PIRATE CAPITALIST

Pirate Picture of the Week

2010-11-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

18 Business Ideas For Pet Lovers

2010-11-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to 18 Self employment ideas in the pet business for the pet lover and capitalist in you.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas/industry/20.html

Living off The Grid

2010-11-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Idea of free and cheap energy is already beginning. Bloomenergy is now providing some large company's with power plant energy for living off the grid. It will supposedly be available in five to ten years to the general public, will cost around $3,000.00 and be able to fully power your house with free electricity. Keep your eyes on this company to see what actually happens with it. Below is a news link on it and a link to their website.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/22/the-bloom-box-a-power-plant-for-the-home-video/

http://www.bloomenergy.com/

Vintage Halloween Collectibles

2010-10-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

Halloween collectibles are very popular and some pieces can command high prices. This is an area that has steady long term collectibility and interest, with good long term investment potential. This 1920's Halloween decorative cardboard fireplace screen just recently sold online for $2,300.00

Starting a Halloween collection doesn't have to empty your bank account either. A thrifty hunter can find vintage halloween collectibles on the cheap. Even newer halloween items could be a good investment for the future and can be purchased dirt cheap at yard sales. Just watch for the unusuall items. You can start your own Halloween collection hunting down vintage and newer halloween items at yard sales, thrifty stores and auctions for as low as a quarter and go up from there. I personally have purchased vintage Halloween items at yard sales as cheap as quarter.

This 1920's "Made in Germany" Diecut skeleton (above) with saxophone just recently sold online for $1,725.00

This early 1900's Germany, black cat with glass eyes and original box recently sold online for $1,154.00

This circa 1930's metal Jack o Lantern pumpkin made by the Jack O Lantern Co. in Toledo, Ohio sold for $871.00

Halloween Postcards are very popular, you can start a collection of these for as low as a few dollars. Pictured are a couple of high end examples, the one above from the early 1900's just sold for $327.00 and the one below from 1910 sold for $188.00

Finds From The Past

2010-10-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

I discovered these Circa 1800, Heavy Iron Fireplace Andirons, with hearts at an estate sale for $8.00 around ten years ago. You never know what treasures you can find. Some things I have a hard time parting with, and I think these are a cool piece of early American history.

Pirate Picture of the Week

2010-10-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

How To Identify Jewelry Markings

2010-10-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Gold:

K = Karat
KP = Karat Plumb (exact amount of gold)
K.P. = Karat Plate
GF = Gold Filled (heavy plating), usually has a fraction, i.e., 1/20 10K GF
GS = Gold Shell
HGE = Heavy Gold Electroplate

Decimal equivalents of karat ratings:

.375 = 9K (England and Canada)
.417 = 10K
.500 = 12K
.583 (.585) = 14K
.625 = 15K
.667 = 16K
.750 = 18K

.833 = 20K (Asia)
.917 = 22K (Asia)

.999 (1000) = 24K pure gold

Silver:

925 (.925) = Sterling
835 (.835) = a lower quality of British Sterling Silver
Sterling
Taxco
MEXICO
STER

.999 Fine = Pure Silver

Platinum: Pt (atomic symbol)

Irid. Plat.
Pt 900
Pt 950
PLAT

Other:
316L = High-grade Stainless Steel

Weighing and Measuring Gold and Silver

2010-10-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

Karat Gold Parts Gold Percentage Gold Normal European Stamping

9 kt 9 in 24 37.50% 375

10 kt 10 in 24 41.67% 416

12 kt 12 in 24 50% 500

14 kt 14 in 24 58.33% 583 or 585

18 kt 18 in 24 75% 750

22 kt 22 in 24 91.67% 917

24 kt 24 in 24 99.99% 999 or .99999

WEIGHING PRECIOUS METALS

The weight of a piece of gold jewelry is a factor that helps to determine its value.

It is important because it is an indication of the amount of fine gold in an item of jewelry.

Grams (g) and pennyweights (dwt) are the units of weight most commonly used in weighing gold.

Gold and silver are almost always weighted in the troy system of weights where one pound troy equals

twelve troy ounces and twenty pennyweights equals one troy ounce. The Avoirdupois weight system, where one pound

equals 16 ounces, is used in the United States for most everything except precious metals.

