Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire

JULY 20, 2024. VINTAGE RUSSELL WOODARD INDUSTRIAL STYLED PATIO FURNITURE.

So I made it back to Canton Friday night and went shopping local garage sales this morning...I found a few in Grand Saline but didn't buy anything...i found one near Alba and paid $5 for a watch band with over $100 in 10k embellishments and a sterling rope necklace with sterling angel charm.

I was simply having intuitions about finding something in a town called Emory...and Alba was along the way there. So, I get to Emory and find a single sale where I did'nt buy anything, but I'm heading out to see if there are any signs along the highway just west of town. On the way out I see a sign for a thrift shop that is only open 8am-noon on Saturdays. I've never been there and this was a rare opportunity as I was there during that 4 hours per week they're open..

My belief that there was something there for me grew stronger as I shopped the first salesfloor. I found nothing there but there was still another room that had a separate entrance...its all clothing and i began to doubt my instincts, but i passed by a pile of fresh donations and saw these chairs...the seats and backs are heavy steel with a classic industrial look. So I go in and talk to the cashier in the clothing sales room about getting a quote on those...she says $10 for the four...I'm thinking I can get $300...so I go pay for these and get them loaded and as I'm driving away, i realize the table is there under a bunch of collapsed cardboard boxes. So I go in and bother the cashier again and she writes me a ticket for $3...by the time I paid for everything plus sales tax, i have $14.07 into the set....total.

I'd seen where Woodard was written in cursive at the bottom-center of seatbacks.. so when i get to the house, I was mind-blown when I saw comps on Russell Woodard patio furniture. Another encouraging fact is that the comps I was able to find all showed a smaller round table, where mine is larger and square...possibly scarcer and more valuable.

I'll have it at First Mondays a few times but will take it to Austin for some pop-up sale in the fall if i still have it. I'm thinking I'lll get $1300.

JULY 20, 2024. GRISWOLD NO. 11 WAFFLE IRON.

With the success of my Heritage consignments this summer, I've decided to only vend at one show per month and to shop as hard as i can all summer. The big objective is to scrounge up a few more consignments for Heritage this summer, and isuspect I have two in line already.

So my shopping efforts this week began at the "Largest Garage Sale in the World" in Duncan, Oklahoma...and trust me, this sale is grossly over-billed but was still adequate if you cast a wide enough net. But the story on this waffle iron is about the value of being to put information together while in the field. Like most of my other stories, this one is a bit convoluted, but all the details matter.

So, I'm dragging around with a friend and we wind up shopping everything we could find on Thursday there in Duncan...we'd even shopped the thrift stores and an antique mall there. But, there is a town called Marlow just a few miles north of Duncan, and they piggy-back their city-wide garage sale with Duncan's. I'm stoked about shopping Marlow as I once discovered a very rare and expensive bitters bottle there, so I know quality stuff can come from this area.

We wind up shopping the sales we can find and eventually visit an antique mall where they recognize my friend as a regular. He'll buy good cast iron and found tge waffle iron without a base but was unwilling to pay $40 for it...which i think was the correct move since bases are much scarcer than irons.

The vendor that had this iron sold us some stuff and wound up sending us on a mission tofind the sale that she'd purchased so much from earlier that day. So we get outtgere and the prices are "crazy low" and each of us are piling up stuff. There was a small assortment of cast iron and I picked out a BSR lid and the high-rise base to this waffle iron. The lady running the sale said I could get these for $10 each since I was buying so much...I think my total wound up being $63.. and I will always pay atleast $10 for a vintage lid and atleast $30 for a waffle iron base...so the bargain was already on.

We were actually on the road for a while before I realized that the base I just bought likely went to the $40 iron at the antique mall. We'd already had plans to return the next day as many other sales were starting on Friday, and the sale where I'd gotten the base was the best one we'd found, and the lady running that sale suggested that her brother might be bringing another truckload of stuff from Fort Worth to sell the that weekend.

