Monday, March 28, 2011

My little Vintage Kodak find


Last week, while browsing the toy section in Deseret Thrift Store (a thrift store I don't usually frequent because it's not close to where I live), I happened across these little beauties. They looked interesting to me because I'm from the generation that film came in plastic canisters, and these were metal and painted. I wasn't sure if they were collector's items; came with professional film; or were vintage. There was no price so I was unsure at first, but I gathered up the 7 of them from the toy bin and took them to the register. I asked a manager how much, prepared to offer $1, and was pleasantly surprised when she offered me a price of 50 cents for the lot.

Fast forward to that afternoon when I looked  on eBay for a similar item and found a couple auctions for similar items. There were some auctions selling by the item, and some selling in lots. Interestingly enough, these type of film canisters were from the 50's and 60's and by the looks of it mine were in pretty great condition, almost mint. I was pleasantly surprised for the second time that day to see that  there was a similar set ending with a price tag of $78 for a lot of 13. Boy was I excited! My set looked a lot new compared to the other set and I had different color lids which the other only had 1 color set. I hoped all week my set would go for a hefty price like those had.

All week the number of viewers went up until someone finally bid on my opening price of $9.99. The bids went up on about the 5th day but not quite as rapidly as I'd hoped, and in the end they sold for $20.50. I hate it when there are lots of people watching and then you don't know if they missed logging in and placing a bid "at the end" because they were at the grocery store, taking a nap or flying on a plane. Of course the other option is they could be other seller watching to see how much my set goes for. There were 4 unique bidders on my set, and in the end I was happy making a $20 profit on an item. It was a good day!! 

5 comments:

  1. My daughter is a photographer. I'll have to show her these canisters. I've never seen metal canisters before. Only the plastic. I'm with you on the the watchers. What gets me is the high count watchers and then suddenly the number becomes smaller near the end.Grrrrrr Great profit tho' (Mary- visiting from No Foolin' April Fools Linky Party)

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  2. These are so cute. I love your blog background.

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  3. Great find. I know the feeling..when you have a ton of watchers, other auctions have ended well, and yours don't. Hate that..but you still made a great flip.

    www.momspaycheck.blogspot.com

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