I had seen an older style of cheque writing machine earlier in the day for $40 that only printed even numbers (10, 20, 30, etc.) and only printed out the full word in capitals (i.e. "TEN") but it chewed up the edge of the paper, so I wasn't too keen. When I saw this one, I first asked if it worked, which surprised the vendor because she hadn't thought to try it out and hadn't realized what it was (her partner had brought it). We tried it and it worked like a charm, complete with the sort of text you would normally see on a certified cheque. I asked the price, she went to ask her partner, came back and told me I could have it for $20. I said that couldn't be right, but she assured me her partner said it was too heavy to carry home, she wanted to sell it. How could I not buy it?! (It was darned heavy though, many thanks to Barb for carrying it back to the car for me. Although it is working well when I want to flatten anything out, like journal pages that curl as they dry).
I might use it for a date stamp. Here's how my birth date (November 28, 1961) looks:
It only goes up to $100,000 so I can't write myself a cheque for a million dollars, but I could write 10 of them for 100G's, couldn't I?
No, Heidi, it wasn't the vintage album with the mirror on the cover. The vendors wanted $95 a piece for each of those albums and they were both rather ugly (it has to be said), in very poor condition, one was empty and the other had very few photos inside. So not worth it.
In fact, many of the items at this sale seemed hugely overpriced, especially compared to the antique market I'd been to just 2 weeks before. My friend Barb overheard one of the vendors talking about how they jacked the prices up for the Toronto shoppers, who didn't know the real value of what was on offer. Needless to say, she didn't buy anything in their booth!
Notwithstanding that comment and luckily for me, I found several items that I thought were being given away for outrageously low prices and I snatched them up! Only after asking, "Are you sure? That price seems awfully low to me." One gentleman told me it depends what he paid for it. As long as he was still making a profit, he didn't mind if the price was too low. (Thank you, sir, for the vintage postcard books of Rome and Florence that you sold me for only $5 a piece.)
For example, I got this ledger book for - are you sitting down for this, my journaling pals? - a mere six dollars! That's right, I said $6.00)!
I asked the guy, "Are you sure there isn't a zero missing?" He just shrugged and smiled.
It's a beauty, although rather tall. As you see from the photo, it's a full 17 inches high! The exterior is a little beat up but the inside is in mint condition, all of the numbered pages are intact and completely blank inside. Not sure what I'll do with it (Lori, I definitely like your suggestion about sharing ideas!) but I knew I had to have it.
I was most excited about this set of number stamps. Look how beautifully they were packaged, with ribbon and a handmade tag.
The seller told me it was a full set but alas, there is no zero. I shall persevere. I've already tested them out in my journal (suddenly with the numbers and the background stripes, this little face is starting to look like a mug shot...)
I was so excited, I had to buy a twirly stand to hang them on (from the same vendor, a lovely woman with two tween-aged daughters helping in her booth)!
I've since been regretting that I didn't get the double-tiered stamp holder, especially when I realized this holder would be completely filled up and I'd still have one stamp left over. Oh well, next time.
I have been looking at both of these types of items on eBay in the past few months so I knew they were reasonably priced ($22 and $25, respectively, my biggest purchases of the day) and I didn't have to pay shipping charges - bonus!
All in all, it was a great day.
1 comment:
Yes they do jack the prices up on ebay also,for those photo albums some in the 150-200 range, that's crazy. But once in awhile I find one for the right price I payed $20 for mine,not great shape but worth 20. Great score on that ledger.
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