‘PriceMiner Rocks‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

I have always been a big fan of PriceMiner. I met the founder, Jim Kamnikar, for the first time by phone in 2004. He was kind enough to inform his “Go Antiques” mailing list about my first 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay. I thought that was really nice considering we had never met in person.

So, when Mo and I did get to meet Jim and his staff at their booth at eBay Live in San Jose, I was extremely interested in his PriceMiner service. PriceMiner is a research tool for antiques and collectibles. Jim has gathered data from many sources such as Tias.com, GoAntiques.com and eBay.com and put together one of the best unique item research tools out there.

Jim and I at eBay Live in Boston.

What is great about PriceMiner is that the data goes back several years. Because eBay only lets us see two weeks of completed auction research it isn’t very helpful. And, their new service called “Marketplace Research” only goes back 90 days. I got a free trial these past few months because I upgraded to an anchor store. I have tried to use it about 12 times and every time it is down and non-functioning. That never happens with PriceMiner!

Whenever I can’t find an item on eBay, Google or Replacements, I can almost always (90% of the time) find it on PriceMiner. This past week, it really became apparent as I was searching though pages and pages of International Silver on Replacements.com to find that pattern I talked about earlier.

Click to see how much it sold for.

When I search on Replacements, the #1 thing I do is a global search using keywords and hope that the item will come up quickly. Something on the back of this set of silver was a word I had never seen on IS (International Silver). It said DeepSilver. So when I typed in IS and DeepSilver about six patterns came up. But none of them were my pattern. Darn it! This means that I have to go to my Replacements step #2 and bring up the entire International Silver catalog and scroll through the thumbnail photos.

This can and does take HOURS!!! I was getting so frustrated that for the first time–I thought I would see what returned from a global search on PriceMiner.

By the way, the problem with some of these global searches on Replacements is that Replacements only uses a certain number of characters in their descriptions (much like a 55 character title on eBay). So instead of saying Deep Silver they may say DS or not even mention it. Another example is for Metlox/Poppytrail/Vernon–Replacements uses Metlx/Poppytr/Vernon and they aren’t even consistent on this.

Another example is with colors and other descriptive phrases, if I type in Corning Peach Floral, Replacements may have it as Corning Orange Flowers. It gets very tricky with these global searches on Replacements because you are not searching both a title and a description like you get to do on eBay or PriceMiner.

So, I opened up PriceMiner and typed in International and Deepsilver. Up came quite a few completed auctions. Not all had pictures, so I quickly scrolled through 3-4 pages and wrote down the 7 different pattern names I found:

Laurel Mist

Delicato

Camille

Rochambeau

Triumph

Anniversary Rose

Countess

Then I headed back to Replacements.com and quickly pulled up each one. #4 Rochambeau was a match!! I just saved myself at least an hour in research!! I got that entire set listed a week ago. I paid $50 for it and quite a bit of it sold for $187.00 on Christmas Eve. And I still have about 12 auctions left to relist in my store at $9.99 each so I will eventually gross over $300 for this set.

I do want to let you know that PriceMiner does charge a small monthly fee. However, that hour saved in research meant that I could list 15 items that will eventually bring me AT LEAST $150. What is an hour of your time worth?

Here is another great way I used PriceMiner this same week. From the same place I purchased the flatware, I also got a crystal egg marked FRANCE. It was on a pewter stand that said 1993 on the base. I was sooo excited. I paid $1 and I thought I had a Baccarat or Lalique piece on my hands. NOT even close.

So, I get on eBay and do completed auction research–Nothing. I Google it–Nothing and too many pages to wade through anyway. I head over to PriceMiner (where I should have gone first) and…..

You guys won’t believe this!! I type in Crystal Egg 1993 into PriceMiner and look what comes up:

Avon Majestic Crystal Egg 1993 NR

Sold For: $20.00 USD – Date: 1/14/2006 9AM – Channel: Online Auction – Source: eBay

Category: Contemporary Collectibles – Original Category: Collectibles : Decorative Collectibles : Avon : Other Avon Items

All Avon items listed are from a former (20+ year) District Manager. Thank you for your interest, this item (pictured above), is… Avon Majestic Crystal Egg from 1993. Beautiful 24% lead crystal egg is 3″ high and has a beautiful pewter stand which is 1-1/2″ high. No Reserve!

NOTE: If you have ANY questions not answered, please check with me before placing your bid. Thank you! All items are sold As Is. No returns. No refunds. Quoted part of description is from Bud Hastin’s 16th Edition

Avon Collector’s Encyclopedia, and is (c) 2001 Bud Hastin.

Oh crud! I had an Avon egg. But I didn’t waste hours and hours researching losing more valuable money in the process. PriceMiner is a winner and I encourage you to all check it out.

By the way here is my Avon egg’s photo and you can click to see what it is selling for. I am sure I will get at least $10 for it–not bad on a $1 investment. Although, I was hoping for a $1,000 Baccarat egg!

And here is some great news… Jim is going to give away a 2 year PriceMiner subscription to one of our lucky ezine subscribers. The link to sign up for the drawing will be in the next ezine.

Happy New Year!!!

Here’s to a very successful 2008 on eBay and off!

Happy eBaying!

‘Use eBay’s Best Offer Feature to your Advantage‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

I realize that this doesn’t have anything to do with our feature article, but I just had to share this before getting started on my writing. My mom and I were at a garage sale recently and you know I always buy coffee mugs if they have a great theme, good signature or good maker’s mark.

