Featured Worthless Collectables

Bradford Exchange and Franklin Mint. I have not had much luck reselling these items.

 

& that's not going to change for a long long time !

 

I have to say, I had some FM vinyl Scarlett O'Hara dolls. I bought a few of the Wedding doll, and my gosh, I sold mine for triple what I paid for it. I only have one now, in my china closet. These dolls look the most like Vivien Leigh out of all the Scarlett dolls out there.

FM jewelry, some of the finer pieces have held their value. I did have an 18kt sapphire and emerald ring I bought on ebay for $135, my jeweler couldn't believe the quality.

I am with evelyb. I have been collecting costume and fine jewelry for over 42 years now. Not sorry in the least. The good stuff in socked away in my deposit box for a rainy day or retirement. Silver and gold only become more valuable. I used to buy lovely pieces on ebay for pennies on the dollar, and other places, of course. Still do when I can. Wherever I go, people are asking about jewelry.

I do think on-line auctions/selling has dented the vintage costume jewelry prices, but not too badly. Glassware around here is not selling. China sets, forget it. The only one here that people want is Lenox china's Autumn pattern. That always goes fast.

And evelyb is right about the stones, such as the Eliat, being mined out. It has happened with many types of American turquoise, try finding Old Lander. Another stone mined out? The older quality garnets. I bought these for $28 yesterday, set in 830 silver, probably Norweigan (they have garnet mines, I just found out through researching.) These predate 1920, and you will not find modern garnets of this color and quality. And I can always sell jewelry.



I have a friend who collected MODERN cookie jars. Tons of them, all over the house, bought a shed just to store the rest. He told us the story of how his wife went to dust his Phantom of the Opera set and she broke a lid. He was really upset, since he paid $2,500 for the set. Now I could have platinum and diamonds for that!!!! And it is worth basically nothing now. He is so upset that he sunk all his money into this stuff.... he also has a ton of glassware. What a mess.

I was just at a community yard sale and a there were TONS of those cheapey poreclain dolls all over. Some women were actually BUYING them because they COLLECT them. Another waste of money, IMHO!!!

 

One more thought..... I am constantly invited to Lia Sophia or Premiere designs jewelry parties. I only attended one, and I was shocked to see what people were paying for what I consider JUNK. For what these pieces cost, I could have the real deal, see earrings above. The party I went to was like a cult following- everyone came wearing their Lia Sophia jewelry. One woman showed me how her bracelet developed a lovely "patina"- I could see the plating wore off the base metal. I go to yard sales and have picked the stuff up for 25 cents to a dollar. Some people try to get close to full price for this stuff, not happening at a yard sale.

 

There is Garnet in NE Nevada... At least there was.

 

Horse for courses.

Collector plates are mostly worthless, but Franklin Mint models can be very good sellers.

Most Wedgwood jasperware is of low value, but we managed to sell 3 plates for £250 each.

Now this comment is not aimed at anyone so do not take offence, but we do not judge collectors who collect items we do not like or rate. It is their life, their money and their taste!!

 

Yes, there is some in the USA. I am picky about garnet colors.... I do not like the brownish-red garnets, pretty much what one sees today. I like the deep red wine burgundy the best, the earrings above have a redder tone, I really like them. And of course, vintage Czech Bohemian garnets. The darker antique ones I have I believe come from Germany.

 

I agree that anyone can collect what he or she pleases..... but they should do it for the joy of it and be cognizant that not all collectibles will be valuable in the end. I have been to far too many estate/tag sales where people couldn't afford their mortgages but had tons of useless (in regards to value) stuff.

 

How would a basement of Precious Moments figurines that one spent $40,000 be useful? You couldn't even display all of them. Where is the joy?

 

i think one has to discern between collecting and obsessive/compulsive buying.....

 

Just a possibility, and it may not be the case but . . .

Sometimes I wonder if a person received as a gift one (the first) of a "collectible" (plate, figurine, picture/painting) and then when the recipient was "being nice" to the "giver" by saying "Oh thank you so much. I hadn't seen that/those before. I have the perfect place for it on the shelf (which later became shelves) in the den" then the "giver" kept on giving similar items . . . because, of course, the recipient had said he/she liked "it" and had a place for "it" and before too long all of the "its" turned into "they(s)."

 

How?

Many collectors may be discerning but may also be accurately described as buying/collecting obsessively.

FWIW I think anyone who spends 40,000 dollars on modern day collectables will lose a lot of money, but there are plenty of examples of people who bought yesterdays antiques and lost a great deal of money.

 

You could shout; PULL! At 40k worth...

 

Willow Tree is going to follow right behind them. Someone gave me a piece of it as a gift. I thanked her politely and thank goodness no one heard me.(LOL) I later gave it away to someone who actually liked it. As for modern pieces like Premier Designs and Lia Sophia, I won't buy it unless it's a) new with tags and b) going cheap. It's going to go like Avon jewelry did, except that Avon cost less up front. Unless you have some of the Elizabeth Taylor (she knew her jewels) or Kenneth J Lane pieces, you can't sell Avon for anything.

As for china sets, unless you know someone who wants to use it, PULL is about where it's at. Formal china is deader than the dodo, unless it's something special.

 

Yeah, my friend should skeet shoot his cookie jars. He dwells on the fact he invested so much money badly.... he did do this as an investment, not just a collection. Yet he won't part with them.

Yes, I stay away from most Avon unless it is something for my personal use. I do pick up the Liz and KJL pieces if they are cheap enough. And the other exclusive designers from Avon.

I am going to another estate sale the end of the month. The pictures show a house full of QVC and HSN shopping sprees. They don't show the jewelry pictures most of the time, but there is so much costume, they are selling entire lots of it at 10% off at this sale.

As far as receiving a gift, those kinds of trinkets have a way of disappearing from my house..... I blame it on the cats. "Oh, Fangus broke that!"

 

I blame it on the cats. "Oh, Fangus broke that!"

Marko, what a great solution to an ongoing problem!

My older sister has a housekeeper who is forever giving her little cat figurines from the Dollar Store, the Christmas Tree Shop, and the like. Since the housekeeper is at her house often, my sister was displaying the figurines among her other collectibles (while complaining rather bitterly about it...)

I came up with a solution for her... I put up a multi-shelf wall unit behind her bedroom door. It is very visible when the door is CLOSED (which in her house, it never is) but it's out of sight when the door is OPEN.

When the housekeeper is there, she can see that all of her gifts are on display - and she doesn't have to know that absolutely no one else can see them the rest of the time.

I guess it seems rather mean, tho, doesn't it?

 

Brilliant!

 

I did have quite an extensive collection of Robert Tonner dolls. I especially liked the ones that were in the DC and Marvel comics line. My favorite was Mera of Aquaman fame. My curio cabinet was full of them. People, even guys, marveled at the beauty of them. I sold all but one, and made a great profit. I just got tired of looking at them, now the curio cabinet is an eclectic collection of stuff, I do have one Tonner doll and one FM vinyl Scarlett O'Hara doll in there with a FM vinyl Jackie O doll I got at a yard sale.

 

Your dark garnets are usually from Gablonz. I'm not letting you come visit, you'd steal mine.

I cite Pandora as over priced junque.

 

Pandora isn't even junque; it's just junk. Lump Chamilia and Troll beads in with Pandora. You buy it and hope it's worth what you paid someday. Meanwhile, the bottom is falling out, like the other bad stuff in Pandora's Box.