The following table summarizes useful weight conversions.

WEIGHT CONVERSION TABLE

1 gram (g) = 0.643 dwt = 0.0032 oz t = 0.035 oz av

1 pennyweight (dwt) = 1.555 g = 0.05 oz t = 0.055 oz av

1 troy ounce (oz t) = 31.103 g = 20 dwt = 1.097 oz av

1 ounce avoirdupois (oz av) = 28.3495 g = 18.229 dwt = 0.911

Interesting Investing Advice

2010-10-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Alternative Investing: Editor's Introduction - CNBC

Auction Finds

2010-10-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hunting for Treasure at Auctions can be an incredible way to earn some extra income.

For 25 years I have been involved in the auction scene in one form or another, either buying, selling or both. I started this blog almost a year ago, and have mainly talked about yard saling. I have now decided to incorporate the auction business into this blog. If you have an interest in learning about the many facets of the auction business and see some of the things I buy, and talk about. I welcome you to visit often, maybe you will pick up something new, or maybe not. At the very least I hope you enjoy looking.

A few years ago I started to collect old minnow pails. This week I purchased these nice old minnow pails at an auction for $26.00 for all. An items conditon is one of the most important aspects to take into consideration when buying. With Minnow pails if the graphics are good, or you find an unusual type of bucket, like the one in the middle, that just adds to the value. And of course be as cheap as possible! I always like to say, that when attending an auction leave your ego and your emotions at the front door before entering!

October Yard Sale Finds

2010-10-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

October in Upstate, NY generally isn't good for yard sales, sometimes when we run errands we get lucky and find a few along the way this time of year. Today just happened to be a really nice October day, without the usual rain and cold here, so there were a few yard sales going on. While running errands we always stop at sales, today we only found three sales and two produced. One sale the lady had a shoe box full of costume jewelry for $15.00 and another sale the woman sold us a bunch of stuff she was cleaning out of her moms barn, I made a pile and got it all for $15.50. The total of $30.50 spent saling was well worth our extra time. We got some jewery, books, tins, keys and other misc. items.

These old tins from the early 1900's were in great condition.

This was a neat set of keys with and old brass padlock and Sunoco advertising key ring.

I had to sort through a few hundred books and found four I liked.

After we got home and sorted through the box of jewelry we found this Vintage Navajo pottery necklace, all handmade and painted, and in great condition. No idea of it's value.

A few more discoveries in the shoe box including a chunky sterling silver pendant and necklace and two 1950's seashell charm bracelets.

Yard Sale Adventures

2010-09-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't do any yard saling Friday. The fall weather is definitley slowing things down a bit up here. Saturday had a community sale going on just down the road from me, not alot of participants but I got to pick a few neat treasures.

This 1920's era drop front desk was $50.00 and is a perfect size for someone.

This circa 1880's signed, oil painting was attic fresh and was only $10.00.

I love these old auto manuals, the lady having the sale was cleaning out her attic. I purchased these for $15.00 for all

Pirates Yard Sale Adventures

2010-09-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Fall is coming, and folks are busy getting the kids ready for school again. Yard sales are winding down a little. But it only takes one or two sales to make it all worth it.

Our weekend consisted of Saling on Friday, as Saturday was a major washout with lots of rain and wind. In the end we got some nice finds really cheap. And ended up getting a great lead to more treasures, in a week or so. Total amount spent was $38.50 for everything. The box has hundreds of vintage pieces of jewelry, and we ended up negotiating it all for $25.00. Originally she wanted 25 cents a piece, but it's often easier and more profitable to make an offer for the whole thing. Then spend the time picking through it at home to find the little treasures hidden away in it. Often times you will find gold, diamonds, sterling and valuable vintage pieces of costume jewelry.

We picked through our $25.00 box of costume jewelry more thoroughly after we got home, and found a number of Sterling pieces, Victorian costume jewelry, two signed vintage Weiss pieces, Coco Chanel just to name a few, even 1980's Swatch watches are getting a collectors value. The pics are just a small sampling of the little treasures we found in the box.

