a good karma discount

After a lengthy negotiation, and a good corkscrew karma discount, a price was a greed upon for the little mysterious silver and mother of pearl corkscrew that arrived in a box the other day.  So, I will gather up a money order and send it off, knowing that everyone is happy.  Well, actually, I will be happier once I figure out what the makers mark is on the bottom of the sheath on this thing.  But, it is a lovely piece, which the lovely bride has already claimed as her own.  It is shiny and sterling after all.

 

On another note, has anyone noticed there are like 4 bennit patents online currently…?  It will be months with none of the 1883 patent, and suddenly there are 4?  And, I have two extra as well. 

today’s arrivals….

I ventured over to the poop office box, and there were several packages there.  Most of them for Peter, but a couple for me.  So, I did what any decent person would do, I opened Peter’s boxes, exchanged his nicely detailed pieces with some rusty ones of my own.  Replaced mine in the box, taped them  back up, and put them aside to mail to him later.

 

Of the packages that were actually addressed to me, one contained a nice copper heeley double lever–a trade from Mr. Bull for the mirror mentioned a few days back.

 

 

 

 

 

little silver mop corkscrew

well, after offering very little, i was counter-offered more than i want to spend on the little silver (non-gift) corkscrew.  still, it is a remarkable piece, and i will do what i can to negotiate the person down.

 

there is another silver corkscrew which i am trying to find out information about.  it is unmarked, but looks very old, and handhammered?

 

i know, that i have every book published on the subject (except guy olive’s) but a little help on these things is always appreciated.

 

 

unexpected arrivals

two weeks ago, I won this rather ornate silver direct pull corkscrew.  it arrived yesterday in its original box, and I was quite pleased.  well, upon taking it out of its box, i noticed something else wrapped in cotton; another corkscrew!

 

i emailed the seller, to ask him if it was a gift  or a mistake , and what he wanted me to do. 

 

He did say, it was a mistake, and asked if I would please ship it back…and, then asked how much I would pay to keep it.  So, negotiations have begun on the little mother of pearl and silver corkscrew…

 

Missing in Action

I opened up my outlook last night to see a long list of emails between the corkscrewteers.  One of which was questioning my lack of snipe bid on a lot which had a small bone handled corkscrew hidden amongst some rather unattractive kitchen implements… Apparently Peter was concerned, and started a search and rescue party for me, given I almost never miss out on such pieces.  I did place a snipe bid, but it was low…so, no worries there.

 

I was technically missing however.  I had been contacted about a sale in KC, and hopped a morning flight to go see if there was anything worth buying. 

 

I arrived back home last night after a quick turnaround with corkscrews in hand.  Fortunately we have enough free tickets from Southwest that it didn’t cost much to make the trip. 

 

Below you will see the booty found…

 

john hasselbring

I picked this up the other day.. quite cute.  It’s a pocket mirror, but is also an advertisement for John Hasselbring… I wonder if it will lure any offers from Mr. Bull, Mr. Bristow, or Mr. Borrett…

 

The corkscrew is one of the aforementioned hasselbrings creations…

 

 

 

thinks that make you go “grrrrrrrrr…!”

I went online this morning to check my email, and this is what I received.

 

"Thanks for payment but please add another 3 percent to paypal because those
are the charges unless you wish for me to decline the payment and you will
send me a money order or check. Let me know and I will plan to send the
items out on Thursday as I just returned from a trip. Thanks Again.."

Over a week ago, I paid for this corkscrew thru paypal.  A form of payment this cat accepts, and now after I have waited a week to receive the piece, he wants me to pay an additional 3 percent to cover his costs.  This on top of his "handling" fee that he charges on top of postage.

 

I know that there are those that ask for the paypal fees in their listings.  And, when it is listed as such I do (reluctantly).  However, when it isn’t put in the listing, and it is "requested" that you pay more… just makes me go "GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!"

 

bad form!

 

more treasures at the post!

After making my daily sojourn to the poop office box, and there were no corkscrews there.  I headed back home, loaded up my new software package, and went about doing statistical analyses of stuff. 

 

Then, our home postal person came, and disappeared quickly; leaving a note that there was a registered package from the UK that will be left at the postal annex a couple miles away.  Now, it amazes me that she simply wouldn’t knock on my door and have me sign for said registered package from the UK, but there are a lot of things that amaze me.

 

So, on my way to school, I stopped by the aforementioned postal annex, handed my slip to the postal person and waited for their prompt return–prompt and postal somehow never happens–when they did finally return, a lovely package filled with more bubble wrap than a person would ever need revealed this lovely 1895 German Double Spring Corkscrew, marked DRGS on the shoulders…    

more corkscrews; and waiting on my spss software

While waiting for my new SPSS software to arrive via fedex (its a statistics program), I was digging through this box of corkscrews and took a couple of pictures…  I think the Chinnock is fascinating… I wish it was marked, but oh well.  An 1862 corkscrew with a sharp helix and brush is a beautiful thing to behold.

 

Also, there may be another collection in my future.  A former CCCC member is looking to off his entire collection.  While, some of his treasures have already been sold, there is a good 100 or so that would make someone very happy.

 

So…as promised here are some of the pictures of the latest arrivals…

 

mumsford is the word

After length negotiations, which involved several glasses of wine, Peter and I have divided up the latest collection.  Pretty much it works like this.  I say, Mumford, he says U-neek, I say dutch picnic, he says folder, I say chinnock, he says pot pig with corkscrew tail… you get the picture.

 

Of course, central to me in buying this grouping was one single piece.  And, while the others will largely be passed on to ebayers and fellow corkscrewteers… this is the one… a beautiful Mumford patent, well marked, and the mechanism still works…