Cindy's Collectibles, Clothing & Accessories: March 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013

On the Road with Cindy's Collectibles: San Marcos

San Marcos, California

This conversation actually took place on the trip to an estate sale in San Marcos, California…

Husband (in his best Ron Burgundy voice): “San Marcos... it’s an old German phrase that means a Whale’s Vagina”

Me: “Sweetheart, I know you’re the history guy, but I attended Catholic schools for 13 years, and I’m pretty sure San Marcos is Spanish for Saint Mark.”

Husband: “Agree to disagree”

… And that’s one of the reasons I bring him. He still makes me laugh.

Seth Thomas Mantle Clock

Anyway, we’re on the way to San Marcos or Lake San Marcos if you prefer which is about a 40-mile drive south to an upscale suburb of San Diego that has a man-made lake, several golf courses and is home to Cal State University San Marcos (CSUSM). Again, my husband and I are expanding our search range for estate sales and communities like this one are a prime target for Cindy’s Collectibles. This ends up being one of our smaller estate sales this year and I’m surprised we only ended up with three items because this sale has some high-end collectibles and as friendly a broker as I have encountered.

Delft Hand Made Pitcher

For any fans of Dutch pottery (including me) I picked up a stunning example of Royal Delft Hand Made Pottery. The small pitcher which I believe is used for pouring maple syrup is absolutely beautiful with the traditional Delft white and blue pattern throughout the pitcher. At the same time my husband found a Seth Thomas Mantle clock, that although it does Not work, is still a beautiful display item and my clock guy informed us that the clock is still repairable. Last, almost at the same time we both spotted a vintage Kundo Anniversary clock made in Germany. This beautiful glass dome anniversary clock is vintage, comes with the original key and works perfect!

Sometimes estate sales are all about the "quality" of the items you purchase as opposed to the "quantity" and this was one of those days for Cindy’s collectibles. But we picked up some very nice items and they are already up for sale in my eBay store!

Kundo Anniversary Clock

The Links below will take you to the eBay listings for all the items in this blog.

Thank You

Cindy

http://stores.ebay.com/cindyscollectibles

Thursday, March 21, 2013

On the Road with Cindy's Collectibles: Hemet & Canyon Lakes

My Husband, Son, and I at Diamond Lake, Hemet

Today my husband and I are going to three estate sales in the neighboring cities of Hemet and Canyon Lakes. Hemet is a nearby town at the base of the mountains that has one of the largest dams in the United States (Diamond Lake) while Canyon Lakes is a waterfront community inside a walled city that has my husband referencing King Priam’s treasures in the mythical city of Troy(???). I love him, but I really married a Nerd.

Traditions Heirloom Musical
Waterglobe/ Snowglobe

First up are two estate sales in Hemet, one of our favorite locations and today it has two of our favorite brokers. Unfortunately one doesn’t have much in the way of collectibles, and the second estate sale is on day three and has already been picked over pretty heavily. Sometimes you need to get a little dirty and do some digging in this business and at the estate sale hosted by Finders Keepers there is a collection of Christmas items in the garage. Before long I’ve found a beautiful metal Christmas sleigh that would make a great centerpiece and a signed, numbered ceramic statue of Santa Claus and baby Jesus. Meanwhile my husband discovered a pair of Christmas themed water globes by Kirkland and Traditions respectively as well as a little gold and brass tree ornament. We really got lucky when we found a vintage Hubert Herr Black Forest Cuckoo clock hanging in the hallway and the seller offered it to me at a price that I immediately accepted.

Kirkland's Musical
Waterglobe/ Snowglobe

Hubert Herr Black Forest
Cuckoo Clock

At the second Hemet estate sale, the pickings were slimmer but, we still managed to come away with a vintage brass flatware set and the nicest anniversary clock by Elgin that I have seen so far. The clock works perfect and still comes with the original key. That’s all for Hemet and on to … or maybe it would be more appropriate to say back to Canyon Lakes as for the next 20 minutes I’m going to have to listen to stories about Homer’s Iliad and try to figure out what that has to do with an estate sale!

Elgin Anniversary Clock

Victorian Flower Vase

So anyway, the noteable feature of Canyon Lakes, California is that it has a wall that surrounds the entire city. I’m not kidding, there are only two entry points that I know of and you have to get bye security to gain entrance to a city that stretches over several square miles around a man-made lake, golf course, and several thousand homes. Hence the nerd’s (husband) fascination with comparing it to the fabled city of Troy, but today it has a somewhat luxurious home that is packed with depression-era glass. For fans, you know that this type of glass varies in color depending on the age and era and this sale has a little bit of everything from just about every period I’ve researched. It was a difficult negotiation because despite our last minute arrival the broker was reluctant to make deals. We also had competition as another buyer was on her cell phone trying to determine the most valuable items and negotiate with the broker at the same time as me.

Victorian Bud Vase

My husband and I worked together; he picked just about every piece of vintage Emerald Green Victorian glass in the place. These pieces date back to the turn of the 20^th century (1900-1910) and feature stunning bright green glass and gold inlay. I picked out a stylish Fenton glass basket, pale blue with hobnail pattern and put it together with the items my husband bundled and finally got the dealer to agree on a price for all the items.

Victorian Decanter & Glasses

So that’s all from Canyon Lakes, and now I’m hearing that Hector and Aeneas will no doubt be in pursuit to reclaim Troy’s plundered treasures… it’s about a 20-minute drive back to Murrieta, traffic lights willing.

