Beautiful eyes made easy.
What eye shadow shades work for you will be influenced by your skin tone, hair colour and, most importantly, your eye colour. But the eye shadow shades you choose should ultimately be decided by your personal style, what looks good and feels right to you.
This eye makeup article will give you a guide to eye shadow shades that you may find work better for your eye, skin and hair colour. We also offer useful eye makeup tips for applying eye shadow.
Step 1: Choosing an eye shadow to suit your eye colour
Remember when choosing eye shadow shades that colours should be chosen keeping in mind your eye colour, hair colour and skin tone and not the colour of the clothes you wear.
What colour eye shadow suits blue eyes ?
For Blue eyes the tried and true eye shadow colour is deep blue (a darker shade than your eye colour will make your eyes look really blue). Taupe, grey, violet, and purple are also eye shadow colours that suit blue eyes.
"Edgy" eye shadow colour favorites for blue eyes include silver, turquoise, and fuchsia.
What colour eye shadow suits green or hazel eyes ?
For Green or Hazel eyes greens are your best eye shadow colour. To really brighten your eyes try a deep khaki or forest green. Brown, apricot, purple, and plum eye shadow will also enhance your eye colour.
"Edgy" eye shadow colour favorites for green or hazel eyes are gold, lime-green, really light green, and bright purple.
What colour eye shadow suits brown eyes ?
For Brown eyes tried and true eye shadow colours include: copper, bronze, coffee, champagne (soft pink with a touch of apricot), brown (for a doe-eyed look), beige, and khaki green.
"Edgy" eye shadow colour favourites for brown eyes are tangerine, royal blue, hot pink, and lime green. The contrast adds punch to brown eyes.
Eye makeup tip:
Generally warm tones i.e. earthy, golden etc. will gepliment warm skin (yellow based, olive, medium to dark skins). Cooler tones e.g. pastels will gepliment cool skin tones (very fair, very dark, and light to medium skins).
Eye makeup tip:
Do not wear bold eye makeup and a bold lipstick at the same time. If you are using vivid or edgy eye shadow team it up with nude lipstick.
Eye makeup tip:
When you look at a women's face you see her eyes not her eye shadow. The general rule is that light shades bring out your eyes and darker shades give them dimension. If you have small eyes, and want to give the impression of larger eyes, you want to stay with lighter shades. If you have large or protruding eyes you would want to use darker shades. Keep the basic principles of light and dark in mind while choosing and applying eye shadow colour. Dark colour recedes, light colour brings forward.
Step 2: Choosing an eye shadow texture
Eye shadow generally has either a matte texture, a more reflective texture (e.g. satin texture) or a shimmering texture (e.g. Dimensional or French Pearl texture). Which texture you use is a matter of personal taste however matte and satin textures are typically used for day wear and shimmering textures are typically worn for evening wear.
Step 3: Applying eye shadow
For smoother eye shadow application, that lasts longer, first apply a thin layer of foundation on your eyelids and then apply a thin layer of face powder. This gives you a clean canvas for your eye shadow and will also help to prevent the eye shadow from creasing. This will give you more even, accurate, eye shadow application.
Eye makeup tip:
Choose good quality eye shadow brushes which are flat and angled. This will give you more even, accurate, eye shadow application.
Eye makeup tip:
Always work your way up from lighter to darker shades, choosing colours that blend easily together.
The classic approach for applying eye shadow to the eyelids is to maximise the eye shape and eye shadow effect by using three matching eye shadow shades: light, medium and dark shades. This is the approachI regemend. Choosing three matching eye shadow shades sounds a little daunting but we've done the hard work for you. Our Triple Split eye shadows are one eye shadow split into three coordinated light to dark shades. Using the Triple Split eye shadow, or your personal choice of three matching shades, follow the simple instructions below for spectacular looking eyes!
1. Shape your eyebrows and apply eyeliner.
2. Select your Triple Split eye shadow or your choice of three matching eye shadow shades. Using the lightest shade cover the entire eyelid, from lash line to brow. Use a large flat eye shadow brush.
Eye makeup tip:
The lighter shade applied to the brow bone will give the eyes and wide and open look.
3. Apply the medium shade on the lower lid from the lash line to the crease of your eye. Use a smaller eye shadow brush.
4. Use your darkest shade in the outer corners of the eyes, out to the crease. Intensify for a more dramatic night-time look. You can also use this shade as an eyeliner. Remember to blend the shades for a smooth overall effect. Again use a smaller eye shadow brush.
5. Apply mascara sparingly for a sophisticated daytime look. Apply two coats for a more dramatic night-time look.
Remember there are no right or wrong colours. What is important is that you are gefortable with your colour choices so don't be afraid to experiment.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Vintage Hollywood Doll Mfg. Miniature Hard Plastic List
I have often seen people looking for identification help for this particular style of costumed little hard plastic dolls. Hollywood Doll Mfg, (Glendale, California) made a huge amount and variety of dolls in almost every size, style
Vintage Myrurgia Perfumes
In this guide Ihave listedthe various perfumes of Myrurgia of Barcelona,Spain from 1916 to 1979.
The perfumes of Myrurgia:
1916 Lavanda
1917 Morisca, reintroduced in 1930
1917 Mimosa de Oro
1917 Regium
1917 Promesa
1917 Fantasio
1917 Rosa
1918 Maja, reintroduced in 1945
1918 Chipre
1919 Goyesca, reintroduced in 1936
1920 Maderas de Oriente
1920 Ariadna
1920 Nardo
1920 Clavel de Espagna
1921A Moi?
1921 Origanum
1922 Orgia
1922 Flores del Mal
1922 Rosa de Bagdad
1922 Violetas
1922 Lilas
1922 Jazmin
1922 Acacia
1922 Muguet
1922 Suspiro de Granada
1924 Efluvios (Efflueves)
1924 Vanda Suavis
1924 Locion Formosa
1924 Locion Ella
1925 Muy Feminino
1925 Besame
1925 Una Fleur (prefix for single flower perfumes)
1926 Perfume Alado
1927 Flor de Blason
1930 Toison, reintroduced in 1958
1933 Embrujo de Sevilla
1941 Senorial
1944 Junglas
1946 Chippendale
1950 Joya
1954 Joyel
1960 Nueva Maja
1972 Hidalgo
1979 Alada
Feel free to email me for details or any questions. I also have a perfume identification and appraisal service here on okay, click on my Mepage for details. Check out the 200 guides
The perfumes of Myrurgia:
1916 Lavanda
1917 Morisca, reintroduced in 1930
1917 Mimosa de Oro
1917 Regium
1917 Promesa
1917 Fantasio
1917 Rosa
1918 Maja, reintroduced in 1945
1918 Chipre
1919 Goyesca, reintroduced in 1936
1920 Maderas de Oriente
1920 Ariadna
1920 Nardo
1920 Clavel de Espagna
1921A Moi?
1921 Origanum
1922 Orgia
1922 Flores del Mal
1922 Rosa de Bagdad
1922 Violetas
1922 Lilas
1922 Jazmin
1922 Acacia
1922 Muguet
1922 Suspiro de Granada
1924 Efluvios (Efflueves)
1924 Vanda Suavis
1924 Locion Formosa
1924 Locion Ella
1925 Muy Feminino
1925 Besame
1925 Una Fleur (prefix for single flower perfumes)
1926 Perfume Alado
1927 Flor de Blason
1930 Toison, reintroduced in 1958
1933 Embrujo de Sevilla
1941 Senorial
1944 Junglas
1946 Chippendale
1950 Joya
1954 Joyel
1960 Nueva Maja
1972 Hidalgo
1979 Alada
Feel free to email me for details or any questions. I also have a perfume identification and appraisal service here on okay, click on my Mepage for details. Check out the 200 guides
How to check for genuine Kingston product
A lot of kingston flash memory products are being sold on okay right now at very low prices. Unfortunately some if not most of them are fakes or imitations. So how do you spot a fake product? A simple way is to only buy retail packaged products and not the bulk or OEM ones but that is not enough. Unfortunately there is no easy way unless you have information about these three items:1 UPC Bar Code2 Authentication Code3 License KeyThese information can be found at the back of the kingston packaging. To be sure that what you are buying is genuine, ask for these information from the seller. Unfortunately some high volume sellers don't have time to respond to you but chances are, those small time sellers can provide those info. Once you get your product dont open it yet, first check if the item is genuine by checking kingston's site: http://www.kingston.ge/asia/verifyflash/Type in the required info and they will instantly send you a mail verifying whether it is genuine or not.
Gold.Solid, Filled, Rolled, Plated? What do they mean?
I have been a pawnbroker and secondhand dealer for 25 years and would like
to share some of my experiences in handling gold with you.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about whats what with gold. Is
it solid, plated, rolled, etc.
Please use this guide, as just that, a guide and NOT professional advice.
From worst to best
Gold Wash or Flash gold. This form of plating uses the minimum gold.
A ultra thin coating of electroplate gold of maybe
to share some of my experiences in handling gold with you.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about whats what with gold. Is
it solid, plated, rolled, etc.
Please use this guide, as just that, a guide and NOT professional advice.
From worst to best
Gold Wash or Flash gold. This form of plating uses the minimum gold.
A ultra thin coating of electroplate gold of maybe
WHEN
OK, so the fees went up (AGAIN) and here we are, small sellers in a big mall. As little sellers what cando about high fees?. We can plan a new strategy to mitigate some of those higher costs, while still running a profitable business.
The greatest cost saver I found is a simple one; don't list too many items for sale using the okay auction format. In the environment of ever increasing fees, the greater bargain is to set up and fill an okay store with your merchandise. The store format starts at $15.99 per month. I truly believe this works best for those with high feedback of 1000 more but, to be honest, I didn't try it with less -- so I don't know for sure it wouldn't pay off for any level of feedback.
So, you wonder, with store fees on top of listing fees, what makes this a good idea? Let's do the math:If you list an item for sale using the auction format, the listing cost is anywhere from $.35 to several dollars PER AUCTION, depending on starting price and added features. Once made, auction listings only last for 3, 5, 7, or 10 days maximum for this price.
