve devoted parts of their life to their collection.  That’s why we do this blog and website.  Please feel free to ask questions below in the comments or just tell us about your collections.  You may be able to network with someone else on here that has your same interests.  We can all learn from each other.

Jason

As you read the previous blog, my brother described how he ended up in this crazy world of antiques and collectibles.  You also heard how he is much smarter than me.  I will give him that.  I’m just thankful I was born with all the good looks!

I have to be honest.  When I heard that Jason lost his job in Tennessee, I was nervous for him.  I knew he would land on his feet.  But how long would that take?  And what would he do in the mean time to pay the bills?  When I heard he was going to yard sales and storage auctions, my feelings of empathy turned to feelings of hilarity!  I even rubbed salt in the wound by emailing him a clip of the theme song to “Sanford and Son.”  All the laughing came to an abrupt end when he told me what he bought and how much he sold it for on eBay.  I told you he got all the brains!

Thing is, I’m no dummy either.  Not long after I heard about his endeavors, I decided to try my hand at it.  My wife and I decided to front $200.  If we lost our money on true junk, then we wouldn’t be broke.  However, if we made a profit, we would use that to buy more “product.”  And no, I’m not talking about the product that Lamont Sanford used for his afro.

Our first purchases came from a country auction not too far from our house.  Sadly, I still have the very first item that I purchased.  I bought two glass plates still in the box from Pilgrim Glass, a glass maker that had just closed its doors nearby.  I figured, since they were no longer in business, the plates may be worth good money.  Well, I was wrong.  However, I also bought a metal air tool of some sort.  The auctioneer had no clue what it was and no one in the crowd knew either.  He kept bringing the price down.  No bites.  I yelled, “$1”.  He immediately said “Sold!”  When I got home, I decided to do some research on vintage air tools.  Come to find out, it was an old rivet gun just like Rosie the Riveter used to make airplanes for WWII.  I listed it on eBay, and it immediately started getting bids.  At the end of the sale, it sold for $140!  I was instantly hooked!

Our second auction came a couple of weeks later at a different location.  This auction had a lot of nicer antiques.  I felt definitely out of my league.  However, I had done some research prior to the auction and had a good idea what some of the items were worth.  One item in particular was a mahjongg set.  I thought this was only a game of matching tiles on the computer.  Turns out, it is a very serious game with clubs and groups all through the world.  The set I purchased for $65 was in a cool black box with little draws that held the tiles.  I thought it may bring $120.  I spent a TON of time researching the set that I had.  After several hours, I found that it was a French Ivory set from the 1920’s and was imported from China.  Stuff imported nowadays from China is mostly true junk in my opinion.  However, this was before the plastic era and was actually a well made set.  I used all of that information in my eBay listing, and the price soon doubled my initial investment.  In the last few minutes of the auction, the price soared.  At the final virtual hammer, it sold for $430!  Yeah, I was in this thing hook, line and sinker.  Lock, stock and barrel!

I guess you could say the rest is history, but we are still looking for more ways to expand.  Most of all, I am still trying to learn as much as possible.  I think I could buy and sell vintage and antique items for 50 years and still not know half of what I would like to know.  So come back, share your stories about relics you come across, and join us in learning more about this great endeavor.

Jacob

Why?  I’m guessing that is the first thing that comes to most people’s mind.  In journalism classes in college, I was taught to always report the who, what, when, where, how, and why.  In such a crowded “blogosphere” on the web, why would we want to start another website/blog/podcast.  Why would anyone want to read/listen to another website/blog/podcast? 

The simple answer for me is because there aren’t enough great sites out there that I like to read on a regular basis.  There aren’t enough great podcasts that I subscribe too regarding antiques and collectibles.  There are a few sites that I go to that I cannot wait until new material is uploaded.  I hope that one day our little site will be the same way for you. 

We are Jason and Jacob White.  Brothers.  Friends. Comrades.  Cohorts.  Kissing Cousins (Not really…but we are from West Virginia and have heard ALL the jokes).  Lovers of all things vintage.  Compared to many, we are relatively new to this wonderful world of flea markets, auctions, yard sales, estate sales, eBay, and Craigslist.  I (Jason) have been buying and selling relics for a little over 3 years.  Only 6 months after moving back to Tennessee after a 6 year stint in Las Vegas, I found myself out of work.  I could only hit “refresh” on Monster or CareerBuilder so many times a day.  I had to find ways to make money that also allowed me to go to interviews.  I was tired of sitting on my butt waiting for the phone to ring.  So I tried my hand at a few storage auctions.  Luckily, I was able to turn a profit with every purchase made.  I also hit a couple of auction houses and estate auctions.  I was smart with my purchases and always turned a profit.  I was VERY conservative at that point.  Looking back…probably too conservative.  I couldn’t lose money in the position I was in.  I needed the money in a desperate way.  I kept branching out to yard sales, Craigslist, etc.  I would look everywhere I thought I could make a purchase and a profit.  During this time, I also started to fall in love with this hobby.  I fell in love with the research.  I fell in love with the history.   I started to tell my dad and brother about it.  And they both tried their hands in it.  You will hear Jacob’s story in the next blog. 

After 6 months without a “real” job, I was finally employed again.  But even though I had a 9-to-5 I couldn’t stop reading about antique and vintage items.  I kept looking for great relics that I could purchase and sell….treasures that spoke to me.  Items with a story.  And 3 years later….I still hunt. 

Now, let me say this….Jacob and I don’t know it all, though if you ask me, I know a lot more than my brother….sorry Jacob.  We are still learning.  Part of this site is telling OUR story.  Telling the story of the journey.  The ups and downs.  Our successes and our failures.  The stories of some of the great relics we find.  Telling others of some of the things we learn along the way.  We hope you’ll share your knowledge with us too.  As my church says, life is better together.  So please make this an interactive experience.  Give us your feedback.  Let’s make this a site that we all love and look forward to reading.  That is our hope for this site.  That is WHY we are doing this.  To breathe new life into yesterday’s treasures.  Let the hunt begin…

Jason