Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume IV, issue number 30

We were also very lucky to speak with many of our favorite eBay Certified Providers like Auctiva and HammerTap.

Here I am with Kevin and Jeff from Auctiva and Jen from HammerTap.

Bonus Disc 3: For purchasing Discs 1 and 2 at our amazing low price, you will receive this extra DVD which includes the Behind the Scenes Reality before, during and after eBay Live. The drama, authors’ luncheons, after hours parties and the humor of Mo, Carmen and Jason. You don’t ever have to watch this but trust us–it is worth the price of the two instructional videos alone! I have seen some of the footage and it is hysterical!!! Guess what…..? This DVD is 35 minutes of fun.

The DVDs are coming soon from the manufacturer so we’ve extended this preorder special to midnight on Friday, August 8th. This will ship out the second week of August.

This year’s eBay Live in Chicago was a blast. You can be a fly on the wall with Jason Badham’s new DVD On the Road to eBay Live with The Queen of Auctions.

Jason is Carmen’s husband and many of you know what a great job he did with The Queen’s Academy volume 1 Shipping DVD. This is the second DVD package in that series and you won’t want to miss out on our special pre-order offer.

From now until midnight on Friday, August 8th, you can pre-purchase three DVDs full of fun and learning for a super special introductory price. Click here to order now because you know we only come out with awesome products!

Click here to order now.

‘Go Europe’

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

I was out garage saling the Saturday morning before I left on my vacation to Honduras. My kids and I had been to about seven garage sales and hadn’t found much. We were on our way home and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a yard full of furniture. It was in a “not very good” part of town so I hadn’t circled it in the newspaper.

I immediately hit the brakes and pulled a u-turn. My daughter Indiana does call Palm Desert the “City of U-Turns”. The kids waited in the car while I shopped. I couldn’t believe that everything was either made in Italy, France or Portugal.

I started asking prices. Everything was 50 cents to $1.00. There were a few more expensive items–like an Italian soup tureen for $8.00. Check it out–it is beautiful.

Check out this soup tureen here.

I ended up buying four huge boxes full for less than $40. It just goes to show you that you can’t rule out certain neighborhoods and when things are signed with great countries of origin–you need to spend some extra time and money.

This brings me to my three tips for today’s article–all about Going Europe.

#1: Always Buy Made in France. Especially Limoges.

I bought ten of these plates at 50 cents each. Look at what each one sold for! And they got shipped back to France. The buyer even paid $60 for s/h.

A French Limoges plate. The auction is here.

If you can pick up any items marked France and Limoges, please do so as long as they are reasonably priced. Here is more information about Limoges.

Limoges is a city and also a region in France. Many people mistakenly think that Limoges is an actual factory. This is not the case.

Here is a quick history. Around 1768 a fine white clay (called kaolin) was discovered at Saint Yrieix la Perche near Limoges. Kaolin is used in the manufacture of fine porcelain. Keep in mind that Limoges is a hard paste porcelain as opposed to a soft paste. To learn more about soft paste porcelain, please read story #53 in Money Making Madness.

This plate sold for $143.10!

Around the time of the Kaolin discovery, the Limoges region was isolated and very poor. There was an economist, Ann Robert Jacques Turgot, who developed the now famous ceramics industry in the area during the 1800s. Turgot (as he was called) is quite famous for this. Please remember that Limoges Porcelain is a generic term for porcelain produced in Limoges rather than at a specific factory.

That is why we see many varied makers producing in this region. The most common mark that comes to mind is Haviland Limoges. But don’t forget that many other factories operate out of this region and the ten plates I sold were made by Porcelaine De Paris.

More than 50% of all porcelain made in France comes from the Limoges region!

#2: Always Buy Italy/Portugal. Most of it is going to be Majolica.

Check out this cookie jar that I got at that same garage sale for $2.00. Isn’t it amazing? I actually thought that it was a pile of salad plates so I tried to pick up the nuts off the top so that I could turn a plate over and see the maker’s marks. Too funny! It was a cookie jar made to just look like a stack of plates. FYI–Looks can be deceiving and never forget that!

Click here to see what it is up to.

This piece was signed ‘Mancioli Italy.’ I called it Majolica in my listing. Let’s learn a little bit about Majolica.

Maiolica (also called Majolica in English speaking countries) is ceramic ware that originated in Renaissance Italy. It had an opaque white glaze and then was painted in several colors. It is typically very colorful with drippy glazes. The Victorian pieces from about 1850 to 1890 made in England and the US can sell for thousands of dollars.

My cookie jar isn’t your typical Majolica but it did have the appearance of a drippy glaze so I can safely say that it is. Majolica has it’s own category on eBay and I know the category number by heart–it is 453. Check out this link to see what is currently listed on eBay. There were over 1500 pieces when I checked.

#3: Always buy Scandinavian. How could I write about Go Europe without including the Scandinavian countries. Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden are all great countries of origin to look for. Many of these countries were on the cutting edge of Mid-Century Modern (Eames era) design and those items (as most of us know) sell for big bucks!

Remember this lamp (#61) from my 100 Best…Ka-Ching! book? This lamp sold for about $70.

Let’s learn a little bit about Eames Era items. Eames era is the time period from about 1947 to 1969 and is named after the famed architects and designers Charles and Ray Eames. You have to be careful when using Eames Era in your titles because there has been some controversy on eBay. Some say that unless your item is actually made or designed by Charles and his wife, you may not use the term. Just be careful. Other good buzzwords for that era to use are Mid-Century Modern, 1950s and Sleek.

Eames era items are typically sleek in design and minimalistic. It was an answer to the end of WWII and most items were made from unusual materials like plastic and teak wood. It was a more fun time for design and there was a lot of experimentation. 1950s mod items can sell for a lot of money.

If you remember to always buy European pieces at reasonable prices you will do very well on eBay. You may even do so well that you can afford a real trip to Europe! I know Europe is on my vacation wish list.