happy new year’s

Maybe it’s to early in the game

Ooh, but I thought I’d ask you just the same

What are you doing New Year’s

New Year’s eve?

 

Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight

When it’s exactly twelve o’clock at night

Welcoming in the New Year

New Year’s  eve

 

As for us, we have several bottles of bubbly chilled down for the evening’s festivities…

happy new year’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

observance of christmas

So… there I am with 12 packages set to mail off to various parts of the world today, and I venture over to the local post office.  Of course, when I get there the place is closed.  Why, you may ask.  According to the little sign, it says they are closed for the observance of christmas.  Now, I hate to belabor the obvious, but wasn’t christmas yesterday…and, if it was how could one be so unobservant as to miss it completely, and then have to take today off.

 

 

pirate problem fixed

Well, I think we have finally found away to eliminate the corkscrew pirates from obsconding with the booty from ebay.  After diligent searching, I have found someone who markets "Pirate Repellent."  Who would have thought, all this time uncharted waters could have been safe using an aerosol can.

 

 

Holiday Pirates and a Mystery Solved

Yet again a nice corkscrew for sale on ebay has vanished.  A DICO, which I have only seen in pictures, was listed on ebay and had two bids for a whopping 9.50$…it had sat there for two days and now is suddenly gone, as it is "no longer for sale."  So, who ho ho ho hoisted their hollyjolly roger and nabbed this one so close to christmas?

 

On a more joyous note, I received an answer about the most recent mystery corkscrew.  Frank Ellis dropped me a line to say that he thought it looks like Page’s registered design from 1851.  I had actually thumbed through the Wallis book, and noticed many similarities.  Unfortunately, there would be a pin missing where the hole is on the side…oh well…still, a neat piece!

another mystery

This odd corkscrew arrived in a box lot the other day… there are no markings, and it seems like it should do something….what that something is is part of the mystery.  The bigger mystery is who made it, where does it come from, and how old is it…?

 

any thoughts on this would be appreciated…!

 

FLIBUSTIER ! ! ! ! ! !

It would seem no area of ebay is safe.  eBay.fr had a fantastic corkscrew listed today; a Traifor in the original box.  It sat a bit, and i placed a bid.  Within hours, the item dissappeared.  Pirates!  Flibustiers!

 

I have no idea what they got it for, but it certainly is an awesome corkscrew!

 

 

a positive ebay experience

In the last few weeks there have been several 2nd chance offers on high priced corkscrews that have come through…generally speaking these offers are scams, and I simply delete them.  This morning there was a different 2nd chance offer…  A marked chinnock for which I was one of several underbidders.  I snapped it up, and emailed the seller for confirmation.

 

He explained that there was as solder mark on the shoulders of the corkscrew, and that was the reason the top bidder decided against it.  He offered a picture of the damage, and said if I was dissatisfied, he would refund my payment.  The solder looks like a definite repair job, and after ab email, he promptly refunded my paypal.

 

I am sure he will make the offer to others, and someone will be pleased with the offering.   But, what an ebayer !(Antiques61) to stand behind his product!  More transactions should be handled this way!

 

 

 

 

williamson prototype…

On the heels of an email from the wineleopard inwhich he sent a picture of a prototype corkscrew that may have been sent to the patent office in the 1880’s, I dug through the drawers of corkscrews I have, and pulled out a Williamson corkscrew, that looks like it too could be a prototype.  Unlike any other metal handled williamson I have ever seen, this a rather cool looking piece, that I would love to get more information on.  At the CCCC AGM, Fred O’Leary was leaning towards "yes, prototype."  Has anyone ever seen another one?

 

Another mystery to be solved…

farrow and jackson?

CB has definitely taught me that one needs to examine and clean the corkscrew one receives.  Often times I receive the corkscrew, use it that evening and then place it in the flat file in the library (yes, the library). 

 

I had been traded a Plant’s Wulruna some time ago, and was pleased given it was in lovely shape.  I used it one evening and moved on to the next corkscrew.

 

Well, in updating my website, I pulled the wulfy out to take a picture.  I gave it a once over with some cleaning soloution, and low and behold I found a Farrow and Jackson mark on one of the pillars.  A neat re-discovery of sorts…

 

 

 

 

more piracy on the high seas of ebay

32 corkscrews with a start of one penny….i looked at the pictures and thought, well there is one nice piece in there, as i had seen it in Bull’s book, but couldn’t remember much else about it.  I put the listing on my watch list, and set up a snipe.

 

By the time I was done setting things up, the item was no longer for sale.  PIRATES!…this time there wasn’t a BIN added…so clearly someone did a side deal.

 

After looking at Bull’s book, there are two corkscrews of interest as far as I can tell…but, what is interesting to me is the 7th from the left in the picture (upper row)…next to the G.M. Thurnauer piece.  Is that what the piracy is about, or is it the Thurnauer one that would garner interest.

 

Oh well…