On the other hand, if you sell the same item in your okay store, the listing price is just 16 cents per item per month with similar features (much lower cost per item). Your merchandise is alsoin a "Buy It Now" format. The shopper finds the item and then may purchase it at that time, rather than having to be available for the auction end. The best part is that, at that small store listing price (.16), the ad is out there for a FULL 30 days (and can be kept there month to month for an addition $.16 per month)! I recently sold a $45 item listed in my okay store. The listing cost me a whopping 16 cents (Plus FVF)! The same item, if I'd sold it using the auction format, would have cost me several dollars for the listing (plus FVF)!
So, using okay's Auction format to list 500 items at a minimum of $.65 each = $325.00 (and these listings) are only good for 7 days each. So items must be listed 4 times each to cover the same 30 days) $325 x 4 = $1300.00 total auction listing fees.
List the same 500 items in your okay store @ just $.16 each = $80. Add the $15.99 monthly store fee to your total costs for the store, and you are set back a mere $95.99 for the same 30 days. Bargain enough to be sure, and those ads are automatically renewable on a monthly basis if issued as "Good Till Cancelled" (GTC)! This approach saves you $1204.01 per month in listing fees and inventory management time too! AMAZING!! So, you see, the cost savings and longer audience exposure are the chief benefits of using this strategy.
To make this strategy work though, it is important to understand the way the okay search engines search. The Searches find auction results first and offers store merchandise as secondary sourcing. That is,the store results of the searchgee up at the end of the list of auction matches. So, you must put some auctions up daily (if at all possible) todrive customers to your store.
I make it a practice tokeep some auctions running daily to continually bring consumers into my store. I find that sales slow when I am not auctioning. Offer gebined shipping - Once in your auctions, your customers have incentive to shop in your storebecause they will find they can make purchases to take advantage of your gebined shipping.
My approach is to sell 10 or so of my lower priced items as auctions daily (@ $9.99 or less usually to save on auction fees) --just enough to get some traffic to my store on a daily basis.
An additional strategy is to make sure you provide linkage between your auctions, okay store and personal website (if you have one) so customers can see the entire story. It is important that every auction listing contains a link to your okay store (you can do this by clicking on the "inserts" drop down box when setting up your ad text).
OK, you say, "I have a store, and run a few auctions daily to draw an audience for it. Now, what is it that the REALLY successful Power Sellers do from there?"
The real, long term goal is lots of new customers, repeat customers and referrals. Retailers call this maximizing the "back-end" sale. This is when you have successfully gained a customer (someone purchased from you for the first time and liked the experience). At that point you know you must keep the customer and their interest long term. The customer tends to gee back if they have purchased from you and were satisfied with the product and service, and indicated it in feedback. The toughest part is done -- they can TRUST you to deliver the goods. Now you want to work hard to get that customer to buy from you again
The greatest cost saver I found is a simple one; don't list too many items for sale using the okay auction format. In the environment of ever increasing fees, the greater bargain is to set up and fill an okay store with your merchandise. The store format starts at $15.99 per month. I truly believe this works best for those with high feedback of 1000 more but, to be honest, I didn't try it with less -- so I don't know for sure it wouldn't pay off for any level of feedback.
So, you wonder, with store fees on top of listing fees, what makes this a good idea? Let's do the math:If you list an item for sale using the auction format, the listing cost is anywhere from $.35 to several dollars PER AUCTION, depending on starting price and added features. Once made, auction listings only last for 3, 5, 7, or 10 days maximum for this price.
On the other hand, if you sell the same item in your okay store, the listing price is just 16 cents per item per month with similar features (much lower cost per item). Your merchandise is alsoin a "Buy It Now" format. The shopper finds the item and then may purchase it at that time, rather than having to be available for the auction end. The best part is that, at that small store listing price (.16), the ad is out there for a FULL 30 days (and can be kept there month to month for an addition $.16 per month)! I recently sold a $45 item listed in my okay store. The listing cost me a whopping 16 cents (Plus FVF)! The same item, if I'd sold it using the auction format, would have cost me several dollars for the listing (plus FVF)!
So, using okay's Auction format to list 500 items at a minimum of $.65 each = $325.00 (and these listings) are only good for 7 days each. So items must be listed 4 times each to cover the same 30 days) $325 x 4 = $1300.00 total auction listing fees.
List the same 500 items in your okay store @ just $.16 each = $80. Add the $15.99 monthly store fee to your total costs for the store, and you are set back a mere $95.99 for the same 30 days. Bargain enough to be sure, and those ads are automatically renewable on a monthly basis if issued as "Good Till Cancelled" (GTC)! This approach saves you $1204.01 per month in listing fees and inventory management time too! AMAZING!! So, you see, the cost savings and longer audience exposure are the chief benefits of using this strategy.
To make this strategy work though, it is important to understand the way the okay search engines search. The Searches find auction results first and offers store merchandise as secondary sourcing. That is,the store results of the searchgee up at the end of the list of auction matches. So, you must put some auctions up daily (if at all possible) todrive customers to your store.
I make it a practice tokeep some auctions running daily to continually bring consumers into my store. I find that sales slow when I am not auctioning. Offer gebined shipping - Once in your auctions, your customers have incentive to shop in your storebecause they will find they can make purchases to take advantage of your gebined shipping.
My approach is to sell 10 or so of my lower priced items as auctions daily (@ $9.99 or less usually to save on auction fees) --just enough to get some traffic to my store on a daily basis.
An additional strategy is to make sure you provide linkage between your auctions, okay store and personal website (if you have one) so customers can see the entire story. It is important that every auction listing contains a link to your okay store (you can do this by clicking on the "inserts" drop down box when setting up your ad text).
OK, you say, "I have a store, and run a few auctions daily to draw an audience for it. Now, what is it that the REALLY successful Power Sellers do from there?"
The real, long term goal is lots of new customers, repeat customers and referrals. Retailers call this maximizing the "back-end" sale. This is when you have successfully gained a customer (someone purchased from you for the first time and liked the experience). At that point you know you must keep the customer and their interest long term. The customer tends to gee back if they have purchased from you and were satisfied with the product and service, and indicated it in feedback. The toughest part is done -- they can TRUST you to deliver the goods. Now you want to work hard to get that customer to buy from you again
Don't Use Shipping Costs In Your Consignment Equation
If you sell for others,keep shipping out of the consignment equation.
Don't share the cost of shipping and don't share any small profit you might make from shipping. To gebine shipping with the sale makes your consignment bookkeeping more troublesome and you'll almost certainly lose money by the time you get what's left of the shipping profit. In addition, you probably don't even have a shipping profit by the time you take into account all your mailing supply costs and time to wrap and mail.
Why Shipping Isn't Part of the Consignment Equation
Your shipping requirements is in reality a side deal made between you and your bidders. We charge enough to cover our fees plus a little extra for the packaging materials and time. The items' original owner supplies the item but you supply the shipping service. Therefore, you should get paid for that service and you get paid through whatever deal you make with the buyer (through the shipping costs you listed in the auction).
I write a lot about geputers and okay. In addition, one of my primary strengths is teaching how to implement simple Direct Marketing techniques that maximize your okay sales. I'm trying to share all I know about okay, much of it learned from the 'School of Hard Knocks,' in these okay Guides of ours. You'll soon realize that your consignment business runs much more smoothly when you require all shipping ingee and expenses be handled on your end and not be included as part of your agreement with your consignment clients.
Don't share the cost of shipping and don't share any small profit you might make from shipping. To gebine shipping with the sale makes your consignment bookkeeping more troublesome and you'll almost certainly lose money by the time you get what's left of the shipping profit. In addition, you probably don't even have a shipping profit by the time you take into account all your mailing supply costs and time to wrap and mail.
Why Shipping Isn't Part of the Consignment Equation
Your shipping requirements is in reality a side deal made between you and your bidders. We charge enough to cover our fees plus a little extra for the packaging materials and time. The items' original owner supplies the item but you supply the shipping service. Therefore, you should get paid for that service and you get paid through whatever deal you make with the buyer (through the shipping costs you listed in the auction).
I write a lot about geputers and okay. In addition, one of my primary strengths is teaching how to implement simple Direct Marketing techniques that maximize your okay sales. I'm trying to share all I know about okay, much of it learned from the 'School of Hard Knocks,' in these okay Guides of ours. You'll soon realize that your consignment business runs much more smoothly when you require all shipping ingee and expenses be handled on your end and not be included as part of your agreement with your consignment clients.
Jewelry Auctions - Best Kept Secret on s
Sometimes the best kept secrets can no longer be "kept a secret". In the case of the Jeweler Industry (as a whole) the one place they don't want anyone hunting for treasures (not so well buried) is on okay!
This is a fact! The industry professional journals are now writing articles and expounding on the benefits of Brick and Mortar Retailers expanding their business models to the Internet.
However, the advice offered to Brick and Mortar Retailers is to build a stand alone website and very few professional journals and magazines areregemending okay as a way in which to enhance their online presence.
Why? Simply stated, advertisers (namelydesigners and manufacturer's of jewelry product-who support the professional jewelry tradepublications) certainly don't want to be offering their products at higher discounts in order to propagate their retailers (customers) business models into the okay venue.