I was a little burned out (it was late in the morning) and my mom pulled out a “Diet Coke” coffee mug from a box on the ground. She said “You need this.” Well, I do drink a lot of Diet Coke but not out of a coffee mug and I don’t drink coffee so I didn’t really see the point. I wasn’t going to buy it, but then I saw two very saleable Lucy and Me (Enesco) coffee mugs so I made sure my mom didn’t want the diet coke one and I threw it in with my pile. You see the mugs were 25 cents each so I wanted to buy four to make it an even dollar.

Well, guess what? As of this writing, the “Lucy and Me” mugs have NO bids and the Diet Coke mug is going nuts. Click here to see what it eventually sold for. It may be because I put advertising in the title. I don’t really know, but eBay is continually surprising me and making me very happy!! Which leads me to a feature that I have started using within the past year that is also making me very happy–the “Best Offer” option.

I haven’t been very happy with the new eBay Markdown Manager, and I haven’t been happy with second chance offers either; but this past Fall, I decided to give the Best Offer feature a whirl.

It is funny, but I was actually sitting at my desk waiting to be interviewed by Griff and Lee. Click here to listen to one of the archived interviews. I still get a little nervous before each of these interviews so I decided to do a little eBay work to keep my mind off of it. There wasn’t enough time to do any serious listing, so I started looking at my eBay store and focused on my higher priced items that weren’t selling.

I started at the top and began revising any listing that I wasn’t firm on for the pricing. I worked my way down the list until I got to the $99 items. Here is an example of how Best Offer works.

1) Click on your item or input the item number. 2) Click on “Revise Your Listing”. FYI, you can only use Best Offer on fixed price listings (so anything that you have in your eBay Store is a candidate or anything at auction with a fixed price).

Once the “Revise your Listing” page comes up, just scroll down to the yellow heading that says “Choose How You’d Like to Sell.” Click on the box that says “Allow buyers to send you their best offer.” Once you do that, a screen like the one shown below will appear.

Now, you have three options:

#1: Let all offers come to you and you make a decision on a case by case basis. To choose this option, do not check either of the two boxes shown above. You can see on your “My eBay” page where eBay will tell you if you have any best offers.

#2: “Automatically accept offers of at least” a certain price. To use this option you will check that first box and input the least amount you will take.

#3: Finally, you can check the box that says “Automatically Decline Offers of less than” and you input your price.

I always choose the third option and I will explain why. If you choose the first option, you will be wading through a lot of offers that you already know that you won’t accept. If you choose the second option, you may leave money on the table. Let me show you this with an example.

My mom decided to sell a cranberry Mary Gregory pitcher that had belonged to my Grandmother. We priced it at $499 and it didn’t sell for over a year. We finally added the “Allow Best Offer” feature this summer. We said to automatically decline offers of less than $399. If we had said to automatically accept offers of at least $399, we may have only gotten $399 for it. The lady who ended up buying it input an offer of $450. It was so close to our asking price that we immediately took it.

Here is a tip. Try and put in odd numbers for the decline amount. For example, for the elephant that you saw pictured above, I said to decline anything less than $74. I do this because I believe that people will offer amounts like $25, $50, $75, $100 etc. The lady that bought the elephant obviously kept trying in dollar increments until her offer wasn’t automatically declined.

She offered me the very least I was willing to consider. Now, at this point I could have countered, but let me tell you, I was so glad to be done tripping over that “white elephant” (well he is actually brown) in the eBay room that I was happy to take her offer!

Here is another example of an item that we recently sold. It was a figural Victorian toothpick holder. My minimum amount to decline was $74.00. Click here to see what it ended up selling for

Click here to see what it ended up selling for.

You will see the best offer price under my original asking price.

My plan before the holidays was to get through my entire store list to the $49.99 price points and add “Best Offers” on those items that I am willing to deal on. However, I didn’t get past all of my $99 items-I actually only added that feature to about 20 items. AND Look, I sold two of those in the past two weeks. So, I highly recommend that you do this to some of your slow moving merchandise also.

Here’s to a very successful 2008 on eBay and off!

Happy eBaying!

‘How not to get 5 negative feedbacks in one week‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

As you all know, I started selling on eBay back in September of 1998. It took us until about November of 1999 before we got our first negative feedback. I still remember sitting in my grandfather’s old office in the antique store (that was now my office) staring at the computer screen. I think I may have even cried. I was upset for about two weeks!

The first negative feedback ever left for TheQueenofAuctions came from a woman who we bent over backwards to accommodate. Isn’t that always the way? She had bought an expensive doll from my grandmother’s collection and we had wrapped it incredibly well and shipped it UPS with insurance. Well, back then UPS could take 7 to 10 working days across country and she was NOT happy that it didn’t get to her the day after she purchased it Her negative feedback was all about how long it took to ship. Not about the product at all.

Oh well, I got over it and up until about two weeks ago, I only had 25 negatives in nine years of doing business. Not bad! And a 99.8% positive rating.

But, before I get too far into this article, I am going to explain the feedback system in case there are any of you reading this who are new to eBay.

Feedback is the system that eBay uses to regulate itself. It is the method eBay uses to stay a safe place to buy and sell. A user’s feedback is the number found next to their User ID. Once a transaction is completed, both the buyer and seller can leave feedback for one another:

+1 point for a positive

0 for a neutral

-1 point for a negative

The feedback score is the total of all the ratings that a member has received from unique users. What this means is that if I sell 15 items to one buyer and they are very happy and leave me 15 positive feedback comments, it will only count as one point.

