Cannot Believe What Happened Today!

jauntyrooster

jauntyrooster

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So earlier today I was trying research a lovely Coro bracelet that I stumbled upon. I was having no luck and went to see a local antiques dealer who does appraisals. When I arrived, she was busy so the girl at the front desk asked to see the piece. She was trying to read the worn markings on the back of the bracelet when a gentleman came out of the backroom and glanced at my bracelet. He immediately told me I had costume jewelry junk and that is was clearly from the 70's or later! The bracelet is so clearly NOT from the 70's and certainly not later - it was actually laughable. I was already pretty confident of the dating but was just looking for help with making some sense of the markings on back - trying to get a better trained eye to take a look. Well you can guess what happened next...he offered to purchase for a laughable price. I am not living in lala land - I clearly know that I am not holding the crown jewels but he must have thought I was a complete idiot.

Anyway - lesson learned. Free is not always good and just because a place looks respectable doesn't mean that it is. Thanks for letting me vent! :restlessvillagers:
 
So the oldest ploy in the book (badmouth a good item, then make a lowball offer) is still being trotted out.

Always run away from those.

Hollis
 
Oh I would Mary, if only to pull something over on them!
That's really bad practice as if people do not know it's done today show how much they must live in the past using that old trick.
The way I stop it happerning is drop a hint that we use to be antique dealers, which is true but a very long time ago.
It makes them think twice I tell you.

good for :clapping: you for walking out msgrossmyer he be thinkingthat's a quick profit was lost as he most like knew where he could sell it on.
 
reminds me of .. On Saturday my hubby and I were browsing a used book store when I overheard a girl trying to talk down the price on a book because it was quote "pretty old" Apparently the book was priced at $5 and she wanted it for $2. The store clerk said no and she left the book at the counter. I glanced at it while checking out, it was a 1950's hardcover Hemingway... I snapped it up, cause I'm a book hound(hoarder) and felt pretty good about $5 for an old copy of a great book.



Can we see your bracelet?
 
:USETHUMBUP:What a twit & good thing you knew something about it, someone else may have just sold it for $5.00.

We had the same thing happen to us last year but it was with an early violin bow...a place that has a good reputation that repairs violins and bows and has been in business for about 40 years tried to pull the same sort of stunt with us.

We wanted an estimate and said we would pay for the estimate. The owner poo poo'd it and the other bow and the violin and offered us $200.

We sold the bow to a classical orchestra musician for close to $900 and he was thrilled to get it!

Can't trust even those who should be professional! It was quite the scene...wish I could have videotaped it!

We also paid him out in the end $35 for his lowball estimates!
 
Never expect something for nothing.

People come in my shop all the time asking me to tell them what something is worth. What they really want to know is what *I* would sell it for -- and then they expect me to pay that amount for the item.
Ummmm no.
I like to eat, thanks.
Yet, for some reason, people think that if I offer them less than my retail price for something, I'm trying to rip them off. If you want retail prices, YOU NEED A RETAIL VENUE. Simple as that.
Remember -- the job of any shop owner is to make a living. NO, they shouldn't lie to you or try to swindle you to do so - but neither should you expect them to give away their knowledge for free.

I'd love to see the bracelet - there aren't a whole lot of Coro bracelets worth a ton of money (even on eBay, most seem to sell in the $10 range, with a few notable exceptions), so I'd be interested to know what made this one special, and what the shop owner offered you for it.
 
I sort of concur with Kristine, above. As a shop owner, the prices we offer for things are wholesale, based upon our knowledge of our customer base, what's currently easy or hard to sell, and a million other factors that go into buying and selling for a profit in order to make the rent at a retail venue. For me, vintage bracelets are just not flying out the door. Of course I haven't seen your bracelet, but I'm not offering big money for them at the moment.

