New Lamps for Old? Mass-produced or collectible? What do YOU buy online?

[*CountessA*]

Some of the things I have bought online - sometimes on eBay, sometimes from merchant websites, sometimes on various Amazon sites, sometimes on other online auction sites... in no particular order (and with no claim to be a complete listing):

Classic film DVDs
BBC series on DVD
New release opera CDs or DVDs that I can't find here or which are better value online
Older CDs or DVDs that I've somehow missed out on getting, particularly when they're out of print opera or recital CDs
Printing
Books (both new releases and out-of-print titles)
Collectible items - Victorian penstand, brass hand-held bell, cameo, antique jewellery, Georgian sugar tongs, etc.
Hand-made viola
DVDs and CDs and books and all sorts of things for friends and relatives
Elaborately chased music stand
Sheet music and opera scores
Foreign language stuff, especially German and French and Italian (books, DVDs, games, etc.)
MiPro sound system (from an Australian shop with a website in addition to a b&m shop - the only way I'd order anything electronic when finding it on a website is if the seller has a b&m shop)

That's a small selection, but it shows the range and variety of things...

What about you?

[M@ggie]

Ooooh, I like this thread already!

Let's see ..

A really groovy eggslicer from the 50s. No kitchen is complete without one.
Bendigo pottery - casserole dish, butter dish,salt pig. Would love one of their bread crocks, but never see any near me.
Cornish ware jug.
Old medical texts and paraphernalia (one of them recommended treating lice with DDT!)
Books - cookbooks! Old, new, you name it.
Earth Garden magazines
Old enamel saucepans/implements.




Things I really, really want but can't find ..

An old fashioned kitchen dresser for displaying all my treasures (yesss my preciousss)

An old Napolean hat shaped mantle clock. They're so cute!

[cueperkins]

I have both of those items.....but won't be selling them on ebay....lol...sorry...no paypal for me I'm afraid....I bought both from Garage sales though and paid around 50.00....One has rounded glass doors on each side, and the double glass bit in the middle....stunning piece......worth a fortune the other one, I paid around the same is more art deco..solid wood and I'm still doing it up...got it stripped down though and found new deco handles....you have to work for it these days...lol. 

I have about two dozen chiming mantle clocks and an Angemeldet...one of the best german Torsion clocks and a few other magnificent pieces, collected over 10 years, which I will eventually sell, but as with before, not on EBay anymore......they are going to a Sydney clock auction where they will be handled properly and sold for the right price...and definitely not on Oztion.....can't stand that site...but let's not go there....lol

[M@ggie]

Cupie - what do I need to do to get into your will?

[cueperkins]

Oh a will won't help you......I'm going to sell it all and spend the proceeds before I die....lol....that way I inherit....hehehehe

You'd probably prefer knowing when the garage sale happens....I have other magnificent pieces 140 year old smoking couch (but it gave up)...lol....found in a Chippendale pub being renovated...paid 200.00...now fully restored and worth around 6000.00.  It sits in my pool room.....which basically takes up half of the 1st floor.  Even got the pool table for a steal.

I've been collecting for at least three decades, so I've got some incredible stuff.......you just have to be willing to hunt around for these things, but they are still out there. 

Once a collector, always a collector.   

One thing in particular I started buying on Ebay years back was Aboriginal Art.  I priced posters and prints, and they were ridiculously expensive in comparison to decent Aboriginal Art.....so my 1st floor games room and bedroom, is filled with Aboriginal Art.....not sure how it's going on Ebay these days, but you used to be able to pick up bargains all the time.  I got one by a well known exhibited artist, now deceased, paid $135.00 and it's now worth around $5000.00 or more...Massive Brolga painting from the top end....about four feet by 2.5 feet.   Those were the days...lol

[*wheels*]

Oops, just realised I should've posted in this thread instead of the "what won't you buy online".

[*Ubbie Max*]

Me too Wheels.

These are the things I have bought online. Archery gear, Fishing gear, some sporting clothing but only from reputable sellers I have dealt with before.

[M@ggie]

Oh a will won't help you......I'm going to sell it all and spend the proceeds before I die....lol....that way I inherit....hehehehe

Damn you! Oh well, there goes that cunning plan.

I hardly ever go to garage sales. Getting up with the birds on a Saturday or Sunday just does not compute. There are some markets nearby that have some great old stuff, though. Have had some fantastic finds there - an old hand warmer, Draegar hand ventilator, cheap enamel ware. They're fairly bogan but there's nothing better than diving into a pile of crap to find the gold buried underneath.

Like you, my house is populated with mostly old stuff (although nowhere near the quality you've got, dammit!). I love to hold or use something and imagine it's history, the happy memories it may have made for someone. Spanking new just doesn't do it for me.

[cueperkins]

True....you only have to look at the old Kero Lamps...there are absolutely hundreds of fakes being sold as originals on ebay, but those who have researched the real things know better.  The ones on Ebay are just too perfect to be real...old lamps are .....well.....OLD...!!!  LOL... I have at least a dozen Crown Crystal Kero Lamps....and two brass banquet lamps also kero.....found a lot of those on Ebay in years gone by, and several I bought at Garage sales...I just know the shape and the feel of various things now, so I know what I'm looking at.

Same with West German and Italian retro ceramics..I've got around 3 dozen pieces, including vases, bowls, lamps etc made in the mid 20th century.... ....picked them up at op shops garage sales online etc.....they are an up and coming antique and one day, their value will exponentially increase across the entire ceramic collectible scene....the colours, lava glazes are just incredible....let's face it the Germans and Italians produced the best mid century retro pottery in the world.  Curiously though....the German pottery is not as popular as the Italian, and yet in most cases, the glazes are more interesting, more colourful and more innovative for their time.

As for getting up at sparrow fart to go to garage sales.....I don't get to do it all the time, but I enjoy it as a day out....I bump into so many people I know at garage sales (we're rural/coastal)...all fellow collectors, some who onsell on ebay etc.......it's a bit of a community...lol.   I used to sell things I didn't want to keep any longer on Ebay, but now they sit in boxes in the garage until I can find a suitable venue to sell them, and increase my other collections etc.  In fact, since Ebay changed it's policies and imposed Paypal....my entire collecting relationship with them has stopped....so I have no choice but to return to collecting the old fashioned way.  Getting up early isn't a problem for me....I get up at sparrow fart everyday anyway....love the morning.

[*CountessA*]

Old stuff has a different smell - have you noticed? Just inhale the scent of old books... It's delicious, unable to be replicated by new books.

Old furniture, too... I'm not sure why, but what a fantastic assault on the senses. (As long as the seat upholstery isn't full of dead things, of course - then it's not a fantastic assault.)