The Ones that Got Away...

[SpitfireXIV]

The ones that "got away"

What vintage treasures did you folks not get? I'm sure that some of us regret the treasures that somehow got away from us, by being outbid, or walking in the shop and seeing it walk out with someone else. What's your tale?

I still regret not buying a WWII photo album of a US Airmen's photo journey from camp to squadron a few years ago... It was an old fashioned album, with the USAAF logo embossed on the lower right hand corner of the cover, and the pages inside with the b&w photos and all the photo corners and all, telling the journey from enlistee to pilot. It was 35$ in an antique store in a quaint town on the Fox River. The price was fair, but I had to be sensible and not buy it.

Three years later, I am still kicking myself. I even foolishly went back a year later in hopes it was buried on a shelf somewhere, to no avail.

 

[Harry Pierpont]

A nice pair of brown and white cap toe shoes my size on the "bay, went for around $20. I forgot to place a bid.:eusa_doh:

About 2 years ago a WWII helmet complete with a HALSEY liner, $90. I wasn't a collector of WWII stuff so I told a friend, it sold two days before he could get there. (no comments from Nic Charles please)

 

[Liz]

Here's my top two tales of woe: At the very first record show I went to, a dealer played a great 45 and offered it to me for $50. I passed it up, thinking it was too much money (at that point in time, I bought almost all of my records from flea markets and garage sales for $1 or $2 a piece). A few months later, I saw the same 45 sell for over $300 on Ebay.

More recently (a couple of weeks ago), I bid on a fabulous Rudi Gernreich dress on Ebay and was outbid at the very last second. I'd really wanted the dress, so I was quite upset. To add insult to injury, the winning bidder contacted me last week and told me the dress didn't fit her, and asked me if I wanted to buy it. I sent her an email and told her I'd love to buy it...the next evening she emailed me, telling me she'd changed her mind and had decided not to sell it!

 

[Pilgrim]

I had my Fender Precision bass in storage for 20+ years. When I retrieved it a few years ago, I found an old guitar strap of mine in with it - nothing fancy, just a 60's pattern with a vinyl back (not even leather). It was in decent condition, but nothing great as a guitar strap.

Two years ago, I saw an auction on Ebay in which the seller showed a strap identical to mine - and some pix of Jimi Hendrix. As it happened, Hendrix was wearing a strap with a pattern identical to mine and the one at auciton. The seller did an excellent job of describing the strap and drawing parallels to the Hendrix strap, while clearly stating that it was not the same strap.

The strap in that auciton sold for more than $300.

And when I looked for mine, it was gone. I'm sure I threw it out about six months before that.

(Insert biiiiiiiiiig sigh here.)

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Mine is actually something I HAD, but had to sell due to the booming (sarcasm!) job market around here:

I had a gorgeous collection of original 1920s and 1930s film stills and star portraits, but had to sell them on ebay due to chronic unemployment. Now that I'm gainfully employed I regret every minute of selling those beautiful photos. At least I know that most of them went to serious collectors so they have good homes. But still......

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Here's my top two tales of woe: At the very first record show I went to, a dealer played a great 45 and offered it to me for $50. I passed it up, thinking it was too much money (at that point in time, I bought almost all of my records from flea markets and garage sales for $1 or $2 a piece). A few months later, I saw the same 45 sell for over $300 on Ebay.

Ouch, that's happened to me a couple times Liz back when I was into picking up 78s at junk shops & flea markets, I feel your pain! (that's when I found that Les Dock's record guide prices the high-end records too low)

Mine is actually something I HAD, but had to sell due to the booming (sarcasm!) job market around here:

I had a gorgeous collection of original 1920s and 1930s film stills and star portraits, but had to sell them on ebay due to chronic unemployment. Now that I'm gainfully employed I regret every minute of selling those beautiful photos. At least I know that most of them went to serious collectors so they have good homes. But still......

Amy Jeanne, that really hurts about the film star portraits! I had a best friend in college with the same problem, but luckily he and I were Both interested in blues 78s, so I was able to buy several of his lower-priced ones that were faves of both of ours, at "real" prices, and let him buy them back from me a few years later (without interest). Also got to enjoy them in the mean time

Mine, was when I was a kid, about 10 or 11... saw one of these record cutter deals at the flea market, really wanted it but Mom said it was too big and junky looking to allow in the house. I'd always tried rigging my own lame record cutting devices since I was a kid, once succesfully cutting a voltive candle record using motorized Legos and a small speaker with a thumbtack glued to the center, so I was heartbroken.

More recently, I found a much better model of the same thing, bought it, sat on it a few months, decided I'd never restore it, and re-sold it lol