After selling a great number of items at Auction, I would caution against thinking you would get what they are saying it “should” sell for. It is only worth what someone is willing to pay.
Clarence Thomas from a speech at University of Texas on America at 250. In today’s WSJ.
My mother-in-law long collected those Department 56 Christmas houses, unpacking and displaying them at Christmas and carefully retaining their original boxes and Styrofoam packaging forms because, you know, without that they’re worthless. (She still has them all, probably over a hundred of them, but no longer gets them all out. A few are on permanent display in a lit cabinet in the hallway. I dread having to figure out what to do with them, come the day.)
She also gave my husband and his brother Budweiser steins for Christmas for many years, exhorting us to keep the packaging for the same reason. These, she told us, would be our inheritance. Pretty sure my brother-in-law got rid of his long ago; he’s a dedicated minimalist.
My mother, less tenacious (lotta ADHD in the family), gave my sister and me a couple of Madame Alexander dolls and a couple of collectible Norman Rockwell plates back when we were kids, I think hoping that we’d fall in love with one or the other and start a collection. She, however, didn’t make us keep the packaging. And neither of us took the bait.
And my husband and I, back in September, divested ourselves of almost all our worldly goods and have taken to the road, so we don’t collect nuthin’. (The steins are in a box in storage because we couldn’t figure out what to do about them, but only a couple are actually in their original packaging despite my MIL’s pleas.)
The overwhelming majority of bric-a-brac marketed as “collectable” never really ends up being worth anything in the long run. The stuff that actually ends up going up in value are usually items that are niche and nostalgic, things that people wanted when they were kids. Toys like the G.I Joe Aricraft Carrier playset can sell for thousands of dollars for example.
The only old things that I still have from my youth that are of any collectable value are an NEC TurboDuo game console and a few of games for it that I bought way back in 1993 and a few random comic books (including Hulk #340 – the famous Wolverine versus Hulk one illustrated by Todd Macfarlane). I know that the TurboDuo regularly sells for between $300 – $500 on Ebay and the games themselves can often sell for over $100 depending on the title.
Heh, I have a complete collection of B&G Christmas plates … from 1895 to 1995. As well as boxes of other chinaware my parents collected over the years. All sitting out in boxes in my storage shed. None of my DILs have any interest. So…what to do with them? I have no idea. When my time comes… _they_ can figure out what to do with them !
Some Disney memorabilia can retain value. Back in 1965 our parents took us on a speacial trip to Disneyland. As a kid I was a pennant collector so while there bought a 10th anniversary Disneyland pennant. I still have it and it is currently selling for over $600. Crazy.
Meanwhile back in ancient Egypt…
There are immaculately perfect vases made of hard stone dated to earliest dynastic times and before, which are symmetrically accurate to within 0.001 inch, and which no one can duplicate using primitive tools.
They would be a challenge to our modern-day, computer-assisted technology. Quite beautiful too.
UnchartedX, a YouTuber, is one of the pointmen on this issue. Here’s a 3 min short:
Includes a fascinating exploration of sophisticated mathematical ratios found in the dimensions of one vase.
I am a musician, a bassist. I don’t really “collect” but have kept most of the basses I have acquired over the years.
I own two Fender basses manufactured in the 1960s. I bought one for $200 in 1976, it is probably worth $4000 or $5000 now. The other one I paid $750 for in 1989 and was recently appraised at $10,000.
So they have almost kept up with inflation, hurrah!
Further commentary on Pope Leo’s remarks about God not answering prayers of leaders who wage war, from X account “Cynical Publius” (who is Catholic):
I have been pretty emphatic the last few days in condemning Pope Leo’s foray into American politics.
My detractors are having fun stating that I am doing this out of allegiance to President Trump and that I have chosen Trump over God.
WRONG.
The biggest reason by far why I am so vocal on this is the damage Pope Leo is doing to the Catholic Church in the USA.
I believe Pope Leo has done more to harm US Catholicism in just a few days than any other Pope of the past 100 years (even Francis).
Pope Leo is literally causing orthodox, faithful American Catholics to flee the Church out of disgust over his leftwing politicization and his kowtowing to Islam. Moreover, he has opened the door for boundless criticism against Catholicism from certain Protestant denominations and churches, causing untold harm to Christian ecumenism in the USA.
