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 Antique perfume and scent bottles

Buying and selling perfume bottles can be very lucrative if you do the car boot rounds, or visit local auction houses, especially the lesses known country auctions. For just a few pounds risked you could end up with a highly desirable and collectable perfume bottle. Get to know the more desirable bottles by finding on eBay the perfume or scent bottles, that attract the highest bids and most bids, look at the names and the materials, plus the shapes.
When at auctions or flea markets look out for job lots, or boxes that have a mixture of objects including scent bottles, you could be lucky and find a hidden fine example.

 Originally scent or perfume was bought in plain bottles and it was not untill the 19th century that prefilled designed scent bottles came onto the market.
Early examples of scent bottles can fetch some very impressive prices, especially rare shapes, intricate designs and famous brand names, some examples are:

Selling Silver Pocket Watches For Profit Ideas

One of the most profitable things I do is buy for repair damaged or non working pocket watches, then resell  online through mainly eBay.
A pocket watch can be a very complicated piece of mechanism, in many cases having more parts than the average cars gearbox! The good news is you don’t need to know how to repair a pocket watch, a limited understanding of the movement and how to date the pocket watch would be useful, but the most important thing is were to buy good non working examples, or working but damaged pieces.

I find the best places to buy is offline auction houses, buying in many cases multiple pocket watches, dividing what you buy into good pocket watches that can be easily repaired, or ones which can only be used for spares.
You are looking for pocket watches that are all in one piece, have all the mechanism present, and are cosmetically in good condition, the only thing wrong is that they do not work, or work but need some cosmetic repair.
One other major point is to buy silver pocket watches, they must clearly show the silver hall marks, also an added bonus is a recognised makers name.
Now the the next stage is to decide if the silver pocket watch is worth you taking to a reputable horologist for, or sell ‘as is’ through eBay, it depends on the cost and potential profit. Selling through eBay you will aim the watch at someone who generally repairs pocket watches as a hobby or sideline interest.
Look in the local directory, visit an antique shop and ask if they can advise who can repair a pocket watch you own, you will be surprised how helpful people are and the recommendations they make, sound as if you know nothing about the subject, certainly do not let on you want to become a dealer.
The cost of a reasonable silver pocket watch at auction will be around £20 to £35, if it has a silver chain all the better, as you can sell the chain on its own.
I will dealve more deeply into this very interesting and profitable hobby in future posts, in the mean time take a look at the pocket watches offered below from eBay, you will find many excellent examples.

Mabie Todd Swan Eye Dropper Fountain Pen
Mabie Todd was an Anglo-American Company dating 1860s – 1958, producing some superb and very expensive pens that are today highly collectable, these are the Mabie todd swan eye dropper fountain pen.
The main pens were usually Mabie Todd Swan eye-dropper models, lever fillers or simple twist fillers, in which the knob at the end of the barrel connects directly with a paddle inside the barrel which in turn depresses the sack.
Mabie Todd Swan pens were made from silver, and gold filled and elegantly decorated.

Good examples well worth buying for pleasure and investment, see above for some Mabie Todd Swan fountain pens offered.

Conklin was a US Company dating 1898 – 1940s. The Conklin fountain pen nib sizes ranged from 2 to 8, they produced the first practical self – filling mechanism in the US. This was a crescent shaped pressure bar protruding from the barrel held in position by a locking ring.

It was unfortunately for Conklin that conklin fountain pens were surpassed by Sheaffer’s innovation in the early 1910s of the lever filler, which did not need the protruding crescent.
Conklin fountain pens played with the green wood-grain hard rubber about the 1930s, but in reality it was overtaken by Sheaffer and Parker in development of mechanisms and material usage, even by the 1920s it had become a small regional company.

These stunning Royal teddy bears have been sold, but see below for more bears being offered.

This lovely nine piece set of Royal Teddy Bears comprised of Queen Beatrice, the queen mum, King Velveteen, royal guard, nanny Fluffins and baby Velveteena, prince Tedward, Princess Elizabeth Tedwina and Princess Plushette.

It even had a Rule Bearyannia Plaque. This set was produced by Wade and issued in the U.S. in early 1999, and later models sold in the U.K., they were modelled by the well known American artist Jerome Walker, the backstamp was printed Jerome Walker 1998bWade made in England.
For more fabulous Wade figurines take a look at the great selection on eBay,