So, as an example, I have only 14,878 next to my user ID today, even though I have had 21, 545 positive comments left for me. Many of them were from repeat customers and that is why there is a 6,670 difference in the two numbers.

I have often discussed this with Griff. It doesn’t make sense to me that we would be penalized (in a sense) for having happy repeat customers. Oh well, it is the way it is.

Now back to my road to 15,000! We hit the 10,000 mark in December of 2005. It took us seven years to get there.

I just found out today that my brother captured a screen shot of us hitting 10,000. How cool is that? I hope he is not on vacation when we hit 15,000!

It was funny, I said to my son Houston when it happened “It will probably take us another 7 years to hit 20,000,” and he said, “No it won’t, mom.” And you know what? I think he may be right!

Here is the reason. Or maybe I should say “was” the reason. I use Selling Manager Pro and I love it. About three years ago I started automating my feedback. There are two choices to doing this. One is to automatically leave feedback when the buyer pays and the other is to automatically leave feedback once the buyer has left you positive feedback.

Well, me being the trusting, naïve person that I am–I chose the “leave them feedback once they have paid.” It worked great for a while and as an example in the past 12 months we have received 4,456 positive points. Now remember, not all of these will count towards my visible total.

In the 3rd week of November, we received five negative feedback points in one week, taking my 25 negatives up to 30. I was devastated. It was raining negativity. However, my overall positive percentage is still the same at 99.8%. That makes it a little bit better. But not much.

So, what went wrong, you may ask? I think that as eBay has grown, more and more new eBayers are buying and once they see that I have left positive feedback they really have no reason to even contact me–they can just leave the negative.

It still amazes me that a new eBay buyer will not contact the seller before leaving the negative feedback. And what we have also found is that they are getting more and more impatient. At the Queen of Auctions we don’t answer emails from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. The buyers that are upset expect you to be at your computer from dawn until dusk.

Some of our recent negatives came from people who threatened us with “If I don’t hear back from you in 24 hours I am leaving negative feedback!” Yikes. They should get a life!

And almost all of the negatives were from the Dept. 56 Villages I sold recently. Remember this picture of them all?

What we didn’t know or realize until later was that some of the villages came with transformers and we didn’t find the transformers until after we had a lot of unhappy customers. We ended up refunding $15 to about ten buyers to purchase replacement transformers before I found the bag of them. It was a learning experience and a growing experience.

Carmen never wants to see another Dept. 56 village and I don’t blame her. So, I have moved all that are left for sale out into the garage and to further protect us from negative feedback (especially during this busy holiday season)–I have changed the feedback setting in Selling Manager Pro.

I now do NOT automatically leave positive feedback until positive feedback has first been left for me. I know that this will slow down the growth of our feedback number drastically. However, it is a trade off. Grow your feedback faster or reduce negative feedback. For today, I am choosing to reduce negative feedback.

Oh, on a better ending note. Here is how I nipped some potential negative feedback in the bud. A woman bought an entire dinner set from us. We quoted her $59.95 UPS s/h/I and she became upset. Started complaining even before it was shipped. It took 3 boxes to pack it all up safely (costing us about $55.00 by UPS), so I went into eBay and requested her phone number.

You can only request the contact information for someone you have a current transaction with. Here is how you do it. Click on the advanced search blue button. On the left hand side you will see Members and under that heading you will see Find Contact Information. Click on this.

You will be taken to a page where you type in the user ID and the current transaction number. Literally, within seconds you receive an email with your buyer’s name, address, email address and phone number. What a score! When you call a buyer that has been threatening you by email–all of a sudden they are your best friend. It is amazing when they can’t hide behind their computers to see how their demeanor changes.

I called my buyer and explained how we only wanted to ship her china safely and what our actual charges were. All of a sudden, everything was right in her world and ours!

The best part of this story is that it only took us two years to get those 5,000 positive feedback points. Houston was right, we will probably make it to our second 10,000 (20,000) in only four years (instead of the seven years it took us for our first 10,000)!!

Happy eBaying!

‘Shipping Monster Items‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

As I mentioned earlier, packing up those nine huge African items turned out to be a nightmare for Mo and Carmen. Those girls are such troopers that I just couldn’t ask them to pack that snake. Or could I? Not a chance!

Check out all the boxes that went out on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

I thought I had a box that the snake would fit in. It was a long thin box that the banners that I hang up at eBay Live had come in. So on Tuesday I went by my storage unit to check it out. The box was only 5″ square and there was no way I was going to get a 10″ (at the widest point) statue into that box.

So, I got on Uline.com to shop for the perfect box. Well, they have these cool telescoping boxes that come 12″ by 12″ by 48″ and then you can put them together up to 96″. Perfect, since the snake was about 72″ tall. Here is a link to all of the telescoping boxes at Uline.

They were only $6.07 each–what a bargain! Problem was that I would have to order 15 at $6.07 and then pay another $28.00 for shipping. I didn’t want to invest $119.05 in an item that I had quoted at $99.00 s/h/I within the US.

