Which item do you REGRET selling the most?

[vintageantique77]

I had a recent discussion about sharing your biggest flip - and it received a great number of replies - I even find myself rereading the replies often. I recently experienced remorse for selling an item of mine, a German made weather station that I discovered at a thrift store. It was a little beaten up, but it still worked perfectly. I let it go for a great margin - but well below what they are worth in my opinion. I do emotionally *regret* selling it, though...I was wondering if there are any flippers/sellers out there that have a longing for items they sold? What was that item you came across that you fell in love with, and then ended up selling? I know one day when I'm financially able, I'll buy another one of those weather stations! 😉

[vintageantique77]

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@voguevintage wrote:

Well this thread took a depressing twist so let me bring it back.

I collect a few different things, but mainly vintage advertising.

The three things are a vintage metal rotating Necco Wafer store display, a Mansfield Automatic Clerk and a Dairy Queen menu sign

The Necco display I bought at a high end swap meet. It sat on my kitchen counter for months and looked great but it was listed and sold for $500 profit. At the time I thought I'd never see another one but in the last year more have surfaced so it might be possible I get another some day.

The Dairy Queen Menu sign was new old stock. It had never been hung and was porcelain. They made them for DQ but they had Coca-Cola advertising on them and a deal with Coke fell through so they stopped making them, making them hard to find. The ones that were hung were removed and thrown out. This one survived because it was never hung. I traded it in a deal for other signs I sold for a great profit, but I LOVED that sign. It's rare enough I had trouble finding pictures of it although they exist on WorthPoint

Finally, the Mansfield Automatic Clerk. This is an old glass automated gum dispensing machine. You had to use buffalo nickels but when one was in certain you could see the mechanisms working inside as it has a solid glass shell. Finding one of these unbroken or working is very difficult. This was a holy grail for me for awhile and I paid $1,300 for one at auction in 2017. I put it in my living room and I listed it on eBay for $3,000 thinking no one would buy it. About two weeks later someone did *sigh* I even tried to find another one close to that condition after but was not successful. I've seen a couple of the glass cases and a few with missing parts since, but no more working ones.

(Note: Photos aren't mine, just examples I found online so you get an idea of what they look like)

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Very interesting! I've always wanted to break into that higher end bracket of flipping. Like any flipping bracket, you have to pay to play, but I just can't afford it at the present. American Pickers really exposed me to that market for advertising. I had no clue people were paying *that* much for signs,etc. I'd love to have that Necco display on my counter! We at Necco as kids all the time...Neat glass machine too...I bet that was worth the money to the collector.

[vintageantique77]

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@mobley120 wrote:

I really don't regret selling anything, because one can't keep it anyway, in the end.

And at some point the joy helt towards the objects, becomes a chore in maintaining them, so to say for those of us who can't afford a cleaning maid. And, as we get older  and disappear, we the collectors become the objects and the objects becomes the collectors, the collectors of our swirling, remaining dust, until there's comes another who will find the joy that was there in the beginning.

But I do think about some of the things I have sold in the past and what comes to mind more than anything else, was my tin robot collection, I got my first robot in 1964, it was a Christmas gift from my mom, I got one every Christmas for the next 5 years, and later on, I bought 4 more at different times, in my 20ish years. I sold them when I first joined eBay.

So regret really isn't the right word for me, it's more like an occasional passing through.

Thanks for your intriguing post, in which invoked that passing through and allows me to share it,: )

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I'm glad you appreciate my post, as I surely appreciate your reply. I too see collecting and selling a passing through situation, as that is what we are doing day by day on this floating rock. I get a kick out of buying and selling. I enjoy the items of novelty and then like to think I am passing that novelty onto someone who needs it more than I do.

Thanks,

[vintageantique77]

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@lamber9347 wrote:

Okay your post made me remember a true story, honestly this is what happened. 

About 20 years ago we were having a yard sale. I had a middle sized oil painting to get rid of. This painting was nothing but a landscape and had an actual hole from a drunk friend putting his finger through it. However the frame was good enough.

Guy comes around, picks up the painting and asks how much. My friend Rod was sitting in his lounge chair watching and I replied $5 dollars. Guy immediately smiles and reaches for his money. Rod turns to me and says loudly, how do you know that's not an expensive painting that this guy will go and sell for a lot of money. 

