Rare Chinese bowl, $3 at tag sale, sells for $2.2M

[formercia]




Associated Press – 12 hrs ago




NEW YORK (AP) — A rare Chinese bowl bought at a tag sale for $3 has sold at a New York auction for more than $2.22 million.
The 1,000-year-old bowl was part of the opening session of Sotheby's fine Chinese ceramics and works of art auction Tuesday.
Sotheby's says it was sold to a London dealer for $2.225 million, far above the presale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.
The person who put the bowl up for auction bought it at a tag sale in 2007 and had it displayed in the living room for several years before becoming curious about its origins and having it examined.
--snip--
http://news.yahoo.com/rare-chinese-bowl-3-tag-sale-sells-2-015206904.html

[dembotoz]

1. who would have thought --something made in china that has not fallen apart

[MineralMan]

3. Now, there's an intelligent comment...

[malaise]

4. China has produced magnificent 'china'

We have a very old Chinese buddha that some very old Chinese folks gave my dad's father and mom gave us.

[jollyreaper2112]

10. ha!

That's because it was made pre-crapitalism.

[MineralMan]

2. And that's why I stop at those sales and

visit thrift stores. I've not found anything that marvelous, but I've made some great finds. Often, I buy interesting items that I'm not certain have a lot of value, and then do the research later. If I know an item is extremely valuable, though, I inform the seller of that. I'm not into snatching up valuable items from unsuspecting sellers if the potential value is very, very much higher than the asking price (a factor of about 100 applies). It's a rule I have for myself, and I've applied that rule a number of times, to my detriment and to the seller's benefit.

[Tanuki]

15. There have been some thrift store or flea market purchases

of early "official" copies of the Declaration of Independence that were bought for a pittance but then resold for a fortune. One of them occurred right in my town in Tennessee, at a thrift shop I have been to many times. I'm sure I would have thought it was just a reproduction that someone had picked up as a souvenir on a trip to Philadelphia, if I had seen it before the buyer did:
http://www.snopes.com/luck/declare.asp

[MineralMan]

19. Yup. To find the rare stuff, you have to look at everything

and have an eye that is more or less trained to see what is unusual about things. Often a valuable item may not seem to be valuable at all. An eye that sees the subtle differences is something that take time to develop.

A favorite find of mine was a Russell Barlow Knife from pre-1920 that I spotted in a box of tools at an estate sale. 50 cents apiece was the price, so I bought it. I wasn't really knowledgeable about knives, but it had a look about it that made me pick it up. I knew it was a Barlow knife, and I recognized that the handles were bone. I guessed its age correctly, from its appearance. Anyhow, after a bit of research and a question on a knife collectors forum, I put it on ebay. Got $230 for it. That was a decent find.

At another estate sale, I spotted an old, filthy guitar amp, hidden away behind some other stuff in the garage at the sale. I didn't look at it any further, and asked the attendant the price, just pointing to it sitting there. $25, the guy said, so I said, "Write it up, please." When I got it home and cleaned it up, it turned out to be a rare Fender amp from the 1950s. Best of all, it still worked perfectly. So, I spent more time doing detail clean up and put it on ebay. It brought $750. The thing is, it could have been some old Sears amp that needed a complete rebuild. It's the risk you take. If I had pulled it out and wiped the layers of dust off of it, the price would have gone way up at the sale.

I have many other stories, but I gave up trying to make a living doing that. Such finds are rare, and I'm far from the only person out there doing the rounds of estate sales, etc. There just wasn't enough to find with margins large enough to make it worthwhile. So, now, I'm just stopping at the sales I encounter, rather than trying to be systematic. I still make a few thousand a year, though, that way.

[pansypoo53219]

17. you need to try estate sales. + now, i have discovered sales at assisted living nursing complexes.

tho, estate sales are my fav. house tours w/ shopping. just did a sale of a bell obsessive collector.

