May 2016

Well readers, this may make one or two of you drop your jaws in surprise…. I have my PC back! After hovering almost lifeless, a mere husk made up of metal and placcy bits, it is out of intensive care. It received the Last Rights many times, but the complex and delicate surgery has been successful. It cost almost as much as a new PC to repair, but I don’t care, I have all my old files, docs, emails, etc. Wooo-hooo. At last! Happy Dayz.

Sadly, not so for Mrs Masterspy, child number one and Oliver, who all have an ailment that can only be described as a “both ender”! Ewww. I am expecting to come down with it any time now. Shudders.

Mad Item of the Month

Well, once again masterspy gets controversial (quelle surprise….ed). Millions of people wear cufflinks. Millions of those people wear coins made into decorative ornamentation. Not just as cufflinks, but also as rings, necklaces etc. So why does masterspy regard this pair of cufflinks being BINned by Brisbane company cuffandcoaustralia as mad? Quite simply for two reasons. Firstly, a quick search of eBay produced a list of over 175,000 pairs of cufflinks, around 500 of which were available for less than £1.00. The items in question are available at £19.65 plus postage (with postage and duty it would come to £39.90 to send to the UK for instance). For a pair of base metal silver plated cufflinks, I suggest that if these were Carlton Ware they might make a double appearance, qualifying for this month’s Over Optimistic section. Secondly, they are not only base metal, they are plated. Now, base metal coins can be worth money of course – ask anybody who owns a British 1933 one penny proof coin, cos he is sitting on £80,000 smackers). Of course, rarity would help, but we aren’t talking rare uncirculated proof coins as the seller cheerfully tells us that they are effectively “as found” as they have been circulated and are therefore worn. These coins were not even high denomination originally, being humble one cent coins, so no intrinsic value either. But could you imagine trying to sell a real Krugerrand or sovereign, having silver plated it? No? What I am trying to say is that if you coat the coin you are defacing its value if any. So, in short, they are selling pairs of defaced, common, base metal, low denomination coins for £39.90. Masterspy calls that truly MAD.

 

 

Over Optimistic eBayer of the Month

Easy again this month folks. Seller valstom of Keighley, Yorkshire is truly optimistic if he thinks that a 10” 217 shape blue LUSTRINE  vase with a pewter overlay is worth £350.00 plus P & P. Good luck with that one sir!

 

 

 

 

Bargain of the Month

Another easy one. Pedestal powder puffs in the rarer of the two versions of Scimitar 3652 are not exactly as thick as autumn leaves on the ground, are they?

Essex boy dosh4fun listed one such, sadly, it had fought the hard battle with the floor at some point and the knop on the lid had been restored and poorly re-gilded – easy to improve on though. I reckon that the buyer has played a blinder, getting it for £245.00, don’t you?

May 2016

april-antiques of Glasgow listed a biscuit barrel in the MODERN WARE  shape in the large-spotted pattern Tachette 3912 which went up to £55.55 before the antibiotics kicked in. I wonder how many collectors of this pattern are out there. It seems to me a pattern one would only want a couple of pieces of, but have you got a complete tea or coffee set perhaps? Do send us a picture. As for the handle, it seems totally impractical to me, but hey, ‘twas ever thus with our fave factory.

 

 

 

I know there are plenty of collectors of HOLLYHOCKS 3818. So smithuk.xkv2d was always going to be on a winner with this 5” tall 1156 shape vase, which sports the sponged pale mottled green gloss finish and a deep magenta interior. And so it proved with 13 bids taking it to £190.00.

 

 

 

Well, there has been a bit of chat about a MODERN WARE tea for two set on Facebook with decoration 3887. Listed by a seller from a city in Devon, it was said to be “outstanding with no damage what so ever”, however it has been said to the contrary that it has been crudely repaired. About the bidding pattern I simply say….hmmm, odd. Be careful out there folks. When the auction ended the high bid was an astronomical £358.90.

 

 

As I briefly mentioned in a footnote to my last blog, I have one of these, a superb jug vase in Metropolis 3420 listed by a Scottish seller from a town in Fife. At the time I said that I had to suspend my disbelief that it had reached £600.49. I see no reason to change my view. Hmmm, once again, be careful.