This little pile of 1/20th 12k and 1/20th 14Kt Gold Filled jewelry was also in the box. HINT: because gold is so high right now this gold filled jewelry, which usually has very little value is now getting refined into bullion and is worth anywhere from $20 to $32 dollars an ounce in scrap depending on the Gold Karat Value, This small pile weighs 3/4 of an ounce, total jewelry weight and will net us approximatly $20 just in scrap for the gold.

We coudn't resist buying this 1930's Tapestry handbag in mint condition for 50 cents.

This framed print was decieving when you look at it from the front, It had a damaged and worthless 1960's print on board and white paint on it. It turned out to be a solid carved wood 1890's Victorian Frame for a dollar. Fortunately Shabby Chic is in style right now! It would look great with a mirror in it.

When you turned the frame around and look at the back, you get a better story about it. The back revealed that it was Victorian era, as is worth around $40 to $50.

These vintage Griswold and Lodge cast iron cookware were a dollar each.

More stuff!

This wonderful circa 1870 hand blown creamer was 25 cents

Notice the round polished pontil mark on the bottom. A very unusual piece.

Yard Sale Treasures

2010-09-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

One earlier segment I wrote about, I mentioned that you can pay for your time and gas while running errands, or events you attend, by heading out early and hitting yard sales along the way. Friday we did not go, and Saturday we had a wedding to attend 2 1/2 hours away. The wedding started at 2 pm so we planned on yard saling along the way and left early at 9am, to give us some extra browsing time. It ended up taking us 5 hours to get to the wedding as a result of our yard sale adventure, we made it on time, and it was definitley worthwhile. It cost us $50 bucks in gas, and a $50 bill for the wedding gift, as a result of stopping at yard sales we ended up making money going to the wedding instead of paying for it. It was a beautiful ride with great views, and we found some homegrown corn for $2 a bakers dozen and bought 4 dozen. Which we froze up for some of our winter supply of freshly grown veggies.

The vintage ladies hats we found at a sale originally belonged to the womans grandmother, she wanted $5.00 each, and we ended up with them all for $10.00. I also bought a vintage Mickey Mouse wristwatch for $2.00 at the same sale and forgot to add it in the pics. We researched the hats and have about $400.00 dollars worth. I bought two neat 1940's- 50's parking meters at another yard sale, the asking price was $20 bucks for both, I ended up getting them $15.00. The meters sell for $50 and up, each. The three vintage cast aluminum wall art Seagulls, marked Whitehall, were at the same sale as the meters for $2.00. No idea what they are worth, I am estimating around $15-$20 for the set. The box of mixed vintage costume jewelry was $2.00 and had a couple of nice lucite pc's, and the 1960's era Lefton Angel was 25 cents, these sell on average around $10.00 - $15.00. I love getting paid to have fun!

What to do with all that Junk

2010-08-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

One great way to sell the finds you accumulate over time is to set up at an antique show, It's much better than trying to sell at a yard sale. Most people, including myself wont pay alot for an item at a yard sale, as it really defeats the whole purpose.

The two Black and White tents are mine, we are sharing the tent on the right with friends, and split the cost of the spot. The pics below are just a small amount of my stuff I have acumulated, and it's time to lighten the ballast. One trick to selling in these tough economic times is to wholesale the items out. I buy almost everything cheap, so I can sell my stuff at a markdown, and still make a nice profit margin, and everyone is happy. Many dealers get stuck in a rut thinking antiques and collectibles are selling like they did 15 or 20 years ago, Not true anymore, prices are down 30 to 50% and many dealers wont budge very much on prices and they mark the items way too high and bitch when they sit around all week with hardly any sales - Stupid! Make sure you buy cheap, have plenty of inventory, sell at a discount, wheel and deal with people and blow the stuff out the door. That doesn't mean you have to give things away either, just let them think they are getting a deal. I prefer to sell, not sit on my stuff. Especially when you put money,time and effort into doing a show.

After six days, we decided to pack up a day early to avoid the rain predicted on the last day of the show, I am really happy we did. Anyone that stayed on the last day (Sunday) got 5 inches of the wet stuff to deal with, what a mess!