[MineralMan]

21. See my post #19, just above.

I tried that as a job for a while. It didn't work out. Finding enough items with a price margin large enough to make a decent living is almost impossible. Too many ebayers out there doing the same thing, and some of them have eyes as good as mine. It's fun, though. Now, I just stop at sales I encounter in the Twin Cities as I drive around. I still find some great things and still sell those things on ebay, but it doesn't work as a full-time thing. I'm just not interested in dealing with all the low margin items you have to process to make enough from it.

There are great things to be found, though. At one sale, I encountered a 50s radio that caught my eye. The thing that interested me was that it only had the FM band and was clearly from the late 1940s or 1950s. It was a Philco. It was priced at $10 at that estate sale, so I bought it, just in case. Well, it turned out that it was Philco's first FM radio they produced. It was FM only, and was quite a breakthrough, I guess, in its day. It worked perfectly, and cleaned up beautifully. There are many radio collectors, so it generated lively bidding on ebay, and finally went for about $250. To buy well at estate and other sales, you have to have an eye for the unusual items that others miss. It's those first models, out of the ordinary things, and weird stuff that collectors are looking for. Spotting them is an art.

[MineralMan]

5. I would have bought that bowl.

It could have been a relatively worthless reproduction (there are many such) or it could have been authentic. After I bought it, I'd do whatever research was needed to tell the difference. If it was a reproduction, I'd use it as a candy or nut bowl. If not, then off it would go to the auction house, or I'd auction it myself if the value was under about $5000.

It just has the right look to me.

[Hayabusa]

6. And I only find semi-rare computer games...

Why can't that be me?

[tridim]

7. So if I make a single homemade bowl and hide it for 1000 years it'll be worth $2.2 million?

Get back to me Sotheby's.

It's really sick how much filthy-rich people pay for old stuff that they just look at.

And yes, I've made bowls that are better than that one. I'd estimate the value of that bowl at about $4.99.

[bluedigger]

8. I've found many older than that.

They were all busted up into little pieces in the ground, unfortunately.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. yesterday I saw a Royal Haeger fishbowl cat at goodwill for $6

knew I should have snagged it

[sinkingfeeling]

11. And it's not even a pretty bowl! Very plain.

[Brother Buzz]

12. I'd still be using it everyday, it's just the right size for me. Microwaving it, too.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

13. don't microwave anything older than 50 years, and check everything else

I have a beautiful china fruit set that is only 80 years old, but can't be used because of lead in the paint.

[Brother Buzz]

14. A sixty year old Stage IV cancer survivor who smelted tens of thousands of pounds of lead....

isn't all that concerned about a little lead paint. Children, now that's another story.

[nolabear]

16. I'm fascinated by the term "tag sale"? What does everyone call that in your area?

Here in Seattle people say both Yard Sale and Garage Sale, whether they have a garage or not. I've heard Rummage Sale, Junk Sale, Tag Sale...any others?

Btw that bowl is lovely. DOn't I wish I could find something like that? Unfortunately (or not) I hate Garage Sales.

[supernova]

18. In the south

those terms are separate.

Tag sale - A sale at the house/estate/business/farm etc. The sale is administered by a professional auction house or estate liquidator. "Tag" means everything for sale has been analyzed, catalogued, had a price tage put on it. Oh, and displayed properly with like items, like all jewelry, all kitchen ware, etc, all yardwork items, etc. You can do a walk through tour of the place with these sales.

Garage/yard/junk sale - These are all interchangable here tho' mostly they are "yard sales" and put on by the owner of said "junk." In the UK I have heard them referred to as "jumbles" or "boot" sales, i.e. out of your car boot (trunk)

I would love to find one of those $3 Chinese cups. It's a lot harder now, but I harbor a hope of finding an old stained-glass lamp for $20 that is really a Belle Epoch Tiffany Lamp.

[nolabear]

20. I'm from the South but never heard Tag Sale there. Probably no estate experience!

We was po'.