It is precisely because I care so much about the Church that Jesus founded in AD 33 that I oppose the havoc Pope Leo has unleashed in the US Church.
(And yes, under Church doctrine and as a Catholic, I am fully entitled to hold such beliefs and express them.)
Post Stock Market trading hours, early reaction to Trump’s Treaty work, including finessing a Lebanon – Israel meeting at the White House, looks positive.
Oils was up $3 during market hours,closing up $2. But now the price is $89 a barrel. And stock market futures are up higher, too.
Time is on Trump’s side — and ours.
For those that don’t know what to do with the “collectables” you have, find an Auction house. Ask them what the value might be, and if you place them in a Auction. You can set minimums for the sale.
A week or so ago I posted about the growing list of high ranking people–a general, scientists, etc.–who worked on classified projects in the physics, nuclear weapon, and aerospace fields (and perhaps the UAP field as well) who have started to mysteriously disappear, or to supposedly kill themselves, and commenters here viewed these YouTube postings as being just clickbait.
Well, the number of those missing or dead has now risen to 10 and, according to the linked article, this is of enough concern that the White House has taken note, the President is aware of this, and he has already attended at least one White House meeting on this subject. *
Shirehome gave good advice about contacting an auction house, but make sure they have some competence in the area of your collection. Not all auctioneers do.
One way of getting rid of these inheritances is to rent a booth at an “antiques mall” and see if you can unload them (or unload them on someone already selling there).
They cost a bit for monthly rent, and a cut of your sales.
And there are also craft fairs, and ebay, and Craig’s List and,,,,
A lot more avenues than in the past.
In our area of Denver Metro, the biggest that I know of is The Brass Armadillo.
I confess to having bought a few things there!
My advice is only start a collection of something you enjoy just looking at, and NEVER gift someone else a collection they didn’t ask for.
It is very unlikely that your descendants will want any of your stuff.
However, a granddaughter has started collecting pretty china tea cups and saucers, just because she likes them, and she will get the ones I inherited from one of my favorite aunts (my siblings have the rest of the set which my mother inherited from the original collection, which was itself divided among I don’t know how many relatives).
Kate
The Catholic Church has a number of built in theological time bombs which are now going off. I’m going to leave off whether it was the Catholic Church that was founded on Pentecost or the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Agree on the Disney stuff. Some of it is valuable. As a child in the 30’s my mother in law grew up in Silverlake with a Disney animator for a neighbor and the families were friendly. So she got a half dozen ‘cells’ to decorate her bedroom wall. Fast forward to the 90’s and those cells were actioned off and paid for a couple of wonderful family vacations. Thanks Walt!
Since reading a biography of Disney, I now know that individual animators specialized in particular characters. Unfortunately, MIL is gone now and like and idiot I never asked the name of the animator. There’s a story there and I missed it.
Oh, and that Tiffany silver vase is quite possibly the ugliest piece of decor I have ever seen!
OK VIRGINIA – – It’s your time to Save Democracy next week!!!
Snow, re: the 10 dead or missing scientists:
I never considered it clickbait.
The story has been reported & updated on various Fox News shows for several weeks, which is where I had initially heard it.
I’m glad it is finally getting some fed gov attention and investigation.
Kate, re Your “Cynical Publius” X post.
Thank you for sharing that.
I’m glad he is loudly and clearly explaining his views.
Seems correct*, and very sad, to me.
…
* Except maybe that Leo is worse than Francis. I don’t know enough yet.
They both seemed too willing to “tolerate” Islam, for me.
Molly Brown — I agree with you — it is so ugly. I love the blue and the calyx vases.
We have nothing that is of value.
Marlene–
According to the article linked below the number of suspicious deaths of scientists looks like it has now risen to 11.*
As I commented in an earlier post, the Israelis have been eliminating enemy scientists for quite some time now.
What says that one of our enemies isn’t doing the same thing to our scientists?
How many foreign agents just walked across the border during the Obama and Biden Administrations?
How many stories have there been about various Chinese agents being discovered doing all sorts of nefarious things?