The okay Advantage:There are many advantages to buying jewelry through okay online auctions. The first advantage is pricing. In many cases, one could never go into any jewelry store and find the bargains that abound on okay. In fact, okay has changed the way consumers shop for jewelry. Where else can consumers find top graded gems and finished jewelry products for just pennies on the dollar? There was a time when consumers went to what they thought was the "source" (the New York Diamond District) for their diamond purchases, however, over the years, those who want to keep up with the gepetition (in New York) have actually opened okay stores and conduct auction events in order to move their merchandise quickly (especially during non holiday seasons). Jewelry Pricing:Many consumers can't understand why there can be such wide swings in gem and jewelry prices. First, the jewelry business is cyclical (seasonal). Some of the best prices on gems, diamonds and finished jewelry can be had during spring and summer months. This is because we (as jewelers) need to bring in the much-needed capital to make large purchases in stock for the holiday season.This is not to say one can't find great bargains during the holiday season, as we end up with overstock, duplicate items, last years designs and in some cases, the item just did not appeal to consumers visiting brick and mortar retail jewelers. okay provides an outlet for retail and wholesale jewelers who need to sell every piece of jewelry and gem they have in stock, in order to go back to their suppliers and Global Jewelry Shows to buy more. The more we buy in stock from our suppliers, the higher our credit limits are extended. If we pay cash for our products (and not take too many items on consignment) we end up gaining higher cash discounts, which allow us to sell near wholesale pricing. The bottom line is always affected by volume in sales. The more we sell, the higher our credit limits are extended. In addition, we cannot look at every gem or piece of jewelry based upon "did we or will we make money". On many pieces we lose money, however, if we have volume in sales (over the long term) we can stay in business. This is where okay gees into play. With 125+ million registered users worldwide, okay allows us to reach the largest possible audience we could ever hope to achieve. There is no doubt, that finished jewelry products and gems find homes (worldwide) through our Live Auction Events due to the expansive reach of okay. In other words, gems and jewelry, which do not sell due to the lack of interest on the part of consumers shopping in brick and mortar establishments, will sell on okay due to the vast audience okay offers. On another note, there are a few bidders who expect to pick up 10+ carat diamond necklaces in Platinum with VS diamonds for a few thousand dollars. This is just not possible in the "real world" let alone in any brick and mortar jewelry retailer (worldwide).
Expectations of getting a bargain on okay run high (sometimes too high) and this is due to a few sellers, which may have to dump an item (once in a while) below wholesale cost. Those super, super bargains are far and few between, however, once someone scoops up a super bargain, they expect to find that same bargain abounding everywhere on okay. While you'll never find "super bargains" on a daily basis, you can find bargains from those in the jewelry trade, who just need to "move" merchandise and move a lot of it quickly in order to keep pace with the industry. Price Swings:We are asked many times a day "how do offer such high quality gems and jewelry at prices my local jeweler can't offer?" First, we do not operate a brick and mortar location and if we did, we would need to set up an establishment in a highly visible location (undoubtedly with high rents). Second, we would have to advertise through all media outlets in order to get the consumer into our door. Third, we would have to buy jewelry display fixtures and then staff our store. Finally, the most expensive investment in such a store is "lighting". Not to mention the cost of carrying millions of dollars of insurance for product lines and liability. When you walk into a jewelry store ALL of these expenses are calculated into the price of every piece of jewelry and gem you buy! This is not even taking into consideration that every jeweler ends up dealing with "the middlemen" who mark up gems and jewelry to the point where what you'll find on okay, cost 1000% less then what you'll find in your local jewelry store.
Our industry is one of the only industries in which the gepetition is so fierce that you'll find a war being waged between online jewelers and brick and mortar jewelry retailers. Here's a good example. Let's say you purchased a 10+ carat VS Diamond
This is a fact! The industry professional journals are now writing articles and expounding on the benefits of Brick and Mortar Retailers expanding their business models to the Internet.
However, the advice offered to Brick and Mortar Retailers is to build a stand alone website and very few professional journals and magazines areregemending okay as a way in which to enhance their online presence.
Why? Simply stated, advertisers (namelydesigners and manufacturer's of jewelry product-who support the professional jewelry tradepublications) certainly don't want to be offering their products at higher discounts in order to propagate their retailers (customers) business models into the okay venue.
The okay Advantage:There are many advantages to buying jewelry through okay online auctions. The first advantage is pricing. In many cases, one could never go into any jewelry store and find the bargains that abound on okay. In fact, okay has changed the way consumers shop for jewelry. Where else can consumers find top graded gems and finished jewelry products for just pennies on the dollar? There was a time when consumers went to what they thought was the "source" (the New York Diamond District) for their diamond purchases, however, over the years, those who want to keep up with the gepetition (in New York) have actually opened okay stores and conduct auction events in order to move their merchandise quickly (especially during non holiday seasons). Jewelry Pricing:Many consumers can't understand why there can be such wide swings in gem and jewelry prices. First, the jewelry business is cyclical (seasonal). Some of the best prices on gems, diamonds and finished jewelry can be had during spring and summer months. This is because we (as jewelers) need to bring in the much-needed capital to make large purchases in stock for the holiday season.This is not to say one can't find great bargains during the holiday season, as we end up with overstock, duplicate items, last years designs and in some cases, the item just did not appeal to consumers visiting brick and mortar retail jewelers. okay provides an outlet for retail and wholesale jewelers who need to sell every piece of jewelry and gem they have in stock, in order to go back to their suppliers and Global Jewelry Shows to buy more. The more we buy in stock from our suppliers, the higher our credit limits are extended. If we pay cash for our products (and not take too many items on consignment) we end up gaining higher cash discounts, which allow us to sell near wholesale pricing. The bottom line is always affected by volume in sales. The more we sell, the higher our credit limits are extended. In addition, we cannot look at every gem or piece of jewelry based upon "did we or will we make money". On many pieces we lose money, however, if we have volume in sales (over the long term) we can stay in business. This is where okay gees into play. With 125+ million registered users worldwide, okay allows us to reach the largest possible audience we could ever hope to achieve. There is no doubt, that finished jewelry products and gems find homes (worldwide) through our Live Auction Events due to the expansive reach of okay. In other words, gems and jewelry, which do not sell due to the lack of interest on the part of consumers shopping in brick and mortar establishments, will sell on okay due to the vast audience okay offers. On another note, there are a few bidders who expect to pick up 10+ carat diamond necklaces in Platinum with VS diamonds for a few thousand dollars. This is just not possible in the "real world" let alone in any brick and mortar jewelry retailer (worldwide).
Expectations of getting a bargain on okay run high (sometimes too high) and this is due to a few sellers, which may have to dump an item (once in a while) below wholesale cost. Those super, super bargains are far and few between, however, once someone scoops up a super bargain, they expect to find that same bargain abounding everywhere on okay. While you'll never find "super bargains" on a daily basis, you can find bargains from those in the jewelry trade, who just need to "move" merchandise and move a lot of it quickly in order to keep pace with the industry. Price Swings:We are asked many times a day "how do offer such high quality gems and jewelry at prices my local jeweler can't offer?" First, we do not operate a brick and mortar location and if we did, we would need to set up an establishment in a highly visible location (undoubtedly with high rents). Second, we would have to advertise through all media outlets in order to get the consumer into our door. Third, we would have to buy jewelry display fixtures and then staff our store. Finally, the most expensive investment in such a store is "lighting". Not to mention the cost of carrying millions of dollars of insurance for product lines and liability. When you walk into a jewelry store ALL of these expenses are calculated into the price of every piece of jewelry and gem you buy! This is not even taking into consideration that every jeweler ends up dealing with "the middlemen" who mark up gems and jewelry to the point where what you'll find on okay, cost 1000% less then what you'll find in your local jewelry store.
Our industry is one of the only industries in which the gepetition is so fierce that you'll find a war being waged between online jewelers and brick and mortar jewelry retailers. Here's a good example. Let's say you purchased a 10+ carat VS Diamond
$5 Bathroom Renovation
Removing layers of soap scum from your non-marble bathroom sink and tub is easy as 1-2-3. Here are three essentials for acgeplishing this challenging task.
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 cup distilled white vinegar
Is this Tik-Tok of OZ first edition ?
Many people, when begining tosearch for OZ books, havedifficult timeidentifying publication years. This guide will hopefullyhelp youin that quest, and perhaps, save you time and money as well. Since the okay format only allows to place a maximum of 10 photosin each guide, Iplaced only the most gemon versions. Below is what is known as "textual points" thatwill hopefully answer most of your questions. You can then view the photos of the various editions of the same book you are interested in.
This guide is only for the Frank Baum title Wizard of OZ. Pleasecheck my other guides for other OZ titles.
Further information about this and any other OZ books, including additional photos and color illustrations, is available on my website RareOzBooks.geand through the My Profilelink.
I am also working on the Wizard of OZ books Collectors Price Guide, that will be available in February 2008.
Please realize that a number of Oz books advertised as first editions aren't true first editions. Most of the Reilly
This guide is only for the Frank Baum title Wizard of OZ. Pleasecheck my other guides for other OZ titles.
Further information about this and any other OZ books, including additional photos and color illustrations, is available on my website RareOzBooks.geand through the My Profilelink.
I am also working on the Wizard of OZ books Collectors Price Guide, that will be available in February 2008.
Please realize that a number of Oz books advertised as first editions aren't true first editions. Most of the Reilly
Truth about O2 simulators
A popular modification to many performance enthusiasts is to remove the catalytic converter(s) to free up horsepower an increase the sound and performance of the vehicle. OBD-II equipped vehicles have from 2 - 4 O2 sensors, at least one upstream sensor that controls the fuel management system, and at least one downstream that monitors catalytic converter function. When the converters are eliminated, the result is very often a P0420 or P0430 code that indicates that the converters are missing or not functioning. Obviously no one wants to drive the car with a constant CEL, and the car will not pass inspection in many areas with an illuminated CEL.
To many performance enthusiasts, the obvious solution is to run an O2 simulator on the downstream O2 sensor in order to simulate a properly functioning O2 sensor. This would allow the user to run without converters and still keep the CEL off, or will it?
Lets start off with the legalities. When the Clean Air Act came into effect, it prohibits tampering with the emission controls of the vehicles. This tampering includes removing the catalytic converters. So obviously the only reason to run a simulator is because the converter is missing or not functional. This means the only legal purpose of an O2 simulator is to attempt to conceal the fact that you have removed the factory smog equipment. Whether this matters to you is your business. O2 simulators are no longer legal to purchase or sell in the US because their only purpose is to bypass smog equipment.