Oh, before I forget. I paid $40 for the snake and when I got him listed on eBay (I started him at $49.99) the questions started coming in like crazy. It turned out that he was a famous type of Snake made by the Baga tribe in Guinea Africa. People were asking for shipping quotes to Europe and Thailand. I found that the least expensive shipping to those places would be by UPS. There is a length limit of 48″ on a box to Europe by the United States Postal Service–so that was not an option. It was going to cost about $425.00 in s/h to get this piece to Europe!

So I immediately started thinking that this must be some piece! I did a google search and found that there were a few listed on websites in the $600 to $1,000 range. Score! Or so I led myself to believe. He didn’t sell for anywhere near that amount. Click below to see how much.

Here is a link to see what it sold for and to learn more about him.

So even though he didn’t sell for a small fortune, I am very happy that he was going to a rattlesnake museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico. http://www.rattlesnakes.com/ So if you are ever in that area, please go buy and say hello to the snake for me! I love it when items I sell on eBay wind up in museums. Pretty cool!

Now, back to finding the perfect box. I wasn’t going to order 15 of them–not only because of the cost but because of the storage space that they would take up. So, I called my local UPS store and she didn’t have any telescoping boxes like the Uline ones, but she did have a 12 by 12 by 48″ for $6.99. I could buy two of those and make my own box. I was excited!

As I was asking my mom to stop by and pick the boxes up when she was out doing errands–Carmen says “Lynn, I just found these 12 by 12 by 48″ boxes in your garage that might work”. How weird was that!? They weren’t the telescoping variety either, but I can’t believe that I had exactly what I needed in my own garage. As my grandmother used to ALWAYS say, “If we don’t have it, nobody needs it!” I think that they were the ones that Mo had ordered a year ago for the Harley motorcycle tanks. Thank you Grandma and Mo!

Anyway, I took photos of my process for shipping this snake so that I could walk you through it step by step.

#1 I bubble wrapped the entire snake

#2 I taped up one of the boxes leaving the top open

#3 I cut a round hole in the center of the end of that box (this would help anchor him in the center without having to use packing peanuts)

#4 I slid the snake in so that part of him was in the box and the other part waiting for the 2nd box

#5 I took Styrofoam out of the box that my new printer came in and cut a piece to go around the snake’s head. I taped this all in place. By doing this I was further anchoring him safely in the center with out using packing peanuts.

#6 I put in my Thank You note, order form and article and taped up box number one. I then stood up the box and boy was that snake secure in the center. He wasn’t going anywhere.

It was about this time that Carmen walked by and said sarcastically, “Are you going to ship him like that?” Ha Ha.

#7 I secured another piece of the Styrofoam from my printer around the base of the snake.

#8 I taped up the base of box number two and completely cut out one end so that I could hang it over the snake.

#9 I had my mom help me pull the box sides around and I taped it up very securely.

#10 I got a black sharpie and wrote this end up on all sides with arrows.

Here he is all ready to go! I was quite proud of myself.

Unfortunately, he ended up being 85 by 12 by 12″ and it cost $75.66 to ship UPS. There was no way I could shave 5 inches off the height and have the head and base be protected. But if I could have, and he had been 80 by 12 by 12″–it would have only been $28.76. Amazing the difference that those 5″ make. Almost $50!

To learn more about shipping, check out my shipping DVD that just came out. And Remember it is 25% off or 40% off if you are a Queen’s Court member.

Happy eBaying!

‘Sell Singly, Profit Exponentially‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

(Ed note: We had an incorrect link to the first half of the pottery article in last week’s newsletter. If you missed it, you can find the first half of this article in ezine volume 3, number 42, here.)

I can’t say this enough and it doesn’t apply to new items just the unique one-of-a-kind items that I sell…..Never sell a set of dinnerware as one auction. Never sell a set of flatware as one auction. Never sell a collection of pigs, books, African art or anything else as one auction. Of course there are some exceptions to this rule. Use your judgment.

OK, Now that we are all on the same page, let’s look at some fun examples. We will start with the African Art pieces from last week. There were nine pieces total and three of the pieces were shields that looked exactly the same. I could have sold them all together in a grouping–but I know better. I broke them out into three separate auctions.

Here is one of the auctions for a shield. It had a crack and yet still sold for the most. Click here to see for how much.

The reason it sold for the most was because the man who bought the other two wanted to win all three. By breaking them out into individual auctions and having the auctions end about 3 minutes apart–the bidding got exciting! The one that sold for the most was the last of the three that I listed–even with the crack.

The other two shields ended up selling for $49.38 total.

The shell piece pictured in the introduction of this ezine went for $152.50.

The fringe mask pictured in the last ezine sold for $24.25.

One of the items that really surprised me was this bell that sold for quite a bit. Click here to see how much. I almost kept it because it was so cool and I was going to use it for a dinner gong outside.

The aborigine statue pictured in the last ezine went for $15.50.

A large mask sold for $22.29 and a very large carved piece pictured below went for $77.88.

Click here to see the closed auction.

Grand total was $465.73 and I only paid $80.00 for the lot. I made 5 times what I paid and my cost of goods sold was only 17%–gross margins of 83%. Try and do that with brand new items. Unique one-of-a-kind items rock!!!

Now, lets talk about the USC (University of Southern California) El Rodeo Yearbooks I got for fr.ee at a sale a few weeks ago. The years were 1932, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970. The one with O.J. Simpson (the year he won the Heismann) from 1969 sold for $24.02, the 1932 for $18.82, and two others didn’t sell but are now in my eBay store at $24.99 each. But the most amazing one–the one from 1967 sold for an incredible amount.

