Ebay Home Runs What Keeps Me Running!

We all need those special scores in order to keep the adrenaline pumping and keep the thrill of the hunt alive. It also makes it exciting to hear about what has been a "home run" for someone else. What we call a home run in the business, is something that we have found in the field and purchased then resold for a good price!

Needless to say, home runs don't come along everyday. It would be wonderful if they did!   However, if that  was the case then hunting new things would become routine after a while. This way "home runs" or "scores" are still what makes a treasure hunter get out of bed every morning and hunt!

So I am going to share a few of my home runs with you as I know how much fun these are!  I am going to try to do a home run posting at least once a week and would love to hear others home runs as well. I will put information on how to get your home runs published below.

One of my recent home runs is when I researched I found to be very highly sought after by collectors. Harley Davidson merchandise, especially vintage Harley Davidson merchandise is usually sought out by collectors. There are a lot of Harley Davidson collectors out there as well!  Harley items will bring in good money if you find it in good condition. This even includes the tee shirts! 

I found a vintage 1988 Harley Davidson pewter belt buckle in excellent condition at an auction a while back and placed it for sale on Ebay.   I have included a picture of it above. It sold very quickly for $100.00.   I was thrilled! I definitely call this one a home run!  If you want to see more treasures like this, come visit my store, Kim's Kreations & Rare Finds!

So tell me about your home runs! Send me your information with your closed listing and I will include them in my next home run blog post! I want to hear all about them. Lets share the wealth! 

The Thrill Of the Hunt The Doldrums of The Mundane A Day in the Life

 A Day in the Life of a Treasure Hunter!

Any treasure hunter will tell you that their palms get itchy when they start thinking about getting out and finding new treasures. It gets the adrenaline flowing when you start looking at new sales every week or you are planning your route to your favorite thrift stores or yard sale to see what new goodies have been stocked on the shelf that very morning! Or you might be a storage auction hunter planning your route for the day.

You rush to get ready, grab a cup of Joe and run out the door. After what is hopefully a very fruitful day you arrive back home hot, tired, hungry, and with a vehicle full of merchandise to fill your inventory shelves with!  After driving, walking, searching and digging through countless amounts of new goodies, you hopefully have found some great new things to stock your store. You grab all those bags and boxes and pack up your truck and start the long drive home. Once you get back home and lug those bags or boxes into the door, that lovely adrenaline starts to fall through the floor!

Now it is time for the real fun to begin!  It is time now for the inspection, cleaning and photographing process to take place. You grab a quick bite to eat and stare at the mountain of boxes and ask yourself where do I start first? Do I start scrubbing the ten years of dirt off those pottery pieces or do I start an inventory of the set of dishes and wash them first?

The thrill of the hunt wears off quickly and the mundane starts to set in. It is time to roll up your sleeves, grab some gloves and get to work! A picker or treasure hunter's job is never an easy one!  OK, you decide to start soaking the pottery because you know underneath all that grime there is a gorgeous piece! It will be worth the wait and the work!  Tell that to my hands later please!

Once clean up is complete, time to get those lovely photos done so they can be put up for sale. We all know that photos are the best part of an Ebay listing. 30 minutes later photos are complete. The dishes are washed and now time to get some listings completed. Wow now you can sit down now finally!   Oh no, you forgot to measure all the merchandise. Time to go back and do that!  Oh my, the life of a picker is so much fun!

Two hours later the listings are done. Time for a nap!!!!  Then time to start it all over again  and get ready to pack up some things ready to ship that have sold. It is also time to answer those 10 questions that have come in about the items that you have up for sale. Ahhh, the life of a treasure hunter! I would not have it any other way.

Treasure Hunters or Pickers Going Green Rescue, Recycle, & Reinvent!

I just found out that Anderson Cooper recently dedicated a show to Treasure Hunting (yard sale and flea market shopping). He had Lara Spencer from the Antiques Roadshow who has authored a book called "I Brake for Yard Sales" on his show. He also had a segment set up showing a flea market on stage. Dan who is one of the storage auction buyer's that I follow was on the show as well. His part of the segment was cut unfortunately! Paul Brown from Auction Kings which airs on The History Channel had a segment and was his usual entertaining self. Lara talked about her philosophy on shopping at yard sales and flea markets and it struck a cord with me. Here is a link to Dan's You Tube video about attending Anderson's TV show.

