Care, Display, and Cleaning of Fine Items

The Collectible Guru Tells All! Information on Everything From Gift Buying, Care and Cleaning, and even How To's.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

The Collectible Guru Responds to Patrick Moore

*****ATTENTION PLEASE, YOU MUST READ THE FULL STORY AT THE FOLLOWING SITE URL: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/theprinciples/3287/stopping-shopping-at-christmas;_ylt=Ai.G2IgGKTgq8zYfTaxGicRTis8F?cin=392#comment I AM IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THIS PERSON, I JUST FELT THE NEED TO SCREAM!!***

On a happier note, I believe this post is very near "perfect"

First of all, I believe you poorly misread the story "The Gift of The Magi". Those people did not give each other gifts just because they loved each other! They sacrificed for their love! They gave up their most prized possessions, not to show love(they already knew they loved each other), but to show how much they would sacrifice for one another. Isn't that, after all, the true meaning of love? Giving all of yourself and your possessions to another?


I believe that gifts should be given on Christmas. Either homemade tangible items, bought tangible items, gifts of adoration and trustworthiness, or simply giving something that you truly thought about to show your love of another (like a kiss). Some people buy gifts, some people make them. Some people are just together during the holidays chatting, eating, and having a good time. No matter how people decide to celebrate the holidays, who are you to put them down?


When was the last time you found/made that perfect gift, Mr. Scrooge, and watched the face of the person you gave it to light up because you found "just" the right gift for them? When was the last time you took time out of your busy bashing schedule to think about someone else for more than the time it takes you to do them a favor or shake their hand? My guess is, you have been damaged in the past by the beautiful holidays that we celebrate. After all, with no Christmas, where is Christ? Weren't the giving of gifts begun with his birth?


People all over the world have a few days that they celebrate together. Many celebrate it differently. Many celebrate it the same. How you do it is up to you. There is no need for you to attempt to press your hatred of a beautiful occasion on the world. So, I say to you, Mr. Scrooge, "Bah! Humbug!" and Happy Holidays!

Love you all!

The Collectible Guru
http://www.collectorsdreamhouse.com

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

How To: Get a Real Time Value for Your Collectible Doll

How To: Get a Real Time Value for Your Collectible Doll

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today I will tell you how to get an accurate value of your collectible doll!
QUOTE:


Dear Collectible Guru,

I have a doll from 19XX and I would like to know how to get a real estimate for the value of my doll without breaking the bank! I have had so many people tell me so many different things, I don’t know who to believe any more! Can you please help me out?

Your Friend,

Jane Doe

I have been asked this question so many times I figured I would just write the answers down for all of you to see! This is also how I give the big guys at Collectors DreamHouse recommendations on how to price their dolls so their customer gets the best deal available. Are you ready? I sure am. Here we go!!

First, Write down everything you know about your doll. Package condition, doll condition, what it is made of, what year it was made, how many people loved it then, special edition, etc… Now, when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. No matter how stupid it may seem to be writing it down, just do it. (You can thank me later!)

After you are postitive you have written down everything, take pictures of your doll. These will be used as reference points as you are looking your doll up. If the picture you find doesn’t match the picture you took, it is probably not the same doll!

Upload your pictures and go to an auction site. This can be any number of sites from Yahoo! auctions to E-Bay. Pretty much anywhere that will give you information on closed auctions will work but the most popular sites are the best avenues for this project.

After you are there, do not select a category! Simply type in the exact name of your doll. Click on search. (ummm… too easy?)

I will now tell you how to Get closed listings. I am going to use E-Bay for this example because I use them for a LOT of searches and comparisons. On the left hand side of the screen, there is a check box for “show completed listings” click the box next to it, to populate a check mark, and hit GO. Now the site will ask you to log in. If you do not have an E-Bay account, just take the time to sign up. It is FREE and you may use it more than you think! If you already have an E-Bay account, simply sign in and hit the LOGIN button. Now you should be presented with a list of items. Go to the next step.

Look for the items with prices in GREEN. These are the ones that sold. That is ALL you care about. Ignore the others.

After you have located your item and found the green numbers, pull up your computer’s calculator and add ALL of the amounts together that appear in GREEN. Count them as you go. Remember to only use the items that are directly identical to yours.

WAIT!! Don't close that calculator! Divide the number you now have. Take the number that you got from adding all those prices together and divide it by the number of items you got prices from. Example: item 1 = $20, item 2 = $24.88, item 3 = $55 Total of these three items = $94.88 When we divide by 3 (which is the number of priced items we added together) we get $31.62.

This is the average price that someone would pay for your doll! And thereby, it is the Real Time Value. (pretty dang simple!)

I know what you are thinking… “If this is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?” Well, the simple answer to that is that not everyone knows an accurate value can be found in this way. Hey, if they subscribe to this blog, then they can find out easily can’t they? (Be a friend! Let them know about this blog!)

If you still don’t trust yourself, or you are just at your wits end because you can't find your item, try choosing a good, inexpensive appraisal site to do your digging for you.
As usual, I have included a list for your convenience:

http://www.whatsitworthtoyou.com (VERY reasonably priced CDH has used them quite a few times)

http://www.metiques.com/marketplace (ONE FREE)

http://www.antique-appraise.com/getappraisal.html (at the time of this post, 12/05/2006, appraisals were $18.95)

It has been wonderful and I will see you all next time!! Happy appraising!

Thanks for reading!

The Collectible Guru
http://www.collectorsdreamhouse.com

Want to know when I post again? Subscribe to this blog via RSS!