Bang and Olufsen, Beogram 1900 Turntable (circa 1977)

Paid: 85 dollars:
Insurance Value: I say the cartridge (needle) is worth 100 by itself. Add to that turntable (what a beautiful object, eh?) and I'm going to say 250 bucks. Right?
Look at that elevation.
That thing on the top left to let you play 45s is not a part of the deck. I guess I should have removed it before photographing it.


One button.
The cartridge looks decent, no?

The County Treasurer of New York at the Broadway Bank Checks, 1866

Paid: 10 Dollars for five.
Insurance Value: 300+ dollars, based on this.

From Scripophily the World's #1 Buyer and Seller of Original Stock and Bond Certificates:
"Beautifully engraved check from the County Treasurer of New York - National Broadway Bank issued in 1868. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an old sailor, an indian, a ship and an eagle. The check is signed by the New York City Mayor John Thompson Hoffman (who later became Governor), City Comptroller Richard B. Connolly, and the Clerk J.P. Touny. John Thompson Hoffman ( 1828-1888) who also signed the check was Mayor of New York from 1866-1868 and Governor of New York (Elected Twice) from 1869-73. He joined the Tammany Society in 1859. As mayor of New York City and governor of New York the activities of Tweed Ring were at their height. His political future was ruined by conviction of Tweed, although there was never any proof he was involved."


The thing I like most about this check is the primitive security feature. It's a cross-hair pattern; it's very non discrete so I held it up to the light to help you see it.
Beautiful engraving indeed. Fine penmanship too. Everyone wrote in calligraphy back then.
I love that 5 people signed each one of these checks: the mayor, the clerk board supervisor, the comptroller, the county bookkeeper (that's him turned ninety degrees on the left side) AND the payee (on the back).

A Milk Can From the Grandview Dairy of Brooklyn, circa 1920ish

Paid: It's my grandma's, not mine. Though she has an extra she said I could have and I plan to take, eventually. I've had to resort to this because no one--less Che (kudos Che!)--entered our contest. We're going to extend it 'til the end of the year (we like to set our selves up for disappointment). So if you feel like sending us pictures of something you bought somewhere at some point and believe has some value, that would be great; provenance is a plus. We'll be picking up the slack starting this weekend, just in case.

Insurance value: 43-60 dollars

This one is from the Grandview Dairy of Brooklyn; the one Grandma said I can have is out of Long Island City.

Ronson Rondette Tablelighter 1934

Guest post brought to us courtesy of Che:

Paid: Ten bucks
Insurance value: 40-50 bucks

I'm guessing this is a Ronson Rondette Tablelighter as my research yielded no other Ronson lighter with a round body. If it is, then it at one time had two cylinders as seen in the example I found (see last photograph). I like most things art deco, and this is no exception. Love the black lacquer finish and wear on said finish also. You can tell this lighter has been loved over the years.

From Che:

"see, I read your blogs, here's my entry, picked it up in Massachusetts. Art deco lighter, Runs off fluid, zippo style."

"10 bucks, whenever I buy stuff from the old timers, I throw in extra, the price of admission."

Very generous of you Che, and you still made out. Nice work.






Image and text below courtesy of http://vintage-ronson.com/

Wonderful Art Deco table lighter with a central round body set upon two smaller cylindrical feet. Ronson named the Rondette and claimed it has a "Graceful and eye catching Round design". The lighter was offered in chrome plate with either Tortoise or Black enamel.

Update on the Meteor

While Celeste was cheating on the NYT Sunday crossword, she came across this image of Phobos, the doomed (not domed) moon of Mars. I couldn't help but notice it sure looks a lot like that meteor I picked up at an estate sale and posted earlier this year; no? I'm going to go out on a limb here and assert that this photograph is further evidence I own a meteor.


Photo of Phobos courtesy of NASA

One-pound scale, Type 42 made by the Exact Weight Scale Company of Columbus , OH

Dad paid: 20 dollars
Insurance value: 250 bucks

So we've been in the disabled list for a while. Celeste's appendix, Ella being born and requiring time to get her bearings, my back pains, there just hasn't been time or the physical fortitude to keep bringing you the best in estate sale treasure. But we will be back to serve you, gentle reader. We're probably going to be on the DL until late summer.

That said, here's a post courtesy of my Daddy-O.

