i agree, the book was good.
recent purchase post: my most recent ebay item just arrived in the mail – a vintage gold dolphin clamper (hinged) bracelet. the two dolphins have rhinestone eyes, and this piece is “dead stock”, or in layman’s terms, vintage new-but-discontinued. it was going for $7 + $2 shipping, but i offered the lady $5, and she accepted. when it comes to haggling, my skin’s not too thick… i ask for what i think is just below or reasonably below fair market value, which means i can justify to a seller why i should be paying $B instead of $A. sellers are obviously looking to make a profit, since they aren’t giving their things away for free. a successful deal occurs only when both sellers and buyers benefit – and it is possible.
being a woman, i tried on my bracelet and wore it around the house for a few minutes. pleased, i left the seller positive feedback on ebay, then added the bracelet to my collection. as my readers probably have concluded from the “i.love.vintage.“ post a few weeks ago, i tend to horde things. it was a fact never brighter or more blinding then when i opened my (second) jewelery box to put away my newest find. tons of tirelessly stalked and hunted down, carefully organized jewelry winked at me from…where i put them the day i bought them. fine and costume, new and vintage, classic and bold – none had gotten the real wear they deserved. don’t let me be misunderstood, i regret nothing – except, perhaps, not being more gusty and having the balls to wear all the great things i’d found.
as i silently vowed to start a steady new rotation of jewelry, i grew more and more suprised at how many animal themed pieces i was finding in my collection. i think it’s safe to say i blame my friend geena… i’d say it all began with an unhealthy obsession with a costume gold tone clamper ram’s head bracelet she scored while thrifting. while a bit worn, it had great detail, good weight, and the ram heads had green rhinestone eyes. after realizing she was just as enamored with it as i was, and wasn’t willing to part with it by any means, i began looking for one of my own. unbenownst to those not very familiar with vintage costume jewelry, large, gold tone clamper, cuffs or bangles featuring animal heads were very popular in the 80’s, made even more popular by well-known jewelry company kenneth jay lane (the late actor jimmy stewart’s wife was a fan) when they produced a series of large, jeweled, gaudy animal themed pieces for the equally well-known costume jewelry company avon. the series included elephants, zebras, giraffes, tigers, and lions. these pieces go for between $80 – $250 each today. but i digress…
as i was saying, the search was proving difficult. online, the prices were unreasonable, and the reasonably prices ones were still unreasonable because the pieces were ugly or poorly made. along the way though, i placated myself by snatching up good buys on non-ram animal jewelry. i finally succeed in finding a wonderful ram’s head bracelet last week, but only until i put away my dolphin bracelet, did i realize how many animals were on my farm.
egads!
old macdonald's got nothing on this.
imunlisted 