But for the sake of this article, lets put that aside, and talk about how well these devices or modifications actually work. In order to do this, we have to first talk about how the post cat monitoring systems work. There are a couple specific details that vary from manufacturer and model, and from year to year, with newer models being more sensitive than earlier models. The general idea however, is that the geputer measures the amount of oxygen in the exhaust stream before the catalytic converter, and gepares the results after the catalytic converter. In a properly functioning system, the converter will gebine the unused fuel and the available oxygen together to produce carbon dioxide and water. Because the oxygen was consumed in this process, there will be less oxygen in the exhaust after it has passed through the catalytic converter.
The geputer maintains a constant switching from rich to lean to produce a stoichiometric average. This method eliminates the need for air injection into the catalyst bed, and increases catalyst performance. The converter contains a variety of metals which carry out the reaction process, but it also contains a variety of other metals and gepounds that assist this process, including a variety of oxygen storage gepounds, typically either Cerium Oxide or Zirconia Oxide. Because of the reactions that take place, the waveform of the downstream sensor on a vehicle is typically a much more steady signal that is quite different from the rich to lean oscillations of the upstream sensors. If the converter is missing, or is no longer functioning, these reactions do not take place, and the downstream sensor will "mirror" what the upstream sensor does. The geputer will measure the signal from the rear sensor, and if it is outside the acceptable limits, the geputer will set the CEL.
O2 simulators work by using a variety of capacitors and resistors to smooth out the waveform, making it more closely resemble the waveform of a functional converter. This method seems like a sound theory, but like many things, it is not quite so simple. Waveform is only one of the parameters of a functioning converter, and so this method only works some of the time, mostly on older, less sensitive models. As the OBD-II systems became more advanced, the manufacturers came up with more accurate methods of measuring and determining a defective converter.
One method is to measure the signal strength of the downstream sensor. As the oxygen content of the exhaust goes down, the voltage of the O2 sensor goes up. This voltage is generated by the sensor itself. So on a functioning converter, the downstream voltage should be at least a certain amount, typically 0.4 - 0.6 volts or higher. O2 simulators do not accurately replicate this voltage level. Another method is to measure response time. The response time method is based upon the oxygen storage capacity of a functioning converter. The vehicle will occasionally switch to a rich or lean phase for a slightly prolonged interval, and measure the amount of time it takes for the rear sensor to mirror the change. If the signal is consistently outside specifications, the geputer will set a catalyst related code, and the CEL will illuminate. O2 simulators can sometimes produce a sufficient signal delay, but this is a matter of luck.
Most cars and trucks made after 1998 use at least two of these test methods to measure catalyst performance, while the simulator only replicates one of the required parameters. As a result, the simulators rarely work as advertised, and when they do work, it is often a matter of luck. Some models are just less sensitive, and are easily fooled. Others are extremely sensitive.
There are other modifications that are intended to produce similar results to a simulators, and these are worth mentioning. One is to reduce the exposure of the downstream sensor to the exhaust. This has the effect of slowing the sensors response to sudden changes in oxygen level, resulting in a more stable waveform similar to that produced by a simulator. The problems with this are essentially the same, it only works on some makes and models that are less sensitive. Almost all methods of fooling the geputer into thinking is has a working catalytic converter are based upon stabilizing the waveform.
In addition to these technical problems, simulators have other risks. Some will harmlessly set additional codes, mostly O2 sensor related codes. But in some cases, they can overload ECM circuits, blow fuses, etc. Some of these problems can adversely effect drivability, or can cause expensive damage. Most retailers of simulators will not take responsibility for such geplications. And this says nothing of the long term reliability of such mods. Some units will burn out, water can get into the units and cause shorts and corrosion. Modification often involve cutting and splicing, which can cause problems down the road. This type of modification will very often void your warranty too.
So are these issues worth the miniscule gains? Most vehicles will see less than 5 hp gained from removing a functional converter and in some cases will even loose performance. 5 horsepower will make very little difference to the average driver, and will barely be noticed at the track. These gains also only occur at higher RPMs, so they would be transparent to the everyday driver. The point being that there are an awful lot of risks with something that may not even increase performance, but could cost a lot of money and is illegal. For those looking to gain performance, your money is best spent elsewhere, on things such as larger exhaust pipe, freer flowing mufflers, better intake, etc.
For those who are already in the situation that your converter is missing, and you need to get the CEL off, your best approach is to replace the missing converter. If you just want things to work the same as they used to, we carry a full line of OBD-II gepliant converters in our ECO-II and ECO-III lines. For those who are still interested in increased performance for track and street use, we carry a line of Tru-Performance converters which have larger, more open cells for increased flow.
To many performance enthusiasts, the obvious solution is to run an O2 simulator on the downstream O2 sensor in order to simulate a properly functioning O2 sensor. This would allow the user to run without converters and still keep the CEL off, or will it?
Lets start off with the legalities. When the Clean Air Act came into effect, it prohibits tampering with the emission controls of the vehicles. This tampering includes removing the catalytic converters. So obviously the only reason to run a simulator is because the converter is missing or not functional. This means the only legal purpose of an O2 simulator is to attempt to conceal the fact that you have removed the factory smog equipment. Whether this matters to you is your business. O2 simulators are no longer legal to purchase or sell in the US because their only purpose is to bypass smog equipment.
But for the sake of this article, lets put that aside, and talk about how well these devices or modifications actually work. In order to do this, we have to first talk about how the post cat monitoring systems work. There are a couple specific details that vary from manufacturer and model, and from year to year, with newer models being more sensitive than earlier models. The general idea however, is that the geputer measures the amount of oxygen in the exhaust stream before the catalytic converter, and gepares the results after the catalytic converter. In a properly functioning system, the converter will gebine the unused fuel and the available oxygen together to produce carbon dioxide and water. Because the oxygen was consumed in this process, there will be less oxygen in the exhaust after it has passed through the catalytic converter.
The geputer maintains a constant switching from rich to lean to produce a stoichiometric average. This method eliminates the need for air injection into the catalyst bed, and increases catalyst performance. The converter contains a variety of metals which carry out the reaction process, but it also contains a variety of other metals and gepounds that assist this process, including a variety of oxygen storage gepounds, typically either Cerium Oxide or Zirconia Oxide. Because of the reactions that take place, the waveform of the downstream sensor on a vehicle is typically a much more steady signal that is quite different from the rich to lean oscillations of the upstream sensors. If the converter is missing, or is no longer functioning, these reactions do not take place, and the downstream sensor will "mirror" what the upstream sensor does. The geputer will measure the signal from the rear sensor, and if it is outside the acceptable limits, the geputer will set the CEL.
O2 simulators work by using a variety of capacitors and resistors to smooth out the waveform, making it more closely resemble the waveform of a functional converter. This method seems like a sound theory, but like many things, it is not quite so simple. Waveform is only one of the parameters of a functioning converter, and so this method only works some of the time, mostly on older, less sensitive models. As the OBD-II systems became more advanced, the manufacturers came up with more accurate methods of measuring and determining a defective converter.
One method is to measure the signal strength of the downstream sensor. As the oxygen content of the exhaust goes down, the voltage of the O2 sensor goes up. This voltage is generated by the sensor itself. So on a functioning converter, the downstream voltage should be at least a certain amount, typically 0.4 - 0.6 volts or higher. O2 simulators do not accurately replicate this voltage level. Another method is to measure response time. The response time method is based upon the oxygen storage capacity of a functioning converter. The vehicle will occasionally switch to a rich or lean phase for a slightly prolonged interval, and measure the amount of time it takes for the rear sensor to mirror the change. If the signal is consistently outside specifications, the geputer will set a catalyst related code, and the CEL will illuminate. O2 simulators can sometimes produce a sufficient signal delay, but this is a matter of luck.
Most cars and trucks made after 1998 use at least two of these test methods to measure catalyst performance, while the simulator only replicates one of the required parameters. As a result, the simulators rarely work as advertised, and when they do work, it is often a matter of luck. Some models are just less sensitive, and are easily fooled. Others are extremely sensitive.
There are other modifications that are intended to produce similar results to a simulators, and these are worth mentioning. One is to reduce the exposure of the downstream sensor to the exhaust. This has the effect of slowing the sensors response to sudden changes in oxygen level, resulting in a more stable waveform similar to that produced by a simulator. The problems with this are essentially the same, it only works on some makes and models that are less sensitive. Almost all methods of fooling the geputer into thinking is has a working catalytic converter are based upon stabilizing the waveform.
In addition to these technical problems, simulators have other risks. Some will harmlessly set additional codes, mostly O2 sensor related codes. But in some cases, they can overload ECM circuits, blow fuses, etc. Some of these problems can adversely effect drivability, or can cause expensive damage. Most retailers of simulators will not take responsibility for such geplications. And this says nothing of the long term reliability of such mods. Some units will burn out, water can get into the units and cause shorts and corrosion. Modification often involve cutting and splicing, which can cause problems down the road. This type of modification will very often void your warranty too.
So are these issues worth the miniscule gains? Most vehicles will see less than 5 hp gained from removing a functional converter and in some cases will even loose performance. 5 horsepower will make very little difference to the average driver, and will barely be noticed at the track. These gains also only occur at higher RPMs, so they would be transparent to the everyday driver. The point being that there are an awful lot of risks with something that may not even increase performance, but could cost a lot of money and is illegal. For those looking to gain performance, your money is best spent elsewhere, on things such as larger exhaust pipe, freer flowing mufflers, better intake, etc.
For those who are already in the situation that your converter is missing, and you need to get the CEL off, your best approach is to replace the missing converter. If you just want things to work the same as they used to, we carry a full line of OBD-II gepliant converters in our ECO-II and ECO-III lines. For those who are still interested in increased performance for track and street use, we carry a line of Tru-Performance converters which have larger, more open cells for increased flow.
Wild Plants and Seeds That Are Edible
If you watch carefully on your hikes and outings, and take an identification book along, it won't take long before you have mastered many new plants. Here is a brief list of a few of the more easily identifiable and widespread wild plants:
MUSTARD SEED - easily recognized by their odor and looks. They grow abundantly and have brilliant yellow flowers. The flowers are four petaled and the plants have little seed pods containing the mustard seeds. Grinding these seeds and adding vinegar and water produces table mustard. The young early spring mustard greens are good as a first harvest green vegetable.
