This antique Parpoint jar sold for $276.00 thanks to Auction Bay!

Yet another lovely antique captures our appreciation at Auction Bay!

This antique PARPOINT Biscuit Jar (or Cracker Jar, depending on where and when you may be from) was a delightful collectible item, in great condition.  It had a rich coloration with gradient change from peach to orange, enhanced with its original hand-painted floral design.  The silver lid and decorative element above the bail were in great shape, and the maker’s marks were nice and clear on the white glass.  Even though the silver and the glass were separated, this antique vessel brought 15 bids for a $276.00 sale!

Here’s an eBay Hint for all our home eBayers out there!  Identification is key with a piece like this!  The name PARPOINT was not spelled out, and the maker’s mark was subtly stamped in the lid and easy to miss.  There are numerous websites that catalog silver marks, and finding that letter P in the Diamond hallmark takes good research.  The name Parpoint meant the difference between a 27 dollar sale and a 276 dollar sale!

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.

This US Silver Dollar from 1872 brought $255.00 at Auction Bay!

Many of us have some old coins tucked away in a box in a drawer, waiting for the day when we’ll put in the time to research them, or take them to a professional for assessment.  At Auction Bay, we can help you turn those old coins into cash, and you can rest assured they’ll sell for as much as the market will bear!

Here, for example, is a handsome coin we recently listed on eBay.  This Seated Liberty Silver Dollar from 1872 was one of a lot of coins brought in by our consignor, as we frequently encounter.  Our listers check each date in a coin lot in search of key dates and limited minting runs, and this one was singled out from its fellows for an individual listing.  Our photos and scans are detailed and crisp, intended to show every angle and every detail, right down to the finest lines.  This way, every coin collector who encounters the listing will be able to see just how good a condition your coin can boast.  Our efforts give bidders the highest confidence in your item, and it works well enough that this coin sold for $255.00 on eBay (that’s almost $100 higher than it was estimated to bring)!

Whether you have silver dollars like this one or a jar full of wheat pennies, our coin enthusiasts will give your item our best.  There are many numismatic collectors on eBay, and they will pay top dollar for a coin they want in their collection, so don’t hesitate to bring in those coins!

At Auction Bay, we’ve sold everything from dolls to classic cars, and have brought smiles and big paychecks to our consignors.  But among our list of items that sell well, it’s our Gold auctions that have brought the highest consistent range of sale.

GOLD is on everybody’s mind these days!  In harsh economic times, the price of Gold has gone up, and people are rushing to sell it.  It’s a good idea, too!  Gold is in high demand and its price-per-ounce is the highest its been in years!  There are lots of ways to sell your gold, and every company out there wants to do it for you.  Local pawn shops and jewelers offer the convenience of a quick sale, but at the cost of a significant percentage of your gold’s value.  A jeweler has to take your gold, melt it, fashion new jewelry, and then re-sell it to make a profit.  The same is true for pawn shops, which will give you a value based upon what they feel they can get by re-selling.  And then there are the websites advertising ‘gold kits’, asking you to send in your gold.

Do you have hesitations about using a mail-in service for your gold?  You should… just take a look at this article and video from Good Morning America:  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7125707&page=1

Those mail-in companies offered a fraction of actual gold value! If you want Top-Dollar for your valuables, then you should consider selling your gold at Auction Bay!
Here’s why:

When selling Gold  on eBay, you can rest assured that it will sell for actual spot value or higher!  From new jewelry to Gold Coins to old Class Rings and even broken, mangled jewelry, if it’s gold, it’ll sell.   We take steps to make sure your gold auction offers potential bidders the highest confidence.  We test gold items to accurately identify Karat weight.  We show the actual weight in grams of a gold item in pictures as well as the auction title.  We use keywords that make sure our gold auctions are seen by both gold collectors and scrappers (we’ll even include different spellings of gold designations, like 14K and 14 KT, so that your auction is seen, no matter what people are searching for).    We take high-quality photos to show every facet in a piece of jewelry, as well as the luster of the gold color.  And we show you every step of the process before you commit, so you can be certain of our methods.

The final thing to consider is that at Auction Bay Online, we make money based on a percentage on your item’s sale price.  That means that we take steps to ensure that every item gets high visibility, and high bidder confidence, so that it has the best chance to sell for top dollar.  And if your gold jewelry has sentimental value, then it’s got a great chance to sell to someone that actually wants to purchase it for its intrinsic value, to wear as jewelry instead of melt for scrap.

We look forward to seeing your Gold items at Auction Bay.  Give us a try with one or two items, and see how you like the process.

This Silver Flatware set by TOWLE brought $1,800 at auction!

At Auction Bay, we love to see Sterling Silver items.  Silver brings bids from collectors, jewlers, scrappers, as well as those who desire an item for its intrinsic value.  Often, Sterling Flatware in both old and new styles can bring some impressive sales.  But when you combine the precious metal value with a sought-after pattern from a reputable maker, you get a huge final price!

That was the case recently when we were pleasantly surprised to see a 98-Piece Sterling Silver Flatware set sell better than we expected!  The set was made by Towle, a respected manufacturer (with its own category on eBay, incidentally), in the much-desired Old Master pattern.  This set, in excellent condition and in its presentation box sold for an amazing $1,800.50!

When we accept a Sterling service set, we treat it with the same attention as a piece of jewelry, taking detailed photographs inside our light box.   This showcases the pattern and the condition of the silverware, and gives the potential bidders a great mental picture of how the set would look in their hands and on their dining room table.  We also include photos that show the weight of the set (atop a digital scale).  This gives additional confidence in the value of the lot, and  by pitting the bidders who desire silver for scrap value or collection versus the bidders who want the flatware set for a gift or to match their own set, we can manage top dollar for auctions like this!