Friday morning we were back at it and we got to Marlow...the brother had not brought additional stuff, and the items we regretted leaving the previous day were gone. We made it to the antique mall and I was allowed to carry the iron out to the van to see if tgese were a match...the dealer later wanted to see what a waffle iron base looked like as she had no idea.

So, I have $10 in the base and $40 in the iron, but as a complete unit, tgese sell for atleast $300 with $470 seeming to be the most common price. I would spend myself broke getting value like that.

JULY 6, 2024. TEXAS REPUBLIC BANKNOTES & BONDS.

I recently purchased 17 pieces for $1200, and the best of the lot were the Texas Republic issues...these were the real reason I was willing to acquire the group.

Unbelievably, a friend purchased a storage unit in Mesquite, Texas that had belonged to a former Medical Examiner for Dallas County. This unit contained a large amount of Civil War Re-enactment paraphernalia along with antique surgical tools and this group of currency.

I was in process of listing these notes on FB Marketplace for my friend when I advised him that I'd be very frustrated if I learned that he'd sold these for $1200...he said if I'd pay $1200, these were mine...saved me the task of listing these for him and gave me an "instant inventory" that just might allow me a decent profit...in a perfect world, these would sell for $3850 without incursion of any additional costs such as certification or seller's fees.

Strange how a grown man can be so thrilled over 5 little scraps of ratty old paper.

JULY 6, 2024. OTHER CIVIL WAR ERA BANKNOTES FROM THE SOUTH.

This posting is of notes acquired recently which are also featured in two other July 6 posts on this page. These were issued in The South but not by CSA.

JULY 6, 2024. CONFEDERATE CURRENCY & BONDS.

These are the 7 pieces of currency and 2 bonds issued by Confederate States of America that I purchase recently in collection that are exhibited here in three different postings.

The other postings will be OTHER CIVIL WAR ERA BANKNOTES FROM THE SOUTH and REPUBLIC OF TEXAS BANKNOTES & BONDS.

JULY 5, 2024. FRESH CAPITAL~~~CAPITALIST AND CAPITAL.

I recently got a check on an insurance claim for an accident that occurred in Topeka, Kansas nearly 4 years ago...I got more than I expected, although the award was less than deserved, but the
$11,446 nearly vanished instantly.

The van I've been driving was also t-boned, that time in Houston...and the side doors could not be used...the van was rough anyway, and just kept getting rougher. The timing chain has been making a rattling noise that makes it sound like a diesel for about a year now, but I simply didn't want to make repairs on an unwanted vehicle. Several times I'd worked up enough cash to buy another van but just couldn't find one I wanted.

With the insurance check on its way, I'd been shopping for weeks...wound up buying one very quickly and might have paid too much...time will tell...but I paid $4500 for a 1999 e250 only because it only had 149k miles and had never been used to tow a trailer....had a no-pull bumper and no hitch receiver.

These Ford vans are tough...the one I'm replacing was rusted out and had likely been a Michigan van by the ladder rack it carried, and it had 217k miles on it when I bought it...I've put 125K miles on it over 4 years and changed the oil once...I serviced tge transmission recently because it filled with sludge and shuddered violently on take-off, but that damned thing would still tow a heavy trailer at speed on the highway.

The van I just bought has a really straight body and I likely do proper maintenance on it...currently have new plugs, coil packs, and injectors to install on Saturday just so I know that these are good.

The insurance money was supposed to have bought me a van and a 7×16 cargo trailer, but I'm still a trailer short...my buddy just bought one at a bargain price and offered to let me have it at the same money but it's an 8×18 and is higher than typical cargo trailers....I suspect that towing this by me is a disaster on the horizon.

As a CAPITALIST with capital, I ran off and bought 500 soda crates because I sold out at June First Mondays, and then I paid $1200 for 16 piece collection of Confederate and Texas Republic currency and bonds because some of this is really rare stuff in high demand and I should be able to make 2.5X my investment.

Now, I need to get my old van cleaned out and sold so I can hurry up and buy a cargo trailer...I really want to be functioning before I get the $6000 check from Heritage for the Purple Heart...that money needs to be held so I can execute a big deal if one is found. But the real problem is that this time of year is very difficult for flea marketing in Texas because of the heat...so surplus cash is nice to have but it can evaporate quickly, especially when everybody around me is struggling and offering great deals.

