At least I can see why Native American jewelry prices would go up. But please explain to me, say, beanie babies (remember that ridiculousness)?? Or this new red/pink Stanley mug being sold at Target that people are supposedly waiting hours in line for (and then reselling online for a couple hundred bucks)? THAT I don’t understand.
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So much of this makes no sense at all to me either. It’s just crazy. What I can’t figure out is if they make 10 gazillion of them how is anything ever going to be worth more money?
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I guess my husband is right. He says people are sometimes just like lemmings. Follow each other right off that proverbial cliff.
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You folks are right on. I have more trouble selling high quality items than the retailers selling mass produced Chinese fashionable crap for good money. There is no cure for stupid…but there is a cost.
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I simply don’t get it either. Of course everyone’s taste is different and I can totally understand that what I may think is beautiful may not be what someone else thinks is beautiful, but I sure don’t understand how someone would choose…and pay more for…poor quality, mass produced and obviously cheap things over something well made and of quality materials. Some people just want what’s popular and what everyone is wearing/buying, and eschew better things that will appreciate in value.
But we live in a throwaway society…shrugs.
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Yes, and I’m definitely not in the throwaway era. It drives me crazy when things only have a lifespan of X number of years. Specifically appliances. I remember old refrigerators that we used to have for 20 Or 30 years. And nobody changed their water heater every eight years. Or switch their bathroom fixtures just because they wanted them to be a different color.
I come from the sharpen it, and keep on using it generation. And my mother was a stickler for quality over quantity. Also, for classics versus trends.
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@Islandmomma me either. People who completely change out their decor, style, furniture, tastes, or whatever every few years are very different from what I was raised with, where things were bought, kept, and passed down. I’ve seen online discussions talking about how people today don’t value “things” like previous generations, but I don’t think that’s it at all. People still value things…nothing is new under the sun with that. It’s just that what’s valued now is whatever kind of change it takes to keep a person constantly modern and the polar opposite of seeming like you have any attachment to anything.
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I have found good deals up until 1 year ago. You must have gotten great Deals. A lot of your items are really nice!
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I know! I remember my parents had a refrigerator when I was growing up that has literally lasted my entire life, and it’s still out in my dad’s garage as a secondary refrigerator. Whereas I’ve probably gone through five refrigerators in my own home in the last 25 years.
Dad says that companies don’t have to make stuff good quality anymore because people just don’t keep things that long before they change them out for new things. Sure, part of it is that the electronic technology that comes with things changes quickly, but there are people like me who will buy stuff and keep it, and modify the item to fit whatever new electronics will come out if it’s something that needs electronics (do I really need a smart refrigerator that tells me when I need to buy milk? I think not). I would prefer not to have to buy new every time there’s an upgrade.
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Overall we have had pretty good luck with appliances. Had the dryer break, but it came with the house, and fixing it was actually more expensive than buying a new one. Where I have noticed a big difference is with furniture. We have my parents old dining room set that I believe they got before I was born (my family had a furniture store which closed in the mid 80’s). It’s pretty amazing; cherry wood (not veneer) with black trim and black chairs with patent leather seats, very mid century modern. The cost to replace it with something similar now would be way out of my price range.
As far as updating cabinets, countertops, etc, I always end up deciding on something to hang on the walls (but not much more room on them, not even for another Navajo rug 
), or a trip, or something like that. But I can’t ignore my family room carpet much longer 
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I agree with you there I like real wood. My dining table is walnut from about 1860. My bedroom furniture minus the bed is from my grandparents house 1930s. The bed is more recent, but it’s still a solid mahogany rice bed.
Unfortunately, my kitchen cabinets are particleboard and I despise them. I have actually thought about ripping them out and building rustic 2 x 4 cabinets myself and making plywood shelves and using curtains as doors. Very simple pull them down throw them in the washing machine and hang them back up. I do not want to go back to using an old-fashioned wringer washer though. 
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Yes, I did get some wonderful pieces over the years. One of the very first things I bought when I was just beginning to learn, was a boulder Bisbee monster cuff. I bought it because it had a heart vein showing on it. All these many years later it’s probably in the $2500 range. I think I paid less than $200. I also found a custom-made gem quality moonstone necklace that appraised it close to $3000. I did have to step up to the plate for that one, but it was still valued about 3 times what I paid. Then there was the “black glass and 18k gold pendant.” It cost a total of $161 including shipping and appraised at $5900. It was not black it was indicolite tourmaline. There were other pieces specifically Native American, and maybe one or two Anglo turquoise pieces. Some of them I got really inexpensively and they are now worth a good bit.
I think it’s the thrill of the hunt! Happy hunting to you and everyone else! 
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oh no - that’s def a reasonable strategy as a collector! i meant idiots are the folk who bid up the prices of individual pieces on SGW, then immediately resell them on ebay. it makes no freaking sense as a business strategy.
i still bid and buy on SGW but i have a price limit i stick to, and never fails when things go over my limit, i immediately see them on ebay for even more.
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Wow…great deals… There are no Bargains like that anymore on SGW. I have gotten a couple pairs of Frederico Jiminez earrings for free, a Nakai cross for free…but that’s like $250. The thrill of the hunt.
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@Islandmomma wow!!! You found some great pieces at great prices. You definitely have to always be on the lookout, and I pay close attention at flea markets especially, in order to catch the sleeper deals that people miss.
I hear you on wood and antique furniture. I very rarely buy new furniture, most of mine is antique.
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You certainly did get some fabulous deals!!! I didn’t have that kind of luck, but looking back at some of the things I bought in the 90s at a few particular trading posts, I realize that I was really blessed to find cuffs (in particular) at such good prices. Probably wouldn’t happen now. And unfortunately nearly EVERY ONE of them has closed, or is in the process of closing 
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