It alway helps to get creative when selling antiques. You have to train alot of the buyers, many are not antique dealers, just people looking to decorate thier home with an unusual item, or buy something nostalgic, or get a deal on a neat old piece of furniture. One of our signs said "WE HAGGLE" alot of people read it and came in to do just that! Our friend (above) also carryied this sign with a cow bell on the last day to draw in more customers- It worked really well. 99% of the customers were great to deal with. And most all love to wheel and deal! The best one of all was a 10 or 11 year old boy that came up and read our We Haggle sign and found a box of wade figurines for $2 ea. he asked me " I saw your haggle sign, will you take $1.50?" I said sure, easy sale, everyone was happy. I think I paid $2.00 for the wole box of 25 wades at a yard sale.

All told, by the 6th day of the show I sold a third of my inventory and put $4,100.00 in my pocket for the week. I am looking forward to doing more haggling at the next show.

Yard Sale Weekend Adventures

2010-07-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

Yard saling this weekend started out really bad - Friday we drove approximatly 130 miles, went to around 25 sales and found absolutley nothing!! well almost nothing, Gail got a cookbook for herself for 50 cents WOW. Every year we end up having one really bad day of yard saling and Friday was the one (hopefully) for this year. Last weekend it rained really, really hard all weekend so saling was a complete wash out,and we stayed home and watched movies all weekend, what a bore! I was getting bummed out and really had to force myself out of bed this Saturday morning. Being the Pirate that I am, I am always thinking about Treasure in one form or the other. This week a friend of mine was telling me about some fantastic find a yard saler had recently that made my heart skip a beat, and got my Pirate blood flowing (more like gushing) again. Here is the link http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/07/28/ansel.adams.negative.dispute/index.html

This guy paid $45.00 for potentially 200 Million bucks in Rare Ansel Adams lost glass plate negatives!!!!

Ok, so Saturday eventually turned out better for us, although not near as good as the guy that bought the Ansel Adams negatives, I am once again filled with Pirate blood rushing through my veins and I am happy.

This 1900-1910 era Double sized Quilt was both hand made and machine made and was in near perfect shape for $20.00 -Notice the Swastikas, They were originaly a Native American symbol for Good Luck! The old snowshoes above were at the same sale as the quilt for $60.00 and we got those for $40.00.

This Mean Green Malt Liqour plaque was FREE.

I negotiated this nice circa 1900 Litho in its original Frame and wood backing from $5.00 to $3.00. I will eventually take the backing off to look for any hidden treasures.

This Vintage marked Czechoslovakia Vase was a dollar

The two finds we got below were our best finds and most valuable this weekend. When hunting for treasures having as much knowledge as you can and constantly learning gives you an edge, BUT you can never know everything! It also pays to have an EYE for things and many times is worth it to take a gamble buying an item not knowing if you may be buying Trash or Treasure, so follow your instincts, it often pays off! You may not always know what you are looking at, but if you know how to spot good workmanship, and quality that always helps. This Original Serigraph below was $3 bucks and it was day two of the sale and everyone had passed it up. We had no clue about it either, after some easy research when we got home we found that this original screen printed serigraph, hand signed dated and numbered by KIMIKO KOJIMA is worth around $700.00 dollars

This wonderful 1940's Hollywood Glamour Costume bracelet below was surprise number two for us today. It was on a table with other pieces of mixed costume jewelry for 50 cents each. This one caught our eye, we knew it was older, super quality craftsmanship and was also signed R. DeRosa. We had no clue who that maker was, or what possible value it might have. When we got home we found R DeRosa in some of our vintage Jewelry books and found it to be a rare and valuable piece! I just found one on the Internet at a specialty Vintage jewelry site for $565.00. You never know whats out there to find!

Yard Sale Adventure Weekend

2010-07-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

The Pics above are Fridays meager haul. We had errands to run that day, and were able to go to just a couple of sales along the way. It didn't help that it also rained very hard, so the saling wouldn't have been too good anyway. Taking a little extra time to stop at sales while running errands always helps to pay for our gas and time. The old Christmas Ornaments were Free, The pair of vintage Syroco Wood Sconces were $2.00

These are quite collectible!

