Handbags, Mid Century Modern, Vintage Dolls and More!

I have been finding quite a few handbags for resale lately. I was at one sale and spotted this unusual brown leather bag. Inside it had the signature Ettienne Aigner which I know as a modern designer of handbags. This was an early bag of his. It’s not worth too much but I thought that was interesting. I picked up a LeSportSac with the theme of cats on it. It sold for an offer of $20. People like their cats! I picked up a bag by Debbie Brooks that has a design on it called a Magnafab. I believe it is a magnetic piece that can be switched out to change the look of the bag. My best find recently was probably this Disney Halloween themed Loungefly backpack. It was in a box at a tag sale marked Children’s bags $1.

I have also picked up a few wallets recently. In the same box with the Halloween backpack there was a Queen of Hearts Alice in Wonderland wallet as well as a Harley Quinn wallet and a Halloween wallet. I also recently picked up a Sydney Love wallet illustrated with fashion accessories. I am hoping to get at least $20 for each of these.

One sale I was at seemed to have quite a few mid century items. Some of these I am not really familiar with but they were cheap enough that I could take a chance and hopefully learn something. I believe these two vases are mid century modern pieces. The gray and white piece is marked Germany and the other piece I believe is from Japan.

I also bought a candle holder from Denmark and a Rosenthal plate with a stylized letter K on it.

I have picked up some vintage dolls too including a little Polly Pocket set, the Bionic Woman and a Mego doll that licks her ice cream cone!

The Mego doll came from an estate sale where there was an entire room full of dolls. Unfortunately I didn’t recognize many of them but they had these two Rushton monkeys sitting on a chair together. They were marked at $20 each. The older Rushton plush (from the 1950s – 60s) can do really well. These two are from 1978 so I don’t really know how they will do. They still have some age to them and are in good condition.

I am happy to have so many sales to go to. Sometimes the amount of listing I then have to do gets overwhelming but then, I remember the winter months when I had very little to list and I push through!

Vintage Toys, Dolls, Pottery and Bin Finds!

I think that it’s safe to say that garage sale season is here! But first I will start with some thrift store finds. This purple poodle caught my eye because she is so cute! She turned out to be a vintage shampoo bottle and sold for $49. I found a piece of Glenn Art pottery which sold to a relative of his for $39. It’s great when you find just the right buyer! It has a very unusual handle and sold even though there were chips on the spout. I love blue and white pottery and was charmed by this old salt box. Also in the porcelain and pottery category I found a small collection of Belleek pieces that were $2 each. I put them together and sold them as a collection for $39.

I have purchase a few Barbie dolls recently. I picked up a doll from a series called Lounge Kitties. They are very stylish and come with fun furniture. I also bought an Irish Barbie and a Juliette Barbie. All these were $10. Not cheap. The Irish Dance Barbie has already sold for $44.

I came across some vintage dolls at a sale. They were $5 each. I got too excited and didn’t check the condition carefully enough and some were too damaged. A surprising doll was this doll that is not a Barbie but a pretty African American clone doll marked Hong Kong. I put her up on an auction and got one bid for $49. I bought a bubble cut Barbie with pale lips and a Super Size Barbie who sold for $24. These 18″ Barbies came out in the 1970s. One of the dolls had an outfit on that I was able to sell for $19.

Some other dolls I have picked up include this cute Baby Face doll. I paid up for her at $10. She has a very expressive face. I recently found two boy dolls which I don’t find too often. One was a boy American Girl doll and the other was a Kidz n Cats doll which is a brand that is new to me. The American Girl boy doll cost $20. I have been paying up for some of these dolls lately so I hope they will sell well.

I found some interesting plush at a sale where all the plush was 25 cents. First is this Meddy Teddy who teaches children yoga and meditation. I found a Gruffalo backpack which is based on a character from a book, and a pair of Moncchichi plush which have sold for $24.

Finally I will mention some good finds I had at the outlet bins including this Byers Carolers Mrs. Santa Claus. I also picked up a set of anime stationery and a small black leather Coach bag.

I really hope the good sales continue and the weather continues to improve! The sun and warmth feel great after a long, dreary winter!