Perhaps this is a form of asymmetric warfare, pulled off by an enemy which can’t confront us directly, but who can hurt us in other, less direct ways.
After selling a great number of items at Auction, I would caution against thinking you would get what they are saying it “should” sell for. It is only worth what someone is willing to pay.
Clarence Thomas from a speech at University of Texas on America at 250. In today’s WSJ.
Justice Thomas: Progressives vs. the Declaration
https://archive.fo/Gmbb4
It’s just wonderful. Not to be missed.
My mother-in-law long collected those Department 56 Christmas houses, unpacking and displaying them at Christmas and carefully retaining their original boxes and Styrofoam packaging forms because, you know, without that they’re worthless. (She still has them all, probably over a hundred of them, but no longer gets them all out. A few are on permanent display in a lit cabinet in the hallway. I dread having to figure out what to do with them, come the day.)
She also gave my husband and his brother Budweiser steins for Christmas for many years, exhorting us to keep the packaging for the same reason. These, she told us, would be our inheritance. Pretty sure my brother-in-law got rid of his long ago; he’s a dedicated minimalist.
My mother, less tenacious (lotta ADHD in the family), gave my sister and me a couple of Madame Alexander dolls and a couple of collectible Norman Rockwell plates back when we were kids, I think hoping that we’d fall in love with one or the other and start a collection. She, however, didn’t make us keep the packaging. And neither of us took the bait.
And my husband and I, back in September, divested ourselves of almost all our worldly goods and have taken to the road, so we don’t collect nuthin’. (The steins are in a box in storage because we couldn’t figure out what to do about them, but only a couple are actually in their original packaging despite my MIL’s pleas.)
The overwhelming majority of bric-a-brac marketed as “collectable” never really ends up being worth anything in the long run. The stuff that actually ends up going up in value are usually items that are niche and nostalgic, things that people wanted when they were kids. Toys like the G.I Joe Aricraft Carrier playset can sell for thousands of dollars for example.
The only old things that I still have from my youth that are of any collectable value are an NEC TurboDuo game console and a few of games for it that I bought way back in 1993 and a few random comic books (including Hulk #340 – the famous Wolverine versus Hulk one illustrated by Todd Macfarlane). I know that the TurboDuo regularly sells for between $300 – $500 on Ebay and the games themselves can often sell for over $100 depending on the title.
Heh, I have a complete collection of B&G Christmas plates … from 1895 to 1995. As well as boxes of other chinaware my parents collected over the years. All sitting out in boxes in my storage shed. None of my DILs have any interest. So…what to do with them? I have no idea. When my time comes… _they_ can figure out what to do with them !
Some Disney memorabilia can retain value. Back in 1965 our parents took us on a speacial trip to Disneyland. As a kid I was a pennant collector so while there bought a 10th anniversary Disneyland pennant. I still have it and it is currently selling for over $600. Crazy.
Meanwhile back in ancient Egypt…
There are immaculately perfect vases made of hard stone dated to earliest dynastic times and before, which are symmetrically accurate to within 0.001 inch, and which no one can duplicate using primitive tools.
They would be a challenge to our modern-day, computer-assisted technology. Quite beautiful too.
UnchartedX, a YouTuber, is one of the pointmen on this issue. Here’s a 3 min short:
–“Ancient Egyptian Hard Stone Vases … Changing History”
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/no1kBpTfZc4
For a more leisurely podcast:
–“Ancient Egyptian Vases Are More Advanced Than We Think”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GTUozuwn6I
Includes a fascinating exploration of sophisticated mathematical ratios found in the dimensions of one vase.
I am a musician, a bassist. I don’t really “collect” but have kept most of the basses I have acquired over the years.
I own two Fender basses manufactured in the 1960s. I bought one for $200 in 1976, it is probably worth $4000 or $5000 now. The other one I paid $750 for in 1989 and was recently appraised at $10,000.
So they have almost kept up with inflation, hurrah!
Further commentary on Pope Leo’s remarks about God not answering prayers of leaders who wage war, from X account “Cynical Publius” (who is Catholic):
Source:https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/2044576237738242309?s=20
Post Stock Market trading hours, early reaction to Trump’s Treaty work, including finessing a Lebanon – Israel meeting at the White House, looks positive.
