I was interested to read Brian's analysis, since he has actually tracked these things. Yes, it was certainly an interesting test case when the Springetts, who have an exceptionally fine, and I would imagine, well provenanced collection of bonafide antique bobbins, not to mention the panache of the items having belonged to David Springett, an excellent bobbin maker, and scholar, failed to succeed at auction. I am not a dealer, but I was named in the will of an elderly lacemaker to assist her heirs in realizing money for her lace things after her death, since, unless very carefully marketed, such things are almost universally put out for the garbage man as worthless. (Alternative valuation to $10,000, $0.00) In fact, I am sure that I am not the only person who has actually been given lace equipment by people who are moving to retirement communities and need to divest themselves of bulky items and cannot find a buyer. Much as they would like to sell the items, since none of them are wealthy, they can find no buyers within a reasonable time. I always take the profferred item, on the off chance that someday there will be a young person who would like to learn lace, but will be unable to put out the money to start learning the craft. Sometimes, too, the family of a deceased lacemaker will take the lace items to the lace group and try to sell them to the friends of the deceased lacemaker. This often takes months, wears down the patience of whomever is responsible for putting the items out, and the sales are often to people who are buying the used pieces as sentimental remembrances of their deceased friend, and even then, they will pay only a minimal price for the friend's item. Selling a collection of bobbins, mostly working type, but with a few antiques, or painted ones, is no easy task. The person who undertakes to sell the "estate" bobbins or lace pillows has to haul them around to lace days and lay them all out prettily. Thus, they have to know when and where lace days are, and be invited to deal at them, sometimes paying for the opportunity to sell. I really can only think of a couple of people in the US who would have the infrastructure to provide such a service, and I imagine that even they pick and choose the bobbins that it seems likely that they can sell and refuse to take others. Selling a collection of bobbins, many of which will say things like Metro Chapter Lace Day, November 1995 on them, is a formidable chore, for which the dealer is entitled to a fair amount of the sales price. Suffice it to say, it is not easy to find a buyer for a used bobbin in the US, where we have only about 1500 members of our lace organization. One can attempt to sell bobbins on ebay, and while it is a larger public to which you are addressing yourself, it is not as focused. Also, many lacemakers are not computer savvy, may not have computers and may not want to deal with strangers, and reveal financial information to pay pal. When Holly is selling estate items, she is putting pictures on the internet, and printing them in catalogues, and these are "one off" items, expensive to advertise, but not very valuable to sell. Commemorative bobbins for small lace days that you haven't attended have no appeal whatsoever to another buyer, at least not to me. Likewise, interest in unusual Australian woods is not something that I hear being widely discussed here, and without full documentation of what the wood and maker are, ie. the equivalent of the "vintage Barbie doll in the original box" are really just another odd shaped stick. You may like Eleanor of Acquitane, but I prefer Mary Queen of Scots. Like old theatre programs, these bobbins may have emotional value to you, but they don't to anyone else. Now we are in a recession. The bobbin buying public (small as it is) is holding back on purchases. For the most part, we are over 50 years old, a segment of the population that has been hit hard by losses in their retirement funds. We are also women, already disadvantaged economically, and likely to cut back on purchases for ourselves in order to finance children's education, etc. The lacemakers who took up lace making in the craft revival of the 1970s are, sadly, dying. These people, such as my friend, may have thousands of bobbins, which are being dumped on the second hand market. Meanwhile, our craft is not being taken up by anyone young. There is no younger generation of lacemakers coming onto the scene to buy the equipment that is being sold by the families of deceased lacemakers. The membership numbers of the International Old Lacers have been remarkably static for the last 20 years. A great many of our members are, in fact, this group that began in the 1970s, and many of them were in their 50's when they started. Not only are they not among the potential buyers for nicely made bobbins, but they represent a huge watershed of lace equipment that is about to hit the second hand market depressing bobbin prices even more. To be totally honest, if your husband thinks your bobbin collection is worth $10,000, I think you should insist that he take it as part of the marital settlement, it is the best offer that you are going to get for it. You can replace it for a fraction of the cost, and he can ride around in a van to lace days trying to sell it or put it on ebay, in which case you could buy it from him for much less. Those of us who buy bobbins at lace days do it as a spur of the moment indulgence, often carried away with the fun of the event. We may like handling certain bobbins while we work with them, but if we think that these collectibles are increasing in value, we are deluding ourselves. I can tell you, that my family is eying my bobbin collection with total fear as they contemplate what they would have to do to liquidate it. Suffice it to say, they would never get a fraction of what I paid for it. Devon **************Huge savings on HDTVs from Dell.com! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221836042x1201399880/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.ne t%2Fclk%3B215073686%3B37034322%3Bb)
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