"It's a one-pound scale, Type 42 made by the Exact Weight Scale Company of Columbus , OH. It has a state certified seal attached that it had been inspected and approved by the sate of California dated 1968. Asking price had been $30 at the yard sale, but I negotiated $20."
Good stuff, Daddy-O. Love the California State seal. The one I found online to gauge my insurance value had neither the seal nor the little placard above it.

That email gave me a great idea. I'm going to run a contest, from now until the first NFL football game of the '08 season. Please submit to me a photograph of something found an estate/yard/tag sale or auction-y event and I'll post the pics and hazard an appraisal. We'll pick our favorites through September and I'll send you a congratulatory email proclaiming you a certified Estate Saler if you win.

Please send all submissions to evan[dot]bray gmail.

Bakelite

Paid: We paid no more than 3 bucks, if that, for each of these pieces.
Insurance value: A lot more than what we paid.

There is a new movie, Savage Grace, that tells the story of the Baekelands who founded the Bakelite empire. It's supposed to be good. We have a little Bakelite cache of our own we've been picking up here and there.

A bottle and can opener.

I think this is my favorite. It's a ravioli cutter. The cutter is actually solid brass.

Cake knives, right?

A steak knife and a fish fillet knife.

Know what these are? I bet not. These are angel food cake knives.

I don't know what you call the fork thing with a thing that pushes the meat off and I think the other is a cocktail spoon or something. It's good for scraping mayo out of a big jar.

A Dog's Portrait

Price: 5 bucks; I really should have argued that price-point
Insurance Value: Irreplaceable

This is a portrait,[tin-type?] of a muscular dog. The photograph sure looks old and the dog surely looks noble. We very well may re-frame it.

A Meteor

Price: 3 dollars
Insurance value: that depends, but if it's a meteor, a couple grand.

"Are you a teacher?" asked the pricing-woman. "No; but my father and sister are, why?" Turns out she thinks it's a fossil and that I'm going to bring it to show-and-tell, or something. Now I've seen fossils, and this--my friends--is no fossil. Meteor or moon rock, maybe, but certainly not a fossil.

It's irony, not as in the opposite of wrinkly and it's definitely not a "literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or discordance between what a speaker or writer says and what he or she means, or what is generally understood." I think space rocks usually have iron in them, hence the rust in the dimples, and it is heavy, so it's probably a meteor. All those pock marks are probably from entry into our atmosphere, right?

1979 Bally Harlem Globetrotter Pinball Machine

Please note we didn't buy this. It pains me to even post this. It worked and was in great shape. Sorry for the cell phone pics. We just had our second daughter so we've been slacking on the blog front. I'm just drumming up content from our photo reservoir.

Price: 150 dollars
Insurance Value: 900+ dollars

Robert Rauschenberg

Paid: 35 dollars
Insurance Value: TBD

Boy, oh boy. As we were driving home, we were talking about how Celeste could stop working because this print was going to erase our debt and then some.

I noticed this print while leaving the second floor. I noticed it has an "R.R. Dec. 30th, 1979." Surely the Lord hadn't just delivered me an original Rauschenberg a few days after his death. I flipped it over and found instant provenance, a Miami Herald clipping with hand notes that this "picture" had appeared in the Miami Herald on Dec 30th, 1979. It is a Rauschenberg! It's the cover of a gay and lesbian magazine from south Florida called "Tropics."

Walking up to pay, a woman came up and looked closely at the clipping on the back. "Celeste!" I said sternly under my breath, "don't show the back; they'll figure out it's worth exponentially more than 35 dollars. " We made it out with the print and they gave us a free Bakelite fillet knife. I immediately called my art dealer (read: Pat) who noted it may be a print of a print. He wasn't thinking of newsprint, but it's kind of true.

Instant provenance?
I cut away the paper backing to reveal...a stinking Santa Claus ad. We were duped.
The house we got this at was a very nice on a very nice block. This was our competition. Look at those vultures, beaks pressed against the glass trying to scout their prey.
Ahhhhh...quit giving me the evil eye.

Stakmore Folding Bridge Table with Three Matching Chairs

Paid: 60 dollars for both sets (3 chairs + 1 table per set)
Insurance value: 275

The orange one has a bit of water damage on one side, but not too bad. I'm selling the orange set on Craigslist. Today we realized we are going to become that couple that just keeps collecting shit. We enjoy the thrill of the buy, but this is slowly becoming a white elephant farm.

Of course you all remember our first Stakmore Bridge table and chair, right?



Below you'll see the only problem with any of the wicker backs.