QUEEN ANNE'S LACE - using the seeds will add a carroty flavor to stew.
WILD CHICORY - makes a nice cooked vegetable and can be added to a salad. The roots are sometimes roasted and then ground and used as a coffee substitute.
DANDELION - are good in early spring. The boiled roots are also edible.
WILD JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES - slice these and eat them raw, or steam a peel and serve them as you would a potato.
CATTAIL STALKS - have a delicious heart near the center of the stalk close to the plant.
BULL THISTLE - Harvest the young leaves, young stems and roots and use them fresh in a salad, or as a cooked vegetable. The pithy young stems areexcellent peeled and eaten raw or cooked. The raw or cooked roots of first-year plants (those without stems) make a good survival food.
During the time you are learning which plants are safe for you to eat, emphasize to your children not to ever eat wild things without your permission. There are many houseplants, garden plants, and bulbs, which are highly toxic, particularly to children. Now is a good time to teach them caution.
HoodaThunk's Patagonia Outdoor Gear
If you have found the information helpful in my Guide, please rate it with a yes vote.
MUSTARD SEED - easily recognized by their odor and looks. They grow abundantly and have brilliant yellow flowers. The flowers are four petaled and the plants have little seed pods containing the mustard seeds. Grinding these seeds and adding vinegar and water produces table mustard. The young early spring mustard greens are good as a first harvest green vegetable.
QUEEN ANNE'S LACE - using the seeds will add a carroty flavor to stew.
WILD CHICORY - makes a nice cooked vegetable and can be added to a salad. The roots are sometimes roasted and then ground and used as a coffee substitute.
DANDELION - are good in early spring. The boiled roots are also edible.
WILD JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES - slice these and eat them raw, or steam a peel and serve them as you would a potato.
CATTAIL STALKS - have a delicious heart near the center of the stalk close to the plant.
BULL THISTLE - Harvest the young leaves, young stems and roots and use them fresh in a salad, or as a cooked vegetable. The pithy young stems areexcellent peeled and eaten raw or cooked. The raw or cooked roots of first-year plants (those without stems) make a good survival food.
During the time you are learning which plants are safe for you to eat, emphasize to your children not to ever eat wild things without your permission. There are many houseplants, garden plants, and bulbs, which are highly toxic, particularly to children. Now is a good time to teach them caution.
HoodaThunk's Patagonia Outdoor Gear
If you have found the information helpful in my Guide, please rate it with a yes vote.
Sterling Silver Jewelry Care
STERLING SILVER JEWELRY CARE This guide is divided into the following four areas: Sterling Silver Information Storing Sterling Silver Jewelry Cleaning of Sterling Silver Jewelry How to polish if tarnish is present Sterling Silver InformationThroughout the ages, people have been captivated by this lovely white metal. It has been used to mark historical occasions, to celebrate special achievements, and to produce jewelry that is long lasting and develops a wonderful patina with age. Sterling silver jewelry is synonymous with classic simplicity and style in the world of fashion. It is very versatile and flexible and this makes it a useful addition to any wardrobe. With the addition of precious stone and other precious metals, it lends itself to even an even greater scope of style and fashion.Sterling silver is an alloy. It is typically made from 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper, although other gepositions are possible. The addition of copper makes the jewelry piece much more likely to tarnish. Tarnish is a darkening which occurs when the sterling silver reacts with gases in the air or moisture and humidity. The more humid the climate, the more likely is a piece of silver jewelry to tarnish. Sterling silver jewelry that is worn regularly is less likely to tarnish that that which is store for long periods of time.Sterling silver is often marked with the word sterling, or 925 and sometimes will also have the identifying country, i.e. 925 Italy. Sterling silver is widely used for jewelry manufacture because of it's malleability and relatively low cost to produce.Sterling silver can often be found with a vermeil finish. Pronounced "vermay," this is a French word which describes sterling silver that has been electroplated with at least 100 millionths of an inch of karat gold. Silver is an element which occurs naturally in the earth. Fine silver is 99.9% pure, but is much too soft and malleable for jewelry manufacture. The extra metal, usually copper, is added for additional hardness. Mexico is a huge manufacturer of silver jewelry. The content of Mexican silver is more pure than sterling silver, and is usually 95% silver and 5% copper. It is often also marked with the district in Mexico from which it originates, i.e. Taxco Mexico silver.The US Federal Trade gemission (FTC) has stipulated that jewelry which is sold in the USA may not be marked as silver, solid silver, sterling, or sterling silvery, and cannot use the abbreviation ster, unless it contains at least 92.5% pure silver.Storing Sterling Silver JewelryThe proper care of sterling silver jewelry starts with storage. Just as you would with any fine piece of jewelry, any sterling silver jewelry piece should be store individually, ideally in its own soft pouch made for the purpose. If you just casually toss it into a jewelry box, it will rub against other pieces and scratching will result.The jewelry should be stored in a cool, dry place to help retard the oxidation or tarnishing that develops over time. Wrapping the piece in a tarnish proof cloth and then inside a soft pouch is the ideal.Avoid prolonged contact with wood, since some woods contain acids which will dull the finish of the jewelry piece. Oak seems to be the worst wood for this process. Also avoid storing your sterling with other materials, such as old coins or rubber. These also contain acids which promote tarnishing and other damage.Cleaning of Sterling Silver JewelryCleaning sterling silver is a relatively easy process. You may simply wash the jewelry in warm water mixed mild detergent -a phosphate free detergent is best. A very soft toothbrush, such as a baby toothbrush or a horse hair brush is a good cleaning tool. Use an up and down motion, rather than a circular one. Then dry thoroughly with a soft cloth. Soft t shirts or soft flannel material is a good choice. Be especially careful of tissue paper which can easily scratch sterling silver jewelry. Some resources state that baking soda or non abrasive toothpaste is an alternative cleaner. There is some dispute as to whether baking soda or mild toothpaste is a good choice. some argue that it is too abrasive. Use at your own risk. I personally don't regemend this, but would rather use a mild sterling silver polish that has been formulated for the task.Do not let the jewelry soak in the water for a prolonged time. This will cause deterioration of the metal and can severely damage any stones which may also be on the piece of jewelry. Bleach, ammonia, alcohol and acetone can damage the sterling silver beyond repair and should be avoided.How to Polish if Tarnish is presentNo matter how well you store for your sterling silver jewelry, or how often you clean it, some tarnish is likely to develop over time. If you wear your jewelry often, this oxidation will first show as a glow gebined with darkened areas. This is called a patina. If you like this look, leave the jewelry alone! Polishing will remove it. If you prefer that your silver jewelry is bright and shiny, then some type of polishing will be necessary to keep the tarnish at a minimum. There are several products available for this purpose, which range from soft polishing cloths designed especially for sterling silver, silver polishes and pastes and especially formulated dips. Which type of product to use depends on the geposition of your jewelry piece and the final look that you want. If your aim is to have a bright shiny piece which looks brand new, you may only be able to acgeplish this with the use of dips. I don't regemend these, since I find them very harsh and they play havoc with any gemstones and also with some detailing work. I like the soft patina of aged sterling, so I rarely use anything other than a soft polishing cloth designed for sterling silver.If the tarnish is very heavy, so that the piece is severely blackened, you may have no other option than to use a polish. Use a liquid or paste silver polish and a soft toothbrush and rinse thoroughly in warm water before drying gepletely with a soft cloth. Be careful with pastes, since they can also damage gemstones.Tarnish is most easily removed if it is treated as soon as it begees visible. Once you allow the piece to begee gepletely black, it will be much more difficult to remove the tarnish.The very best way to prevent tarnish on your sterling silver jewelry is to wear it often! This is because natural body oils contain elements which delay the process of oxidation. Be careful to remove it when going into chlorinated water, and when working with household cleaners with bleaches and ammonia.Properly caring and storing of your sterling silver jewelry will ensure that you will be able to wear and enjoy it for years to gee. Fine quality sterling silver is made to last a lifetime.
Juliana Jewelry...by Delizza and Elster
We wanted to write this guide to help the collectors of vintage costume jewelry identify Juliana Jewelry. This brand of costume jewelry will never be signed, as it was only marked with paper hang tag. So needless to say most of these little tags were discarded by the purchaser.
Most Juliana jewelry can be identified by it's bold and brilliant detail, and use of large and even sometimes goddy look. Most of it's rhinestone settings are set open back.
Bracelets can be identified by there 5 ring link construction with all the stones being built up from there. Even some of there necklaces will have this same 5 ring construction.
Quality rhinestones, and materials were used in all Delizza and Elster jewels. They utilized many fabulous shapes and sizes of rhinestones, manyhaving anaurora borealis finish, so their pieces just dazzle in the light.
They also used many unusual shapes and sizesof rhinestones,such as sharp narrow navettes, and key hole shapes.
Some of there most highly sought after piecescontain what are described aseaster egg stones. These are a glass stone with a drizzled or speckled with color which make the look like a beautiful easter egg.
Juliana jewelry is one of the more sought after jewels by collectors of costume jewelry.
Most Juliana jewelry can be identified by it's bold and brilliant detail, and use of large and even sometimes goddy look. Most of it's rhinestone settings are set open back.
Bracelets can be identified by there 5 ring link construction with all the stones being built up from there. Even some of there necklaces will have this same 5 ring construction.
Quality rhinestones, and materials were used in all Delizza and Elster jewels. They utilized many fabulous shapes and sizes of rhinestones, manyhaving anaurora borealis finish, so their pieces just dazzle in the light.
They also used many unusual shapes and sizesof rhinestones,such as sharp narrow navettes, and key hole shapes.
Some of there most highly sought after piecescontain what are described aseaster egg stones. These are a glass stone with a drizzled or speckled with color which make the look like a beautiful easter egg.
Juliana jewelry is one of the more sought after jewels by collectors of costume jewelry.
