20Nov
This Taylor Guitar brought big bucks at Auction Bay!
On occasion, we at Auction Bay get the pleasure of listing a fine instrument for sale. We’ve seen all sorts, from accordions to zithers. This Guitar is another great example!
This is a model 414 CE Grand Auditorium Electric Acoustic Guitar by Taylor. It’s got a huge name, and it sold for a pretty huge price, too! It’s easy to see why, as the quality of this instrument is truly top-notch. The body is a beautiful brown burl Ovangkol, which helps to produce a great deep sound. The face is a high gloss Sitka Spruce, bound by White Fiber. Even the fretboard has pearl dots. And, being the CE model, it used Fishmen Prefix Plus electronics, for on-the-fly equalizing. It was even lightweight.
This guitar makes tone-deaf people want to learn to play guitar, that’s how great it is. And for that reason, it sold for $1,400.00!
Tags: 6-string, Acuostic, Auditorium, Electric, Electric Acoustic, Grand, Guitar, Taylor
09Nov
Of all things, a Keyboard brought a huge sale on eBay. $285.00!
Talk about big surprises. This auction made all of us old-school computer geeks cringe, remembering all the old parts we threw away or recycled back when we were certain they would no longer be useful, and could never possibly be worth anything. Well, that’s some tasty crow we’re eating.
Here we have one of the most common computer accessories: the Keyboard. This is an IBM Personal Computer Keyboard, dating back to the mid-1980s. There were hundreds of thousands of these made, and every household and company with an IBM PC had one or a comparable model. But the key to this auction is what we call rate of attrition.
Every company and family who owned IBM computers naturally had to use their keyboard, and very few had an extra one on hand. After a number of years passed, computers no longer used this type of keyboard, and they were thrown away en masse, resulting in an increase in rarity. Finally, condition played a major role in the high sale of this auction, as this keyboard was never removed from its box and plugged in. In such pristine condition, even common items can see strong sales. Put it all together, and you get a $285.00 sale for a mere Keyboard.
Tags: 1986, AT, Computer, IBM, kb, keyboard
06Nov
Thomas Centennial Park in Downtown Chesterton looks a little chilly this morning!
The first week of November isn’t yet over, and we’ve had our first snowfall of the season! At Auction Bay, we were amused by the flurries yesterday, but we weren’t expecting a measurable snowfall overnight! No matter, we’re ready for business and can’t wait to help you sell items on eBay!
We’ve got hot coffee. Care to join us? What better way to beat the chill of the first winter snow than by gathering up a few items and heading over to Auction Bay to make some money on ebay? Here, you can enjoy a steaming hot cup of caffeine, a pleasant conversation, and make money all the while as we help you sell your items. It’s a great way to make extra money for the holiday season! Christmas is less than 50 days away, after all!
Who knows what this winter will bring, but if you sell with Auction Bay, you’ll have an additional source of income to help you through the cold months!
We can’t help but to keep mentioning our new facade. It looks pretty good in the snow! As the great Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) once said… “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true!”
A little bit of snow won't slow us down!
Tags: 2010, facade, sign, snow, snowfall, weather, winter
03Nov
Auction Bay Online has finished the upgrade of the building façade, bringing a classic appearance back to this 118-year-old edifice!
We present to you the new Auction Bay Online storefront! The design was inspired by black & white photographs of the building and the historic downtown Chesterton area.
It's the new face of Auction Bay Online, ready to serve you!
If you need construction or renovation work for your home or business, we’ll happily put you in contact with the contractors with whom we have enjoyed working! Call (219) 926-6416 for more information about Auction Bay or our new look!
Tags: 1892, chesterton, construction, downtown, facade, face, front, historic, store, storefront
03Nov
This huge toy model of the M5 Stuart tank brought a $154.00 sale!
We love toys at Auction Bay. Toys can be really big sellers, partly because there’s always someone looking for that cool toy they always wanted from their childhood, or that one piece to complete their collection, or Birthday & Christmas presents for their children! And whatever toy you’re looking for, the place to find it is on eBay!
This Tank is one of the coolest toys we’ve encountered! We’ve seen a number of great models and even some highly detailed replicas, but you’ve got to admit… nothing screams “cool toy” like a huge toy tank over 2 feet long! This 1:6 scale model replicates the M5 Stuart Light Tank used by American and British armed forces in World War Two. Made by 21st Century Toys roughly 10 years ago, this piece has maintained an impressive value on the collector’s market, and is popular among radio-control toy enthusiasts as well! After all, racing fast RC cars can be fun, but invading scale cities sounds pretty fun, too! In any case, this tank brought enough bids to score a $154.00 sale, in spite of the fact that it was a costly item to ship!
Whether you have great toys like this one, or other WWII collectibles, we at Auction Bay will be happy to help you sell them! We make sure your items have the best chance of a top dollar sale!
Tags: m5, model, scale, stuart, tank, Toy, world war, wwii
19Oct
Auction Bay can sell your old radios, just like this Zenith Trans-Oceanic Z7000, which brought $237.93 at auction!
