I am trying to document my adventures and give tips and guidance as I do picking for antiques and collectibles. I have two books published on the subject, in fact, way ahead of my time you could say. Mine was to only work in the literature I could find on the subject of “picking” and “pickers” anywhere. Now there are shows on television, like “Antiques Roadshow”, “American Pickers” and “Pawn Stars”, “Auction Hunters”, “Storage Wars”, etc.
I’m glad I gave them the idea!
Enough about me, how about you? Are you willing to post your real adventures here on this site? Are you willing to be interviewed sometime for a video, or podcast? Do you have some good stories and ‘antique secrets’ you could tell? Feel free to post your real comments. I do moderate the posts, and get a lot of spam posts, so give me something good. If you’d like to contact me through the post to call you, let me know. I am interested to talk to you.
I like your blog and I’m sure it will be a great resource for me. I am just starting to get into picking. I usually am a buyer more than a seller but after making a few decent deals, I’m now hooked on picking!! My husband & I had a (unfortunate) motto for years – “Buy High – Sell Low”. It seemed like we lost money on many things when we decided to sell them. But, recently that seems to have turned around.
Deciding that this is the year to get rid of things around the house that I don’t really use, I listed two vintage sewing machines and an antique Gibson mandolin on eBay. Much to my delight, I made a profit on all three items – doubling what I paid for the machines and making a few hundred on the mandolin. But, I realized that if I want to earn a decent income, I needed to go out and find some really lgood picks.
Yesterday, I stopped at a yard sale down the street from my house. I picked up some vintage art deco picture frames and a few vintage games. Then, I spotted an old broken box. I opened it and found it to contain just some random items – including 5 vinage BPOE poker chips. When I went to pay for the items, the old guy running the sale told me I could just have the poker chips. I was fine with that because I really didn’t know if they were worth anything or not.
When I got home, I started researching them on eBay and realized I might get about $5 each for them. While searching google to determine which Elks Lodge the chips came from, I found a website of a collector. “What the heck”, I thought, and I sent him an email asking if he would be interested in them. I got a response within minutes from him saying he would like to buy them and what did I want for them.
Well, since I watch a lot of “American Pickers” and “Pawn Stars”, I responded with “I don’t know – what would you offer me for them?” Now, I was thinking maybe he would offer $20-$25 and I would have been OK with that. Well, he came back with an offer of $50! I accepted, he paid me through PayPal and I packaged them and mailed them. The whole transaction from the time I found the chips and had them in the mail was less than two hours!
From what I have seen listed online, I think I made a fair deal. I wouldn’t mind earning $25+ an hour for my picking!
Thanks,
Kathy
Is there a way I can edit my comment? I proofed it but just found a few typos (which make me crazy).
Thanks,
Kathy
Yes, please do so and resend, I will replace the old one. Your comments are great! Keep picking, and send us your stories. (photos, too if you want).
Thanks – here is my corrected story:
I like your blog and I’m sure it will be a great resource for me. I am just starting to get into picking. I usually am a buyer more than a seller but after making a few decent deals, I’m now hooked on picking!! My husband & I had a (unfortunate) motto for years – “Buy High – Sell Low”. It seemed like we lost money on many things when we decided to sell them. But, recently that seems to have turned around.
Deciding that this is the year to get rid of things around the house that I don’t really use, I listed two vintage sewing machines and an antique Gibson mandolin on eBay. Much to my delight, I made a profit on all three items – doubling what I paid for the machines and making a few hundred on the mandolin. But, I realized that if I want to earn a decent income, I needed to go out and find some really good picks.
Yesterday, I stopped at a yard sale down the street from my house. I picked up some vintage art deco picture frames and a few vintage games. Then, I spotted an old broken box. I opened it and found it to contain just some random items – including five vintage BPOE poker chips. When I went to pay for the items, the old guy running the sale told me I could just have the poker chips. I was fine with that because I really didn’t know if they were worth anything or not.
When I got home, I started researching them on eBay and realized I might get about $5 each for them. While searching google to determine which Elks Lodge the chips came from, I found a website of a collector. “What the heck”, I thought, and I sent him an email asking if he would be interested in them. Within minutes, I got a response from him saying he would like to buy them and what did I want for them.
Well, since I watch a lot of “American Pickers” and “Pawn Stars”, I responded with “I don’t know – what would you offer me for them?” Now, I was thinking maybe he would offer $20-$25 and I would have been OK with that. Well, he came back with an offer of $50! I accepted, he paid me through PayPal and I packaged them and mailed them. The whole transaction from the time I found the chips and had them in the mail was less than two hours!
From what I have seen listed online, I think I made a fair deal. I wouldn’t mind earning $25+ an hour, for the being, for my picking!
Thanks,
Kathy
I love the quick flips. One of my best profits by margin has been a pool stick I found at salvation army. I recognized it immediately as being a 1950s or earlier piece and picked it up. Sure enough I got home and found the same cue selling routinely for $200-300. Hoped on a collectors site and had $275 for the stick including shipping within an hour or so, the original purchase was $2.
It’s days like that I feel bad for the person making 7.50 an hour at the register. Since becoming a picker I have literally had a span of a few days where I’ve made more money than entire months of occupation in previous jobs. The best part about it is I am constantly learning and getting better. By the time I’m an old man I’m sure to be one of the most knowledgable people out there as a Jack of antiques and history, something that keeps me going and brings great happiness. Not many other people get to appreciate hands on history from so many different fields.