The $30,000 Corkscrew!

Yesterday was the ending of sale 8A for the ICCAuctions.  Unfortunately for me, I was stuck working all day.  😦  I spent the night before, strategising, and placing a few select bids.  With fingers crossed and my cell phone on vibrate, I could hardly wait till my break time to check in for updates!  Sadly, no wins for me.  😦

Worthy of notation was the impressive, but to be expected, rash of relentless bidding by every sellers favorite buyer Fotodeal.  He dropped a whopping $30,030 on this 1903 N.P.Samuelsen Dainish Patent!  He also picked up Peter’s Cherub and Stayrs brass frame corkscrew for a mere $13,263.  Amazing.  Congratulations Fotodeal on your new acqusitions.

Sale 8b of the ICCAuctions is ending in less than 90 minutes.  I’m off to find a few good deals!  Wish me luck!

Forget about eBay….

The ICCAuctions are a beautiful thing for corkscrew collectors.  Tons of rare corkscrews to see, bid on, and sell off.  But during the 3 weeks this is going on, it’s almost like we forget about our everyday go to auction site eBay…  Or at least some of us do.

This weekend I saw a Kupper Bier sell for less than $400!  Surely some people saw it, as there was 90 views on the auction page.  But maybe not everyone searches “down under” where the seller is located?  A steal of a deal none the less!  Yes, I bid, but not aggressively as I’ve already got one and I figured that since another sold on eBay.de two days prior for $1500+ this one was sure to go higher.

And just this morning an amazing Henshall type with a very fancy carved handle sold for a mere $137!  I plain ol’ forgot to set a snipe and didn’t look at my watch list this morning.  Errrrrrr!!!  A beautiful and rare piece!  At least someone got a great deal!

So, as fun as the ICCAuctions are, there are still some great deals to be had for those that are looking….  Happy bidding!

The Gold Rush Era corkscrew…

I was scouring the archives of Google this weekend and found this baby.  A Will & Finck Corkscrew!  I’ve owned one of these previously and would love to get another for the collection!

I quickly proceeded to contact the owner to see if a deal could be made.  🙂

Within a few hours a phone call was made and our conversation went something like this:

“Hi, is the corkscrew still available?”

“Yes it is.”

“Well, what price were you thinking?”

“I was told that a few years back when Will & Finck was hot, it was worth 5.”

“Would you take 3?”

“You’re not far off….  I was offered 28 and I passed on it.  How bout 4?”

“28?  Wait a second…!  $2800?  We are WAY off here.”

Needless to say negotiations ended quickly and with out a corkscrew.  😦

Anyone else got a Will & Finck corkscrew available for purchase that’s not in the $1000’s?  Drop me a line at syrocokid@gmail.com