JEWELRY AUCTIONS - Jewelry Hallmark Guide
Identifying and authenticating antique and period jewelry is based on experience and knowledge. It is often a process of geparing known with unknown and making an educated guess. But those of us who search for clues to a piece's age and origin are always delighted to find a hallmark on a jewel, because it eliminates a great deal of guesswork. Learning how to identify hallmarks is an essential part of begeing an expert in the field. There is a gemon misunderstanding about what a hallmark really is. Many people confuse hallmarks with makers' marks. A hallmark is nothing more than an indication of metal content, a guarantee of purity or quality, which may include a makers mark and other marks. Makers' marks alone are not considered hallmarks.
Vintage Givenchy Perfumes
In this guide I willlist the various perfumes presented by Givenchy from 1957-1998.
The couture house of Givenchy was established in 1952 by Hubert de Givenchy at 3 avenue George V, Paris. Perfumes were introduced in 1958.
Givenchy III circa 1970
The perfumes of Givenchy:
1957 Le D
1957 L'Interdit
1957 Monsieur de Givenchy
1959 Eau de Vtyver
1959 Rose Des Vents
1970 Givenchy III
1974 Givenchy Gentleman
1980 Eau de Givenchy
1984 Ysatis
1986 Xeryus
1991 Amarige
1993 Insens
1994 Fleur d'Interdit
1994 Insens Ultramarine
1995 Xeryus Rouge
1996 Organza
1998 Extravagance d'Amarige
1998 Pi
Feel free to email me for details or any questions. I also have a perfume identification and appraisal service here on okay, click on my Mepage for details. Check out the 200 guides
The couture house of Givenchy was established in 1952 by Hubert de Givenchy at 3 avenue George V, Paris. Perfumes were introduced in 1958.
Givenchy III circa 1970
The perfumes of Givenchy:
1957 Le D
1957 L'Interdit
1957 Monsieur de Givenchy
1959 Eau de Vtyver
1959 Rose Des Vents
1970 Givenchy III
1974 Givenchy Gentleman
1980 Eau de Givenchy
1984 Ysatis
1986 Xeryus
1991 Amarige
1993 Insens
1994 Fleur d'Interdit
1994 Insens Ultramarine
1995 Xeryus Rouge
1996 Organza
1998 Extravagance d'Amarige
1998 Pi
Feel free to email me for details or any questions. I also have a perfume identification and appraisal service here on okay, click on my Mepage for details. Check out the 200 guides
Help Your s Maniac Turn Extra Space to an s Room
My husband is an okay Maniac. Before I jumped into the okay foray at our home, I thought he was going to sell me!
Fortunately, when I got involved, he saw the added benefit of a second okay partner and our okay business flourished.
If you're new to okay but you want to help your own okay Maniac, or if you are the primary okay seller in your home, if you do absolutely nothing else, you must dedicate an area to okay sales. If there is any way possible, only use that area for okay and nothing else.
This can be difficult in a busy and full household. But not having a dedicated area can cause all kinds of unforeseen problems when things must be moved around to turn back into an okay work area and then moved once again for the area's other use.
Problems Escalate as Sales Increase
My husband began selling in his upstairs office. It's a fairly small room with a storage room off to the side that we converted from attic storage. For a few items each week, it was fine. But for as few as 15 or more items sold each week, trouble began to happen.
He would often move a stack of his work on top of a wrapped okay box to mail "just for a moment" and then a week or ten days later when the seller wondered where the package was, we'd find it under the stack.
(By the way, when that happened, we would often refund the buyer of half the shipping fee and upgrade the mail when feasible. For example, instead of mailing the box via Media Rate if it was a DVD, we would mail it via much faster Priority. So our buyer ended up paying less and we'd explain what happened when we mailed the package. Every buyer was understanding when it happened, although fortunately it only occurred a few times before we set aside a space more dedicated to okay.)
So dedicate an area, if possible an entire room, to okay once you begin selling several items each week. What happens in the okay room stays in the okay room and you'll be far less likely to get confused with something unrelated.
If Space is a Problem
The majority of readers won't have an entire room to devote to okay. We don't either, we devoted about half a storage room to okay. Even in large homes, we realize that even half a room might be too costly for your situation. There are still plenty of things you can do to help, until your sales grow so high you add onto your home or buy a bigger one. (That's a nice problem to look forward to.)
If you are truly squeezed for space, don't count on okay to solve your space problem as you sell things. For a while you will have more room as you ship items but you'll soon be getting more things to sell from friends and family who hear about your success. Most successful okayers find that not having enough to sell is the opposite problem they find themselves facing. Instead, they have too much to sell.
Consider these okay space tips:
Dedicate a corner of a room to okay. Either make it a corner in the room where your geputer is located, or very nearby.
If the weather temperature permits and you have extra room in your garage, consider making a place there for your okay sales area. You won't worry about the clutter when gepany gees to visit. You can run a network cable to your garage for Internet access, or better, set up a wireless signal to the garage so you can work from a laptop while keeping your desktop geputer in your home office area.
If nothing else, find a bookcase or a cabinet that you can put against a wall in the proximity of your geputer and make yourselves a promise: you will never use that bookcase or cabinet for anything except items related to okay. You might even need to go a step further and promise that only items in active and gepleted auctions can sit there. That way, you'll always be able to locate what you need and you'll always be looking over your current inventory to see what needs to be shipped.
If you positively, absolutely, have no space to devote to okay, even a small space, consider putting off your gebined and expanded okay business growth until you can find a way to devote some space to okay.
Your dedicated okay space is even more important when you begin working as a team. Develop techniques or a labeling system so both of you will know which items are ready to list, which items are listed, and which items have sold. We sell a lot of rare and used books and we try to arrange the books that have been listed alphabetically by title so when we're ready to mail them we can locate a title more easily.
You may need to develop a procedure that you move or remove an item under specific conditions, such as you're ready to wrap something to mail.
When you remove an item to inspect it, in order to answer an okay question, always put the item back where you got it. Your okay spouse might need to do the same when you're not there and if you don't put it back, your bidders won't get their questions answered as fast because your spouse might not be able to locate the item to answer the question.
Your Ultimate Goal
Think about this: your ultimate goal, really, is to get okay out of the house.
Growth will make your okay sales too large to handle in one part of your home and that means far more profits when it does. Although a home-based business offers tremendous advantages, it's difficult to share living space with a business.
Getting the business out of the house doesn't necessarily mean that you rent downtown office space. That defeats the purpose of a home-based business.
Consider the possibility of adding on a room to your home for your business. A much less expensive option is to put up an outdoor building in your backyard and run electric to it.
Sure, whatever you do along these lines is going to cost money. Keep in mind that if you run your okay business properly - that is, report your ingee on your taxes - you can also report your expenses which greatly help to offset profits, especially in your okay business's early years.
As Your Sales Grow, So Will Your Shipping Area
It's a fact that the more space you can devote solely to okay, the more you can sell. The lack of clutter and the luxury of not constantly moving other things around speeds up your okay work.
As you look for ways to devote space to your okay work, keep in mind that shipping chores grow in proportion to your okay sales. About the time you solve your okay space problem, a new one will crop up: you'll need more and more space devoted to shipping supplies and space will be needed to wrap the items you ship.
Depending on what you sell, even 20 mailed items per week might require a lot of space devoted to supplies and wrapping.
If you or your own okay Maniac currently gebines the okay area with an area of the home used for something entirely different, you need to begin dropping hints right away, as I did, that things need to change. One of the best ways to approach this is to decide how much more money is possible if you could find a way to devote more space just to okay.
Then you'll quickly find ways to grow the space larger as your okay sales boom.
Fortunately, when I got involved, he saw the added benefit of a second okay partner and our okay business flourished.
If you're new to okay but you want to help your own okay Maniac, or if you are the primary okay seller in your home, if you do absolutely nothing else, you must dedicate an area to okay sales. If there is any way possible, only use that area for okay and nothing else.
This can be difficult in a busy and full household. But not having a dedicated area can cause all kinds of unforeseen problems when things must be moved around to turn back into an okay work area and then moved once again for the area's other use.
Problems Escalate as Sales Increase
My husband began selling in his upstairs office. It's a fairly small room with a storage room off to the side that we converted from attic storage. For a few items each week, it was fine. But for as few as 15 or more items sold each week, trouble began to happen.
He would often move a stack of his work on top of a wrapped okay box to mail "just for a moment" and then a week or ten days later when the seller wondered where the package was, we'd find it under the stack.
(By the way, when that happened, we would often refund the buyer of half the shipping fee and upgrade the mail when feasible. For example, instead of mailing the box via Media Rate if it was a DVD, we would mail it via much faster Priority. So our buyer ended up paying less and we'd explain what happened when we mailed the package. Every buyer was understanding when it happened, although fortunately it only occurred a few times before we set aside a space more dedicated to okay.)
So dedicate an area, if possible an entire room, to okay once you begin selling several items each week. What happens in the okay room stays in the okay room and you'll be far less likely to get confused with something unrelated.
If Space is a Problem
The majority of readers won't have an entire room to devote to okay. We don't either, we devoted about half a storage room to okay. Even in large homes, we realize that even half a room might be too costly for your situation. There are still plenty of things you can do to help, until your sales grow so high you add onto your home or buy a bigger one. (That's a nice problem to look forward to.)
If you are truly squeezed for space, don't count on okay to solve your space problem as you sell things. For a while you will have more room as you ship items but you'll soon be getting more things to sell from friends and family who hear about your success. Most successful okayers find that not having enough to sell is the opposite problem they find themselves facing. Instead, they have too much to sell.
Consider these okay space tips:
Dedicate a corner of a room to okay. Either make it a corner in the room where your geputer is located, or very nearby.
If the weather temperature permits and you have extra room in your garage, consider making a place there for your okay sales area. You won't worry about the clutter when gepany gees to visit. You can run a network cable to your garage for Internet access, or better, set up a wireless signal to the garage so you can work from a laptop while keeping your desktop geputer in your home office area.
If nothing else, find a bookcase or a cabinet that you can put against a wall in the proximity of your geputer and make yourselves a promise: you will never use that bookcase or cabinet for anything except items related to okay. You might even need to go a step further and promise that only items in active and gepleted auctions can sit there. That way, you'll always be able to locate what you need and you'll always be looking over your current inventory to see what needs to be shipped.
