Category: Tips for the beginner

The crazy world of coin collecting and its vocabulary

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collect, Money, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Wisdom Lane2 Comments

When I started collecting coins when I was younger, I found out that the crazy thing about it was the vocabulary.  It’s the craziest thing that I have ever heard—there’s about Good and about uncirculated (which are both terms that you use to grade a coin).  There’s even a matte proof, an inverted date, and even a hub.

Here’s some more words that will make your head spin:

Bag mark—these are marks on a coin that occur when coins bump into each other.  This could happen when they are placed in bags at the mint or being moved in the bag. Larger size coins typically exhibit more bag marks than smaller ones due to their size.

Rim—this is the raised edge of a coin that’s created by a machine called the upsetting mill. The idea of a rim is that if the edge on both sides of the coin is raised as high as the design it will help protect the coins design from wear.  This way the coin can be in circulation a little longer without being replaced.

Walker—this is a nick name for the United States Walking Liberty Half dollar.  The design was made between 1916 and 1947, and this is thought by some to be one of the US most beautiful coin designs. The current American Silver Eagles that United States makes have the same design on their obverse.

These are just a few of the terms that I’ve heard over the years.  What have you heard?

Two Cents worth? Yep

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Money, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

Did you know that there was actually a 2 cent coin that was produced by the United States mint?

The Two Cent piece officially ran from 1864 to 1872, but there was a copy made for collectors in 1873.

The economic turmoil of the American Civil War caused any and all government-issued coins to vanish from circulation, they were hoarded very heavily by the public. Even the Indian Head cent—which was made of bronze—was pretty much gone from circulation.  The Coinage Act Of 1864 authorized the cent to switch to a bronze composition and the production of the Two Cent coin.

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia.com

Even though there were other mints actively producing coins in the United States at the time, this coin was only produced at the mint based in Philadelphia.  What this means is that there will not be a mint mark anywhere–which is the way this mint was marking the coins until 1980.

Two of the more famous die varieties happened in 1864.  One is called the “large motto,” and the other is called the “small motto.”  These two varieties deal with the motto, “In God We Trust.”  The words IN, GOD, and TRUST has some small differences, while the word WE has the most differences.  It all hinges on the size of it, and it is very noticeable.  The WE on “large motto” is larger than the WE on the “small motto.”

The “small motto” is much scarcer than the “large motto.”  The best idea is to keep an eye out for it in case you might walk across a case full of coins at a mall, or happen to be at a coin shop or show.

Have you seen one of these really cool coins?

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Small motto courtesy Wikipedia.com
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Large motto courtesy Wikipedia.com

Three things to consider when you sell items online

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn DIY, My Background, Tips for the beginner, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

When I first started to sell online, there were three things that I found out very quickly.  Here is what I learned:

#1 The price of the item itself needs to be considered.  When I list an item to sell online, what I try to do is to make double on what I paid for the item.  This way I can have a little wiggle room if something happens like paying a little more than expected on something like shipping.

#2 You will be charged listing fees on items you put on selling sites.  On a site like Etsy, they charge a small fee to renew a listing after the item is on the website after a certain amount of time (there is also a fee when you are listing the item for the first time).  You need to watch it like a hawk—this can add up pretty fast and eat into your profits.  After one or two renewals, you need to think about adjusting the price or doing something like taking better pictures.

#3 Packing costs also need to be considered.  The packing costs will include tape, packing peanuts, and potentially the box itself (if you don’t get free boxes from places like the Post Office).  If you do not watch this area very closely, you can completely wipe out any profits if you are not careful.

What have you learned when you started to sell things online?

What are some different parts of furniture?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Furniture, My Background, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Vocabulary WordsLeave a comment

When I first started selling vintage items, I quickly found out that there’s a name for just about every piece out there-even for furniture.  I quickly started to learn the names of these pieces when I started to do some basic repairs to the furniture that I bought.

Here’s a few of the terms that I have learned over the years:

Bracket foot–a bracket foot is used on a chest, a chest on chest or even a cabinet. This is a foot that has a straight corner edge and curved inner edges.  Sometimes I hear these curved inner edges “scalloped edges”.

Caning—caning is a wood piece that consists of rattan (or even sugar cane) that is made into wicker.  There are a wide variety of ways this is used including seats of chairs, patio furniture, etc.