My parents were antique dealers. One thing they taught me that has stuck in my head is that an item is only "worth" what YOU paid for it, until you find the next person willing to buy it. Example: Back when they were dealers there was no such thing as the internet, so researching a piece meant looking through volumes of published guides like Kovels. However, the prices listed were often based on an average shop's asking price, not actual sales. So a Trifari necklace pictured in a book may have had the caption "Acme Antiques, $500." But that price was only the sticker price, and the piece may have been sitting in that shop for 10 years because no one is willing to buy it at that price. In order to actually make a sale, the dealer at (the hypothetical) Acme Antiques may have to cut their price significantly. Which made knowing the real value of a piece very difficult. That's why ebay's completed listings is such a valuable tool.

Anyway, the shop owner you talked to may have had a snarky attitude, but his intention may not have been shady.
 
excellent points, Kristine and Eileen ~ i was thinking purely from a SPOV rather than a VPOV ~ and who knows? in this climate of accelerated online selling, they may have been inundated with similar walk-in requests recently ~ and are exhausted/grouchy from them all.

putting a positive spin on it. Good points.
 
The offer of a fair wholesale price is fine. I completely understand that. I do it, too. If the price I can get on a type of item has dropped in the last few years, such as Victorian white Teens dresses, I explain that when buying. If a category isn't selling well, I explain that, too.

But denigrating an item as junk, but still offering to buy has always puzzled me. It just offends the owner, and nothing good comes from that.

Whenever it happened to me in show booth, I could almost always count on selling 'the piece of junk' before the show was over and at the price I had listed.

Hollis
 
All - agree about getting something for nothing, etc but this places advertises free walk in estimates. I understand wholesale pricing and I used to negotiate contracts for a living so I understand making money. It works better when everyone wins...keeps the system humming. My problem was his horrible attitude and his complete lack of tact. The lowball offer was simply the cherry on top of the crap sundae he served me. I probably would have laughed about the offer had he been pleasant. I understand why they do free estimates...great way to come across great pieces.

Will post pic of bracelet. Again, it isn't that I think it is something super special but it is a pretty little coro bracelet worth more than the four or five bucks he tried to pay for it.

Thanks for all your thoughts. More learning for me...you are all so supportive.
 
Picture of Coro Bracelet - the one that started it all! :)

Here is pic of bracelet. The real reason I went to antique store was hoping they had a more powerful tool to read the mark on the back of the bracelet. It is marked "Coro" on the clasp but on the underside, there are two more marks that we can't read even magnified. General consensus is that the first mark is Corocraft but the second part is in script and actually looks like a signature of some sort. Know it was extremely rare for a Coro piece to be signed so am not holding my breath. We know it doesnt say patent or des. pat. pend, etc. so just wanted to know if they could make it out. Really wasn't looking for an appraisal or even date help as I know it is from the 1950s from the research I have done (and I dont think it looks remotely 1970s as the guy said but maybe that is just me). Anyways - I certainly wont retire on it and I dont even think it is worth that much - no delusions of grandeur here. I really have been trying to learn to do better research and this is a great piece to use as a learning tool.

Thanks again - appreciate and understand all input. Hope pic does it justice - it is just cute.
 
close up of bracelet - have got to get better camera!

Everyday I say I need a better camera yet one doesn't seem to appear out of thin air - guess I actually have to buy one instead of wishing for one! :)
 
I do want to make clear - his attitude was obviously deplorable. And it does seem clear that in this instance he may have been trying to swindle you.
BUT -- I get accused of the same thing often, when I know darn well I'm offering a fair price for something.
I just wanted to combat this seemingly common idea that vintage/antique shop owners are out to cheat people - because I've seen this idea firsthand so many times in the last few years. I don't know what it is about this business that makes people think we're not supposed to actually make any money. It's kind of depressing, actually.

Anyway -- :USEGUN::USEGUN: on him! LOL!
 
I had a great boss who taught me that everyone involved in a deal needs to make money that way we are all around to do the next deal. I like that way of doing business.
 
pretty bracelet. Looking over some of the different CORO marks in one of my books, could it read "sterling craft" and "hand-made by Coro"? or "Coro Creations by Francois"?
 
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