Overall Hemet and Canyon Lakes combined for a very good estate sale for Cindy’s Collectibles. We purchased 12 items in all combined between all three estate sales and the items are already up for sale in my eBay store.

Victorian Flower Vase

Victorian Bud Vase

The links below will take you to the eBay listings for all the items in this blog...

Thank You

Cindy

http://stores.ebay.com/cindyscollectibles

Monday, March 18, 2013

Cindy's Collectibles: An eBay Store & Story

AC Bavaria Tea Set
Hand Painted

My name is Cynthia Sharp and I run Cindy’s Collectibles, an online eBay store for antiques, fine china, glass, crystal, and all types of collectibles. We also provide a service as a seller on eBay, so if you have something that you are looking to sell online and don’t have the time or the "know-how" please contact me and I would be more than happy to sell your item(s) for you.

Brass Elgin Clock

I began this company a little over a year ago (my first listing went up on January 4^th 2012) with a listing for a vintage set of Pepsi Swirl glass bottles and by the beginning of March 2012 I was all the way up to … 15 listings. Well, here I am just one year later with approximately 150 listings currently active on eBay and more being added just as quickly as my husband and I can type and take photos. In total I sold 231 items during 2012. Stay tuned, as I’m hoping to keep that growth projection this year so that I will have over 1,000 listing come this time 2014.

My Husband is Richard,
Cindy's Collectibles is under the eBay ID:
ZUMAPOINT

It’s an exciting adventure and I enjoy the time I get to spend on my business. The accomplishment I’m most proud of so far was the notification that our seller account (Zumapoint) was recently acknowledged with “Top Seller” status and that was all due to the work for Cindy’s Collectibles. My husband has had this eBay account since 2006, he is very good at eBay however, he is quick to point out that in all his years of selling, he never made Top Seller status. Until now. J Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t do it without him, so it’s our accomplishment.

It’s my goal this year to keep this blog active with all the wonderful items I have up for sale at my eBay store as well as share some of the stories from my weekly visits to the estate sales of the Inland Empire and beyond. I'll research and share my thoughts on some of the brands I've become familiar with as I'm constantly looking for ways to expand my knowledge base to improve the quality of products for my customers. I'm putting together a brief video about the way we package items for shipping here at Cindy's Collectibles since almost everything I sell is not just delicate, but fragile. I may be expanding into a retail presence in Old Town Temecula as well so stay tuned and Thank you for supporting Cindy’s Collectibles, an eBay store!

Cindy

http://stores.ebay.com/cindyscollectibles

John F. Kennedy Memorial Album

Monday, March 11, 2013

On the Road with Cindy's Collectibles: Moreno Valley

That's me and my husband & our two sons
at last year's Santa Anita Derby

The most enjoyable part of this business is shopping estate sales with my husband. There are quite a few things that need to happen in order to get an online listing ready for sale, everything from acquiring the item, filming, writing the listing, posting it on eBay and corresponding with customers while promoting the sale and then finally shipping the items. It is hard work, but it is fun searching for bargains that I can bring my customers. I want to share some of my travels as they really are adventures for me and my husband.

Inland Empire

Our territory is the Inland Empire area of Southern California (Southwest Riverside County). We live in Murrieta and for the most part our estate sale area stretches from our hometown to Temecula in the south, to Lake Elsinore in the north and all areas in between including Menifee, Wildomar & Canyon Lake. We have good luck in Sun City and Hemet where there are a lot of estate sales and on occasion we venture as far away as Los Angeles or San Diego. My process starts by making a google-map of the estate sales in the local area using information from one of two web sites; estate sales.net or estate sales.org. It’s an early morning business as most estate sales begin by 8:00 am on Saturday’s when I seem to get the best value for my money.

For 2013 we decided to expand our territory so today we are on our way to Moreno Valley or “Mo Valley” as it is known locally. A small town about thirty miles (30) away and known for good youth soccer programs and a high school girls basketball team that recently captured a CIF Division I championship. Today it has an estate sale hosted by three brothers in a large two story home that is just stocked! It’s a 4-star sale with plenty of fine china, crystal and glassware including silverplated items as well several high quality tea sets. I focused on the tea sets and picked out four in all …

Tea Set with Musical Tea Pot

Delton Mini Tea Set

FB Rogers Silverplated Tea Set

Traditions Porcelain Mini Tea Set

Arcoroc Tumbler-style Glasses,
Platter, Ice Bucket

In addition I spied a dazzling set of Arcoroc Tumbler-style Bar Glasses with a glass platter and glass Ice Bucket made in France that are finely detailed with 22k gold inlay on every item. I also purchased a set of Baker & Hart Christmas themed dishes. Meanwhile my husband who likes fine china from Europe (I think it’s the Scottish blood) was focused on a stunning set made in Poland by Wawel in the Rose Garden pattern with gold trim, 45 dishes in all. He also found a large vintage Lenox Vase, bone white with gold trim and the gold Lenox seal and a 7-piece Montparnasse boudoir set, made by InternationalSilver Company still sealed in the original box and packaging.

Wawel Fine China Made in Poland

Lenox Flower Vase

Overall, it was a great estate sale for Cindy’s Collectibles, the dealer was very nice and gave me reasonable prices on everything making it well worth the drive to Moreno Valley. We purchased Ten (10) items in all at this estate sale and they are already available for sale in my eBay store.

The links below will take you to the eBay listings for all the items in this blog ...