Doll and Dollhouse Estate Sale

I attended an estate sale in my area where the woman had an extensive doll collection and some dollhouse items. It made me realize how little I know about collectible dolls. The doll prices ranged from $5 to $20. The second day was half off day and I returned to purchase more. On the first day I bought this Madame Alexander colonial Willimamsburg doll for $5. She is missing a lantern that she holds. My favorites of the dolls I bought is this pair of Kathe Kruse dolls. She is a German artist. Each of these dolls was $10. For an additional $10 I purchased a wooden doll by Anri, made in Italy. I have seen Anri music boxes but I didn’t know that they made dolls too. I am hoping that each of the dolls will bring at least $50.

There was a large storage bin of dollhouse furniture. It had a price tag of $100 on it. Many of the pieces were broken and I didn’t feel it was worth $100. When I returned on the second day, and it was still there for $50, I had to take a chance on it. I hope it wasn’t a mistake. It was worth it for the fun of sorting through it. I made several lots. Here are some of them.

I really want to keep the Christmas tree because it is sized for a half inch scale dollhouse which I have. I haven’t listed it yet and I put it in my dollhouse so we’ll see how that goes. Looks like I’m probably keeping it.

I bought two more dolls on the second day that were marked down from $20 to $10. They are Heidi Ott dolls. She is from Switzerland. They seem to be fairly collectible. I thought they were porcelain but they are hard plastic. They remind me of the American Girl dolls because they are also 18″ tall. A fun thing was that both of these dolls had pins on their dresses. I thought they came with the dolls but later when I was home I realized that they didn’t go with the dolls. They are Mary Engelbreit pins that I’m hoping to sell separately.

On another day I attended a sale where a lady was selling her rabbit collection. I picked out three that I thought looked interesting. One is a Hagen Renaker figure, one is a Herend of Hungary piece and the third is a Japanese netsuke figure. She charged me $4.00 for all three.

Those are the highlights from last weekend. It was a good start to the season and I’m looking forward to more sales after a long quiet winter!

Vintage Toys, Plush, Trinkets and More to Resell!

It seems that very slowly, some sales are starting up here in the northeast. I attended a small fund raiser for Ukraine where I bought a few pieces of All Clad stainless steel cookware. Both pieces sold for $35. Unfortunately I underestimated the shipping cost on the tall pot and lost about $5 on shipping. These pieces are very heavy!

This sale was very small so I was looking outside my comfort zone which is the clothing pile where I found this cool 1970s houndstooth cape by Jerold. I wish I had a mannequin to show the style better. It is missing two of the large gold buttons but I’m hoping to get a good price for it. I also grabbed a Prairie Dawn doll. I have sold several of these before. I paid $20 for the things I bought at this sale.

I’ve recently purchased some items from the bin store again including lots of plush. My favorite is this group of Nintendo toys. There were 5 sprinkled throughout one of the bins. At least that was all I could find. I spotted Animal from the Muppets. He was quite a mess when I found him but with a wash and a hair styling he looks much better. I also picked up a plush rocket from Little Einsteins and this interesting toy called a Purrble. It has two settings. It can purr and vibrate and it can also make a heart beat sound. It is meant to be calming. It doesn’t really work that way for me but I think he’s cute.

Finally from the bins was this plush rabbit by Eden and a horror mask by The Paper Magic Group. I have just learned that masks like this can be collectible. The mask has sold for $38. I am hoping the rabbit will sell for Easter. His buttons look like little Easter eggs.

In the knickknack department I have found a pretty glass millefiori paperweight with a Murano label on the bottom, a white stone carved horse and a very funky wooden guitar. I have no information on the guitar but I think its very fun and cool. I hope someone else will think so too. It has a face.

My sales this month have been super slow which is a bit discouraging but I will keep shopping and listing and hope that as tag sales pick up, so will the sales in my shop.

Vintage Toys, Dolls, Textiles and Odds and Ends for resale!

There have been a large variety of items I have picked up over the last several weeks from the thrift store and the outlet bins. When I saw these curtains at the thrift store, as a cat lover, I had to pick them up. They were $12 for the pair and sold for $65. They are from Ikea.

I have found some interesting dolls at the thrift store. This Mary Poppins is wearing a rarer Jolly Holiday outfit. This small cute doll is a Mafalda doll. I believe she is from a cartoon that originates in Argentina.