If you positively, absolutely, have no space to devote to okay, even a small space, consider putting off your gebined and expanded okay business growth until you can find a way to devote some space to okay.
Your dedicated okay space is even more important when you begin working as a team. Develop techniques or a labeling system so both of you will know which items are ready to list, which items are listed, and which items have sold. We sell a lot of rare and used books and we try to arrange the books that have been listed alphabetically by title so when we're ready to mail them we can locate a title more easily.
You may need to develop a procedure that you move or remove an item under specific conditions, such as you're ready to wrap something to mail.
When you remove an item to inspect it, in order to answer an okay question, always put the item back where you got it. Your okay spouse might need to do the same when you're not there and if you don't put it back, your bidders won't get their questions answered as fast because your spouse might not be able to locate the item to answer the question.
Your Ultimate Goal
Think about this: your ultimate goal, really, is to get okay out of the house.
Growth will make your okay sales too large to handle in one part of your home and that means far more profits when it does. Although a home-based business offers tremendous advantages, it's difficult to share living space with a business.
Getting the business out of the house doesn't necessarily mean that you rent downtown office space. That defeats the purpose of a home-based business.
Consider the possibility of adding on a room to your home for your business. A much less expensive option is to put up an outdoor building in your backyard and run electric to it.
Sure, whatever you do along these lines is going to cost money. Keep in mind that if you run your okay business properly - that is, report your ingee on your taxes - you can also report your expenses which greatly help to offset profits, especially in your okay business's early years.
As Your Sales Grow, So Will Your Shipping Area
It's a fact that the more space you can devote solely to okay, the more you can sell. The lack of clutter and the luxury of not constantly moving other things around speeds up your okay work.
As you look for ways to devote space to your okay work, keep in mind that shipping chores grow in proportion to your okay sales. About the time you solve your okay space problem, a new one will crop up: you'll need more and more space devoted to shipping supplies and space will be needed to wrap the items you ship.
Depending on what you sell, even 20 mailed items per week might require a lot of space devoted to supplies and wrapping.
If you or your own okay Maniac currently gebines the okay area with an area of the home used for something entirely different, you need to begin dropping hints right away, as I did, that things need to change. One of the best ways to approach this is to decide how much more money is possible if you could find a way to devote more space just to okay.
Then you'll quickly find ways to grow the space larger as your okay sales boom.
Buying an automobile on s.
In a word? Don't.
That category should not even exist, and the reasons are numerous. I will now list them, but lest I seem too negative, I will list some safeguards in case you decide you must.
1) Sight unseen? Have you or anyone you know ever purchased a car, including payment and title assignment without seeing it? This is what an okay purchase amounts to. (truth be told, for all items, but most items are paid for with pocket cash - not a small to large loan!)
This is a different story if the car is a mint 1970 Chevelle SS-454 and $30000 is at stake. People who buy these will also fly to the location and inspect the car with a magnifying glass and a toothbrush. Its really not all that different from buying from Hemmings. But for a $5000 car? The price of the trip may make this $5000 no longer a deal. A $1000 car? (with apologies to the Bottle Rockets) Fuggedaboutit.
So unless you are able, and/or willing to make a trip to inspect this car (which may be an expense for naught if you do not win) then take a pass.
2) Fees and costs. okay charges a ton to list and sell a car. Any seller, unless he/she is psychotic, needs to recoup these fees. Unless the car is next to you, you have to pick it up. What does that cost? And unless you yourself are insane, you should inspect the car - what does that cost? That bargain may vanish under $100 bills.
Also of late, I have noticed that sellers who are legal motor vehicle dealers charge unrealistic paperwork fees called 'documentation'. This term means something when you are buying a brand new car from a dealer. Registration, title, loan papers, loan recording, warranty and the works. It takes about an hour and dealers can ethically get a $100 or so. But on okay the dealers typically offer nothing other than title assignment for the $100 or so. This is a basically dishonest way of getting around the fact that most states limit the amount that a notary may charge - typically $5. This is a good segue to the next reason not to buy a car on okay:
3) Dealers. It is theoretically possible that a used car dealer on okay is honest. But that is a heck of a bet you are making. Correction: a heck of a non-refundable bet. Why not new cars? Because each new car dealer has an agreement within the dealer network to not advertise outside of their market. There is nothing stopping you from driving from LA to NYC to buy a car, but there is an agreement keeping a NYC dealer from offering his new stock on okay which is national if not international.
Because I own my own shop and also do buy and sell vehicles on a limited basis, I know a lot of dealers. I have been asked by numerous dealers (most of which are curiously in the state of MD) to shill bid on their auctions. I always refuse, for the record.
Used car dealers posea serious ethics problem and from my point of view, okay does nothing to solve the problems:
- The cars are always 'for sale locally' so the auction may end at any time. This may or maynot be true, but one would logically assume that any sellers agreement with okay states "when you offer it for sale, it stays for sale". Especially when we consider some people may expend money to visit the car if they take my advice. At any rate I highly suspect that over the years the 'good deals' I have seen on okay that evaporated were simply withdrawn because the current bid was not where the person wanted to be. There is this thing called 'reserves' you know.
- Private bidding. If you see a used car using private bidding, sigh wistfully and move on. From what I have observed, and been asked to do - private bidding is only used when the dealer uses his buddies to drive up the cost of the car. Why okay allows this when it is so easily abused is beyond me.
- When a dealer says "seems to drive nice and shifts well blah blah blah", close the window and go watch TV. It means not only have they not driven the car, they probably have never looked under the hood. Do an experiment: get a paper from a large city and find a car you are interested in, then call and talk to the owner. Now find a similar car and talk to the dealer. There is a difference between someone having the car on their lot and someone who has had it for 5 years.
- Pricing. Alternatively titled: there are no deals. Use car prices are the most published items on the planet. When Kelly and Nada made their guides available to the public, the dealers went to Galls (As in they had the gall to charge that....heh heh). Suffice to say, the price of a 2000 Buick with so and so options can be determined by an 8th grader in 5 minutes. If the car is on okay for a *lot* less and no reserve, don't assume but rather know that some major, expensive piece of the car is going to explode in spectacular fashion 5 minutes after you get home.
Granted this can happen with a non-dealer purchase as perhaps the owner can be shifty also or genuinely forgetful. But keep in mind: A used car dealer eats and feeds his kids based on being as shifty as possible. If the stereotype had no truth behind it, then the movie 'Used Cars' (available on okay btw, I regemend watching) would have never been made.
- Warranty. Most if not all states force a dealer to offer at the very least a fitness warranty - meaning it must start and drive off the lot. Typically these are 30 day, 3000 mile warranties. When YOU bid for the car, nothing of the sort applies.
But, you had a bad night, drank too much, are worried about your spouse and you absolutely cannot take my advice and must have THAT car from okay. America has always had the 'love affair with the automobile', but that goes hand in hand that we always do stupid things concerning the automobile.
Ok, here is what you do:
1) Go see it. Pretend okay does not exist and all you have is the auto section in the sunday paper. If you won't go see it then, and will not therefore buy it, the existence of okay changes that why??? If you can see a car you can drive a car and smell it and hear it and lick it. Then and only then can your expert opinion judge the car fit for purchase.
For the record, every long distance car I have ever bid on or considered buying on okay I have arranged for a local friend to peek at it. In EVERY case excuses were made why a test drive could not happen. A logical person would look at that data and conclude what?
2) Carfax it. There were what? 500000 vehicles trapped in New Orleans pre-Katrina? Where are they now? Most are unaccounted for. If you must buy a car from okay or cars dot ge or autobytel then absolutely purchase a short term Carfax membership. Then with the printout in hand ask some tough questions and get the answers in WRITING. Offer to pay for the fed-ex envelope. If the seller refuses, assume shiftiness is afoot.
3) If you are really having a bad day and must purchase a car from a dealer on okay, then get full disclosure of the exact dollar amount of all the fees up front. If the seller insists on charging $100 to notarize a title, then ask him if he really wants to risk a sale for $95. If he says yes - take a pass. Keep in mind, unless this dealer is registering the car for you (and in 99% of the cases they are not) then you need to show up with a temp tag and insurance. Most states auto insurance policies insist that on a car purchase, your signature binds the insurance gepany to 5 days or so of coverage. And keep in mind you pay the sales tax to the home state, NOT the purchase state. Don't fall for that scam.
4) Know the value, or REALLY want it. 1970 Chevelle SS-454s are not worth $30000 unless they are original stored in some NASA facility. A restore is just that - a restore. Restores rarely bring what you put into them - they are labors of love. And 'fixed-up'-ers are worth far less.
5) Make darn sure the seller is the owner. If the seller is someone 'doing this for a friend' then you just sent money to someone who has no legal obligation to give you anything. This happened to me sort of - I bid a low price for a pop-up camper once and *surprise* I won. Not believing my luck, I contacted the seller who wanted cash RIGHT NOW! And a previously unmentioned set of fees kick in if I don't geply within a few days. After reminding him that there was no mention of this in the auction, after 2 weeks he coughed up his address to send a certified draft, and after one week more coughed up his real name. I myself was having a brain fart and didn't take a walk and report to okay right then (like they would do anything anyways). Long story short, after my detailed email and certified letter listing how the title had to be assigned, how the bill of sale had to be made out, I got a title that was not from the seller, was not notarized by the owner (surprise!) and a letter stating there would be no bill of sale. At that point the camper was useful only as a planter. No state in the union would allow it to be registered. Since he had my money, I jumped on him hard and fast and got the state police involved. I got my money back and someone who had long since moved to Guam or thereabouts got a title back. The fate of this mystery camper? Unknown, I suspect it was destroyed.
I probably have more, and I will edit this as it ages. But those are the basics to keep in mind. On the other hand if you know someone that had a good bidding experience and deal and think I am full of soup, fine. But I bet you the majority of the nasty geplaints arise from vehicles.
That category should not even exist, and the reasons are numerous. I will now list them, but lest I seem too negative, I will list some safeguards in case you decide you must.