Oils was up $3 during market hours,closing up $2. But now the price is $89 a barrel. And stock market futures are up higher, too.
Time is on Trump’s side — and ours.
For those that don’t know what to do with the “collectables” you have, find an Auction house. Ask them what the value might be, and if you place them in a Auction. You can set minimums for the sale.
A week or so ago I posted about the growing list of high ranking people–a general, scientists, etc.–who worked on classified projects in the physics, nuclear weapon, and aerospace fields (and perhaps the UAP field as well) who have started to mysteriously disappear, or to supposedly kill themselves, and commenters here viewed these YouTube postings as being just clickbait.
Well, the number of those missing or dead has now risen to 10 and, according to the linked article, this is of enough concern that the White House has taken note, the President is aware of this, and he has already attended at least one White House meeting on this subject. *
• See https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/trump-attended-white-house-meeting-growing-list-missing-murdered-scientists
Shirehome gave good advice about contacting an auction house, but make sure they have some competence in the area of your collection. Not all auctioneers do.
One way of getting rid of these inheritances is to rent a booth at an “antiques mall” and see if you can unload them (or unload them on someone already selling there).
They cost a bit for monthly rent, and a cut of your sales.
And there are also craft fairs, and ebay, and Craig’s List and,,,,
A lot more avenues than in the past.
In our area of Denver Metro, the biggest that I know of is The Brass Armadillo.
I confess to having bought a few things there!
My advice is only start a collection of something you enjoy just looking at, and NEVER gift someone else a collection they didn’t ask for.
It is very unlikely that your descendants will want any of your stuff.
However, a granddaughter has started collecting pretty china tea cups and saucers, just because she likes them, and she will get the ones I inherited from one of my favorite aunts (my siblings have the rest of the set which my mother inherited from the original collection, which was itself divided among I don’t know how many relatives).
Kate
The Catholic Church has a number of built in theological time bombs which are now going off. I’m going to leave off whether it was the Catholic Church that was founded on Pentecost or the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Agree on the Disney stuff. Some of it is valuable. As a child in the 30’s my mother in law grew up in Silverlake with a Disney animator for a neighbor and the families were friendly. So she got a half dozen ‘cells’ to decorate her bedroom wall. Fast forward to the 90’s and those cells were actioned off and paid for a couple of wonderful family vacations. Thanks Walt!
Since reading a biography of Disney, I now know that individual animators specialized in particular characters. Unfortunately, MIL is gone now and like and idiot I never asked the name of the animator. There’s a story there and I missed it.
Oh, and that Tiffany silver vase is quite possibly the ugliest piece of decor I have ever seen!
OK VIRGINIA – – It’s your time to Save Democracy next week!!!
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2026/04/ok-virginia-its-your-time-to-save.html
Snow, re: the 10 dead or missing scientists:
I never considered it clickbait.
The story has been reported & updated on various Fox News shows for several weeks, which is where I had initially heard it.
I’m glad it is finally getting some fed gov attention and investigation.
Kate, re Your “Cynical Publius” X post.
Thank you for sharing that.
I’m glad he is loudly and clearly explaining his views.
Seems correct*, and very sad, to me.
…
* Except maybe that Leo is worse than Francis. I don’t know enough yet.
They both seemed too willing to “tolerate” Islam, for me.
Molly Brown — I agree with you — it is so ugly. I love the blue and the calyx vases.
We have nothing that is of value.
Marlene–
According to the article linked below the number of suspicious deaths of scientists looks like it has now risen to 11.*
As I commented in an earlier post, the Israelis have been eliminating enemy scientists for quite some time now.
What says that one of our enemies isn’t doing the same thing to our scientists?
How many foreign agents just walked across the border during the Obama and Biden Administrations?
How many stories have there been about various Chinese agents being discovered doing all sorts of nefarious things?
Perhaps this is a form of asymmetric warfare, pulled off by an enemy which can’t confront us directly, but who can hurt us in other, less direct ways.
* See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/04/too-coincidental-string-dead-missing-scientists-hits-11/