Archive for August, 2010
Lucky Black Cat Vintage Charms
Posted by: | CommentsHave you seen these little black glass cat charms? These vintage charms are getting quite rare and collectable these days . Originally they were in Christmas Crackers in circa 1920s to 1950s. These measure about 1.5 to 2 cms high.
Black Cat Charm
These lucky black cat charms cat be found with different collars, some have beads on their collars as well. Others have painted or crystal eyes. One of these vintage charms is a must for anyone collecting vintage costume jewellery charms. You can find glass charms depicting other animals as well. I have seen dogs, rabbits and even dolls. The glass can be black, green, clear, blue as well. May be there are more?
I’ve just managed to acquire 5 of these super little cats and they are now all listed over on the antiquesavenue.co.uk web shop priced at £28 each including delivery.
By the way if your interested in vintage charms I’ve recently acquired some great silver ones and will be back to tell you about them soon
Anne x
vintage cat charm
Wiener Werkstätte Jewellery
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Back Stamp
Today I’ve come across a piece of vintage jewellery from Wiener Werkstätte one of the great names in design and production from the early 1900s. Pieces made by Wiener Werkstätte are very rare and desirable these days so I am very pleased to be able to show you this vintage brooch
Brooch
This brooch is made of base metal ( copper I think) and is enameled in black and which is a strong art deco style. Fastening on the back with a simple C catch and has an extended pin stem. There is also the full Wiener Werkstätte stamp as you can see here:
If you would like to find out more about Wiener Werkstätte there is a great article on wikipedia.
Your own antiques business, Packing and Posting
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are going to run your own on-line antiques business then packing and posting is a chore you need to become expert at. I’ve spent over 10 years packing items and in that time have sent over 15,000 items so hopefully I have learnt a few valuable lessons along the way. This article discusses smaller antiques and collectibles including packing and posting glass, china and antique and vintage jewellery and are particularly relevant where the parcel will weigh under 2 kilos.
Packaging your antiques
Your packaging needs to balance cost, weight and time to pack against the security of your item. The package has to be as small and light as possible to minimised posting costs and the cost of the packaging itself. At the same time is is false economy to use packaging which does not keep your item secure in the post as if your precious antiques break along the way you will have to refund your customers.
One general point, the packaging you use should be in good condition. Dont re-use boxes and bubble wrap if it is worn and tired as it is not as effective in protecting your wares. A return address on the back is sensible as the occasional undelivered package will find its way back to you.
Pottery, glass and other breakables.
The Royal Mail recommend double boxing of all china and glass using at least 2 inches of bubble wrap between the two boxes an all over the actual item. This is expensive in packaging and can be quite costly in packaging. Over the years I worked out that you need to have a single box which is at least 2 inches larger than the item on all dimensions. The item should be wrapped with a few layers of bubble wrap and then make sure that the space all round is well padded with bubble wrap too. The item should be packed quite tightly giving no space for it to move.
If you are packaging a large and delicate piece such as a figurine or a coffee pot with a delicate spout then I recommend that you do go for the double boxing option.
Where you have two or more items to send in the same parcel take extra care. Every pioece needs to be individually wrapped and these pieces must not touch each other or breakages can occur. Be especially wary of cup and teapot handles and give them extra packaging and space.
Jewellery and other tiny objects
I pack my antique and vintage jewellery in small individual card jewellery boxes which come with wadding inside to pad them. Inside the box each piece is in its own small grip lock pollybag. If necessary I pad the space between the jewellery and the top of the box with bubble wrap . This box then goes into a padded bag or Special Delivery envelope depending on the value of the item.
Vintage Jewellery packed to go
Posting
I use the Royal Mail for all my items . If like me you have large quantities to post you can get an account with them saving the need to add stamps to every package . Details of Royal Mail business accounts are on their website.
Ceramics and glass are not insured against damage in normal post and so you either need to pay for the insured Special Delivery or take a chance that your packaging is good enough. Pack well and you will get only the occasional breakage.