Partner’s desk—a partner’s desk literally looks like two desks that were put together to make one.  It’s a desk large enough to seat two people that are facing each other.  Each side has their own drawers or cupboards.

What are some of the terms that you have either run across or heard?

Spotting fake items can be tricky

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Fashion, Purses, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

When you are out shopping, you will eventually run into a fake.  It could be a purse, a piece of clothing, or even a piece of glass or pottery.  There are plenty of fake items out on the market, and spotting a fake item sometimes can be rather difficult—especially when the fake is very well made.

I was at several garage sales here recently, and I found two purses that were cheap.  I went ahead and bought them just to learn more about them, and the first one that I ran across was marked PRADA.

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As you can see from the pictures, it was pretty well made, and even marked on some of the hardware.  It turns out that the purse is fake—the material it’s made out of is not the quality PRADA would use, and the markings are also not quite right.

The next one that I found is a Louis Vuitton purse.  It almost looks like it could be something that you could put your tablet computer in.

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I quickly found out that this purse is fake by the way the way the purse is marked on the tag on the front.

I learned a valuable lesson from these purses—it always helps to have a good working knowledge of what a fake looks like.

Have you ever run across a good quality fake that could stump just about anyone?

Better keep an eye out!

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

Whenever I am going through a flea market or even a local thrift store, I often remind myself that I need to keep my eyes peeled—you never know what you will run across.  It could be anything really, it could be any type of item that you didn’t expect.

This happened to me not too long ago when I went to a local Goodwill store.  I was walking through and saw, well…

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When I first saw it, I knew that it was a scaled down house.  It looks like someone took a lot of time to make it, but the real question was rather simple—what was it really?

After looking at it for a little bit, I had part of the roof come off of the house in my hand, kind of like what’s pictured below.  I quickly realized that this was a jewelry box.

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Talk about a fun way to store your jewelry!  So, it always pays to keep an eye peeled so you don’t miss that one-of-a-kind item.

What kinds of interesting finds have you run across when out at a flea market or antique store?

How do you sell items on the internet that have flaws in them?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn DIY, My Background, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

How do you go about selling items on the internet that have flaws in them?

This is actually one of the more popular questions that I get asked.  There are several ways to sell an item that has flaws in it, and the first one is the most obvious—sell it as is.  Selling the item like this could be that it can be repaired or restored to original condition.

Another way that you can sell the item is to sell it with another item that is just like the damaged one.  Right now, I have a Fenton match holder that I am selling like this (and you can see the listing here).

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If you have a crafty side, you can turn it into something completely different.  It could be something like a non-functioning kerosene lantern.  You could electrify it and put a retro looking bulb (or even a normal low wattage one) in it.  After you do this, you can display it on a side table or the corner of a desk.  Another idea could be turning a run down book rack that you have around the house into a wine rack.

One thing that I have seen people do is to combine several items together to make something new.  I was at a local flea market shopping when I saw a yard ornament in the shape of a sunflower.  The flower top was made out of a broken plate and recycled scraps of thin wood (the wood came from a broken Coca Cola crate).

No matter how you sell the flawed item, you need to provide plenty of clear pictures.  This way any potential buyer can get a good view of the item.

The other thing that you need to do is to provide a well-written description of the item.  This way the potential buyer knows what’s going on with the piece, and even what you did to it.

How have you sold items that have flaws on them?

What do you do when you attend an auction?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Auctions, My Background, Tips for the beginner1 Comment

So you have decided to go and see what goes on at an auction.  You scouted out the perfect one, and have even showed up about 30 minutes before it started.  Now what do you do?

The first thing that you need to do is to register to get a bidders number.  More often than not, the auction company will have a special area set up for just this purpose.  All that you need to is to show the auction company a valid ID and supply a phone number, and you have a biding number.  What this is for is to let the auction company know who you are and even able to contact you if something arises (like if something that you bought gets left behind).

Whenever I have attended an auction, this will only take a few minutes at most, and it doesn’t cost me anything to do so.

The next thing that you will want to do is to look at the merchandise that’s in the sale.  Getting to the auction a few minutes before it starts will help you look over the items to see what’s there and to see what kind of condition that it’s in.

Make sure that you listen to what the auctioneers say at the very beginning of the auction when they make their announcements.  This will let you know what will happen during the course of the auction and what will be sold first.

So have some fun when you go to auctions and see what’s out there!