I'm in that place that all business people find themselves in from time to time where losing focus can be very costly...my best course of action includes buying a cargo trailer as soon as possible to begin churning units...the objective is skimming the good s**t and selling the average stuff that is so popular with the public right now...the economy is tough...discretionary spending is down for tge middle class...collectibles can wait but people still need pots and pans, clothes and appliances, and tools...too many "robber barons" are showing up attempting to get rarities for nothing...trying to usurp my role in that market...I'd rather wait to sell that stuff...I'll still offer it, with lowered expectations about sales volume and not sales prices.

Transitions are tough...these are scary...a lot of unknowns...so there are plenty of mistakes to be made. But I've transitioned my business often over the past 8 years, and it's usually worked as planned except that it always takes longer than imagined. I have to visualize this being like steering a ship...the wheel is huge and it has to be turned and awful lot before the nose of the ship begins to turn...slowly. the pressure has to be exherted for a while before any change in direction is noticed.

Soon I hope my primary activities are processing storage units and providing content to a YouTube channel....soon to memeans like now, but likely in early fall...lol.

JUNE 30, 2024. PRATTWARE POT LIDS AND HEINTZ METAL ART INKWELL.

I was set up at Canton First Mondays and had the worst week of sales I've ever had there. I sold 44 soda crates at $10 each to a dealer and that was better than half of my entire sales. Still, whe opportunity presents itself, I have to act....it also helps that I got a little insurance settlement that allows my bills to be paid for a while regardless of how much I sell as long as I don't go wild shopping.

So there was a vendor there running a "fire sale"...I've known the guy for a couple years and he gets some great stuff out of area around Mount Home, Arkansas. I'd visited his booth a few days before and saw some stuff I liked but wasn't seriously drawn to this stuff.

He began making his rounds to other vendors selling stuff off at pretty good discounts so I revisited. The only things he had left that I was interested in was a collection of Prattware and many were damaged. He told me I could get these at $25 each, which seemed like a bargain, although these are far out of my wheelhouse.

I picked through these and found 8 that were free of damage other than tiny chips these often bear, although most are in traditional round wooden black frames which might conceal damage.

I made selections based on theme as well, and later learned that some of the better themes were the least valuable...most likely because these were popular then as well. I think most Prattware was made from 1860's-1890's and the most valuable of the ones I selected seems to be one related to military figures from Crimean War with this lid found "sold"at $150. The rest look like these will be about $60 each with a few a little higher and a few lower.

The Heintz Art Inkwell has a couple dents on top and a slight bend at corner of lid but these will be easily remedied, and the inkwell comps at about $120...his asking price was $25.

I offered $200 for the group of 9 pieces and probably paid a bit too much as these will be slow to sell, but I personally like Heintz Metal Art and love to purchase ready-made collections. Not a great purchase but still a good purchase is my current assessment.

JUNE 10, 2024. PEARL HARBOR PURPLE HEART AUCTION RESULT.

This didn't sell for anything close to what I believed it would but I can't complain about that. Heritage placed this on the inside of front cover of catalog and gave it a full page of its own. My expectations were raised as this item was the most viewed and most tracked item from the entire auction, and those views and tracking were much above the second most viewed and second most tracked items that sold for very good prices.

It sold for its starting bid of $7500 and buyer had to pay a premium that brought the price to $9375. Of that, I get $6000 for a medal found in a storage unit bought at auction for $40...a unit from which another $900 in sales was made.

I thought I'd add screenshots of views and tracking from auction so that anybody interested in "market expectations" might share in this experience.

MAY 26, 2024. AUTOGRAPHED PHOTOS OF LILLIAN GISH AND MARY PICKFORD.

So, I'm setting up at Canton First Mondays and being very slow about it...our audience generally doesn't start showing up until the Wednesday before the weekend of First Monday.

