everything vintage/what is it worth?

Ok, here I am selling at the Renninger’s antique and farmer’s market. I was there for 3 days last week. They have this event 3 times a year but have a farmer’s market all year round. I ended up selling about 750$ worth of merchandise over 3 days. That is about average for me for this sale. I have made anywhere from 600$ to 1300$ for these 3 day sales. It’s a lot of fun! I set up near the same people each time and we catch up on what’s happening. It’s very busy on the first day and then slow but steady the rest of the time.  The rent is 180$ for a space under the pavilion (the best place to be) or 120$ for a space out in “the field.” You have to bring your own tent and tables, etc. if you are out in the field but you get a little more space to use. Some people camp there for 3 days. I live about 40 minutes away so no camping for me.

The first time I was at this sale, I watched what people were carrying around with them to see what they were buying. I also noted what they bought from me and the vendors around me. I discovered that they like a lot of primitives at this sale. Perhaps because this area of PA is known for a lot of farm collectibles like buckets and baskets and quilts and kitchen ware. So this is what I usually bring to this sale. Also, the price has to be right. I saw other vendors selling old buckets for 24$. Mine were 5-10$. I sold all but one. I had a vendor who bought 5 bags of cookie cutters from me because I had them for 5$ a bag. She took them to her booth and sold them by the piece.I bought about 1000 of them last year for less than 1$ a dozen at an auction in Leesport.

I also took some vintage toys but I didn’t sell many of those this time. Many of the items that I have leftover, I will put in my booth at Zionsville Antiques, or store for another antique sale, or sell the smaller items on eBay. You may see some of these toys listed soon.

Check out my eBay store at everythingvintagesteph.com for some great vintage bargains!

Rats, I forgot to take pictures today of what I was doing at the Renninger’s extravaganza antique show. This sale is held three times a year and the end of June is the least attended of all the 3. The other 2 are the end of April and the end of September. However, I was SO busy today! I sold about 440.00 worth of cool junk! I sell mainly primitive items at this show. Some of the items were: old wash tub 8$, old towel rack 10$, old jar 7$ (it had a chip), old kitchen tools 3$ each, 7 kazoos at 1$ each, parts to an erector set 8$, etc.

It started at 10 AM and started to slow down around 1PM because it was SO hot! It was supposed to be about 95 degrees but I’m not sure what it was. I was underneath a pavilion and there was a breeze so it wasn’t too bad. Then we had a BIG thunderstorm around 3PM and everyone sort of disappeared after that. I left around 3:15 and the sale goes until 5 but everyone was leaving–no customers! I have to get more stuff to take tomorrow to fill in all the empty spaces!

If you want to know more about the sale go to renningers.com. I am at the Kutztown site.

I am selling at the Renningers antiques and flea market in Kutztown, PA. this weekend. June 24, 25, and 26. Check it out at renningers.com. It’s fabulous and huge! I will try to report my experiences each day. Tommorow, wed. is set up day. These photos from my porch are some of the primitives I will be taking. They are very popular at this sale although I don’t sell many of these on eBay. I guess I could but they are large items and would take a lot of postage!

Yea, people collect milk bottle caps and I have at least 500 more of these! I sell these 48 at a time and I only start them at 3.00. Sometimes I get 3.00, sometimes I get more. The reason this is one of my favorite finds is that I got over 3 cartons of these at a local estate sale and only paid 1.00 for all of them. They are brand new and never used but they are for vintage milk bottles and are probably from the 1960s or so. I remember this dairy and it has not been in business for quite a while. 3.00 doesn’t seem like much but I keep relisting them over and over and it adds up with very little effort since once the auction is up and running it only takes one click to relist it.

My next favorite find this week is the Boehm porcelain flower. This is my favorite because it was a found treasure at the local auction. I bought one of those famous box lots that I love for about 3.00 and there was something else in it that I was interested in—-I forget what! When I looked at the other items in the box I pulled out this very pretty porcelain flower. I got out the magnifying glass to read the name on the stem and it read Boehm. I went right to eBay to look it up because I had never heard of Boehm before. (hey I don’t know everything!) I saw some other very pretty flowers and sculptures made by Boehm and some of the larger ones were going for 100s of dollars–check it out yourself! So I listed it right away and even though there was a very tiny flaw in the one petal, it sold for 36.55. I’m lovin’ eBay again!

Almost the same thing happened with the Commodore 64 plug and play. I got this at the same auction that I bought the Boehm flower. It’s not a vintage item but it actually plays 30 vintage games just by plugging it into the TV. My son-in-law was with me at the auction and he wanted it so I think he bid about 5.00 for it. He actually got 4 of them for 1 price and only wanted the 1 so he gave me the rest. Thanks, Scott! I sold the first one for 42.98. I just listed the second one last night and I have one more after that is over. HINT: don’t list same items at the same time unless you want to compete against yourself! If you are reading this before June 22, you can check it out on auction.

Thanks for listening to my auction stories and if you want to check out my auctions click on  everythingvintagesteph.com OR click on any of the photos.

I found some really great pieces of vintage fabric last week that I have listed on eBay. It took a little research to learn about these when I first started finding them but knowing the proper terms to list them under in eBay is very important, so I learned!

BARKCLOTH

The pieces you see above are usually called barkcloth. I have heard people pronounce it BARcloth but this is not correct. Actually, barkcloth is not technically correct either since real barkcloth was made from real bark in Asia, India, and the Pacific islands in the 1800-1900s. However, this fabric is now called barkcloth because of its dense cotton texture that has a rough surface like bark. It was popular in the 1950s and 60s for home furnishings such as curtains, drapery, and slipcovers. A nice large pair of curtains in this fabric could bring over 100$ on auction. Small pieces are nice for pillows and other projects. I love the feel and look of it—especially the tropical and dogwood patterns. Do a search for barkcloth on eBay and you will see the various designs and prices.

FEED SACK FABRIC

I am just getting to know feed sack fabric a little better. If you only have a small piece of it, it is very hard to tell from just normal cotton fabric although it does have a little more texture to it than regular cotton. The best way to tell whether or not it is feed sack are the small stitch holes/lines that are usually on 2 or 3 sides of the fabric. This is where it was once sewn together to form the feed sack. Also it  is usually about 36-37 inches wide rather than the 45 wide fabrics bought from a bolt today. You would buy the flour or whatever in the feed sack and then reuse the fabric for dresses or quilts. It was a great way to recycle!

Vintage fabric is great because of the many different styles and colors available. Use it in clothing or crafts or quilts, etc!

Check out my auctions and eBay store at  everythingvintagesteph.com. I usually have some type of vintage fabric there!