So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[The Jackal]

My best bargains have been found abandoned at the dump or at the side of the road. I got all my living room furniture that way.

In all the decades I've been accumulating "old stuff" I don't think I've ever sold a single item. I've given a few things away to people, but never as "collectibles," it was given to them to be used. I don't "collect" stuff, I use it for its intended purpose, and cash value is the furthest thing from my mind. I'll leave that to the kids to sort out once I'm dead.

I've been part of a few different collector based communities throughout the years. All anyone ever seems concerned with is how much they can turn around and sell something for later on. That literally never crosses my mind.

If I collect something, its because I like it, and selling it goes against the intended purpose.

 

[Hercule]

I have always considered lack of knowledge by sellers - flea markets, pawn shops, antique stores, etc. - to be a very good thing.
If they have something they think is rare and valuable, but isn't, I just walk away.
If they have something that really is rare and valuable and they don't know it (and it's priced low) - I buy it and smile.

Actually, I can't imagine that 99% of the regular antique clerks (and etc.) would know more about the things I care about than I do. And I wouldn't expect them to...

There is an old (and wise) saying from gun shows: "Buy the gun, not the story."

Hear, Hear. I find that it's often not worth the bother to correct a seller who is woefully misinformed about an item they are selling. Well, actually, it depends on how badly I want the item.

On a similar topic of know it all sellers, that's why shows like pawn stars are simply ridiculous. I used to watch them occasionally (you know, you're flipping channels and they just suck you in). One episode of southern pawn stars or something like that (I think it took place in Louisiana) a kid brought in a BMW steering wheel he picked up from a flea market. The story was that it came off a boat. Well the pawn shop guy launched into "teaching mode" and told the kid that BMW was an aircraft company way back when and their blue and white checkered logo represented a propeller. And of course boats use propellers. Incredible, simply incredible. I know that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but what is NO knowledge?

 

[The Jackal]

On a similar topic of know it all sellers, that's why shows like pawn stars are simply ridiculous. I used to watch them occasionally (you know, you're flipping channels and they just suck you in). One episode of southern pawn stars or something like that (I think it took place in Louisiana) a kid brought in a BMW steering wheel he picked up from a flea market. The story was that it came off a boat. Well the pawn shop guy launched into "teaching mode" and told the kid that BMW was an aircraft company way back when and their blue and white checkered logo represented a propeller. And of course boats use propellers. Incredible, simply incredible. I know that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but what is NO knowledge?

The only pawn stars equivalent that I felt had any actual merit was Comic Book Men. It was filmed in the comic shop that Kevin Smith owns in NJ. In addition to the other shenanigans they got up to every episode, they had segments where people would come in to sell or buy various items.

Being that it takes place in a comic shop, and the items in question were comic shop related, it was far more believable that the guys running the shop would be knowledgeable about the specifics of said item, rather than a pawn shop show where they were magically super knowledgeable about everything under the sun.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Hear, Hear. I find that it's often not worth the bother to correct a seller who is woefully misinformed about an item they are selling. Well, actually, it depends on how badly I want the item.

On a similar topic of know it all sellers, that's why shows like pawn stars are simply ridiculous. I used to watch them occasionally (you know, you're flipping channels and they just suck you in). One episode of southern pawn stars or something like that (I think it took place in Louisiana) a kid brought in a BMW steering wheel he picked up from a flea market. The story was that it came off a boat. Well the pawn shop guy launched into "teaching mode" and told the kid that BMW was an aircraft company way back when and their blue and white checkered logo represented a propeller. And of course boats use propellers. Incredible, simply incredible. I know that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but what is NO knowledge?

They apparently mistook BMW for BFW, which became Messerschmitt. And the blue and white BMW logo represents the Bavarian flag.

 

[Hercule]

They apparently mistook BMW for BFW, which became Messerschmitt. And the blue and white BMW logo represents the Bavarian flag.

You know that and I know that, though I'm pretty sure the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke did not use a propeller for its logo either. You're much too generous with your assessment. There is absolutely no doubt he was talking out of his ---.

 

[tonyb]

I've been part of a few different collector based communities throughout the years. All anyone ever seems concerned with is how much they can turn around and sell something for later on. That literally never crosses my mind.

If I collect something, its because I like it, and selling it goes against the intended purpose.

I got a few collections (of sorts), but I don't think of myself as a collector per se. My only real interest in market value, seeing how I rarely buy stuff with an eye toward selling, is in not paying more than I have to.

I have a fair amount of paper ephemera -- old magazines, posters, advertising pieces, etc. As I'm sure I've noted before, it's just fine by me that "condition is everything" in assessing the value of such stuff. Originality counts for a lot with me (which is why I find misrepresentations of same particularly galling), and, to my eye, an item that shows signs of actually having been used for its intended purpose is all the more "authentic" than one that was never exposed to daylight.