Here is a photo and please click here because you won’t believe it!

Now, here is my point again. I could have sold them as a lot and I NEVER would have gotten as much as I did individually.

And finally we will wind up with dinnerware. Let’s look at that Swid Powell dinnerware from last week’s ezine. I paid $8 for the eight good plates. One had a chip, so I decided to keep it as an example.

I put up 8 different auctions with those plates, starting each one at $9.99. I quickly found out that Swid Powell is a very famous company.

Here is a photo of one of the plates.

Swid Powell was founded in 1982 by Addie Powell and Nan Swid. They produced housewares designed by the very famous architects of the time. It was the post-modern style and some of the architects included Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, Azha Hadid, Stephen Hall and Richard Meier.

It turns out that Richard Meier was one of the most prolific of these designers. When I originally listed these plates I thought it said PM on the back but it turned out that it said RM for Richard Meier. It would have been better if I had put Richard Meier in the title but it didn’t matter. The eight plates had bids within an hour of my listing them.

If you can believe it, they sold for $34.33 each and all went to the same man! A grand total of $274.64 on an $8 investment.

I hope you see and understand the power of selling singly and profiting exponentially! And remember I started almost all of these auctions at $9.99 (only one was started at $24.99). That’s the power of The Dralle Method.

Happy eBaying and Happy Thanksgiving!

‘Identifying American Pottery – Look at the Bottom! part II‘

by Linda Richard, eBay ID cajunc, guest columnist for The Queen of Auctions

(You can find the first half of this article in ezine volume 3, number 42, here.)

THE FOOT

The shape, glazing and markings of the “foot” or base surface of the piece which makes contact with a supporting surface (ie – table or shelf) can be as revealing as the color and texture of the clay.

Many pieces of pottery have a dry rim around the bottom edge, known as a dry foot. See figure 18.

figure 18

Companies using a dry foot include most of the Ohio companies and some Stangl of New Jersey.

Several companies used stilts for glazing pottery, and the bottom will be glazed over completely with three small marks for the stilts. Haeger and Royal Haeger are often glazed like this. See figure 21.

figure 21

There are also some California potters who used stilts or firing pins for most of their glazing. Metlox was one California pottery using firing pins. See figure 22.

Vohann is another example of a glazed bottom with firing pins. Figure 23.

figure 23

RedWing (also Rumrill ) and Stangl used stilts for some of their ware lines. See figure 24.

figure 24

Peters and Reed often has three stilt marks, too, and the old pieces show red clay under the glaze. SO, if you see three little flaws on a glazed bottom, these are not damage–they are stilt marks or firing pin marks used for the firing process. Examining the bottom for stilt marks may reveal some numbers that may help with identification, too.

THE NUMBERS

For many years, three numbers were used to identify many of the SHAPES for American pottery. Some companies only used two numbers for some of the shapes, and some used four. These are numbers that are in the mold, not handwritten. RedWing and RumRill are routinely marked with numbers, and sometimes the name. Some of the pieces were also marked with a letter, a dash, then a number – so items marked similar to M-3333 are often Redwing (Murphy Era).

If you see three numbers at a slant on a yellow clay pot, it may be Brush or McCoy. See Figure 25.

figure 25

Three square numbers on a white pottery bottom may be Alamo Pottery, made in San Antonio, Texas from about 1946-1952, or it may be Gilmer, another Texas pottery in business for much longer. Figure 26.

figure 26

Remember to look at Camark and Niloak, too, because they used a white clay for much of their production. Note the difference, though. Alamo and Gilmer often have a completely unglazed bottom, while Camark and Niloak may have just a dry foot. Figure 27.

figure 27

The way the numbers are written, the style of number and even the number of numbers are all significant in determining the maker of a piece of pottery. It is that combination of details that helps the pottery enthusiast to determine the maker.

THE GLAZE

This article is about the identification of American pottery by the bottom, and it is not my intent to vary from that topic much, but it is difficult to look at the bottom and not see the top—so a comment on glaze seems essential here. Once the clay color has been examined, the weight of the pot has been considered, and it has been determined to likely be an American pottery, then a cursory glance at the glaze may help with certain identification.

The glazes in pottery went with fashion of the day, and trends can be noted, although there are lots of exceptions. The era of standard glaze–the shiny brown finish used by Weller, Loy-Nel-Art, Peters and Reed and Rozane–was at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Great detail in hand-painting and hand-work including sgraffito with pastels, predominated the next 15 years or so. Think Rookwood and Newcomb. By 1915, much American pottery was matte finish and early Art Deco shapes. This continued through the 1920’s. Some American potteries went back to shiny glazes in the late 1930s and 1950s, and through the 1960s for many of the companies. Much of the newer Roseville, not reproduction but 1960s era production, was a shiny glaze, but this started as early as 1937 with Ivory II production. Roseville, for one, had both shiny and matte patterns side by side for many years. By 1947, most of their lines had gone to shiny glaze. The same general dating can be used for Hull, Weller, and other American companies of the first half of the Twentieth Century. In general, shiny glaze has not met with the same favor by collectors as the matte glaze pieces. This is probably most evident in Van Briggle and Rookwood. The shiny pieces do not sell for the premium prices of matte glaze pieces.

Some companies typically made certain colors and styles of glazes. Winart Pottery made a drip glaze that identifies much of their wares. See figure 28.

figure 28

Guppys Island Ware of California used a drip glaze. See figure 29.

figure 29

Drip glazes were also common in Fulper, Stangl, and Zanesville pottery. Morton pottery made drip glaze pots and figurines, and it is becoming collectible.