Auction Bay Online is where you can find all the Vintage Vacuum Tube Radio Sets you could want! Thanks to a couple consignors bringing in their collection of Radios, we’ve had the chance to test out some real classics! These radios are far older than we can remember, but our research has taught us lots about these old machines.
Whether they work or not, these old radio sets can sell! Some will sell for parts, using hard-to-find tubes in their operation. Others use wood or bakelite in their construction, which can be a real source of an item’s value! In any case, we’ve seen some impressive sales lately, and here’s one example!
This radio is from the Trans-Oceanic line by Zenith. This model R7000 was in good physical condition, and tuned in to stations, albeit with some additional noise. To a radio enthusiast, this is an easy fix, so the set brought a great sale at $237.93!
What’s even better? We’re still listing even more radios from this lot, including top-selling names like RCA, Grundig, Zenith, Motorola, Realtone, Detrola, Crosley, Truetone, Bosch, Philco, GE, Pilot, Coronado, and many more! Check out our Vintage Electronics category to see them all!
Tags: antique, Bosch, Coronado, Crosley, Detrola, GE, Grundig, Motorola, Philco, Pilot, r7000, radio, rare, RCA, Realtone, trans-oceanic, Truetone, tube, vacuum, vintage, zenith
13Oct
Auction Bay is getting a new look, and it's looking swell thus far!
Our renovation is almost complete!
Here’s a look at the new facade of Auction Bay Online! It’s coming along nicely, don’t you think? Based on hundred-year-old photographs of the buildings in historic downtown Chesterton, this new storefront facade will help bring our building back to its roots! Built in the 1890s and renovated or modified many times since, 107 S. Calumet is ready to look great again!
We’ll keep you posted as to our progress… watch for more in-progress pics!
13Oct
This Samovar urn brought lots of bids and a sale of $717.00!
Ever heard of a Samovar?
This Samovar urn is quite a curious contraption, designed to heat and maintain hot water, tea, coffee, or your beverage of choice. It contains a central column for hot coals, which heat the liquid in the surrounding reservoir. This vintage piece is Russian in origin, of brass construction, and still holds water. The design is elegant and features embellishments at the valve and the handles, and the maker’s mark is written in Cyrillic characters, so we’re not certain the name. Nonetheless, it sure did bring some exciting action! This samovar brought 31 bids, for a final sale of $717.00!
Items like this are great examples of why we all love working at Auction Bay. We may never have come across this piece or any like it outside of work, but learning about the rare items and their history, and the cultures and traditions behind them make for a really fun day’s work! And we can still be pleasantly surprised at the end of an auction!
Tags: bataweba, brass, coffee, hot, pot, russia, russian, samovar, tea, urn, water
25Sep
This Powell flute sold for $6,000 at Auction Bay!
Musical instruments are always a big hit at Auction Bay. It’s true with all grades of instruments, from a student model to a fine professional piece like this one!
A new consignor arrived on our scene with a collection of wind instruments, including various simple flutes, a fife, and this masterpiece! Her flute was a top-notch model, and its sale price shows it! It sold for $6,000.00 to another talented musician!
Here’s an eBay Hint for all you home sellers out there. One thing that helps sell any instrument is to include a video of that instrument being played. If you can take a video that showcases your instrument in action, it will give an extra amount of confidence to your buyers that it is ready to play. You can embed any video into an eBay auction through the html tab on the description field. (If you have no idea what that means, then consider selling your instruments at Auction Bay!)
Even in rough economic times, there are always people looking to buy instruments. Whether you’re a flautist or a pianist, the online marketplace is your best bet.
Tags: case, flautist, flute, instrument, music, Musical Instruments, powell, silver, solid, verne
17Sep
We've found big sales for Wesley Willis original drawings! This Chicago artist is a hit!
At Auction Bay, we frequently encounter artwork of all types, from original oil paintings to fine art prints signed and numbered by the artist. On eBay, there’s tons of artwork for sale, so it all comes down to the artist’s name to determine a value. Identifying the artist can mean the difference between a $50 sale and a $500 sale (or more). If an artist isn’t listed (noted as a sought-after name), then their works could be lost amidst the glut of art on eBay. Well, here we’ve got a highly-sought-after name: Wesley Willis; and his drawings are real winners!
Chicago native Wesley Lawrence Willis was a self-trained artist, and is considered by many to be the premier intuitive city artist, east of the Mississippi River. His art has been exhibited in multiple galleries, and his life has been documented in film. Willis was just 40 years of age when he passed away in 2003, his life cut short by Leukemia. We’re pleased to have had several of his original drawings at Auction Bay, and they’ve brought some impressive sales as well as some great attention!
One of his artworks, drawn at the age of 21 and depicting the world’s most well-known restaurant franchise, sold for $750.00! Yet another, showing the Sears Tower looming over the town with a Union Pacific freight train passing in the foreground, sold for $650.00. Still others have brought similar figures, and it was still is a thrill to list them.
Update June 4, 2012: We’ve still got MORE Wesley Willis art for sale right now, so check HERE to see them!
Another Wesley Willis Artwork sold at Auction Bay
Auction Bay can help you sell your art collection, so feel free to contact us for more information!
Tags: art, artist, artwork, chicago, city, drawing, lawrence, outsider, wesley, wesley willis, willis
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