I really don't have the money to shop but a neighbor, Nebraska Dan, began setting out merchandise today, and I can't resist shopping his tables because he has great stuff at even better prices.

I've scored great stuff from him before and have atleast one other previous purchase that I'll make a post about, and I'm certain there will be others in the future. He's a favorite of other flea market vendors, boothers, and internet sellers, and his stuff was heavily picked over before I found anything that was a "must have".

I found two photos, one each of Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford, and both were signed. I asked Dan if I could take these to my booth so I could sit in front of fan as I did my examination and research. The signatures were real as the ink varied in density and was darker at intersections...so I next compared to other signatures on eBay and was quite confident these are genuine.

Each photo had a $19 price sticker but Dan told me $25 for the pair. These comp at about $180 each, but I'll sell at $125 each, and this is 10X the money spent. I let Dan know what I learned, and he just smiled and told me to make a lot of money on these...he's genuinely happy to hear that his customers make a profit...even a gross amount of profit.

The lessons here are that just because a bunch of junk has been picked over by the pros doesn't mean that all the value is gone, and great scores can be made even with a tiny budget.

JULY 5, 2024 UPDATE: A few weeks after the purchase I finally had a chance to examine these with a good loupe and strong light and learned that these weren't autographed but we're instead printed signatures. Some of the variations in ink density I saw before was in fact the result of silverfish eating some of the ink giving it a mottled effect. I'm still happy to have the pictures but these are not the incredible find I'd thought these were previously. The process of discovery is often disappointing, but as long as something is learned, something is gained.

APRIL 4, 2024. OUR HEROES OUR FLAGS CONFEDERATE POSTER.

Of the submissions made to Heritage Auctions lately, the only one that has been rejected is this one. These cannot be found in the market as original issues, but there was a similar poster produced at the same time, and a single copy of that one is on the market. HOWEVER, these are currently being reproduced and are available for under $20 on eBay.

Heritage advised that reproductions hurt sellability, which is common sense...it affects rare books the same way...and they were critical of its condition as there are creases and reverse is very oxidized. I still suspect this might bring as much as $1000 with a little patience as it is an 1895 edition from Southern Lithograph Company.

UPDATE: Heritage was quite interested in this photo and requested accurate dimensions of photo paper and board, but unfortunately that proved out to be a postwar copy only worth several hundred dollars instead of thousands of dollars. As such, I'll be handling the sale of this myself.

APRIL 4, 2024. CIVIL WAR PANORAMIC PHOTO. JANUARY 1, 1862.

I went on a pick in a little town near where I'm currently staying. A girl that I met on FaceBook Marketplace advised that a friend of her was opening a new junk shop and she thought there was material there that I might like. I found one of her posts months ago and she was selling stuff that looked like it was scrounge up, so I sent a message asking if she had, or ever found, old photos, postcards, and paper. She didn't, but asked for a list of the other things I might be interested in, and a few days later, I was at her house meeting several of her friends while I bought from her and one of her friends. Then she introduced me to a retired token dealer who has sold me one installment of the inventory he possessed when he quit selling on eBay.so this is how I wound up there on March 21, 2024.

So I go to her friend's new shop and he had some cool stuff...he was also willing to sell at reasonable prices, but I have to get general merchandise at a ridiculously low price since I can source so easily. I was able to purchase a handful of postcards from him, and I got an unusual WWII dogtag---it was a 1943 issue before they quit putting names of next of kin on those, and soldier was from a nearly non-existent place called Gravel Scratch, KY...postmarks and photos by photographers with studios in such places are collectible, and I've applied the same idea to dogtags now.

But the guy I was introduced to told me about the closed shop that he used to occupy with a friend that's a previous business partner. He said there was a lot of stuff and I should check it out. This is what I call CHASING RAINBOWS and it often produces some great stories. So I wind up in his closed shop and get tge Rock Star tour but I wasn't finding anything. I struggled and really wanted to provide the guy some cash for letting me into the place. I eventually found a brown glass apothecary jar and an art glass bowl. Prices were $65 on the jar and $90 on the bowl...so I asked what he needed for those two pieces and was pleasantly surprised to hear $30.