 

Frequent CW seller subsubsub0 listed this little 3½˝ vase in GREEN TREES 3569. It has some crazing and loss of gilding on the rim, so it stayed rooted to the ground and only made £24.66. Another unrecognised undervalued pattern this. Sometimes less is more, readers. I certainly like it. Anybody got a collection or group in this pattern?

 

 

 

 

The Queen of Cleveland listed a 7” lidded vase in Liberty Belle 3506, which had the Anzacs fighting against each other for Isadora’s favours. Sadly, she had taken a tumble while doing her dance and the lid had some significant damage. That didn’t stop the bidders raising the bar to £139.00 though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for a rarity, HAREBELLS 4015. A lovely 13” charger in this subtle and delicate pattern was auctioned recently and found favour, rising to £117.00. Something of a bargain for the buyer methinks.

 

 

 

Ooooh errr missus! The Queen also auctioned a superb lidded preserve with saucer in CHINALAND 2948, which climbed to a respectable £165.00. How opulent to be slapping one’s jam onto one’s toast of a morning from this lil ole beaut. Brill.

 

 

 

OMG! A 10” 443er in Secretary Bird 4018! Me wanna. Me wanna. Me not gotta. Sob. One of my faves, this bird can FLY!!! So it proved as the bidding reached £821.00. Even that high it was not safe from the big game hunters’ guns and down it came, no doubt now stuffed and mounted on a shelf somewhere. Did you buy it reader? Do tell us of your triumph.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet another rarity surfaced in Glasgow when seller april-antiques dredged up a tea caddy from the Herengracht in DUTCH 3250. Nice piece. Despite a hairline on the lid 7 international big hitters tilted at this windmill and when the sails stopped turning it had ground up £267.15 worth of flour. Could easily have been more. Good buy, methinks.

 

 

 

 

Now we travel from the lovely land of Holland to the far away Garden of Eden 4242, located in Gauteng, Pretoria and listed as a BIN for £201.73 by seller seazzz. No doubt the buyer is chomping happily on a nice sweet tasting apple found on a handy tree and steering well clear of the local serpents.

 

 

 

 

 

A touch of the Charles Manson’s now…. Seller helter7skelter, hopefully not the man previously resident in Topanga Canyon, West Los Angeles and currently to be found at Corcoran State Prison, California I presume, otherwise eBay has a lot to answer for, ha ha. Anyway, I digress (again). This seller, BINned a lidless 6”covered  vase in Floral Comets 3405. Some patterns make money whatever and this pattern is one such, realising its asking price of £375.00.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok everybody, listen up. Hands up if you like a big ‘un (careful there masterspy…. Ed). Pittsburgh eBayer bobogringos auctioned a 24” tall, yes I did say 24” tall Lidded temple vase in NEW MIKADO 2728! Gilbert and Sullivan would have been proud of this one, especially at £512.87.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seller sportstar73 often lists CW pieces, so seeing another one BINned under his auspices is no surprise. The MAGPIES (2907) on this 10” vase however look extremely startled to me, but they were no doubt calmed to discover they are no longer thought of as thieves of shiny objects… after all, coins dull down after a while, so £144.99 would have made them happy to sing all day long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jadfinearts sold a terrific 10” vase shape 167 in TEMPLE 3130 in a lovely celadon green with black frieze. Yummy. Super piece. Well done buyer. At £205.00 that is a good buy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky strikes again, paying £52.87 for a 3”er in the rare yellow ground FLOWER & FALLING LEAF. Grrr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To bring up the rear this month is an 8½˝ OAK TREE jug, shape 1146, pattern No 3811 – a first time in the blog for this embossed pattern. Listed by catintheattic2013 it grew to £72.00 despite a slight hairline on the rim.

 

 

 

So, another month has slid serenely by readers. Who knows what will appear next month? Feel free to make comments on the form provided. Now that I have my PC back I will answer far sooner than of late – apologies to those who have gone unanswered. By the time you all read this it will have been rectified and I will have answered all your posts.

All the Best

eBay Masterspy