I recommend that you use at least recorded delivery. This covers you for loss up to about £30 and you get a signature when the item is recieved. This way your customer cannot claim that the item has not been recieved when it really has. I would use this service for cheaper vintage costume jewellery for example.
For more valuable items there is Special Delivery where the items are guaranteed for next day and can be fully insured.
The post office will scan in the recorded and special delivery numbers and print these out on your receipt so that you have proof of postage. If any item goes astray or is delayed you can enter this number into the Royal mails “track and trace ” system and hopefully find the parcel.
Overseas Postage
You need to add a few extra stickers to your package going overseas. Presumably you will be using airmail, surface mail takes too long and there is therefore an increased risk of damage. You package will need an ”Air mail” sticker and unless it is large a “Small packets” sticker as well ( you can hand write this if necessary). For packages going outside of Europe you will also need a Customs form available from your post office. I recommend that all small items are sent for by ” International Signed for”. This service is insured and gets a signature from the customer upon receipt. You can also use the tracking number on several international postal service sites. For example if sending a package to the USA the USPS website allows you to insert your Royal Mail tracking number and follow up the status of your parcel.
Other postal services
The Royal Mail is not the only delivery service you can use but is probably cheapest for parcels under 2 kilos. For larger items there are lots of courier companies who will allow you to send single items or regular consignments. Take a look round the Internet and compare the options to suit your needs.
plenty of bubble required
Your own antiques business, selling stock II
Posted by: | CommentsYour own antiques business, selling stock part 11- online sales
In the previous part of my guide to running your own antique or vintage business I talked about selling your stock through off line venues. Today its the turn of on-line venues 1. eBay, 2. setting up your own website 3. Other options.
1.eBay
I’m starting this section as it is probably the best place for a would be on-line antiques dealer to start selling their pieces. For general antiques and collectibles the main place to sell is on eBay. I sold antiques, collectibles and vintage jewellery through eBay for almost 10 years and although it was very hard work I did manage to make a living that way. This is not going to cover the mechanics of how to sell on eBay but more when eBay is suitable for selling them and what to look out for .
What is ebay good for:
- Selling just a few items ( selling a lot is time consuming but quite possible). At one time I was running up to 60 auctions a week this really was a 7 day a week effort,
- Selling very rare collectable item ( if you get it right the price can still go very high)
- Selling smaller items ( you can post worldwide)
- Named brand items eg Antique Wedgwood or Limited edition collectables
What eBay is not so good for:
- Every day run of the mill stuff such as grannies old plain china tea set ( car boot or local auction house for that)
- Lots of big items ( you will spend all day packing – I know I’ve done it)
- Technophobes – you need good photographs and you must be able to use e.mail, a website and still need a paypal account
- If you need the money immediately – auctions take a week and then you have to wait for the buyer to pay and for paypal to send you the money
- If you have no time to spend on the selling process
What to look out for:
- Practice selling and build up some feedback before you auction off your best moorcroft vases or anything valuable
- Good Photographs sell you item and write a good title for it
- Make sure the buyer pays you before you post your antique and check that paypal has cleared the payment for shipment
- Pack the parcel as if someone was going to play football with it – you dont know what is going to happen in the post
- Send the parcel by registered Post, Special Delivery or International Signed for service to make sure that you are covered against the parcel going missing and fraudulent buyers.
- Research which category you are going to advertise your item in – look through the Antiques, Collectibles and Pottery, Porcelain and glass sections to help you decide which gets the most adverts for similar items
2. Your Own Website
Given eBay a try for a while? Mastered all the on-line selling skills necessary? Feel you are ready to tackle the Internet on your own? Want to own a site like antiquesavenue.co.uk? This is a great opportunity for those who have a defined area to sell in such as Antique jewellery , art pottery, antique furniture, postcards or linens.