At that point, I had to search the shop one more time...the prices were too good not to. So I found an Alladin kerosene lamp, 2 tin litho toys with missing parts, a handful of other stuff that I cannot recall with specificity, and this Civil War Panoramic photo. The photo had been tagged $75, which is ridiculously cheap, and I missed it because I rarely look on the walls because I generally don't buy framed art.

So I started a little research and can't find any Civil War Panoramic Photos outside of institutional collections. I displayed this at Canton First Mondays last weekend and several people asked about it. I initially offered it at $400 but raised that to $600, and then thought that these might be too low while the public treated me as if I was insane for asking so much.

So I submitted this to Heritage a couple days ago, and they asked for measurements yesterday, which were provided today. It looks like they might be selling this for me as well, and it's being studied by the "manuscripts and historic documents" department. This will be my fourth consignment and will be the second item consigned that I nearly missed because I don't scan the walks when shopping...another peculiar fact is that I'm likely delivering both of those to Heritage on the same day. (The other item I nearly missed is the framed presentation board of depression era scrip which is subject in another post.)

I'll know within the next few days whether Heritage will be selling this for me or not, but I am looking forward to searching for even more exceptional material to sell through their auctions. Here's this one:

MARCH 13, 2024. STAR NOTES AND FANCY SERIAL NUMBERS.

This was a deal I got myself into quite a while back but never posted about it, but I'm doing so now because I was scrolling through my pictures and saw this...it's an exceptional note, and while trying to educate the young son of a friend, a half-cooked loser that calls himself a "coin dealer" kept interjecting with his claim that star notes aren't worth anything. So I'll tell you the story about this one.

I was at the bank trying to get $100 in $5's, but the teller explained she could only provide me with $70 worth. I watched as she counted out this small stack of 14 notes and somewhere towards the end, I saw that there was a note that needed investigating. It's easy for most to disbelieve just how perceptive you can be with these tiny details flashing in front of you, but I could tell this was a star note that likely had a fancy serial number.

Sure enough, this was a star note and had the number 00003333...this is what they call a DOUBLE QUAD and these are actually quite collectible. It's also considered a "low" serial number for being within the first 10k of a Prefix...prefix is the letter or letters before the serial number.

But going to the star note lookup website, I learned that there was only a single run of this prefix for this series, and that run was of only 640k notes. That makes it pretty collectible despite the fact that it's a low-number double quad.

I think the note might have sold for between $100-$125 if I'd been patient, but I showed it to a friend who obsessed about it. We were selling at the same venue and I wound up accepting an offer of $40 cash and 7 large bags of beef Jerry that he was selling for $5 each....retail those are like $18 a bag, and I planned on buying some from him anyway, so I essentially got $75 for a star note deemed worthless by a know-nothing. It still makes me chuckle because tge bank teller gave me 14 $5 notes for $70, and this was included among those...making money out of thin air feels like magic...lol.

MARCH 13, 2024. PAINTED JAPANESE SILK. I'll be submitting this to Heritage, as well. They haven't seen it yet but I bought this about 6 months ago believing that it likely had value. A buddy had purchased contents of a storage unit tgat contained a lot of framed art, which is generally like trying to sell old encyclopedias...it's just better avoided. The framing was high-quality which lent to idea that this might be valuable, so I'll find out whether it's worthy of being run through Heritage's auction.

MARCH 13, 2024. SODA CRATES.

I've been selling soda crates since Februrary, 2023, and I've likely sold 3000 crates already, but I never would have thought that these would be a steady source of income. I worry that the source will no longer be available soon as there are family pressures to get the building sold. I did a market last weekend where I only sold $425 total, and atleast half of that was soda crates at $10 each.

I'm thinking that I'll start doing some of the bottle shows with nothing but crates...I'll do that this Spring and Summer. I really need to start working with my source to stockpile some of the really good crates so I can take these on the road once I have a trailer...I might use some windfall from the near horizon to fill a unit with some of the rare crates...try to become MISTER DR. NUT.

