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.