This Sally doll from the Nightmare Before Christmas was picked up at the outlet bins and this Little Bear doll is from a series of Lone Ranger figures from 1975. He was found at the thrift store.

There have been a few plush finds. My favorite find from the outlet bins recently is this very small teddy bear dressed as a clown. His brand is Mayfair edition. He measures about 4″ tall. I also picked up a Shadow from the Sonic the Hedgehog video games.

I have had luck selling planners and agenda binders. I picked up this pretty flowered one at the thrift store. The brown leather case is more of a document folio. I think it’s vintage.

I will wrap this up with a few more fun finds from the outlet bins. I was very excited to be able to grab this cute snow lady blow mold. She was in a new bin that just rolled out. It is also possible to find good things in the bins that have already been looked through. I found a collection of Bitty Baby items scattered about a bin that had been sitting for a while. Finally, I found this small wooden figure of an angel from Denmark. She doesn’t have her wings anymore but I still thing she is charming. She measures about 3″ tall. I love finding tiny treasures like this at the bottom of the bins.

Well, it’s almost spring. I’m ready for the tag sales to start any time now!

Vintage Christmas, Plush, Dolls and More!

I was able to visit an estate sale recently. I got there very late in the day but was able to find some overlooked items. In a closet, spilled out in a box I spotted some vintage holiday picks. I was trying to find as many as I could and a nice man was handing them to me if he found one too. Then I spotted a plastic bag filled with them. There was another box that had quite a bit of Christmas items as well. I divided the picks into five groups by holiday. So far the Easter group has sold for $26.

From the box of Christmas I found several ornaments and an interesting Christmas sand timer featuring Santa Claus.

When I checked out I had a bag of items but they were all very small so it didn’t look like much and I was only charged $5.00 for everything.

I had an exciting find from a bags of toys from the toy wall at the thrift store. I was not familiar with these dolls before but took a chance on these items because they were very cute and I could see a date of 1988 on the back of one of the dolls. These are Cherry Merry Muffin dolls. Each doll comes with a pan of muffins and a little mascot helper. There was also an anthropomorphic oven that came in the bag.

I found another pair of vintage dolls at the thrift store. These were mixed in with shelves of plush and dolls. They are Romper Room Softies and are dated 1973. Romper Room was one of the first TV shows made for children years ago. This pair has sold for $49.

I have had some finds from the Goodwill Outlet bins including a Dooney and Bourke ID badge lanyard and a vintage Santa Claus mug.

Some plush finds from the bins include a small 6″ bear made by artist Diane Sherman, a Cheshire Cat from the Disney Store, a Link doll from the video game, the Legend of Zelda and a Chilly Willy plush penguin from Universal Studios in Florida from 1989.

I am hoping that it won’t be long now before the tag sales start! I am happy to have thrift stores and the outlet in the meantime!

Plush, Dolls, Handbags and Figurines

I have found several plush toys at the thrift store and at the outlet bins. I think the best one was this Half Life Vortigaunt plush. He looks like a green alien. I believe he is from a video game. During the same trip I picked up this colorful Chinese dragon, a Disney Parks Ewok and a little dog with big blond hair called Afroken.

Some fun plush was also found at the bins. These include an anime style bear, a Pillow People baby, a Jellycat raccoon and a vintage Popples.

I picked up some dolls at the thrift store too including this anime style doll called Cardcaptor Sakura and an American Girl doll.

I also pulled some handbags out of the bins recently including a Chaps bag by Ralph Lauren, a green leather Tignanello bag and a structured black vintage bag.

Finally I will share two ceramic figurines that I purchase at the thrift store. One was a pair of cute puppies marked NAO by Lladro. The second figure was the evil queen from Disney’s Snow White.

Those are the thrift store and bin store finds for the month of January as winter trudges on. At least the days are getting longer little by little.

Best Finds of 2021 Mixed Categories

Here of some of my best finds from 2021 in all different categories. I’ll start with this colander since I don’t sell many of these. This one was special because it featured Tweety Bird. It was at a community sale for $10. It sold for $99.

