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The Big Auction – Ebay Sales

A week ago, I wrote about our auction experience where we were able to purchase all of the following items at unbelievable prices:

White Mountains Ice-Cream Maker: $40

A Western Electric Antique Telephone Ringer: $25

Longerberger Basket: $30

Antique Pressed-Steel Toy Car: $10

English Child’s Record Player: $5

With these purchase prices, Cindy posted all of these items that we bought at the auction starting at $9.99 each. Jokingly, I told Cindy that I didn’t think the record player would sell for very much at all – who wants a rickety old record player with a turntable covered with felt?

I tried to do a little bit of research on these items on Kovel’s (www.kovels.com), on About.com (antiques.about.com), and on LovetoKnow (http://antiques.lovetoknow.com/Main_Page). I tried hard to find the exact items, but while there were a lot of similar items, it was impossible to find identical ones. About.com and LovetoKnow are good references on how to identify items when you have antiques with maker’s marks and other ways to identify them, but they don’t have as many actual items with photos and values.

Kovel’s is a little different because while they help with identifying the makers of items, they also show some example photos of some items and what their values are. This can help tremendously when it comes around to trying to at least get a ballpark figure of what antiques are worth.

So finally, a week after Cindy posted these auctions (insert link to previous post with the photos) every single one of them sold for far more than I’d every imagined.

White Mountains Ice Cream Maker

We bought this 6 quart ice cream maker at the auction for $40. It had a slightly detached handle but nice dark wood with excellent patina (coloring from age). It was very rustic and a great country piece. Weighing about seven pounds, this wooden bucket and steel hardware would make such a fantastic display piece in any home, or even as a flowerpot outside. 

The winning bid on this item was $129.00.

Western Electric Antique Telephone Ringer

This was a very unique item because it’s a really simple and very old piece of telephone electronics history. The box is made of solid maple and the ringer is essentially a hand-cranked electrical generator that uses mechanical movement, large magnets, and copper windings that generate electricity when the handle is turned. In the days of these first telephones, that electricity would travel through the telephone wire and ring a bell at the other end.

The winning bid on this item was $50.11

Longerberger Basket

Apparently Longerberger baskets are highly collectible – there’s a whole community out there who collects all of the various baskets that Longerberger made throughout the years. This particular basket was a nice picnic basket with soft colored wood and crafted very beautifully.

The winning bid on this item was $65.50

Antique Pressed-Steel Toy Car

Luckily I found the mark on this pressed steel toy car and through using LovetoKnow.com, I was able to identify the mark as a Marx vintage toy car. Apparently the Marx pressed steel cars are highly collectible and sought after by collectors around the world.

The winning bid on this item was $102.50

English Child’s Record Player

This old antique record player wasn’t marked with any maker’s mark, but it did say “Made in England” and was clearly a very, very old electric Children’s record player with a bunch of very cute children’s designs around the sides. The turntable was covered with a felt-like material that the old records used to be placed on. 

The winning bid on this one was $33.50

Final Results

This means that in just one week, Cindy posted five items that we purchased for a total of $110. After taking photos and posting, we finally sold all of these for $380.61. This means that Cindy made a net profit of $270.61. And she’s only just getting started!

The Saga of Jack’s family ( to be continued)