Crystalline glazes were done in early Camark and early Haeger. See figure 30.

figure 30

There are some contemporary studio potters doing glazes with large crystal formations in the glaze – but these early production works were small crystals. See figure 31.

figure 31

Lava or foam glazes were common in VanBriggle and Haeger – the most recognized being Bennington Brown Foam by Haeger. These are a type of drip glaze, but are bubbled at the top and do not form the “drips” of drip glazes.

Mottled glazes were most often made by Ohio potters–Burley-Winter, McCoy and Zanesville come to mind. Figure 32.

figure 32

OTHER IDENTIFIERS

Camark used a cutting tool that left what I call “saw marks” on the dry foot of their pots.

I have been able to identify several Camark pieces instantly by the saw marks. See figure 33.

figure 33

Haeger often looks as if it has a “seam” in the middle of the glazed bottom, and that helps in the identification of any Haeger or Royal Haeger that is not otherwise marked. Some Weller has a distinctive three-part seam at the bottom. See figure 35.

figure 35

Purinton may have a seam with an unglazed foot. See figure 36.

figure 36

Some Dryden has a flat unglazed bottom, and that, along with the sandy clay helps identify older Dryden, even if the mark is not readable.

Vitreous china was made by many of the American potters, and it is best known as restaurant ware. It is usually white clay with a very hard, high-fired finish. Much of the Alamo and Gilmer pottery is vitreous, pottery fired at a high temperature in the kiln. Mosaic also did vitreous with a white or sandy clay and hard shiny glaze. This pottery is difficult to chip or break, and feels like bathtub porcelain. It is usually very heavy, almost the weight of stoneware.

Vontury of New Jersey was also high-fired pottery, and much of the Vontury is done in pastels with impressionistic nature scenes. Figure 37.

figure 37

Most Vontury is marked, but the name is difficult to read unless you know what it should be. See figure 38.

figure 38

Handles were often elaborate on Fulper and Stangl and sometimes Dryden and Morton. Much of the Floraline McCoy line was very plain, Art Deco style pottery, made for the florist trade. Hyalyn also made Deco style pieces, and often they had cork bottoms. See figure 39.

figure 39

What I call “sloppy” pots were made by Burley-Winter, Zanesville and sometimes McCoy. These had a glaze that ran down over the edge of the dry foot, oftentimes not trimmed.

VanBriggle did some of these, too, but most of the VanBriggle pottery is marked and not difficult to identify. Figure 40.

figure 40

CONCLUSION

When looking at a piece of pottery, learning to combine the information here will be the most helpful. Check the weight, then the bottom. Check the color, then the design of the bottom – whether a dry foot, flat bottom, wedged base, ridged bottom or stilts. Then, identify the piece by style, glaze, or some other identifier. Confirm your conclusion by checking in a book or the internet. Once you have done this for a few years, you will develop confidence in your skill.

This is just a lightweight review for identification of unmarked American Pottery. Maybe it will encourage you to try your luck at identification of pieces on your shelf or in the collectibles malls. It may also give some insight into why some people pick up pottery and check out the bottom. They aren’t dusting the shop, or emptying the spiders (or crickets in Texas). They are looking under the pot for answers!

Happy hunting for American Pottery!

About the Author: Linda H. Richard (eBay ID cajunc) has been collecting American Pottery for twenty years, and has been an ISA Appraiser for ten years. She is currently pursuing other interests and is not an active appraiser with the International Society of Appraisers. She has contributed to several books and articles. Her husband, Darrell, does the photography and design work for her pursuits.

(We will be presenting the second half of Linda Richard’s American Pottery article next week.)

OK, I have to start this article by apologizing to Maureen (Mo). I have been giving her a lot of grief lately for my Pfaltzgraff mis-haps. But this weekend, a little tidbit of wisdom that she shared with me over a year ago, is really going to pay off!

When Mo went out and started selling on her own on eBay, one of the first things she listed was a toy that her son Kelly had never opened or played with. It was a Playmobil set and it brought in over $40. She mentioned it to me in passing over a year ago but I never gave it a second thought. What is Playmobil anyway? I had never heard of it and just filed it back in the recesses of my mind. By the way, there is a lot filed back there!

So, this weekend when I was at a church sale, I saw four boxes (completely beat up and taped with brown packing tape) that said Playmobil on them. “Ding, Ding, Ding!” an alarm went off in my mind. Finally, maybe some retribution for the Pfaltzgraff. I asked the nice man running the sale how much and he said, “How about 50 cents each?” Sounded like a good gamble to me.

Here is a photo of those four beat up boxes. Would you have bought them? I wouldn’t have without Mo’s tip from last year! I didn’t even bother to open them to see what was inside. Why waste precious garage saling time when they were only $2.00 for the bunch?

Here are some of the statistics that I was working on. In 2005, eBay predicted that this category would account for $1.7 billion in sales. Now that is huge. I am currently trying to find actual numbers for 2005 and 2006–so if anyone knows where I can go to find that data, I would seriously appreciate the help. But here is one of my charts that I did this week. It is based on the number of listings on eBay in the past two weeks by sub-category. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily translate to dollar volume, but it sure is interesting. I found that Playmobil had it’s own category under the sub-category Pretend Play, Preschool. At 74,544 listings in the past two weeks and 3.87% of the total–not a bad place to be!