As I mentioned in a few posts above, I don't expect an old-junk peddler to possess real expertise in all things that cross the threshold. I quite respected one such peddler who operated a junktique shop in what had been a feed store on the outskirts of a smallish city in the Northwest. "Sophisticated" wouldn't be the first adjective to come to mind in relation to her. She really didn't know all that much about most of the stuff she had in her shop. But she had a great eye. She opened the shop on Fridays and Saturdays only; the other days were devoted to hunting down inventory and, I assume, recreation. And she found great stuff. I recall once pointing out to her that a framed one-panel cartoon she dug up somewhere was the original artwork for an old Dana Fradon New Yorker cartoon and as such was worth quite a bit more than the $10 price she put on it. She thanked me for that and said she was happy to have my 10 dollar bill. I could relate a few similar accounts of my dealings with her, as could several others, I'm sure. She knew how to keep her customers coming back.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The golden age of junking was the '70s -- barns and attics were full of '30s-'40s stuff and people just wanted to get rid of it. Piles of '30s magazines for a quarter a piece, furniture for pennies on the dollar, appliances and kitchen stuff free if you'd haul it away, anything and everything, they just wanted it out of the house. The vast majority of the stuff I use in my house to this day was picked up between 1975 and 1981, and the wheelers and the dealers would be astounded at how little it cost me.

Probably my best buy was the radio in my living room, a big Philco console from 1937 with three tuning bands, "magnetic tuning," an 11-inch speaker, and rich, room-filling sound. I paid five dollars for it at a place called "The Treasure 'n' Trash Barn," and they even delivered it to the house for free. I replaced the capacitors, cleaned off the cabinet, and have been enjoying it ever since.

That barn was the kind of place I really loved. It was an actual barn, as in there used to be animals in it and you could prove it by the smell, and it was packed full of just about anything you could ever imagine someone buying -- books, magazines, clothes, old tools, plumbing fixtures, telephones that looked like they'd been torn out of the wall, mounted deer heads with one antler broken off, a giant "Your Weight And Fortune" penny scale, an unopened case of 144 copies of a paperback exploitation book about Pope Paul VI, every Maine license plate back to 1918, and the largest assortment of straight-back wooden kitchen chairs on the East Coast.

The most astonishing thing of all is that it's still there, and still open for business, pretty much exactly as it was forty years ago. And you can even still smell the animals.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
I have long fantasized about having a barn or similar structure wherein I could keep out of the weather all order of stuff that was sure to be worth something one of these years.

It’s almost enough to make me cry when I recall the vehicles and furnishings and whatnot I’ve let go over the years mostly because I had no place to put them. As it turns out, much of that stuff is now worth quite a bit.

But hey! Let’s not lose perspective. I’m here to cry about it, after all. Paul Allen had some real cool toys, but I wouldn’t trade places with him.

 

[tonyb]

The golden age of junking was the '70s -- barns and attics were full of '30s-'40s stuff and people just wanted to get rid of it. Piles of '30s magazines for a quarter a piece, furniture for pennies on the dollar, appliances and kitchen stuff free if you'd haul it away, anything and everything, they just wanted it out of the house. The vast majority of the stuff I use in my house to this day was picked up between 1975 and 1981, and the wheelers and the dealers would be astounded at how little it cost me.

Probably my best buy was the radio in my living room, a big Philco console from 1937 with three tuning bands, "magnetic tuning," an 11-inch speaker, and rich, room-filling sound. I paid five dollars for it at a place called "The Treasure 'n' Trash Barn," and they even delivered it to the house for free. I replaced the capacitors, cleaned off the cabinet, and have been enjoying it ever since.

That barn was the kind of place I really loved. It was an actual barn, as in there used to be animals in it and you could prove it by the smell, and it was packed full of just about anything you could ever imagine someone buying -- books, magazines, clothes, old tools, plumbing fixtures, telephones that looked like they'd been torn out of the wall, mounted deer heads with one antler broken off, a giant "Your Weight And Fortune" penny scale, an unopened case of 144 copies of a paperback exploitation book about Pope Paul VI, every Maine license plate back to 1918, and the largest assortment of straight-back wooden kitchen chairs on the East Coast.

The most astonishing thing of all is that it's still there, and still open for business, pretty much exactly as it was forty years ago. And you can even still smell the animals.

The good stuff I could find on the shelves of the charity thrift stores as recently as just a few years ago just ain’t there anymore. Rarely does a quality “collectible” find its way to the sales floor. The store operators see as their primary mission generating revenue for their sponsoring charity, which means putting the good stuff online, where it’s likelier to fetch higher prices. Some things still slip through that net, but the pickings just aren’t what they were.

