Monday Morning Finds

Here are a few of the treasures that I am listing today. I have some great things to list. I am just a little slow as things have changed greatly with ebay's search platform. We will need to rely on social media more than every now to help you find our listings.

My garden

Just a few instagram shots from my garden. A wonderful bi-colored succulent and I have to say that I think that sunflowers are pretty even when they are dried up and wilted.

Awesome Estate Ring of Greek God Hermes

I just listed this amazing sterling silver ring which is a bust of Greek god Hermes. As well as a few more treasures.

Today's Fresh Finds

I am listing mostly on Etsy today, with a few going up on ebay. There is a 40% off sale going in my ebay store until Monday.

Fresh From an Estate Hoard

More fresh finds from an estate hoard. Amazing things coming up!

Goodbye Ebay Best Offer

Yesterday, after a horrible email from an ebay buyer resulting in a long discussion with ebay about the changes to best offer, I decided to totally discontinue the best offer option. It was a good and fun thing, but the changes have major flaws. Here's what happened: A low ball offer came in on a ring and the system auto declined. The buyer sent another offer and I accepted. Now the listing was about to end when he did that. While waiting for him to confirm the item and pay for it that listing did end. It was on sale at the time that he made the offer. The new listing was at full price and not including in a sale because it was new. Here is the email that I received:
"-Dear yourgreatfinds, what the f*** made an offer i received 2 emails one said declined the other said you agreed to my offer go to pay then its declined plus you listed at a higher price so whats the go im making a complaint to ebay cause it it was the other way around and i commited to buy your item and then i say are f**k it there is cheaper one iv seen i dont want that now youd have the shits not good mate its stinks if you made a mistake send me a email and say it or addmit to it . I dont whats going on with your sale - ajprice1963"
To which I replied as follows "Dear ajprice1963, First of all, I do not appreciate your language and I do hope that you will file a complaint with ebay. I did nothing wrong. I accepted your offer, but before you came back and confirmed your intent to buy and sent payment, the listing ended as it was a 30 day listing and today was it's day to end. Once that happens the system cancels the offers. This is a major flaw in the new best offer system. I am in the process of discontinuing using it. So please let ebay know that you are unhappy with what the system did, for it was better the way it worked before. The item has been re-listed, but after speaking to ebay about you and your message, ebay and I have removed best offer from all of my listings. The listing is at full price now and will be on sale at some point in the future, however I do not tolerate being treated as you have treated me from anyone so you have been blocked from buying anything from my store. Thank you for serving as an extreme example to ebay of why the new best offer option was a bad change. Best of luck to you. - yourgreatfinds"
And this is what came back to me :"Dear yourgreatfinds, Oh you poor boy im so scared you blocked me wow touchy amercians all the same your fullvof it b**** mate australian sellers arnt like that you have listed even higher rhan what you had in the first place your a scamer norhing more"
...and this followed immediately:
"Dear yourgreatfinds, I wouldnt buy anything from you afrer that scamer no wounder people get the shits with you lot all high a mighter. Carnt take it soft"
***Now I understand that this poor fool is nearly illiterate and that it is difficult to read what he has written, but to be so hostile and to even insult Americans over this is over the top. I won't tolerate this abuse. This one is extreme, but not the only one. Ebay made this change and it is only causing problems and confusing buyers.
So, if you see an item in my ebay store that you fancy and desire to make an offer on it, please send me a message explaining your wishes and I will try to give you a deal if it is at all possible. We will work it out. We will have to work together the old fashioned way now. I like it better because we have to talk and get to know each other a bit. I am sorry if discontinuing "best offer" is an inconvenience to you, but we can work it out. Thank you for your loyal patronage.

Finally, a bit of SUN!!!

We got some sun today, so I ran out with shy girl and shot some photos before more clouds came along. Here are some, only part, of the treasures that I will be listing this weekend.

Waiting for the sun.

So it is a cloudy, gloomy day and I need sun to shoot that Victorian jewelry. I just did a Dark Beauty style photo shoot indoors and will be listing the following on etsy as I wait for the sun.

Fresh Estate Finds

I just received a private collection of antique cameos, Victorian garnet jewelry, chinese export jewelry and a few pieces of Navajo and Zuni jewelry. This collection was inherited by the daughter of an antique dealer/collector and was stored for many, many years. She is now selling some of this huge hoard and I am the fortunate one to be able to purchase these amazing items. I will begin shooting and listing today. I will update here on my blog as to which pieces are being listed after the photo shoot each day. They will be offered in my ebay and etsy stores. The majority of them will be on ebay simply because I am restricted to only 5 photos on etsy. (they really need to fix that.) Here is a group shot of some of the hoard. Get ready. It's amazing stuff that you just don't available every day and every single piece is good.

Dead Pawn: My Pet Peeve

One of the things that annoys me greatly is when I see jewelry dealers offering Native American jewelry as "Old Pawn" or "Dead Pawn" when they really do not understand what it is. I see this practice everyday; tourist grade jewelry listed as pawn. Dead pawn is jewelry that was owned by an Indian, worn by an Indian and pawned by an Indian. Indians use the pawn shop as storage, just as we would use a safe deposit box, except they take money out against the jewelry. They do not leave the jewelry there for the customary 30 days, but they leave it there all of the time except when they take it out to wear for a special occasion. Indian pawn can be at the pawn shop 10, even 20 years. It is basically for safe keeping.
Jewelry that Indians make for themselves and other Indians is the cream of the crop. Heavy and done in a masterful way. It is not the lightweight jewelry that was made to be sold to tourists. There is a huge difference. I am very careful when I use the word pawn. It is best to have the actual pawn ticket from the reservation with the item to prove where it came from, but that is not always possible.
So beware when you are buying "old pawn" and most of the time, don't believe it. Buy from a seller that is knowledgable if authenticity is important to you.
And if you are a seller that is loosely using this as a keyword search, know that sophisticated buyers know the difference and using this term only makes you look less knowledgable. Here is a photo of a real "Dead Pawn" piece, a Naja Necklace. It is early and heavy. It does not have a pawn ticket, but there is no question as to it's authenticity as the real thing: Old Pawn.

Fresh Finds on a Sunny Afternoon

Here are today's fresh finds from my double photo shoot. It was foggy and dark all morning so I did a dark beauty photo shoot. Finally this afternoon the sun came out and I finished the other half of my shoot. These treasures will be listed on both ebay and etsy.