So, as soon as I got the Playmobil sets home, I started doing some research. Yikes! In perfect condition, the cowboy and Indian set would sell for about $67.00. Mine was far from perfect, but was only missing a few items on the inside.

Check it out here to see more about it.

I also got a construction set and a doctor’s and nurse set. They were all from about 1976, so I decided to do a little digging and find out more about the company.

Playmobil, sometimes just called “Playmo,” is a line of toys made by the Brandstatter Group out of Zirndorf, Germany.

The company originated in 1876 by a locksmith named Andreas Brandstatter who specialized in lock and metal fittings. In 1908, his son George took over and by the 1930s the company was making telephones, cash registers and various items for toy shops using metal and they changed the name to Geobra short for George Brandstatter.

In 1958, when the hula hoop craze hit, Horst Brandstatter (a technician and moldmaker) invented a machine that could mold soft plastic hoses into hoops. The company made a fortune fulfilling demand for the hula hoop. Horst’s new technique allowed him to produce any shape (not just hula hoops) and a prototype for the first playmobil was invented. It was a closed racing car manufactured in a single step.

It wasn’t until the 1970s when the oil crisis hit that Geobra realized that drastic measures were required to keep the company afloat. With the raw material used to create their products being scarce, they needed to develop products that could be made with smaller amounts of plastic. Horst had been working with Hans Beck (the head of Geobra’s research department) for three years on small moveable figures with accessories at an affordable price. The toys were to be called Playmobil.

Hans Beck is considered “The Father of Playmobil.” His toys were not too complex and yet flexible. The toy’s hands could grip and hold objects and could be easily held by a child. The Playmobil faces were also based on children’s drawings (large head, big smile and no nose). The first Playmobil sets were rolled out in 1974 but did not begin to be sold worldwide until 1975. Amazing, but I think my charity sale finds were some of the earlier sets because they had 1976 on the boxes!

The first construction worker set included workers’ accessories as well as three crates of the German national drink: beer. This set’s packaging caused a bit of an uproar as it showed two of the figures discussing their beer drinking. “That’s my fifth bottle today,” said one of the figures. “Don’t worry, we’ve got enough beer.” You can imagine this would upset quite a few parents since it was printed on toys for small children. Unfortunately, that is NOT the construction set I got–because I bet that one wasn’t on the shelf long and is worth a small fortune!

Here is the construction set I did get.

When looking for Playmobil, you need to be aware that counterfeits have been made. Hungary and China are two of the main sources for the Playmobil lookalikes. These are made from inferior materials, but the designs are exact duplicates of the originals.

Playmobil has been a success for more than 25 years and a direct competitor to Lego. Can’t wait to see how these sets sell! Thanks, Mo!!

So, remember Toys are a huge category on eBay. Do some digging around in your attic, your garage and in thrift stores and at garage sales. Anything that reminds you of your childhood and you say “Wow, remember these?” Buy it!! Good luck to you and…

Have you ever wondered why some people turn every piece of pottery over and look at the bottom? Maybe you thought they were emptying the contents or dusting the shop! Well, some of the pottery lovers like myself have spent many years identifying American pottery, and one of the best ways to do this is by looking at the bottom of the piece. In most of the American pottery pieces, the bottom tells more than the glaze. The bottom shows the name, if there is one, the color of the clay, the way the piece is fired, and other characteristics that help with the identification.

THE OBVIOUS

If you pick up a piece of pottery and it has identifying marks such as a name or logo, you can easily determine the maker. This is wonderful, but not always available. See figure 1. Since not all pottery is marked, the identification must be done with a little more resourcefulness.

‘Buying Burnout and Fake Roseville‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

OK, I admit it. I am burned out on buying stuff. I can’t believe I really just said that, but it is true. All summer long I was buying and now that we are into high season out here, the garage sales are staggering. There are twenty or more each Saturday just in Palm Desert; another twenty-five in Palm Springs and then who knows how many in La Quinta, Indio and Rancho Mirage. There are just plain too many!

I was able to park in my garage for three days last week and now my car is out in the driveway again. My living room is full and the dining room table is filled with new merchandise direct from the manufacturer. I am branching out and trying multiples. I will never give up my “one offs” because the margins are so high and they are so fun to sell but I am going to do a little test. The madness must stop!

Or so I say…but you all know me better than that. I was invited last week to purchase an entire collection of Department 56 Villages. Here is a photo of that amazing collection.

So, even before the weekend of garage sales started, I had already spent several thousand dollars (on the villages and at a different estate sale) and was in no mood to buy any more.

However, I did get all the villages listed on eBay–what a job! It was quite exhilarating to get so much stuff listed. By the way, I have set a goal for myself this holiday season. I want to list 300 items each week (Like Leeann Samples of Tennessee Treasures by Leeann did last year). She is my inspiration. She accomplished this after last November’s LAX live boot camp and sold $11,800 in December alone–using the Dralle Method!

If Leeann can get motivated using my method and accomplish so much–then so can I! So I have Maureen (Mo) listing 100 things a week and my mom listing 100 clothing items a week. Our high point was just this morning when I had 450 items listed at auction!! Too cool! Thanks Leeann!

So, here is one of the Dept. 56 Villages that quite a few people seem to be interested in:

Click here to see what it is up to.