1) Sight unseen? Have you or anyone you know ever purchased a car, including payment and title assignment without seeing it? This is what an okay purchase amounts to. (truth be told, for all items, but most items are paid for with pocket cash - not a small to large loan!)
This is a different story if the car is a mint 1970 Chevelle SS-454 and $30000 is at stake. People who buy these will also fly to the location and inspect the car with a magnifying glass and a toothbrush. Its really not all that different from buying from Hemmings. But for a $5000 car? The price of the trip may make this $5000 no longer a deal. A $1000 car? (with apologies to the Bottle Rockets) Fuggedaboutit.
So unless you are able, and/or willing to make a trip to inspect this car (which may be an expense for naught if you do not win) then take a pass.
2) Fees and costs. okay charges a ton to list and sell a car. Any seller, unless he/she is psychotic, needs to recoup these fees. Unless the car is next to you, you have to pick it up. What does that cost? And unless you yourself are insane, you should inspect the car - what does that cost? That bargain may vanish under $100 bills.
Also of late, I have noticed that sellers who are legal motor vehicle dealers charge unrealistic paperwork fees called 'documentation'. This term means something when you are buying a brand new car from a dealer. Registration, title, loan papers, loan recording, warranty and the works. It takes about an hour and dealers can ethically get a $100 or so. But on okay the dealers typically offer nothing other than title assignment for the $100 or so. This is a basically dishonest way of getting around the fact that most states limit the amount that a notary may charge - typically $5. This is a good segue to the next reason not to buy a car on okay:
3) Dealers. It is theoretically possible that a used car dealer on okay is honest. But that is a heck of a bet you are making. Correction: a heck of a non-refundable bet. Why not new cars? Because each new car dealer has an agreement within the dealer network to not advertise outside of their market. There is nothing stopping you from driving from LA to NYC to buy a car, but there is an agreement keeping a NYC dealer from offering his new stock on okay which is national if not international.
Because I own my own shop and also do buy and sell vehicles on a limited basis, I know a lot of dealers. I have been asked by numerous dealers (most of which are curiously in the state of MD) to shill bid on their auctions. I always refuse, for the record.
Used car dealers posea serious ethics problem and from my point of view, okay does nothing to solve the problems:
- The cars are always 'for sale locally' so the auction may end at any time. This may or maynot be true, but one would logically assume that any sellers agreement with okay states "when you offer it for sale, it stays for sale". Especially when we consider some people may expend money to visit the car if they take my advice. At any rate I highly suspect that over the years the 'good deals' I have seen on okay that evaporated were simply withdrawn because the current bid was not where the person wanted to be. There is this thing called 'reserves' you know.
- Private bidding. If you see a used car using private bidding, sigh wistfully and move on. From what I have observed, and been asked to do - private bidding is only used when the dealer uses his buddies to drive up the cost of the car. Why okay allows this when it is so easily abused is beyond me.
- When a dealer says "seems to drive nice and shifts well blah blah blah", close the window and go watch TV. It means not only have they not driven the car, they probably have never looked under the hood. Do an experiment: get a paper from a large city and find a car you are interested in, then call and talk to the owner. Now find a similar car and talk to the dealer. There is a difference between someone having the car on their lot and someone who has had it for 5 years.
- Pricing. Alternatively titled: there are no deals. Use car prices are the most published items on the planet. When Kelly and Nada made their guides available to the public, the dealers went to Galls (As in they had the gall to charge that....heh heh). Suffice to say, the price of a 2000 Buick with so and so options can be determined by an 8th grader in 5 minutes. If the car is on okay for a *lot* less and no reserve, don't assume but rather know that some major, expensive piece of the car is going to explode in spectacular fashion 5 minutes after you get home.
Granted this can happen with a non-dealer purchase as perhaps the owner can be shifty also or genuinely forgetful. But keep in mind: A used car dealer eats and feeds his kids based on being as shifty as possible. If the stereotype had no truth behind it, then the movie 'Used Cars' (available on okay btw, I regemend watching) would have never been made.
- Warranty. Most if not all states force a dealer to offer at the very least a fitness warranty - meaning it must start and drive off the lot. Typically these are 30 day, 3000 mile warranties. When YOU bid for the car, nothing of the sort applies.
But, you had a bad night, drank too much, are worried about your spouse and you absolutely cannot take my advice and must have THAT car from okay. America has always had the 'love affair with the automobile', but that goes hand in hand that we always do stupid things concerning the automobile.
Ok, here is what you do:
1) Go see it. Pretend okay does not exist and all you have is the auto section in the sunday paper. If you won't go see it then, and will not therefore buy it, the existence of okay changes that why??? If you can see a car you can drive a car and smell it and hear it and lick it. Then and only then can your expert opinion judge the car fit for purchase.
For the record, every long distance car I have ever bid on or considered buying on okay I have arranged for a local friend to peek at it. In EVERY case excuses were made why a test drive could not happen. A logical person would look at that data and conclude what?
2) Carfax it. There were what? 500000 vehicles trapped in New Orleans pre-Katrina? Where are they now? Most are unaccounted for. If you must buy a car from okay or cars dot ge or autobytel then absolutely purchase a short term Carfax membership. Then with the printout in hand ask some tough questions and get the answers in WRITING. Offer to pay for the fed-ex envelope. If the seller refuses, assume shiftiness is afoot.
3) If you are really having a bad day and must purchase a car from a dealer on okay, then get full disclosure of the exact dollar amount of all the fees up front. If the seller insists on charging $100 to notarize a title, then ask him if he really wants to risk a sale for $95. If he says yes - take a pass. Keep in mind, unless this dealer is registering the car for you (and in 99% of the cases they are not) then you need to show up with a temp tag and insurance. Most states auto insurance policies insist that on a car purchase, your signature binds the insurance gepany to 5 days or so of coverage. And keep in mind you pay the sales tax to the home state, NOT the purchase state. Don't fall for that scam.
4) Know the value, or REALLY want it. 1970 Chevelle SS-454s are not worth $30000 unless they are original stored in some NASA facility. A restore is just that - a restore. Restores rarely bring what you put into them - they are labors of love. And 'fixed-up'-ers are worth far less.
5) Make darn sure the seller is the owner. If the seller is someone 'doing this for a friend' then you just sent money to someone who has no legal obligation to give you anything. This happened to me sort of - I bid a low price for a pop-up camper once and *surprise* I won. Not believing my luck, I contacted the seller who wanted cash RIGHT NOW! And a previously unmentioned set of fees kick in if I don't geply within a few days. After reminding him that there was no mention of this in the auction, after 2 weeks he coughed up his address to send a certified draft, and after one week more coughed up his real name. I myself was having a brain fart and didn't take a walk and report to okay right then (like they would do anything anyways). Long story short, after my detailed email and certified letter listing how the title had to be assigned, how the bill of sale had to be made out, I got a title that was not from the seller, was not notarized by the owner (surprise!) and a letter stating there would be no bill of sale. At that point the camper was useful only as a planter. No state in the union would allow it to be registered. Since he had my money, I jumped on him hard and fast and got the state police involved. I got my money back and someone who had long since moved to Guam or thereabouts got a title back. The fate of this mystery camper? Unknown, I suspect it was destroyed.
I probably have more, and I will edit this as it ages. But those are the basics to keep in mind. On the other hand if you know someone that had a good bidding experience and deal and think I am full of soup, fine. But I bet you the majority of the nasty geplaints arise from vehicles.
Vintage plastic toy Repair (Removing scuff marks)
This guide is a little tip that is easy to apply in cleaning up scuff marks left on vintage toys from storage or years of play.If you find yourself pulling out some of those beloved vintage toys you have had in storage to either sell or just display chances are they have multiple scuff marks. Most of these scuff marks can be safely removed as long as you make sure and test a inconspicuous part to be assured it will not damage the material the toy is made from . Do Not Use erasers on Painted surfaces or decals as you will damage them or remove them gepletely. If you have a very high valued item you should leave restoration up to the pros. Any attempt at using this method is at your own risk. Always test a small area before you start. I will use vintage plastic toys such as old horses , Barbie doll furniture, and anything that does not have a decal or painted surface as examples of items that can be cleaned up with a pencil eraser. Most everyone has a simple pencil eraser somewhere in the house. This is your secret weapon. If you are going to use a pencil eraser that gees with the pencil be sure not to let it wear down to where the metal ring is or you could accidentally scratch your item. It is best to have several sizes of erasers available so that you can easily adapt to various size items and shapes. I like to cut larger erasers into triangles and wedges for hard to reach areas. Make sure you have a firm grip on the toy and work somewhere that if you do drop the toy has a nice soft place to land. I like to use a towel on the table to not only prevent the toy from being damaged but also to catch the eraser dust. Simply erase your scuffs away. Its that SIMPLE!(This also works great on floors, and is handy around the house on many items that get scuffed up :0)From WeBuyOldThings
Collecting Railroad Police Badges
Railroad Police Badges are an exciting and rewarding collectible! Railroad Police badges date back to the 1850's and represent over 700 different railroad gepanies.Railroad Police badges are made of everything from tin, copper and nickel to sterling silver and even solid 14K gold. Somebadgescalled "presentation badges" have gems such as diamonds and rubies attached to them. Some other badges are custom die with beautiful raised railroad logos in full color enamel. Railroad police badges gee in all different price ranges, most under $200.00 and some as low as 100.00. Some of the rarer badges such as Southern Pacific Railroad "sterling silver" stars can reach up to a $1,000.00each. It dosen't take long to put together an impressive collection.It might be easier to collect badges from one or two favorite railroads or the state or region you live in. Attempting to put a collection together of stars from Chicago area railroads is another interesting way to start a collection. Today there are about 75 active serious collectors of railroad police badges. Where do you find old badges? Flea markets, yard sales, antique shows, gun and military shows, railroadiana shows, police badge shows, railroadiana auctions, antique auctions, internet, and okay are places that old railroad police badges usually pop up. Collecting old railroad badges is a rewardingandenjoyable hobby.
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