Continuing with housewares, this Dansk blue Kobenstyle pot was at the thrift store. It was very large – I believe it was a 4 qt. pot, which is why it sold for $110. I didn’t find many Dansk pieces this year but I’m always happy when I do. If I find them in red, orange or yellow I add them to my collection but since this piece was blue, it got sold.

I am always on the look out for the older Hallmark Frosty Friends ornaments. This one was on the shelf at the thrift store for $4.00. He sold for $109. He is the second in the series. If you ever see the first one in the series which is the pair of friends sitting on an ice cube – oh my goodness – pick it up because it can sell for upwards of $300!

Also in the Christmas category was this Mr. Christmas Nutcracker Suite. I bought it sight unseen in a way because the curtains wouldn’t open at first. It was $5 at the thrift store so I took a chance. With some careful nudging I got them to open which in turn allowed the scenes to change and the music to play. This fun piece changes scenes four times and plays many different songs from the Nutcracker. I couldn’t get the figures to move but despite this I was able to sell it for $115.

I picked this figure up at the thrift store because he had a pop culture look to him. He was completely unmarked but I got some help to identify him as a Moncler Genius figure and I have no idea what that means but someone wanted him for $120. He was large – about 1 foot tall, and plastic.

This fireplace screen was at a tag sale for $10. It was heavy and hard to ship but I was happy to do it since it sold for $125.

This concertina was at a community tag sale. I think I paid $5 for it but I may have paid $10. I could tell it was old and very pretty. I liked that it came with the original box. It sold for $149.

This tea pot was at a barn sale. I didn’t know anything about it except that it was from France and very heavy because it was cast iron. I looked up the brand Staub La Theiere and was surprised at the value. It sold for $179.

I was in the thrift store looking at the Christmas section when I saw this Lenox palm tree. I didn’t realize that it was part of a nativity set and was rare. There was another piece from the set when I picked this one up. It made me wonder how many other pieces they had there somewhere. This piece sold for $199.

The best large purchase I had all year was a set of Easton Press books that I purchased from a tag sale for $1 each. I was looking for a copy of Dune because my daughter wanted to read it. I saw this one at a sale and bought it because the lady said it was only $1. I called my daughter and it turned out to be the wrong version for her. While I was sitting in the car I looked it up on my phone. I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to purchase all the other Easton Press books she had. This copy of Dune is my second best sale of the year at $249.

My best sale of the year came from the thrift store. I think I spent $5 on it. It caught my eye because it was beautiful and reminded me of summer. It was a print signed by the artist, Leo Dorn and sold for $275.

Those are 11 of my best sales for 2021. I am looking forward to winter being over with and the return of tag sales in the spring. I have a long wait since it is only the middle of January. I guess I’ll have to keep myself entertained at the thrift store.

Best Doll Finds for 2021

I found a variety of fun dolls and doll related items to sell online this year.

This first item wasn’t a high dollar item but I thought it was very charming. It is a small vintage purse shaped like a doll. The zipper to get into the compartment is on the back of her skirt. She sold for $19 and was picked up at the thrift store for $3.

This Barbie outfit was on a doll that came out of a bag on the wall of a thrift store. It was on a vintage doll. I pulled the clothes off to sell separately. This colorful outfit is called Fashion Bouquet. It sold for $49.99

I don’t find too much vintage Fisher Price any more but was excited to pick up this dollhouse with the figures and accessories for $10 at the thrift store last winter. It sold for $49.99

This item is not really a doll but a porcelain figure but I wanted to share her here. She is called Mademoiselle Bikini. I paid $5 for her at a church estate sale and she sold for $65. She is wearing a pink fur bikini!!

One of two Cabbage Patch items in this list is this Cabbage Patch doll telephone. I found this at an animal rescue fund raiser. I was surprised to find it complete in the original box for only $3. It sold for $74.99.

American Girl dolls are becoming more and more common but you can still make some money on certain dolls if you don’t pay too much. Addy is still a fairly good doll to find. I picked one up at a sale for $20. She had her original outfit on but had an issue with some roughness on her face. She sold for $75. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the one that I sold.