Syroco is no longer doing business as of a few years ago, another old US company a victim of NAFTA.

This was our haul for today (Saturday). We didn't have alot of time for saling today either, but we still managed to get a few things.

Sometimes we get TUNED IN to certain things. Last week Gail bought a Longaberger Basket for a dollar at a yard sale and I got a 19th C Butter mold for $5.00. This week Gail bought this Longabeger for a quarter, and I got another antique butter mold for $5.00. What are the odds of that?

Another 19th C. Butter Mold for $5.00

Nice Pineapple carving

This vintage Fenton vase on the left was a dollar and the unidentifyed purple vase on the right was $3.00

Funky, 1950's pottery lamps with glass flowers, for a dollar each. I will take a chance someone will want them - They are so Ugly!

Retro 70's Lemonade set

Even though this hand painted seaside painting in frame isn't old, I couldn't pass it up for a dollar, It will make a nice gift. Besides even a birthday card is at least a dollar now!

Saturdays Yard Sale Adventures

2010-07-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

This is part of Saturdays Yard Sale Booty. We drove 140 miles and looked at alot of junk to get this meager amount of stuff. You never know what you will find hunting for Treasures. Not everything we buy is 50 cents or a dollar, sometimes things cost a little more. As long as there is some room to make a profit, I dont mind paying extra. Three of the items were at one sale, the two books, the Sterling Ingot and the 19th C Butter Stamp were a total cost to me of $85.00. The two History of Oneida County, N.Y. Books were the most expensive. The old woman wanted $75 for the pair of them, She certainly knew what she had in her sale, but was a little behind the times on her prices. After some negotiation, and having to listen to her say " I paid more than that 20 years ago", about each item - So freakin what? Its a yard sale lady! I hear more BS at sales than I can handle. I managed to get her down to $55.00 then paid her an extra $30 for the Sterling Ingot and Butter Stamp. My favorite BS lines are the ones that put some stupid price on their junk and say " "Thats special to me, it was my Mothers, Fathers, Loved ones etc...." It's a very common BS line I hear alot from people- and guess what - I always say "if it's so special why are you selling it then?" Usually the come back is - "Well... if I get enough money for it" I always make it a point to low ball the crap out of the item at that point. Negotiating with people is alot of fun, and if you have your own line of BS and are really nice to people you can crack some tough nuts.

These books were not cheap, as far as a yard sale goes. These are worth around $300.00 for the pair, at a good auction or antique show.

This 1971 Frankiln Mint Sterling Ingot weighs a little over Two ounces. At $25 gave me just a little wiggle room.

I love these antique Butter Stamps, $5 bucks was a good deal.

One yard sale had a box full of Baskets, My better half can spot the Longabergers a mile away. This one was a buck. That puts her Longaberger collection to around 28, all purchased at yard sales- all different sizes, shapes, years etc... The most she paid for any of them was $5.00. A few years ago, She found a mint condition C. 1870's 8" Nantucket Gathering Basket for a Dollar. Thats in her little collection

This plastic container of Vintage and not - so vintage jewelry was $3.00. The woman was asking 30 cents apiece. We offered her $2 for all and she came back with $3. I haven't counted but there is at least 50 pieces in it.

More Pop- Ups and Mechanical Books for Gails collection . She is heading for the 500 book mark now.

Pirates Yard Sale Adventure

2010-07-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Picture above is our Yard Sale "Pirate Booty" haul from earlier today.

I took the last two weeks off from yard sailing, and spent all last week before the 4th holiday weekend doing a "clean out" for a person who's 90 year old father died, she wanted everything gone, so she could move in to the house, in her words "get rid of all this junk!". I am going to talk about that sometime during the coming week and show some pics. There were some real treasures found in that old house, especially in the untouched attic and basement.

Todays haul of yard sale booty included a nice mint condition Flute for $5.00, A matching pair of Art Deco pottery planters for $2.00, a really cool vintage Brass wall sconce with three glass bulbs for $5.00. Five original wood crates of Superior Ginger Ale and Grapefruit Juice bottles from the 1950s - $10.00 for all of it. Along with some misc items and free stuff. More pics below!