There are plenty of companies around who will sell you an off the peg web shop or build one for you. If you ask me the best way to start is to buy an off the peg site as you can expect to pay set up fees and your first months running costs for less than £100. Running costs for a basic shop are about £25 a month . Sounds easy and it is easy to set up a basic shop if you have mastered all the skills necessary for on-line selling. You will also need:
- Your own domain name . Choose something which reflects the items you sell. AntiquesAvenue was chosen many years ago when I was selling general antique pottery, glass and antique Jewellery. Now I have specialised it may not be so appropriate but at least it doe have the word antique in it and is a much better name than Anneshop.co.uk for example.
- A merchant account for accepting debit and credit cards. You can start without this but accepting credit cards will get you more orders and is really expected by customers today.
Setting up the shop is just a small part of running your own site. You now need to attract customers to your site. If you have a large customer database of existing customers you can mail them otherwise you need to advertise your site. The main way of advertising webistes on the interenet is to use the Internet search engines and in the main search engine is Google. There are two types of listings on Google : paid for and free listings. When you first start out you may consider buying adverts from Google as it takes a long time and a lot of skill and effort to get onto the first page of google’s free listings so that you can be found. The art of getting onto Google first page of free listings is known as “Search Engine Optimisation” or SEO for short . If you are thinking of opening your own website I suggest that you consider learning about SEO or consider paying an outside company to do this for you. SEO is complex and one of the reasons I write this blog is to help with the SEO of my web shop www.antiquesavenue.co.uk .
Other ways of finding on-line customers are through the social media such as facebook and twitter.
3. Other options.
There are other options for selling on-line. For example I could sell through this blog by adding paypal buttons or setting up a post about an item and asking interested people to contact. Alternative websites to eBay exist but I have never had much luck selling on them. Probably the best is Etsy for vintage clothing and jewellery and if your stock is attractive to American customers try Ruby Lane. I tried eBid but never had any success there myself. Before paying your money research to see if there are lots of items like yours on the site already and try and find out what is actually selling. Some of these sites will sell you a slot but they dont actually have many visitors who will buy.
Whichever on-line selling channel you try you will have to be comfortable spending many hours behind the keyboard and I know that is not for everyone. Me – I love it . AntiquesAvneue.co.uk is going to the next level before the end of August with my own customised shop rather than just a basic one which I have modified myself.
Vintage brooches fresh selection
Posted by: | CommentsBusy adding loads of Vintage Brooches to my Vintage Jewellery shop at the moment. As regular readers know antique and vintage brooches are one of my favourite forms of vintage jewellery, their shapes, forms, colours and materials are probably more varied than any other piece of jewellery.
Pinchbeck brooch
The brooches I have at the moment are mainly from the 1950s and before and include dragons, peacocks , Czechoslovakian pieces and of course lots of flowers. Adding this week and next is vintage costume jewellery brooches . There are glass and poured glass brooches, filigree with colourful glass stones and some bright enamels too. Here are a few group photos to feast your eyes on:
Here is where to find vintage brooches on antiquesavenue:
Art Deco Earrings Colour Change Sapphires
Posted by: | CommentsArt Deco Earrings Colour Change Sapphires
I’ve spent a lot of time investigating these art deco vintage earrings today, they are so beautiful and rare I though I would show them to you.
At first glance , I though I had a nice but unremarkable pair of art deco amethyst set earrings. Then when I put them under artificial light I saw they were a stunning magenta colour which is certainly not something you would expect from amethysts. Out comes the gem testing machine and to my surprise they test as sapphires.
Art deco earrings
These colour change sapphires measures about 1 cm diameter and vary between a blue purple colour and a red magenta – sometimes you see both colours at once. These gems are very very clear and so I suspect that they have been treated in some way to create the colour or are possibly lab grown. I know that these techniques and treatments were available in the 1920s when these earrings would have been made.
Colour change
Any one knowing more about this type of stone , please do get in touch and let me know more.
Colour change sapphire