We’ve got some fantastic deals for musicians here at Auction Bay!  We’re currently listing a whole lot of exceptional parts for Flutes, Saxophones, and more!

A few weeks ago, we sold a lot of similar items, and they did so well, the consignor decided to bring in a bunch more.  We’ve got Headjoints for Flutes, including Solid Silver and Gold-Lipped models!  We’ve got Saxophone Necks for Alto and Tenor Sax players!  We’ve got high-quality mouthpieces for saxophones, including metal ones!  We’ve even got a mute for a trumpet and a drumstick bag for all the marching band enthusiasts out there!  It’s a great bundle, and they will make some musicians very happy.

Just check out this link to see all the fantastic instruments and components we have for sale!  It takes you straight to our Musical Instruments category!

This old Owl Clock brought a $160 sale on eBay!

At Auction Bay, we research items before we sell them, to let us know which keywords to use and get a general idea of how well an item sells.  We seek a consistent sale history on eBay, and employ several tools in this search, but sometimes even our tenacious efforts yield little information.  In these cases, we go by our experiences, and give it our best.  This is one case where it worked beautifully!

We’ve had good successes with antique clocks, and typically the more unique they are, the better.  In this case, when we saw this antique owl clock, we could find no identifying maker’s marks, no particularly searchable characteristics, and we learned that when searching for ‘owl clock’, one finds a plethora of cuckoos, mantel clocks, and all manner of similar items, just not this one.  But we listed it with confidence, and our faith was rewarded with a sale of $160.27!

This clock dated to roughly 100 years old, and was made of brass, but yielded no clue as to its value from a detailed inspection.  Still, we made sure to use title key words which would be as general as necessary to be found, but still specific enough to get attention!  As with most cases, the collectors out there were able to find it, bid fervently, and made our consignor quite happy.

This Schwinn Sting-Ray Bike sold for twice what we expected!

Schwinn bikes sell really well on ebay.  Even parts to Schwinn bikes can bring in big bucks.  There are many collectors and restoration enthusiasts out there, and each are looking for that next big project or the bike they can ride to and from work, or the bike they remember from their childhood.  Certain models sell better than others, but a bike can be a real winner if it is of a rare color…

Just check out this Schwinn Sting-Ray bicycle we recently had up for auction!  It was in excellent shape, having been well-kept by the consignor, even as a child.  We researched the Sting-Ray type from similar years, and found a history of sales which gave us confidence that this bike would sell up to $600 in such great condition.  Well, we were surprised and very happy to see this bike bid up over twice that amount! It sold for $1,390.00!

As it turns out, the frame boasted a rare original paint job.  Lime Green is a sought-after color, prompting this sale to reach far higher than we expected.  We hadn’t seen any green Sting-Ray bikes in our search, only yellow and blue and such, but in any case, the rarity of the color is what made the sale huge.  So, if your bike has a desirable name and is of a good model, its sale will be impressive.  But if it’s also got a rare coloration to the frame, or a rare accent (like a bulb housing for a light or a reflector mount), then its price may astound you!

This set of Sword Reference books sold for $650.00 on eBay!

There are plenty of sword collectors and enthusiasts in the world, as proven by our recent sword sales!  But how do those experts find the value of an antique?  Certainly, they can tell by the mei or signature on the tang, but to confirm a sword maker’s identity, they look at books with pages upon pages of signatures.  Just like these which we just sold. 

Nihon To Koza or Japanese Sword Lectures combines a valuable reference with the rarity of its low production from the first printing, and this set even boasted the signature of the author.  That’s three elements which are just what you want when selling a book. 

Here’s an eBay Hint for all you home eBayers out there: 

A rule of thumb regarding general reference books:  The key is to find books which contain what we call ‘timeless information’.  Anything with patterns or schematics which can be used to make or repair items has a good chance to sell.  Instructional books or ones which can be used to identify artworks or collectibles can sometimes sell, depending on the subject matter.  You can sell sets of encyclopedias dating to within the last 3 or 4 years, but beyond this point the material is so outdated that it loses its value as a citable reference.  A set of World Book Encyclopedias from the year 2005 can fetch $150-300 (a fraction of their original price), but a set from 2003 will only garner $70-120.  Beyond this point, it’s a crap shoot, but decades-old sets will hardly sell at all.  It’s timeless data which can bring greater values.  Informative books about collectible items or works of art like this set, wherein the information won’t change (the great swordsmiths’ names are forever). 
Books which provide valuable information about items, especially hard-to-find ones, can reach great prices like this.

This Zippo marks the Moon Landing 40 years ago, and sold for $203.50!

So everyone knows the Zippo brand lighter.  They’ve been around for decades, boasting reliability and function even in adverse environments, and they’ve got that satisfying *ca-chink* sound when you flip them open and closed!  Zippo is legendary, but the market is a glut with them!  Everyone has one, and most have extras to sell.  Still, there are a few individual pieces which can bring some BIG sales.  Here’s one…

We recently sold this Zippo Lighter, which is a special commemorative piece.  It is emblazoned with the image of a Lunar Lander, marked with the date July 20, 1969.  This collectible lighter is like new in its original box, and brought a great sale of $203.50!

Here’s another eBay Hint for you home ebayers: This is a great item, but its timing is even greater.  Just take a look at the date… July 1969, and it’s now June of 2009!  Very soon the 40 year anniversary of the Moon Landing will start getting attention, and so for a piece like this, it can bring in LOTS of interest.  Any time a movie comes out or an event or historical date relevant to an item occurs, it drives up the interest for items related to it.  So if you’ve got an item dating to the moon landing, then it may be time to put it up for auction!