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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;verybrad, post: 10498305, member: 37&quot;]Thanks for the new pics.&nbsp; What I thought was chestnut, apears to be more walnut.&nbsp; Sticking with the maple or, possibly, birch for the lightest color wood.&nbsp; The burl still looks like walnut to me but hard to tell from such small pieces. Once this gets a better finish on it, the woods may be more distinctive.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Profit is the name of the game for many of us seniors who haunt the thrift stores.&nbsp; Their quick flip made them some decent profit and provided you with the opportunity to acquire a table you might not have seen otherwise, at a price you are happy with.&nbsp; You and I both know this would be quite a bit higher in a retail environment.&nbsp; Given that you bought as it was brought out, you probably did not get a chance to dicker with the sellers.&nbsp; Later in the day, you might have gotten a better bargain but you might have just as well missed out to someone like you who didn&#039;t wait.</p><p><br /></p><p>True story:&nbsp; A friend of mine posted her garage sale the night before opening.&nbsp; I spied a small chip-carved table for $15.00 and messaged her to hold it for me.&nbsp; She replied that she would.&nbsp; Her house was withing walking distance from mine (about a mile or so) so I took the opportunity for a morning stroll.&nbsp; I arrived at her sale about 15 minutes past her opening time.</p><p><br /></p><p>As I was walking up, a young couple had the table in their hands and was getting ready to purchase it.&nbsp; I piped up that this was the table I asked to be held for me.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know if it was because of my greater age, my look of desperation, or the beads of sweat from having walked a mile, but the couple agreed to let me have the table.&nbsp; My friend had thought I meant a different table when I messaged her <img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/rolleyes.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":rolleyes:" unselectable="on" />&nbsp; Obviously, I paid her full asking price, having asked her to hold it.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know if the young couple had tried to bargain or not.</p><p><br /></p><p>Later in the day, I bumped in to a mutual friend and told him about my purchase.&nbsp; He said he had seen our friend&#039;s post and knew what table I was talking about.&nbsp; Turns out, he had sold it to her earlier in the year for $7.00. Though she bought it just as he was putting it out to sell, he did give her a price reduction due to friendship.&nbsp; Knowing him, I am sure he probably bought the table for just a few dollars at another garage sale and made some profit on it. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now, the question becomes, what is the value of the table?&nbsp; Is it the few dollars the first person paid, the $7.00 my friend paid, or the $15.00 that I paid?&nbsp; I am not selling the table any time soon but know I could probably double my money or more in a retail environment.&nbsp; The truth is that the table is worth what someone is willing to pay given certain time and circumstances.&nbsp; In each sales opportunity above, there was an impetus to buy within limited time constraints.&nbsp; Each buyer knew that the table would likely not be available for purchase later (or that they would not be there later to purchase). </p><p><br /></p><p>An impetus to buy is probably the most important aspect of any given sales situation.&nbsp; How many pieces have foundered in antique stores waiting for someone to come along and buy?&nbsp; There is always the attitude that the piece will be there later if one decides they really want it.&nbsp; Take that same piece and put it in a one or two day sale, price it right, and it will fly out the door.&nbsp; While I believe I could double my money on said table in a retail setting, it is just as likely to sit for ages as it is to sell quickly. </p><p><br /></p><p>There is a price threshold and I don&#039;t know what the threshold is for this piece. Obviously, at $15.00 or less it sells quickly.&nbsp; How quickly will it sell at $30.00?&nbsp; Is it worth $50.00 in a different store setting?&nbsp; Maybe if talked up as folk art and sold in New York is it worth a $100.00 or more?&nbsp; While I doubt it, stranger things have happened.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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