I took the picture of Gail paying for the five wooden crates with it's original vintage soda pop on the left. The guy was cleaning out a basement of an old bar for someone, and got to take them, they ended up in his yard sale, and then in my car.

He had "Make Offer" on the crate. HINT! When this happens - Strategically, it's to your advatage if you get the seller to give you a price first, and then counter the price with a lower offer if you have to - Never throw out the first offer, because it could be a much higher amount than the seller originally wanted for the item! In this case the guy selling the stuff insisted I make him an offer first! when that happens throw out a Low Ball offer. I offered him $2.00 a case, and he immediatly said yes! So I ended up with Five original wood crates of SUPERIOR Ginger Ale and Grapefruit drink bottles with the original holders for $10.00.

This very nice old brass wall sconce was $5.00

Misc items - really cheap.

These books were in a FREE box. If it's free, it's for me!

These two nice Art Deco pottery planters were $2.00 - Mint Condition. I have no idea who made them yet.

Pirates Yard Sale Adventure Weekend

2010-06-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

The quest for treasure is as much fun as finding it, and enjoying the sites and views along the way.

The person at the far left looks like a balloon head alien.

People were set up everywhere, even along the sidewalks.

My Better half with some Treasures.

Cool old wood boat converted to a flower planter in someones yard.

Some of our treasures this weekend

Mexican and Chile Silver and copper coins and two early American coppers, $1.50 for all

This old violin was five bucks with bow and case.

This was a nice buy for two bucks.

This 1959 Utica Brewery Shultz Stein was $8.00, but I coudn't find Dooley.

50 cents was a nice buy on this old frame

Retro Table for two bucks, People like these for TV stands.

This Weekends Yard Sale Adventure

2010-06-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

We drove 240 miles between Friday and today sailing for Treasures. Friday was a nice day, and there were sales spread out, but not tons going on. Today (Sat) rained like cats and dogs all day, of course alot of people that probably planned on having a sale, didn't bother, (I cant blame them in this weather) we went sailing anyway and drove over 130 miles searching today alone, we found a few sales and got a few things, we did some nice sight seeing mostly.

What really annoyes me are the people that put out yard sale signs, without posting a time, and you drive to it and they are not open, and usually they are 2,3,5 plus miles one way off some obscure road somewhere, as was the case today. I hate wasting time and gas. This happens to us all the time. And usually I just gripe a little and brush it off, but not always.
Some people are just way too lazy and inconsiderate to either remove the sign because they changed their mind and didn't feel like opening. but Duh, I'll keep a sign out anyway, or they put the garage sale sign out with a date, but no time, assuming everyone is psychic and already knows the time they are going to mysteriously open. So they open whenever they feel like it. And I'm not talking about some unrealistic time, I think 9 or 10 Am is more than reasonable. I couldn't help myself today, and was in rare form, or as Gails says "being a bastard", although she saw the humor in it. So I had to stop when I got back to the main road on two separate occasions of driving all over hells half acre, for nothing! And stop and tear the signs out of the road and throw them in a ditch. I must admit, I felt much better afterwards. I hope if, or when they eventualy decide to get off their lazy asses to open, they are sitting around wondering why no one is stopping! Serves em right! Yeah! I am a bad boy! Any way we managed to get a few things.

Nice sunny day yesterday, this community sale was way too new for my taste, way too much kids stuff. Not up my alley at all.

Lots of sales on this street, with lots and lots of baby clothes and kids stuff- YUCK!

when I start seeing alot of pinks and blues from 300 feet away at a yard sale, that is not a good omen. Still you never now if they have grannies Roseville vase stuck in with all that crap for a dollar. It does happen!

Cool mural paintings on the windows of this old church, now an artist store.

240 miles worth of driving over two days. A meager amount of booty. But we did manage to get some more Gold and Sterling jewelry Cheap! The Murano glass owl was $3 bucks and the Large 1940's Fire- King Tulip bowl was a steal at 50 cents. All the graphics (Tulips) are in mint shape. Collectors are really picky, and want stuff like that bright and pretty. If it has alot of scratches on the graphics, dont bother buying it, if you are planning on re-selling it anyway.

