Vintage Items That Sold Before and During Shelter In Place

Well. Yuck. Where to start? Here are the vintage items that sold in February and March 2020 – before and well into sheltering in place. If you know me at all, have read a few of my posts, you know how wishy-washy I am about selling. I’m tired. Sometimes I only want to keep the booth and give up online selling. Some days I only want to sell online and give up the booth. Other days I feel like Supergirl and think I can do both and do them well. Then there’s the extreme where I want no part of either. These moods can change from day to day and even change in the middle of the day! The result is that I limp along, not doing either very well. All that is to say —– As a reminder, these posts are NOT brag posts. If I were selling $10,000 a month, I might be crossing the line into Bragville, but when I’m barely making rent or not even that, obviously, these are simply to share some things that have sold for me and might sell for you, too.

First up is the booth for February. I did actually get a check from the booth. Only $97, but it was still a check! I’ll take it!

Two green hobnail vases. (Only one is pictured, but the other was identical.)
$9.00 each

I had a bunch of these rusty springs. One sells every now and then. Just as soon as the mall closed, I wanted to go get one to make a thing I saw on someone’s blog – I don’t remember where now – to fill it with stuff for birds to make a nest with. But I wasn’t going to request the mall to open for me just for that.

Rusty Spring
$2.00

So, this large, hooked rug, I’ve had at least 20 years. I used it when I had a stand-alone shop. I think I had used it in the house before that, too. It needed a bath really bad, but I’m not strong enough to lift it when it gets wet. And our HOA doesn’t allow a clothesline. (Don’t get me started on HOAs!!) I put it in the booth as-is. It didn’t last long. Especially at this price!

Large hooked rug
$27.00

Three things in the next picture. But I have a better picture of one, so we’ll only talk about two.
1. Box with roses on lid. I talked about buying this on this YouTube video.
2. Tall apothecary jar

Box
$4.00

Tall jar
$14.00

Small, blue, potted geranium tablecloth
$9.00

You can’t tell much about what this is, but it’s a lion ….. towel ring?

Brass lion towel ring
$5.00

Two things here. The pink and black glasses and the chest. The chest was actually my daughter’s that she picked up at an estate sale, so $69 of the check went to her. It’s a new-ish, inexpensive chest.

Painted chest
$69.00

Pink and black glasses
$45.00

I also talked about buying this ice bucket in the same YouTube video as above. I got it and the roses box at the same place, same day in January. Both sold within a month.

Vintage ice bucket
$10.00

Boopie glass salt shaker
$3.00

4 Boopie glass stems
$10.00

This “not marble” bust lasted about a day. I don’t know what it was made of, but wasn’t heavy enough, in my opinion, to be marble. And I grew up in a marble town. Probably plaster.

Bust
$23.00

I really thought I’d messed up when I got home from the estate sale and realized the radio I paid $2 for was a reproduction and not really worth diddly. Apparently, people who come to our mall like these reproduction things. It didn’t last long. At all.

Reproduction radio
$8.00

Yellow flowerpot
$7.00

Not pictured:

• KTE Co. stencil (Don’t ask. I can’t explain it.) – $1.00
• Ironstone butter pats – $8.00
• Vintage cotton duck fabric. I’m not sure if it was fabric with ducks on it or if it was a 70s floral “cotton duck” fabric – $9.00
• Square, iron, no-brand skillet that had been there a couple of years at least. I reduced the price to $10.00 and it sold.
• Glass cloche – $14.00
• Bird nest I got at a Hallmark store last year for 75% off – $3.00
• Tablecloth, but I have no idea which one – $5.00
• Grapevine wreath that was in my personal craft stash – $4.00
• White glass lamp that I’m sure I have a picture of somewhere, but am too lazy to hunt it – $24.00
• Unworked X-stitch tablecloth – $14.00
• $20 worth of old snapshots
• $20 worth of books
• $219 worth of paint

February online:

Etsy sales:

This is one of those things that should have sold long before it did. I could never figure out why it hadn’t sold, but someone finally saw the unique coolness in it. Jack’s Hamburgers is a Southern thang. Maybe only in Alabama?

Jack’s poster
$27.00

Two sets of these Sevilla shakers. One burgundy set (pictured) and one green set.
$8.00 each set

Ah. This is what we resellers live for. Ok, ok. But we do love these sales! Long story short – and it’s an interesting story you can hear all about on this YouTube video (different from the one linked to above)- I paid $6.00 each for this and a gold set at an estate sale with only a suspicion of what I was getting. This chrome set sold in one day on Etsy.

German, mid-century, chrome, candlesticks by Nagel
$145.00

From the same estate sale, this vintage, iron JayHawks mascot thing that you can also hear about on this YouTube video.

Jayhawk mascot paperweight thing
$20.00

Now let’s go on to March when all he!! broke loose. Or shut down. Whichever way you want to look at it. March won’t take up as much of your time. I don’t even have pictures of most of the things that sold in the booth. So…..

Booth sales:

Brass candlestick with vase center. Lasted a lot longer than it should have.
$12.00

5 small tobacco pouches
$5.00

• $27.00 worth of postcards
• $130.91 worth of paint
• $5.00 worth of snapshots
• $9.00 worth of jewelry
• Decorative Italian tile – nothing special, really, but still nice – $7.00
• New-ish, glass planter – $12.00
• A dishtowel that might not even be mine. It doesn’t sound familiar. $4.00
• Set of 6 silverplate spoons, perhaps the ones pictured with the bust above – $6.00
• Cup and saucer (???) Who knows? Maybe Columbia pattern – $5.00
• Columbia pattern saucer – $1.50

The mall gave us a bit of a discount, comparing our rent to climate-controlled storage and charging us a little more because they were putting our stuff on social media. Which was/is a joke the way they’re doing it. More than a few of us are grumbling about that. I had to pay $195.15. I can store my stuff for a lot less than that. In fact, I could box it up and put it in the attic! Grrrrr…..

I should add that, even though our mall has rules that irritate me horribly, and I don’t care for the way they’ve handled this shutdown, it’s still the best mall I’ve ever had my things in!

Etsy sales:

Met-L-Tone salad set that also lasted longer than it should have
$31.00

Vintage mushroom mug that you can see the narrative of buying it on this YouTube video. Hint: I was totally unsure of this one.

Mushroom mug
$7.00

Another item I’ll tell you about on the same YouTube video as above. This Dremel shoe polisher. I’ve sold a bunch of these though the years and they’ve held their value. Still worth buying for resale. This one cost $5.00

Dremel shoe polisher
$32.00

Vintage, mod jewelry case
$12.00

And that’ll do it. I don’t know if I’ll continue to do these sales reports or not. Do you enjoy them? Are they boring? They sure take a long time to put together!

Being home with no other responsibilities, all the time being my own, not supposed to get out, no picking up the granddaughter at school, being her taxi, etc., because all that’s canceled, I’ve done more nesting in the house. I’m hoping to get some pictures and videos up soon. It’s hard to do anything like that with my husband hanging around though. It’s just weird him being here as much as I am! I’m not used to that!

So, tell me how your sales are going during the stay home order. Are you selling online? Do you have a booth? Are they closed? Open? I know some states haven’t suggested or insisted on closure. If they’re open, are they getting customers? If they’re closed, did they give you a discount? Was it enough?

See ya later, gator!