O Sweet Electricity!

After 6 long days without power, I'm back. I managed to send out a batch of packages mid-week by hanging out in front of The Apple Store at the mall and using their wireless connection --- much fun on my tiny little iPod Touch. I don't have a laptop, but it does do in a pinch: I got addresses - transcribing them into an actual paper notebook (shocking);sent a bulk email to let people know the reason for the delay (with the help of the conveniently located Apple Geniuses); and relisted a number of items.

The only thing I couldn't do was new listings. So I am planning a bunch for the weekend -- the lack of auctions closings through the week will put a serious crimp in my pre-payday cash flow. Luckily I have had a fairly steady stream of store purchases -- keep on buying people!!

Now off to work.

Surprise sale of the week

Well the Vested Gentress dress sold, though not as well as expected -- 12 watchers, but only 2 bidders. I did get an unexpected surprise though with this Eileen Fisher wool jacket -- picked it up for only $5 -- making 21 times that is a nice way to end a Sunday evening.

Fun Find of the Week -- Vested Gentress dress

This charming dress is from collectible maker Vested Gentress of Valley Forge, Pa., which according to the Vintage Fashion Guild's Label Resource was in business from 1961 to the late 1980s. The company specialized in brightly colored novelty prints made in to simple, very well-made clothing for Ladies Who Lunch and other country-club types.

I have come across a number of VG pieces over the past few years and they never fail to be decent sellers, though don't quite bring as much as I think they should. I wish I had saved photos of the first couple of pieces I found -- a skirt suit with a print of tiny tigers and a terrific white dress -- styled just like the one shown here - with a print of large bright yellow running horses around the full skirt. I'm sure it was worn to the Kentucky Derby.


I did turn up a pic of the last piece I found, a shift dress with the same cute cartoonish dog. This one was sold to a buyer in France, I think for about $36. At one point I had found a site of a VG collector with a ton of items shown, but can't find it anymore (note to self - when in doubt, bookmark). If you want to check out more VG designs, take a look at this recent post to the Palm Peach Blog.

Right now there are about 5 auction listings for VG dresses ranging from $10-$24 and 15 store listings from $16 to $125. There are 14 closed listings with sold prices from $10 to $177. I'm planning to list my current dress - a very wearable size 10 -- on Sunday for a starting bid of $32 in the vintage category. Check back here to see how it does.

Who would have thought?

I almost didn't list this vintage miniature cap gun. I found it in a toy box at an estate sale a few weeks ago and paid just a quarter for it. Quite a nice return on investment.

In doing a bit of online research, I found there is quite a community of miniature cap gun collectors and some of these little items can fetch quite a good price.

Just goes to show you, there's a market for most everything on eBay. Today I'm off to the thrifts to see what can I dig up next.