This 10KT White Gold class ring and 14Kt Gold necklace and pendant were in a box 25 cents each! BINGO!

The three vintage .925 Sterling Silver Bangles were $1.00 for all three and the Sterling Earrings were 10 cents. The 1964 Kennedy Silver half dollar turned into a money clip was 50 cents- OK!

This vintage 1950's - 60's, Toledo Spain enamelled and brass, sword pick party appetetizer set was 25 cents. The lady I bought it from, told me "Thats old, I got it for my mom as a gift from Spain along time ago" I sold one a few months ago on ebay for $135.00, that one I had to pay $5.00 for.

This rare early 1912 photograph by Benani, of San Juan Hill, Cuba, in original frame was 50 cents.

back of photo, maybe there is money hiding in the back, I will find out later.

Three more Pop- Up- Books for Gails Collection for 25 cents each. She is approaching 500 of them now.

The cool Halloween one below is from 1979,

This Weekends Yard Sale Adventures

2010-06-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

The Yard Sales were pretty tough this weekend. Friday was a nice day, as far as the weather goes. Saturday was forecasted to be really crappy, and it was. Alot of people just dont bother setting up when it's going to be bad weather. There were alot of sales going on Friday, unfortunatly we only had a few hours to go in the morning and had to get back for other commitments. We ended up getting a few things this weekend but not very much. below are some pics of our finds.

Eagle eye view of our weekend booty.

The five vintage framed Paint by Number, paintings were 50 cents a piece. Who would have ever thought that these would become collectable! They are actually kind of nice.

A little pile of misc. vintage and newer Jewelry with some Real Sterling Silver and some Fake Sterling Silver.

Some fish lures and other odds and ends.

The guy wanted $10 for the whole bag of these lures. But a Pirate Capitalist like myself always has to haggle. After he hummed and hawed for a few seconds I got them for $8.00. There are four in the bottom left that are collectable that I will eventually try to re-sell, and the rest will probably get lost while I'm fishing.

An old Brass mallet and a kids metal beach sand shovel from the 1920's for $2.00.

A little old mixed in with some newer jewelry was in this bag for $5.00. The Whiting and Davis watch necklace with a 17 jewel Waltham watch is from the 1920's along with a vintage Sterling, Taxco Mexico ladies ring along with a newer enamelled compact.

This was $5.00 for the newer sterling silver, we generally dont like to pay that much for one or two pieces of Sterling unless it has a good name, but the pin was heavy and will make a little on melt.

This plastic case of older religious medals was 50 cents which had five Sterling Silver medals in with it.

These two cases of vintage, "new -old- stock" 1980's SAVANT sterling were 25 cents each. The one on the left had a Sterling silver charm, the one on the right had a Sterling Silver Charm and a fake Sterling Silver Bracelet which turned out to be Silver plated and was marked Italy- 925, These marks are clearly made to decieve people. The case it was sold in was also marked as Sterling. Even a Pirate like myself can get taken, once in a while! Soon after I pulled it out of the case, I was suspicious, just by the way it felt. Then I gave it the magnet test. The magnet test wont work if the jewelry is made of brass or copper with a gold or silver plating. I will talk about this another time, and how to tell the difference. But if the magnet does stick at least you will know for sure it's junk!

This fake .925 Italy Sterling bracelet stuck to my powerful little bunch of magnets - Sure sign it's a fake! Beware - alot of fake Gold and Silver jewelry is sold. Many times the seller or the buyer isn't even aware of it. Fortunatly for 25 cents I didn't loose much, and the charms with it were real. I try to make a habit of testing suspicious items first before I buy them, but not always, as in this instance because it was in it's original unopened case and it was cheap.

Tools of the Trade - I carry a 10 power jewelers loupe, so that I can read the marks on a piece of jewelry. Many times a good piece of Gold or Silver wont be marked, for many reasons, the mark could have been worn down from use, or if it was re-sized, the mark taken out, some antique jewelry wasn't marked. Marks dont always tell the truth either! Sometime I will show you how to tell the difference. I also carry a powerful magnet, or magnets in this case, to make it really strong to read through Fake, thick gold or silver plated jewelry. I also have a Pennyweight/Gram scale and an acid test kit for Gold, Silver and Platinum with me if I make a really expensive purchase.