MARCH 13, 2024. I BELIEVE THIS IS AN FUCHI KASHIRA, and I suspect Heritage will pass on it as these don't sell for a lot...I hope I'm wrong, but I'm putting my guess out there because I'm not afraid to look foolish. The workmanship is fantastic and it's got to be worth something somewhere...I'd rather have it than not.

MARCH 13, 2024. A STAG ANTLER NETSUKE. this should be alright as far as sellability of stag antler, and it had a high-price marked on its tag, but comps are difficult and I suspect this is only a $300-$400 example.

MARCH 13, 2024. ANOTHER PIECE OF IVORY.This could be quite old, but I expect that Heritage will pass on it even if it takes the Ivory Archer...it's rather small and not executed with tremendous skill...I could get surprised here, just as anywhere else in this group.

MARCH 13, 2024. 18TH CENTURY IVORY ARCHER. Heritage just might decline this one because of the political issues with selling ivory. This had been high-priced in the past, but could be impossible to sell publicly in the current environment. I could still own this one for the rest of my life, or until some nasty government squirrel comes and steals it from me.

MARCH 13, 2024. THE THIRD BUFFALO HORN MANJU. This was also marked $750 on its paper tag...it might be $5000 or $500...Asian art has really been unpredictable as inexpensive copies diminish the value of original works, but also because many Asian antiques were over-priced in the past, while some others were grossly under-priced because these were rarer than understood.

MARCH 13, 2024. ANOTHER BUFFALO HORN MANJU...THE OIL THIEF. There are fairly inexpensive examples of similar depiction, but the signature might justify the price written on tag, which is suspected to be a 1986 price. I suspect this example might sell for $5000 but might be disappointed as there are several very similar examples in the market for about $500 each. Those less expensive examples don't have the ivory cord-retainer like this example.

MARCH 13, 2024. THE HORN MANJU WITH JOLY PROVENANCE THAT DROVE ME INSANE.

It was during my second examination of this collection that I saw the tag suggesting this example had provenance to a 1912 Sotheby's auction where Joly catalogued 970 netsuke. During that examination, I Googled "Joly netsuke" and learned that a comparable piece auctioned for £5000 or so. The price marked on the paper tag was $750, with the 2 other buffalo horn manju marked even higher. I felt there were 7 or 8 netsuke that could each sell for approximately the same amount. The information was written right there on the tag.

MARCH 12, 2024. UNUSUAL LACQUERED MUSHROOM NETSUKE. This example has a tag with $650 price on it, and I suspect these tags were from a 1986 auction...some examples may have increased in value while others likely declined, but I suspect this will sell at that old price of $650.

MARCH 12, 2024. TURTLE ON LOTUS LEAF. I'm simply not impressed with this one and expect it to sell for under $500, although, it is signed and I might be pleasantly surprised.

MARCH 12, 2024. CHESTNUTS WITH GRUB. This is another example that might be declined by Heritage as it is actually a common theme. I suspect that $500 is about all that an example like this will sell for..the grub is super cool though...very life-like.

MARCH 12, 2024. TEMPLE BELL. My uneducated estimate is $500-$1000. It is signed and has great craftsmanship...we'll see.

MARCH 12, 2024. A LARGE SIGNED PIECE IN FANTASTIC CONDITION. I'll guess this example sells in range of $1000-$2000.

MARCH 12 , 2024. THE BETTER OF THE TWO LOTUS SEED PODS WITH ARTICULATED SEEDS. This example is quite well done and I suspect it will sell in $500-$1000 range.

MARCH 12, 2024. ONE OF TWO LOTUS SEED PODS WITH ARTICULATED SEEDS. I'm not sure if the lines on this example are damage or not, so Heritage might decline this example. It is very plain and I can't see it selling for more than $300, but I actually know very little about the values of these.

MARCH 12, 2024. AN UNUSUAL MUSHROOM NETSUKE. I'll guess this example sells for around $500.

MARCH 12, 2024. ANOTHER NETSUKE. This just might be the Japanese Santa Clause with the bag he's dragging. I'll guess that this example sells for around $500.