The one that got away...................

[grasswire]

All buyers and sellers have tales of near misses that haunt them.

I even have dreams where I am in an undiscovered thrift shop where goodies for just pennies are on all sides, and I am hurrying to scoop them up and pay for them. Wonderful, magical items that will bring me huge profits. Of course, I never am able to complete the sale and get the loot out the door without waking up from the dream.

My most recent miss was just last week. I was walking with a female relative on a city block where there are a couple of retro furniture shops. Outside a shop, a disheveled man was unloading a box onto a table the store was selling. I looked to see what he had. It was a treasure trove of bright vintage kitchen tablecloths and other collectible linens. Wow. It looked as if it had come directly from an estate, untouched. Several hundred dollars worth of highly desirable stuff there.

I asked the fellow if he was selling the stuff. He mumbled that he was going to try to sell it to the store. I blinked. I should have immediately asked him how much he wanted for it. The bossy person with me said "come on, let's go..." and I capitulated. Damn, damn. I've regretted that all week. I don't even think the store would buy the stuff from him, as it's the wrong era and they only sell furniture.

Kick me, kick me, kick me!

[Vinca]

1. I had a recent near miss, too.

An absolutely amazing, huge, gorgeous Scheier vase turned up at a local, Vermont auction house. It was so great that when I walked into the preview I literally gasped and said, "Holy sh*t." I examined it closely and it had a small chip on the base which bothered me quite a bit. So, I went home to do my homework and decided a conservative value on the vase was $1,500 - $5,000 because I didn't have a clue how the market would react to the chip. Was the vase so spectacular it wouldn't even matter? Anyhow, I went back to the auction, credit card in hand, ready to go $1,000 and never even got a bid in. It went for around $1,500 and the guy later sold it on ebay for about $4,500. I'm still kind of kicking myself. As for the dreams - I thought I was the only one who was that crazy. LOL.

[grasswire]

4. I see people on cel phones sometimes...

...checking with someone at home who is doing research on something the phoner is looking at. That would be useful if it can be arranged.

[zabet]

2. Mine...about 6 weeks ago.

I went to Charlotte to my lawyer's office and stopped in Indian Trail on
the way home at a small antique/junktique store. I purely drooled over
a beautiful, all original, quarter sawn oak empire buffet in pristine
condition - all original - untouched. Needless to say, I whipped out
my measuring tape and took measurements to see if, when I got home, I
had enough room. I could not buy it then as I drove my car (better
fuel economy). Well, when I got home, measured, then called back to the
antique store....it was sold. The shop owner said it had been in their
shop for over 2 months with no interest until I looked at it and the other
looker that evening purchased it. $225....
my heart bleeds.
It was not all bad, I did manage to score an original Arte Vargas hand
blown, pulled feather, irridescent art glass vase for $20 (a steal!!)

[grasswire]

3. how much do you think thebuffet was worth?

It's a sad story.

[zabet]

5. For the shape it was in...

almost museum quality - even the mercury mirror on it showed very
little breaking down in its reflective qualities...I would have been
willing to give $400 to $500 for it. I have seen many sell at auctions
but, none as good as this one. Quarter sawn oak brings good prices as
the wood has that tiger stripe effect in the grain.
I have the empire, round fronted china cabinet in the quarter sawn oak,
and an empire two drawer table with a ti-fold mirror on it in the quarter sawn
oak. 2 of my favorite pieces of furniture.

[DemReadingDU]

6. Well, my mom saved everything, but

She passed away about 6 years ago, and even with us 8 kids and 12 grandkids, she managed to save everything.

But there was way too much stuff to sort thru, so we each decided what we liked to remember mom, and the rest went to an auction that was able to sell things quickly.

UGH.

I now wish we had taken the time and paid someone to identify for us what was valuable and collectible.

My daughter saved some of the flowerpots, and later found they were all McCoys! But many went to auction.

I saved a pretty vintage brooch to remember mom. It is a Miriam Haskell! But how many others went to auction?

I have dreams of finding the rest of her stuff on EBay selling for hundreds of dollars.

[vanboggie]

8. Same happened to me

The exact same thing. My brothers and I took some stuff, but I couldn't take everything from a big farmhouse home to my smaller house, much as I wanted to. My siblings just wanted to get rid of the stuff which they considered only junk. :eyes:

The auction was a fiasco and the things my folks had collected for over 50 years went for next to nothing. One grinning dealer called for an extra trailer to be brought in to haul home his loot. I have regretted it ever since, as I know there were some good antiques in there. I, too, scan Ebay and local antique offerings and long to have much of what was sold back - not only because with a little more care we could have gotten more for the goods, but I miss many of the things for sentimental reasons, right down to the green depression glass juicer I can remember my mom using. If only we could do it over again. :banghead:

[DemReadingDU]

9. and I was living in a different state

and working full-time, so I couldn't be around much to really do justice to all my folks things. So it was left to my siblings, and they hired the auctioneer who was known to quickly auction stuff. He thought the auction would only take about 4 hours. It lasted all day! It rained, everything was outside under flimsy tents getting soaked. Nothing brought a good price. It was a total disaster.

Now, 6 years later, my siblings' kids are getting apartments and combing goodwill stores for bargains which they could have setup housekeeping with the things that went to auction. And from EBay, I'm buying things that I should have saved from my mom. Such is life. I only hope that my folks' things went to a good home.

[grasswire]

10. my story is a little different

My sister took everything of my mom's. I lived out of state, and spent a week at my mom's in her last couple of days. After my mom's funeral, my sister said "We will need to inventory everything, so don't remove anything now."

Well, my sister took everything into her house. Everything. And she has never relinquished any of it. From the old heirloom ruby ring to the Hummel collection to family photos and letters to an eighteenth century Connecticut clock, no one else has been given anything. And it has been fifteen years.

Then, (while I'm ranting) she appointed herself the larger family "archivist" and acquired much of the important stuff my mother's siblings left behind.

Gah! Her son-in-law will reap the benefits. He's interested in antiques.

[vanboggie]

11. Yep, us too

We had an auctioneer who brought in another and ran two rings, so that kept the bidding down. People were mentioning that they missed such-and-such an item because they were bidding on something on the other side <sigh>.

Then it rained just as you described, except we didn't even have the flimsy tents. I did bid on my grandmother's old china and manage to salvage that. We were also fortunate that many cousins showed up and snagged some family heirloom items, so at least I know they are appreciated.

Still, the whole thing was an awful mistake.

[demgrrrll]

7. The things I remember most are the items I did not take the time to

research properly and sold too cheap. I can think of 5 things that I wish I still had or had not sold at such a low price. I guess that isn't too bad overall. I wish I would have bought more in the 80's and not been so tightfisted and unwilling to pay a little more for the better things.

[shenmue]

12. What really gets me...

is when someone wins an auction for a skootch more than I wanted to pay. A week or two ago, I was beaten by 8c! :crazy:

I also hate it when someone jacks the price really high on a rare album or a really good book... It's no fun bailing out on something I had my eye on.