I bend towards the guy and whisper that it has a hole in it. He smiles and says that he knows, he just likes the frame and winks at me. So I asked, want to have some fun with my friend? Tell him that you will flip this for a bunch of money when I leave.

I take the money and immediately walk away. I turn around in time to see guy bend down and say something to Rod. Rod's face turned purple, not red but a deep dark purple, down to his windpipe. I thought we'd given Rod a stroke for a moment. Then Rod turns and looks at the guy, who busts up laughing, then looks over at me and I am laughing, then Rod starts laughing. I asked later what the guy said. The guy had told him that he was actually an art critic and that I had mistakenly just sold him an original Van Gogh that he was going to sell for ten million....

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wow....Did you ever track down the painting being sold? Paintings can be repaired I have heard. Would like to hear more on this.  🙂

Sorry about your friend's bad day lol

[vintageantique77]

I honestly get enjoyment out of this little thing we've all got going with eBay. I enjoy the hunt for items more than the money. I love finding something with "value", and then seeing my investment multiply before my eyes...It's a good rush. I always say eBay is like gambling, but you never lose. ( if you're doing it right, anyways ) hehehehehe.

So glad you enjoy the thread. I love reading the stories and learning about the items. It's an enjoyable and educational experience!

[chapeau-noir]

I don't tend to keep many things, but once  I allowed my DH to talk me into listing an old pair of his wooden-soled cycling shoes for cheap fixed price. I argued with him, said that these were one of the very few things worth auctioning off anymore. Nope, he was adamant.  I should have just ignored him and listed it for what he wanted as an opener anyway, because the guy who bought them flipped them for three times the amount on auction.  The DH tends to listen to me a tad more now lol.

[gracieallen01]

I regret selling a Japanese watercolor I picked up at a Public Administrator auction some years ago for $10.00.  It was sitting on the floor during the preview, in an Aaron Bros. aluminum frame with broken glass.  I made sure that the glass hadn't damaged it and then waited 3 hours for the auction to start and the painting to come up.  About 6 items before it hit the block, a little oriental man in the row in front of me was starting to get a bit edgy, standing up, sitting down and so on and I was thinking I was going to have really pay for the painting.  A couple of items before the painting, the little oriental man jumped up and bid like all get out on a maple hutch, lost and left.  When the painting came up the auctioneer described it as Chinese, looked at it and said, no 'Japanese' and started the bidding at $10.00 - and that's what I paid.  I sold it some time later for $2500 to a person at an antique show.  The painting was signed Hiroshi Yoshida.

[maros9416]

As a flea market seller, those who look up items on their phones in front of me are my best advertisement because I can raise my asking price slightly and tell them to look it up! Fact is, everything that needs to be looked up is done so beforehand, so I am well aware of what the items are worth all though it may not seem that way...Personally, when I buy from a house or at the flea market I specifically do not look at my phone or use a loupe. It's the easiest way to alert the dealer that you found something good...I also use the buyers as a guide with certain items such as Asian art, where I have no clue if it's ' good ' or not. If an Asian's flock to the piece, then I have an inkling that I should hold it for further review. Same goes for tribal masks and the like, besides ethnic stuff I have a couple of sharpies that if they ask the price, I take a second look immediately.

[maros9416]

The best in the business have all given me the same advice, ' keep the good stuff, sell the junk '. It's true, but very few who do this for a living can afford to do so. Although, it's a lot easier for some to save pieces than $100 bills for a rainy day...I have come to accept that I have a revolving collection. I've had one of everything before and some items deemed as ' rare ' I've had or seen 10x over. Instead of finding per piece triumph's, I enjoy finding hoards, lifetime collections, or forgotten houses of treasure...To answer the post on a specific item is difficult, but I suppose any item I sold that was sure to only increase in value I would now think twice of selling, only if I had very little in to it of course.

[leighdappa]

I'm currently selling a 'Legacy Bladeblaster'.

It's a cool collector's toy/item but I don't need it; I'm in two minds as to de-list it.

There have been things I've sold that I regret:

*A 'Bad' Michael Jackson Lighter (had no fuel in it)

*A metal 'Thriller' Michael Jackson Keyring which had a pullout address book

*A 1989 Konami LCD 'Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles' Handheld Game.

I've NEVER been able to find the two MJ Items since.

[dbfolks166mt]

     Easy answer to that question. I sold my 1932 Ford 3 window coupe several years ago. This was a original not a hot rod version. Miss that car to this day.