Holy Shlitz

This baby is far from holy, but it’s still a nice piece.  The mail man was nice enough to deliver this yesterday along with many bills.  I don’t recall winning these on Ebay, but whatever.  It will fill the hole in my collection temporally, but I am still waiting for a nice one to settle down with. 

I’ve finally made my reservations for the JFO in Saint Louis.  Me and Josef are planning a road trip down there, so if anyone wants to tag along, there are still two seats available in the Ford 500.  Non Alcoholic beverages will be provided and several stops at antique malls along the way.  I’m accepting Blue Ross Pigs and Syroco Dogs in trade for a luxurious ride to the convention.  In the words of John Stanley…"Be There!"

The Austrian Aussie

Recently, I’ve been on the hunt for some Austrian, not to be confused with Australian, brass pieces.  As luck would have it, I picked up this cat on the Australian Ebay.  I don’t see any marks on the piece, but for the price he was defiantly a good buy.  

Hunting in Wisconsin

Well, as it may be, my "weekend" falls on Tuesday and Wednesday each week.  This week I spent the weekend at my friend Scott’s house in Rockford, IL.  This would serve as a "home base" as I ventured further outside greater Chicagoland for corkscrews in the antique malls.  Over the two days of hunting only one odd shaped Clough style corkscrew turned up.  It looks like someone forgot to turn off the helix curling machine as it’s about 10 inches long and the helix alone is 8 inches! 

Another great find was gasoline under $3!!!  Score baby!

The Vulcan…..?

Well, sales ended pretty good yesterday on Ebay.  Since there is supposed to be a strike against Ebay I decided to shop on Jbay.  I ended up buying a Dowler Patent with a wood handle and spike.  Thanks JL’A.  I can’t wait until the next set of new listings!

Also this weekend a very cool Thomason Replica ended @ 555 EUR!  That’s more than the real thing!  I was very nice though.  Number 305 out of the 500 produced and in perfect condition I might add as it was still in it’s original case.  I guess my sniper bid of 13 EUR was not good enough.  Hey the shipping was 25 EUR!!

NEW ARRIVALS!!!!!

Well, the Mailman is on a roll!  I am the proud owner of an additional 35 more Flashes!  I can hardly keep up these days, but I promise, I’m not complaining.  I still have a long way to go, as "willbuy" has over 500 Flashes in his collection.  Well, I’m now up to 142.  Not bad for actively collecting them for 4 months now.

Be sure to check out my Newest Ebay Listings at:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsyrocokidQQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQfsooZ1QQrdZ0

I will not be listing anything during the Ebay Strike Feb, 18th-25th.  So get’em while you can!

Report from the Malls

Yesterday I decided to get some fresh air (and snow), so I quickly got out my copy of "The Treasure Map" antique guide.  I really wanted to be adventurous and seek out malls and shops that I have not yet covered.  I ended up hunting along Interstate Highway I-80.  It took me about 140 miles outside Chicago where I ended up searching 6 different malls and shops.  There were several Williamson and Walker types to be had at $20+ but I was really looking for buried treasure on this trip.  I even came across what looked to be a Corkscrew Collectors booth as it had a Bone Henshall, a few Stag pieces, a Brass picnic screw, 2 rollovers, a large Syroco Bulldog, and even more pieces featured.  Unfortunately for me they were all marked at about 200% above current Ebay prices.  Needless to say that Josef’s predictions of finding a Syroco Golden Knight in this mall, and then promised I’d find 3 Syroco Indian’s in the next (with a nominal finders fee of one wide chested Indian) never came to light.  Sorry Josef, though I like the way you think, maybe next week we will have better luck.

I did manage to find a good deal on a Williamson Direct pull for a buck and another Flash for $10.  I’m just glad to be able to report something for my 11 hour day of hunting.  There are still a few out there that I was not able to get to, so I guess I’m already booked for next week!

Also below are yesterdays deliveries!  A hodgepodge of various openers, 2 niftys, and another Flash!  Good trade bait for the JFO convention coming up, and number 107 for the Flash collection!

My mail man must be reading, as the packages have been steady lately.  "Hi Mr. Mailman!  Keep up the good work!  If you see a Deco Patent in your Lost But Found Box, just throw it over my gate.  Thanks a million!"

A rough day for the Syrocokid…

Today I was out sniped three times on some bargain items!  First was the Rare Advertising Corkscrew with a celluloid  advertising plate on the handle, second was a Pig’s butt, and third was a Fairchild Patent Sterling Roundlet.  Not a single win to report.

On the brighter side…. the mail man decided to deliver today.  Several flash corkscrews arrived!  Goodness the collection is growing fast!  This brings the total up to 105.  I’m missing 13 states though.  If you have any of these PLEASE drop me a line at SYROCOKID@GMAIL.COM.  Hmmmmm…..I wonder how many missing states will be in the package of 35 that is in route? 

New Arrivals

Well, here are the latest additions…. A Tip Top, another flash and a Williamson Power Corkscrew with cap lifer.  I’ve always liked the Power Corkscrew as the bladed helix is very similar to the ones used in older Syroco pieces.  Some may say that I paid a tip top price for my Tip Top, but rest assured that it was far less than the $224 that was paid by a collector on ebay a few weeks ago.  I wonder what the gold one listed will bring…..

FYI Ebay sellers!  Ebay has recently announced that they will be "reducing Insertion Fees and adjusting Final Value Fees".  In case you missed it, the key word in this quote is ADJUSTING ( meaning raising! ).  The Final Value fee used to be "5.25% of the initial $25.00, plus 3.25% of the remaining closing value balance".  NOW IT"S GOING TO BE "8.75% of the initial $25.00, plus 3.50% of the remaining closing value balance" beginning on February 20, 2008.  There is a lot of discussion on this sneaky "play on words".  Please watch this video and decide for yourself if you will take action against the auction site most of us visit so frequent.  Help support the buyers and sellers that actually make Ebay possible!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23TomS5–nQ

Wheeling and Dealing!

Not too much to report from antiquing in Blue Island Illinois, a nifty, bar boy jigger and a Jemco.  Not bad for a total under $5, but I’d rather pay the full five bucks for a Golden Knight like some collectors do.

The USPS in Chicago must be the worst branch in the nation!  I have finally come to terms with my residential location being on a "deliver when you feel like it" route.  I typically get mail delivered 3-4 times a week.  Well, today was a good day as the mail man actually decided to deliver the mail today and dropped off a Chrome Bar Bum.  I’m just glad he arrived safe and unharmed.  Welcome home buddy!

Hopefully the 35 flashes I just bought from a collector will arrive within the month of February.  SWEET!

Brotha’ from anotha’ motha’

Here is a cute pair.  It’s been over two months for one of these guys to arrive from NJ!  These two guys are pretty cool pair of Syroco Laughing Man Corkscrew "go/with" brushes. 
There is a corkscrew version of the laughing man.  Needless to say, some of us just can’t get enough of the Syroco Figural pieces.  There is definitely a basic paint scheme for a lot of Syroco pieces,
but there are also some where the artist would add his "own" touch. 
These two guys are very similar, but good examples of different paint
jobs. 

Off to Blue Island!