Just a few weeks ago I picked up off a public sidewalk, next to a large litter bin, a small cabinet which, as I learned on closer examination, is a tobacco aficionado’s humidor. It has a dozen or so pipe holders and a couple cork-lined drawers with little clips to hold vials of water. The top could use refinishing, but it’s a well-made piece which I’m guessing to be about 50 years old, judging from its style and hardware and all. I have no way of knowing how long it was there before I scooped it up, but I found a place on the curb to put the van the instant I spied it.

 

[Edward]

...the fact that crime / medical dramas continue to say "GSW" when "Gun Shot Wound" has fewer syllables.

I'd guess it's just an attempt to give the suggestion of professional jargon as expected by a non-medical audience.

I would have assumed that there might also, with something like that, be an element of code so as not to freak out civilian witnesses (c/f the Liverpool Care Pathway).

I've been part of a few different collector based communities throughout the years. All anyone ever seems concerned with is how much they can turn around and sell something for later on. That literally never crosses my mind.

If I collect something, its because I like it, and selling it goes against the intended purpose.

I try not to end up in a position where I lose money on my hobbies, but I agree - if the joy is what you can make on it later, you're an investor, not a collector.

 

[Zombie_61]

...the fact that crime / medical dramas continue to say "GSW" when "Gun Shot Wound" has fewer syllables.

I'd guess it's just an attempt to give the suggestion of professional jargon as expected by a non-medical audience...

At least they didn't go full NATO phonetic alphabet and start saying "Golf Sierra Whiskey".

 

[GHT]

At least they didn't go full NATO phonetic alphabet and start saying "Golf Sierra Whiskey".

I too, had to look up GSW, but there again, Whisky Tango Foxtrot was lost on me. It took a 15 year old to explain.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Which brings up the point of police/military jargon in general. When I used to interview cops it bugged me ferociously when they'd say something "We apprehended the individual." And they usually kept their sunglasses on when they said it. There's a reason you can't say "We captured the suspect?"

 

[Bamaboots]

Which brings up the point of police/military jargon in general. When I used to interview cops it bugged me ferociously when they'd say something "We apprehended the individual." And they usually kept their sunglasses on when they said it. There's a reason you can't say "We captured the suspect?"

What's your point, ma'am?

 

[LizzieMaine]

"And he had eyes like the devil hisself!"

 

[The Jackal]

Which brings up the point of police/military jargon in general. When I used to interview cops it bugged me ferociously when they'd say something "We apprehended the individual." And they usually kept their sunglasses on when they said it. There's a reason you can't say "We captured the suspect?"

Yes, actually.
Military and Police have to be very careful when speaking to the general public and are trained to specifically avoid using certain words due to the connotations that those words can imply.

"capture" sounds rather harsh. You capture a wild animal that has been attacking livestock. It doesn't look good to the public to refer to a person that way, especially since "innocent until proven guilty" is supposed to the position.

The public affairs departments go to great lengths to train out anything they think may be controversial language and give very specific speaking points. I've even been handed a card at a media event and told that regardless of what question i'm asked, I can only give one of these 12odd responses. If it can't be answered by those responses, don't answer it.

 

[tonyb]

Which brings up the point of police/military jargon in general. When I used to interview cops it bugged me ferociously when they'd say something "We apprehended the individual." And they usually kept their sunglasses on when they said it. There's a reason you can't say "We captured the suspect?"

Regarding “individual”: I encountered the very same practice (minus the sunglasses), and I had the very same thoughts about it. A person was left wondering if there was a course at the academy in finding the words with the most syllables.

Even more amusing was the occasional reference to a suspect as a “gentleman.” The fellow is suspected of disemboweling the entire family in the house next door and sodomizing their Shih Tzu before stealing their lawn mower, but, you know, he’s a gentleman.

 

[The Jackal]

Even more amusing was the occasional reference to a suspect as a “gentleman.” The fellow is suspected of disemboweling the entire family in the house next door and sodomizing their Shih Tzu before stealing their lawn mower, but, you know, he’s a gentleman.

If you refer to a suspect with any negative wording prior to a conviction, you run the risk of causing issues with granting a fair trial due to skewed public perception, and even run the risk of a lawsuit being brought against the department.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I figured there was something like that. At one point I had a bunch of tape carts piled up in the studio with these identical cop-talk answers, and figured if one jammed during playback I could always grab another one and nobody would know the difference.

 

[tonyb]

If you refer to a suspect with any negative wording prior to a conviction, you run the risk of causing issues with granting a fair trial due to skewed public perception, and even run the risk of a lawsuit being brought against the department.

I can dig that, but “suspect” is hardly lawsuit fodder. (Although I acknowledge that it isn’t beneath some shysters and their gentlemanly clients to give it a try.)

It’s the imprecision of “individual” that annoys when it doesn’t amuse. My mutt is an individual. So is my wristwatch. Its use is a deliberate attempt at vagueness, I suspect.