Memorial Weekend Yard Sale Finds

2010-06-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Memorial weekend is pretty much when yard sales get into full swing up here, and by Saturday there were tons everywhere. Friday I stayed close to my area, as it was still pretty slow, I was getting dissapointed untill I got home and realized what I had purchased. Saturday we drove 1 1/2 hours North to a community sale that started at 8 Am. We arrived there at 7 Am and had a blast, there was hardly anyone sailing but a few of us. By 10 am the stragglers were out full bore and it was total chaos by then on the streets. I took a ton of pics. We didn't get alot, but we did get a couple of really nice finds. We drove a few hundred miles Memorial weekend and burned $40 bucks in gas, I didn't bother to count how many sales we went to.

This sale was a surprise we purchased 17 pennyweights of misc. gold jewelry for $75 all was 14 KT except for one ring that was 10KT gold including a 1/4 carat diamond engagment ring and matching band. The lady had all the jewelry from her 1st marriage and wanted it all gone!

A picture of the pile of Gold and some more pop up books for Gails collection.

14 Kt gold wedding ring with a 1/4 carat Diamond

I purchased This bronze Fire Bell at this sale for $65.00 the asking price was $75.00. The old timers father left the Schenectady Fire Dept in the 1950's and got to take the bell. I believe it's actually much older, probably Mid to late 19th C.

Some pics of other items we purchased over Memorial weekend. The old arts & Crafts Morris chair you see I paid $8.00 at an old estate in Camden, NY. I didn't realize it had a paper label under it - what a surprise - J.M. Young ! almost as good as Gustav Stickley! and I found it in the town it was originally made.

This sterling pendant with amethyst stone was in a free box.

These Sterling and Ivory earrings cost us 25 cents, original price was inked out, but were $40.00 new.

Possible future collectibles? I liked the 1990 die cast Coca - Cola Airplane Bank, never opened.

This small pile of jewelry was at a sale for 25 cents each, or pair. All of it is Sterling plus one pair of 14KT Gold earrings.

US Companys Possibly Involved In Counterfeiting Gold

2010-05-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Here is another link reporting news about Tungsten bars plated with gold. Some information pointing to the US Federal Reserve possibly involved in this counterfeiting scheme and cover up.

http://news.coinupdate.com/largest-private-refinery-discovers-gold-plated-tungsten-bar-0171/

Beware of Fake Gold Bars and Bullion

2010-05-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the element Tungsten also called Wolfram is 70% denser than lead, and nearly identical to gold in it's density. Tungsten weighing 19.25g/cm3 and Gold weighing 19.3/cm3. Tungsten also has the highest melting point of any non alloyed metal at 3,422 degrees Celsius, which makes it very hard to melt.

If you are considering buying Gold bullion, Coins , Bars etc... Consider buying directly from a reputable refinery or dealer. Anything coming out of China, you should red flag and stay away from it. Fake gold bars, coins and even jewelry are getting made from Tungsten with a thick Gold plating. Which is very hard to detect from the real thing.

Even Banks and Governments have been fooled by Gold made with Tungsten cores. Reports of this happening as early as the 1970's.

The only true way of knowing if your gold bar or coin has a Tungsten core is from the Fire-Assay method. Essentially melting it down, Gold testing alone wont work. No one knows for certain how many fakes are floating around, But there is a large amount of it!

Below are two interesting links - they talk about fake Gold Bars in Fort Knox. The Federal Reserve at it's worst! Scary!

http://info-wars.org/2010/01/16/fake-gold-bars-in-bank-of-england-and-fort-knox/

http://viewzone2.com/fakegoldx.html

If you are unsure it's best to buy from a reputable refinery or dealer. Stay away from anything coming out of China!! Fakes are also being sold on the internet and ebay, I have heard stories af fake Gold Panda coins being sold on ebay. So do your research first if you are considering buying Gold.

Pitare Capitalist