For more information, please scroll to the bottom of the page. |
ONLINE PRICES!
If you dog the online auctions, then it's no
news to you that madness has seized this area of collecting! I'm
out to demonstrate some examples, here. These are the actual prices paid for the items
shown. Crazy as it seems, five years from now many will look like bargains! It gets worse with every
passing Season. In fact, there is no "Season."
When a good house comes up it usually gets it's price at any time of year. It can't be
long before these little fellas come under
the Harrison Act as a Type II
controlled substance. They are undeniably addictive.
Just because you see a high price here does not neccessarily mean that it's the
true worth. Sometimes it is, but every year a new crop of neophytes discover them, go nuts -
and pay fortunes for relative junk. We "Old-Timers" just
shake our heads. remembering when we did the same, and blame it on the schools ....
Oct,'05: $217.50.
Another one exactly like this, but slightly nicer, went
the first week in December for $26.
Go figure!
Nov.,'05 - $560. Just barely okay buy.
Nov.,'05 - $480. Poor buy. 2 1/2 decent items.
Nov.,'05 - $324.95
Insane! 1 good item...................................Nov.,'05 - $304.
($40 tops!)
...Dec.,'05 - $300. Worth $40 tops...............................................
..Dec.,'05- -$162.50; Poor buy.
Dec.,'05 - $268.95.Boxed set, probably OK...................................
Dec.,'05 - $255. $60 > Max.
Dec.,'05 - $159.59 Very small, but unusual. Okay, I suppose.................
.....Dec,05: $70. Lucky buy! Worth $70 each!
Dec, '05: $167. I would have paid it. Choice and unusual.
Marvelous condition!
Dec,'05: $165.31 -
Oh, my Dear God! "10 Little Indians:" -and I stress
LITTLE,
because these are the smallest size before "ornament." Late 50's early 60's.
No detail charm.The sort of thing I stll pass by at fleas and shows. No item here
is worth more than $5.
Dec,'05: $272 -
"Oh, my Dear God-II:" 2 medium common
postwars,
1 ho-hum late '40s flat-card,1 decent prewar Dolly Toy.
Some trees. My computer was built for less. Hey - it's your money! - or rather
WAS your money....
Dec,'05: $241.50 -
"Oh,my Dear God-III - The final Insanity." " 3 tiny
little flat-card early '60s - 2 very common late '40s. Somebody's sure
a sucker for "Rembrandt Lighting!" I'm going to start grabbing these
(and I still see them all the time) for resale on eBay. I see a new car in my
future ...
Dec.05: $15.50 -
Now, that's more like it! (Actually, a steal!)Two fairly nice medium-sized
"haciendas" from the mid 1930s. Compare with the 3 above.
My
my my! Buyer wins!
Dec,05: - $560.
Ho-hum! Just another $560 town. Two nice, big pieces,
one pretty good, and the rest are just so average, common and small. Half that
price would have been high. Seller wins big with expert photography!- but
the poor buyer won't get those lovely , velvet tiers when he/she opens the box.....
Dec,'05: - $83.
Perhaps prewar Dolly Toy Co. American are finally getting some respect. Before
WW II cut off the Japanese product, they made some really quite decent and
interesting houses, but once that competition was removed they went down to very
plain things of simple design, and not much variety until the '50s after the Japanese
had come back and Dolly Toy just sort of disappeared. Still, I wouldn't have given
more than $20 for this one. Very plain and often found.
There's that deep-maroon velvet again. I'm getting some of that....
BIG EBAY PUTZKRIEG!
I hate to see lovely sets that have seen together 3/4 of a Century of Christmases
Past
torn asunder.
Some kind of a special sin in that. Below are some family members separated from the
lovely putz above.
The seller - who deals in this kind of stuff all the time
and knows better - touted these as being from "1910 to 1919." That's wrong.
We all know that there were no Japanese houses of anykind before 1928.
Prior to WW I, Christmas stuff and toys all came from Germany. The War caused
buyers to
seek salable holiday goods in Japan. There was almposy no "Made in Japan" stuff
in the stores before WW I. The houses below all date to about 1932-34. See ..
The 1920's
The buck speaks ...with fork-ed tongue!
BUTLER BROS.CATALOGS
Jan,06: $86.
8" X 5" X 9" high.
Jan,06 - $145.45
8.5" X 5.5" X 5.5" high.
Jan, 06 - $140.45:
6.6" X 4" X 8.5" high.
Jan,06 - $170.25:
6.5" X 4" X 5" high.
Jan,06 - $256.66
7.75" X 4.75" X 5,5" high.
Jan, '06 - $457.63
So far the record for a single piece, I think.
7.75" X 5" X 9" high.
I simply had to add a few more views to this one, known as "City
Hall" to collectors.
I did not start this feature simply to chide fools, though that is often
unavoidable. Had I the money, I'd have paid the price for the above and bought
them all! Houses such as these are the CREAM.
But alas, it happens every year; newcomers with bottomless pockets and the fever show up and
spoil it for everyone. I suppose we understand. Not having seen something since childhood
can instantly transport one to "The Magic Window," and who would not
pay ANYthing for that?
The following two items are another matter, however ...
Jan, '06 - $204.45
Are you kidding? For a 14" bottlebrush tree? $20 would have been steep...
Jan,'06 - $338.50 .....I repeat, $338.50 ! ! !
For a COMMONLY found 1950's 13"bottlebrush tree? On a flat plywood base? Every
collector I know has several of these. We look down on them because of that
stupid painted plywood disc instead of the far more desirable turned-hardwood
"tub" bases of the prewar trees.
Hey - get in touch! I'll sell you all
you want of these for $300 each..
Jan,'06 - $24
This tree - identical to the one above in every way except it has glass
ornaments,was won on the same auction site about 10 days later.
What further comment could be made?
Feb.14,'06: - $1,224.99
That's right, I said $1,224.99 !!
And it's kind of dirty and missing
both trees.
Somebody sure bought themself
a valentine.
NEW RECORD !!!
I blame myself, really. I had to open my big mouth and say in the Dec.05
House of the Month how rare it was and that only one was known to exist.
Well, now there are two!
Dec.28, '08: $337.89
Saddest case in years! Two very common little postwar
houses and a
bottle brush tree. In original condition I wouldn't have paid $25 for the lot.
But here the pieces have been gooped up with artificial snow and other
non-original crap. In a year or two that snow will turn brown and the lot will
look like something you'd only pick up with a "pooper-scooper." I wouldn't have
paid $5. Not only was the buyer a complete idiot, but this will encourage the
seller to mutilate further originals.
Another fool and his money have been parted....
Copyright 2000-2012 Theodore H. Althof,Jr.Except where noted, the contents of this website and all it's pages and submissions therein contained are the intellectual property of Theodore H.Althof,Jr. All rights are reserved. (Background musical selections are,of course, excepted.)
|