Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I'm waiting for someone to list a plastic baggie filled with only a set of tuners, a bridge, and a tailpiece, and advertise it as "mandolin, needs work."
Or a bag of sawdust labeled "mandolin, reliced".
Hang on to those magazines; in 105 years they'll be worth your annual income. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1911-GIBSON-...YAAOSw44BYPORF
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I offered $10 for it.
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls
I feel for ya and granted it is over-priced at $50K..........
but, I do a lot of eBay and when somebody shoots me a "cute" bid like that -- rather that destroy my computer with a baseball bat or email a series of bad words that would get me kicked off of eBay, I just take a minute and cool off and then politely reply, "thanks for your offer, while I couldn't take $10 for it, I would be glad to split the difference with you. please let me know if that sounds fair."
I've said it many times before, but the reason people put ridiculous prices on things is that sometimes people do pay them or make an offer and the item sells. I don't think it stands a chance at $50K, but I could see somebody offering $300 for it, which is probably $299.75 more than the seller has in it..... Like I say, I'm a cheapskate when it comes to buying, but I certainly don't mind if my items sell for high prices! eBay has created its own market, which is different than other traditional markets. I've even had buyers tell me they were drunk when they placed the winning bid, but felt compelled to honor their bid, rather than be a bad customer.
NFI in the Gibson magazine.....
The amazing thing is that you could probably buy one of each of the instruments pictured in that magazine for well under $50,000. I am sorry, tho, Jeff. That seller is either hoping it doesn't sell or is insane and in any case, did not do his or her homework. Man, even if that was a mint condition Gibson catalog it would not be anywhere near worth that price and the fact that it is missing pages and in generally poor condition makes that price super-absurd.
I know, I know... I certainly don't have to buy it. The only thing it has going for it is that he offers free shipping. :-)
Yes, I have been doing eBay for quite some time too. There a re a few reasons to over value something. More often than not, the seller either doesn't want to sell it at all or, more likely, is testing the market to see what buyers will actually offer. In this case, he also possibly hit the zero key too many times. His other musical items seem to be reasonably priced.
We may be surprised when the seller accepts Martin's offer for $10 which is pretty reasonable, actually.
Actually, I found this posting in UMGF by our own Paul Fox about this first issue of the Gibson trade mag. Perhaps this is what got the seller fired up with rarity.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
When you write your eBay listing there's a box you can check to automatically reject any offers below an amount you state, and/or automatically accept any offers above a certain amount. You can check one, both, or neither. This cuts out low-ball offers without the seller even having to look at them.
Another motivation for an unrealistically high price is just to attract attention to the listing. A lot of people will click on it out of curiosity thinking "what the heck is this treasure anyway?" Then the seller will revise it downward (a lot in this case) and it feels like a great deal. (He might get $100 for it this way, as opposed to just listing it for $20 or whatever.)
Then again, old books and comics can go for ridiculous prices (a copy of Action Comics #1 from 1938 sold for over $3 million a few years ago) so who knows about old catalogs.
I sell old books and comics occasionally. Another way to go that I would've considered, if the item is in bad condition, is to separate out the pages and sell each one separately, either framed or in one of those hard lucite blocks that hold documents flat for display. This way the seller could just pick out the best looking pages to appeal to different buyers and maybe get $20 for each one as an art piece. If the seller can salvage twenty good pages out of the catalog, that's a potential $400 revenue (minus cost of the frame, etc.; you have to do your own cost/benefit calculation.)
Again, I'd only do that if the book is in such poor condition that would make it unappealing as a unit; it'd be a shame to do that to something in good shape. I read once about someone selling individual pages from a first-edition Book of Mormon (1830) for upwards of $200 each -- probably framed, I don't know. (The book as a whole might be worth upwards of $100k.) Which would make for a tidy profit for such a book (500+ pages total) but is certainly a hair-raising thing to do if you're a bibliophile. IIRC, the person caught a lot of flack from the Mormoniana collecting community.
(Yes, the total value comes out close to the same, but there are a lot more people who are willing to spend a couple of hundred bucks for a framed art piece of historical interest than there are able to spend six figures for a book.)
Interesting strategy on the selling of individual pages. I see that a lot with vintage car ads being cut from Life magazine, National Geographic, etc., basically they have opened up the market from magazine collectors to include the vintage car community. So a $5 magazine might bring in $60 if it contains enough car ads. (and you are willing to go to that much effort to make a few extra bucks)
Similar to the parting out of vintage guitars. I think the market has suffered due to the economy, but there was a time, thanks to eBay, that you could buy a Fender Mustang for $800 and part it out for $1600 -- so basically you could buy at retail and still double your money. At first, people were parting out refinished guitars and guitars with repairs or issues, but soon people started doing it with nice original guitars. And taking a lot of heat for it.
None of which has anything to do with the old magazine in question.....
Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.
Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!
Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls
I'm about an hour from Pittsburgh, I could pick it up for you for a small fee, lol!
Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band
Ferrarri bowl on eBay UK, not only has the bowl been wrecked by ill-advised "restoration", but the action looks to be about 3/4":
Ouch!
Ha! I saw this, John, and was tempted to submit it as an example. The ad text is very much of our times:
"the action on these old instruments is high towards the sound hole and would suit a style of play using the frets near the headstock."
There's an idea for a new Mel Bay title: "Italian Favorites That Can Be Played Only on Open Strings and (Maybe) the First Fret".
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
on acoustic guitars we call that "Bluegrass action!"
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