One of my favorite doll finds of the year was this My Child doll. I love to find these doll because of their sweet faces. She was face down on a shelf at the thrift store and I bee lined it over to her. Her sweet yellow dress is original to her. I priced her high because I wanted to keep her for a little while and she sold eventually for $89.99

When I first saw this type of Cabbage Patch doll I thought that they were home made copies of the dolls but I have learned that some of them are early versions of the Cabbage Patch. You can tell it is authentic because it has a signature on the bottom of the shoe. I bought her for $5 and sold her for $99.

Polly Pocket play sets can be a great find, especially if they come with some of the tiny figures. They often have hidden details, compartments and light up features. I have sold this set before and was happy to find this one at a tag sale for $5. It sold for $109.99.

I am surprised to say that my best doll find of the year was an American Girl doll. I paid up for her at $17 and I wasn’t sure if she was a doll with a name or maybe one of the girl of the year dolls. After a lot of research I found out that she is one of the Just Like You dolls. She is a number 36 which is a harder to find doll. I wasn’t sure of her value so I put her up for auction starting at $99.99. She sold for a bid of $178.00.

Those are the doll highlights from 2021. Looking forward to more finds in the coming year!!

Best Plush Finds for 2021

I love finding and selling stuffed animals and am often amazed at the prices they go for. Here are some of the highlights of plush sales from 2021.

These two mice were at a church sale for $1 each. I picked them up because they were from the 80s and unique. They are from a series called the Rat Pack and the pair sold fro $49.99.

At a different church sale late in the day there was a trunk full of stuffed animals and little clothes. The sign said “Take all for $3.” OK. I’ll do that. They were Muffy Vanderbear characters and accessories which individually don’t sell for very much but I felt that with the large quantity that I could do well. I was able to break them up into different lots. The largest lot sold for $55. Overall I have made over $100 on this purchase and learned about Muffy Vanderbear and her friends.

At the same church sale where I bought the mice above, I also found this Chosun Heart to Heart bear. He is best is you can find him with his clothes and his heart. The heart goes inside and mimics the sound of the beating heart which is comforting to infants. But terrifying to adults. He sold for $59.99.

This next plush was from an estate sale where everything was free on a Monday after the sale had run all weekend. I couldn’t believe how much good stuff was left. I have never been to a free estate sale before or since. The person who these things belonged to collected frogs and I sold some other frog related items. This puppet was made by Bonnie Erickson who was an associate of Jim Henson. This may be where its value came from. It sold for $69.99. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of it but you can imagine – it’s a puppet that looks like a frog.

This next find is also my best find from the Goodwill outlet bin store. I picked it up because I saw it was Disney and cute. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but this item is only about 6″ tall. At the bins store, you pay by weight so this didn’t cost too much. It is a rare Disney Wishables and sold for $74.99.

I was at a community tag sale where I saw a huge caterpillar stuffed animal. It was over 5 feet long. Something told me to look it up and I saw that they sell between $50 and $100. Mine sold for $74.99. I think I paid $5 for it.

Another puppet I sold this year was a giant vampire puppet. I paid $5 for him at a church sale and he sold for $75.

The next stuffed animal was at another church sale for $1. If you find any of these Snuzzles animals by Playskool they can be valuable. I was very surprised at his value. He sold for $129.99.

I had seen these stuffed naugahyde monsters before on Youtube and was hoping to find one someday. My lucky day came at a fundraiser for a pet rescue organization. This guy was in a box with dog toys! He is Nauga, a Naugahyde monster that was created to promote the material Naugahyde on furniture in the 60s or 70s. I’m not sure. There are some remakes of these but this guy was an older one. He sold for $160.00 and cost $2.

Here is my best plush find of the year. I bought it at a flea market. I don’t usually find too much to flip at a flea market because the prices are usually too high for me to make a profit. I also don’t usually pick up Boyds bears but I had heard that sometimes the mini bears can do well. So when I saw this item with 12 mini bears I looked it up and bought it quickly for $30. It is a Boyds Bears Peekers calendar. It includes 12 small plush bears, each dressed in a holiday or seasonal outfit. I kind of love it. It sold for a best offer of $248.00

Those are some of my best plush finds for 2021. I am very grateful to have had a busy year buying and selling on Ebay, especially compared to what I was able to do in 2020. Happy New Year and wishing everyone health and joy in 2022!!