eBay Snakes And Ladders

If you've been following this blog lately you'll know that, after being inspired by shows like Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt we've been seeing if we can do any better than the people on the telly.  After my first week when I managed to make about £100 profit (not taking the cost of fuel and admissions to antique fairs into account), I was sufficiently upbeat to give it another try and I am now selling another seven bits and pieces. Four were bought on eBay for a total of £43 and the other three are from my own collection and cost me £110 which means a total outlay of £153. At the moment bidding is up to £78 so I am technically £80 down but I am confident that with the numbers watching the items I should move into profit by next weekend when the sales end.

But it really is like a game of snakes and ladders. Last week I found this beautiful Stilton Dish made by Dudson in around 1890 and worth two or three hundred pounds. The eBay seller made a mistake in the listing and I managed to buy it for £31 including carriage. I was pleased with the buy as we do a bit of entertaining and I thought that we might actually keep this for serving cheese to guests. So fortunes were heading up the ladder.

But then it arrived and it was onto a snake. Okay the seller refunded me immediately but why didn't he put FRAGILE on the box and wrap it carefully? 

Then there was this interesting little figurine. I am not sure if it is anything or not but it was worth a punt at £14. Now the seller tells me that she is so busy that she can't post it so she has refunded me. Marvellous! It's not as if finding these things takes a couple of minutes - I've probably looked at over a thousand items for every one that I have made a bid on. So that's another snake.

Then this little cream boat arrived. It cost £76 but I think it's rather special and dates from about 1760. I've got high hopes for this one. I will wait and see how the other bits and pieces sell before I put it up for sale but perhaps I'm back on a ladder.

I don't think that I will be doing this Lovejoy stuff for long but I have enjoyed it immensely. It's a bit like a treasure hunt. We've driven to a few antique fairs and visited antique centres as far afield as Long Melford and Clare. The problem is that, if I start making profits, I'm running a business and I'm retired now and I really can't be bothered with all the tax returns etc.

All that driving around is thirsty work so we've become coffee shop aficionados and few days are complete without a visit to one. So a special mention to Tiffins in Long Melford for some excellent coffee and cake.

And, again, to the wonderful Pump St Bakery in Orford where we went yesterday. 

And not forgetting Framlingham's finest The Dancing Goat where they kindly tolerate my hogging a table until I've finished the crossword (although we would always leave if there were no seats available for other customers).

Today we've been spoiling ourselves a bit. Leo's Deli opened at ten this morning and we bought some fabulous Pump St Bakery pastries for breakfast and then we enjoyed some excellent Orford lobster from Pinney's washed down with a very fine bottle of white wine from our old friends at Whalley Wine shop. This retirement's not such a bad idea you know.

I've Got The Bargain Hunting Bug Back

In the 90's when eBay first started up I used to spend a lot of my spare time visiting junk shops, antique fairs, auctions, car boot sales and flea markets and buying stuff. Some of it I kept and some I resold online. I was fairly successful and I soon registered the hobby as a business to make it easier to sort out the tax position. When the whole world and his dog started selling on eBay things became less successful and I wound the business down and sold most of the residual stock. I had had a great deal of fun, made five or six spectacularly good buys which brought big profits and more than a few spectacularly bad ones which brought big losses (fortunately the good far outweighed the bad).

I've never lost the interest in antiques but in the past few weeks we've found ourselves at home a bit more than usual and with the weather being inclement we've been watching episodes of Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt  with the affable and irrepressible Tim Wonnacott. And it revived memories of the caricature I bought for a fiver and sold for over £2,000 and the broken teapot that fetched in excess of £1,300 and it's given me the bug again.

So off we went yesterday to Norwich to the Aztec fair at the Norfolk Showground. There were hundreds of dealers there but we struggled to spot any bargains. 

However, as someone with the buying bug, I couldn't go away empty handed and bought this lovely little cup and saucer for £50 to save a wasted journey. It was made in about 1770 at Derby porcelain factory owner William Duesbury's Chelsea factory and I think it's a super little item and in fine condition for 240 years old. I've also bought three or four bits and pieces on eBay and in total spent about £130 that will be my starting stock. I won't buy anything else now until I've sold the bits I've got. Will I build it up or will it be money down the drain? I'll let you know in a few weeks but at least it should be a bit of fun until the weather improves and we can get out on our bikes again.

At least the weather has been perfect for movie fans and today we went to Ipswich to see Dallas Buyers Club at Cineworld. Matthew McConaughty has been nominated for an Oscar for his role as Ron Woodroof a tough and homophobic Dallas cowboy who is shocked to find that he has AIDS and is given just thirty days to live. Unwilling to curl up and die he does everything in his power to try and get hold of drugs and medications that will help him and eventually becomes a crusader on behalf of himself and other AIDS sufferers to distribute unapproved medications by way of a "buyers club". Along the way he comes into contact with plenty of gays and his attitude to them changes as he strikes up a friendship with transgender Rayon played by Jared Leto (also Oscar nominated). It's based on a true story (although I believe that the story has been heavily altered) and it's yet another fabulous performance.

In the last few months we've seen Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips,  Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf Of Wall Street, Bruce Dern in Nebraska, Christian Bale in American Hustle and Chiwetel Ejiofor in Twelve Years A Slave as well as McConaughty today. It's a really close call for the Oscar as all were excellent but I think that McConaughty will just edge it.