One of the highlights of the whole show was an audience member who had found a Picasso print worth over $10,000 at a local thrift store! We all know this is not something that happens every day but it keeps all of our adrenaline pumping and hopes alive for our own treasures and "home runs" as we pickers or treasure hunters like to call our scores of the day.

One thing that Lara brought out was how old vintage items can be reinvented or repurposed. This really resonates with me. I really dislike the fact that we have become such as disposable society. I was brought up with the principle that you looked at things with the eye of recycling or repurposing them after use if possible. My grandparents lived during the depression during some very lean years. They learned to live with very little. They taught us to be frugal and to use everything that we had wisely. That is one reason I really hate to see beautiful things from the past going into a landfill somewhere.

Lara really seems to think along the same lines. She goes to sales with the mentality that she is rescuing items from another person's trash. Other items she takes and recycles them or reinvents them as she calls it. This is something else that we have in common. She is really creative and takes things that others would just toss aside and makes them a decorator's dream.  For years, I have been reinventing vintage or antique items and giving  them new life as handcrafted projects or decorative arrangements for the home.

I feel that this is one way that we can keep things green. Less things go into the landfill and our history is preserved and not forgotten. How can we teach our children about our past if we have thrown it all away? Some days I wonder what we will have to hand to the next generation? Will it be a remote to a television or a video game? I hope that we have much more to offer them!

Here is a link to a segment of the Anderson show with Lara! Take a look!  Lara also gives viewers some great tips on how to reinvent their yard sale finds into new projects that can be used to decorate the home. Take a look.

Vintage Anchor Hocking and Indiana Glass Midcentury at its Finest!

Some of the best, most beautiful and fun finds that I see on a frequent basis are Anchor Hocking and Indiana Glass. Anchor Hocking has been in business in the US since 1905. They still produce wonderful glass products today. Some of the most gorgeous midcentury glass sets in my humble opinion were produced by Anchor Hocking.

I love the quality and color of the kitchen ware that was produced by Anchor Hocking in the 1960's and the 1970's. The fabulous emerald greens and deep blues are colors that can still be displayed proudly in kitchens and dining areas today and never look dated. I absolutely love the deep greens that they produced and picked up these Manhattan Tartan drinking and juice glasses recently that I think are just divine!

Take a look at them here! 


I also love Indiana Glass and the cube design of their Whitehall line that they produced in the 60's. I have found and sold several sets of these. They are a gorgeous dark green color and some people mistake this line for American Fostoria. The designs are similar but Indiana only made the dark green line. They still have a following and are hard to find for the average consumer so if I am lucky enough to find a set I always pick them up!

Check the out here!

Both of these sets are for sale in my Ebay Store Kim's Kreations & Rare Finds!

MidCentury Modern Is Sizzling Hot Right Now A Pickers Paradise!

Knowing what to pick is half the battle for a modern day treasure hunter on the prowl. Learning which themes and styles are desired are a must for anyone who wants to be a "picker" is a must! Midcentury modern style is a big seller today. If you don't know what midcentury modern is, google it!

In a nutshell, the sleek styles from the 50's and 60's that have that different look are being picked up by collectors today at fabulous prices. Things that really tend to sell well are Danish items especially those made of wood.

Lamps from that era are another good seller. Things that are made of chrome and brass with nice lines never tend to go out of style. People tend to always like shiny things and most well made metal lamps tend to hold up well.

Here is an example of a midcentury modern banker's style brass table lamp that I picked up recently. As you can see it has the vintage green glass shade with the chain pull that collectors are looking for. It is up for sale in my Ebay store right now. Give it a look!

Another type of lamp that is hot with collectors now are the antique and vintage phone lamps. Most of these are actual working phones that were repurposed and made into table lamps. Who doesn't love those old phones that we grew up with? They make us reminiscent of childhood and of a simpler, sometimes happier time! I distinctly remember being a teenager telling my friends all my secrets while listening on the phone for the little old ladies who lived next door making sure they didn't pick up on the line. We had a party line back in the day and I didn't want the whole neighborhood knowing my business!

Take a look at the great phone lamp that I found recently. It is definitely a one of a kind! I have it in my Ebay store now and I am sure that it will be making it to its new home soon! These are just examples of the fantastic treasures you can find if you are a picker in the know and keep a good eye out there for those finds!