As you can imagine, I was a little overwhelmed with so much stuff in my house and garage when my mom and I set out this past Saturday. Well, the first sale we hit had an enormous collection of Pfaltzgraff and it was a pretty pattern. And it wasn’t their typical stoneware–not the bone china–but a smoother stoneware.

The pattern was Garden Party. Two enormous boxes with serving pieces were priced at only $25. And I could hear Mo’s little voice ringing in my ears, “Some Pfaltzgraff does well, some Pfaltzgraff does well.” So I bought it and a set of Yorktowne for $15. Well, we will see if what Mo says is right–won’t we.

Here is one of the unusual serving pieces in the Garden Party pattern:

110183229168 Click to see what it is up to.

Mo tells me that the unusual pieces and the serving pieces will pay for the whole set. She also tells me that even the regular pieces like bread plates and bowls will sell if they are in good condition. However, watch for those pesky utensil marks that are quite common on Pflatzgraff and are very hard to buff out.

Those first purchases got me going and I ended up filling up the minivan. It is all your fault Mo! At the very last sale of the day, I bought 10 pieces of African art for $90 and as I was leaving I spotted a Roseville vase on the shelf. I asked “how much” and she said “$8″. I’ll take it. I also spotted a green Roseville vase and she wanted $10 for that–so I bought it also.

You can see the blue vase poking out of the minivan here and one of the big pieces of African Art. Leon, if you are reading this–can you tell me anything about this? Is it old or new? Any good? Leon is one of the live Boot Camp students from Anacortes and an expert in African art.

Well, as we got into the car, my mom says, “Score!” and I say, “I don’t know. I have a funny feeling about this Roseville. It just doesn’t feel right. I think that they are reproductions.”

As I examined the vases closer, I could see that the pattern was not done with glaze but had been painted on and that some of the paint had chipped off. It was also a very sloppy job–paint was all over the embossed areas and did not follow the pattern at all. I was right. Darn it!

I had been reading about these Roseville knock-offs out of China for years but had never seen one in person. It was amazing to me that from just picking up the vase and carrying it to the van, I could tell that it wasn’t authentic. It was light and hollower than it should have been.

When I got home, I immediately started doing some research. Here is a great site for more info on these reproductions: The Roseville Pottery Exchange.

The Roseville Pottery Exchange was kind enough to share this information with us….

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

“The glaze on most fakes is very dull and lacks depth. The glaze is flat and does not usually reveal the clay color underneath. Handles on the repros tend to be thicker and details are not as refined. Most shapes vary significantly from the originals. Leaves on real pieces are brighter and stand out from the background better. Most of the background colors vary significantly from the original colors and the color of the clay is usually whiter than the originals.

“All pieces I have seen have “Roseville U.S.A.” (usually very low relief on the USA) or “Roseville” on the bottom, even if they were not marked on original pieces. Initially, the Roseville fakes had a raised (“in relief”) “Roseville USA” on the bottom. Apparently, U.S. Customs had a problem with that, so the ones being produced now just say “Roseville”, with a space below that word where “USA” would have been. The Huxford’s book lists the various trademarks that Roseville used. According to that reference, “Roseville” (without “USA”) was used only from 1932-1937 and only as an impressed mark, never in relief. If a piece has “Roseville” in relief without “USA”, I’d say that’s close to a dead giveaway that it’s a fake, particularly if there’s an empty space where “USA” should be. On the other hand, the use of “Roseville USA” does not guarantee that it’s authentic.

“Brown, dark blue, light blue and lime green are most common for fakes, but I’ve recently seen some pink (iris) and grey (white rose) ones.

“Remember, almost every dealer in the country knows what Roseville is, if the price seems too good to be true then it probably is. Know your stuff, don’t take anyone’s word for it, if YOU are not certain.”

Here are photos from the Roseville Pottery Exchange site of the Green Zephyr Lily Vase that I had purchased along with a photo of a real vase. The differences are quite clear and shocking!

Once again, here are photos from the Roseville Pottery Exchange site of the blue 8″ orchid vase that I bought along with a photo of the real one. The differences are amazing!

The Roseville Pottery Exchange is a great website, not only for finding out if your piece is real or a reproduction, but also because they show photos to help you ID your pattern. Thanks to Mark Gonzalez and his great website!

Check out all the books that Mark has written:

Taylor, Smith and Taylor China

Fiesta, Lu-Ray & Other Colorware

An Overview of Homer Laughlin Dinnerware

By the way, I am not sorry at all that I bought the fake pieces of Roseville. I may sell one on eBay (as a fake–if that is allowed–I will have to double check) and keep one as an example to share with my live boot camp students.  My grandmother always kept one real piece and one reproduction piece in her home because she taught antiques classes and by touching both pieces she knew it was the best way to teach.

I am not sorry about the Roseville, now let’s see next week if I am sorry about the Pfaltzgraff……

Happy eBaying!

Lynn

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include all links as they are and append this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 10,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more time, get your FRE E tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

A big thanks to everyone who has already submitted a story! We are looking for more great stories of your eBay adventures. We know there are many great tales out there, so please submit your story along the lines of the stories from the 100 Best Books and a great side story with photos will help. If we use your story, you will receive a $35 merchandise credit on my web site and you will have your story featured–along with your user ID–in my ezine! It may also eventually end up in a published book!

Happy eBaying!!

Lynn

For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

Lynn is an experienced eBay Power Seller, author and teacher. If you want to know the eBay tips, tricks and tools that Lynn uses for buying and selling at online auction click here.

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