Red book value jars

[tombstone]

Have had my redbook (#9) for a few weeks now. I was wondering about the accuracy of the prices. For example, if the redbook lists a particular jar at 20-25 dollars and i find one for sale at 10 dollars is it a good buy? Is there a rule of thumb you more experienced folks follow, such as deduct 50% from the listed price and look for cheaper than that? What about when selling a jar, do you expect to realize close to redbook value or what?

 

[capsoda]

Hello Michael, You Hope to do the best you can do. If you are collecting pay as much as you feel comfortable with. If you are buying for an investment only high end jars are what you want but your going to have to pay the price and hold for a while. If you are trying to turn a quick profit you will have to try and buy below Red Book and stay away from the cheep common jars. There is always a chance you will purchase that one in a million jar for a buck or two but I don't like to bet the bundle on that. It's a gamble at best.

I buy what I like. If I have to buy a group of jars I keep what I want and sell the rest.

Use price guides for what they are, GUIDES. Some bottles go for more and some go for less. You will get the feel for it after a while.

 

[tombstone]

Thanks warren, I'm just a cellar scavenger but been looking through ebay to get a feel for prices (and to see if all the stuff i'm bringing home is actually worth crawling into a half tumbled down building to rescue). Been cross referencing with the redbook and noticed this http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6249167670 which i believe is 234-7 in the redbook and listed at $20-30. Thought it was a cool jar and tried to snipe it at $3.00+ shipping would have had $9.00 in it. Got outsniped and lost it. But it got me to thinking that I'd check in with you experts before I got too carried away and spent some money i had no hope of ever recovering.

 

[tombstone]

Oh, and one other thing, i want to thank you for the pics of your tumbler you posted on another thread. Mine is up and running, i can only tumble insides of bottles right now, still have to make one more stopple to get the outsides tumbled.

 

[jarsnstuff]

Tombstone, bargains on ebay are to be had when the seller doesn't indicate in the description that the jar is unusual in any way. 99% of the potential buyers of this particular jar are going to skip right over it in the listings. Now, if it had been listed as a "Bill" style Ball jar, it could easily have gone well above the Redbook price. The guy who outbid you is a known Ball collector, and I'm sure his bid was not just $3.25. When you snipe jars like this, you need to put in the price you're willing to pay - if you don't get it for a bargain price, you've at least made someone else pay closer to what the jar is worth. Please don't let the fear of "paying too much" for one jar stop you from buying jars you like and want in your collection. I figure the jars I've paid too much for are offset by the ones I've gotten bargains on. So, when I'm ready to sell, maybe I'll realize some profit - and in the meantime I've had a lot of years of enjoyment, how can you put a price on that? By the way, if the lid on that jar is a lugged Hero glassworks lid in decent condition as it appears to be, the value of the lid alone would've covered your shipping costs.... -Tammy

 

[tombstone]

Thanks tammy, i wanted to be a little on the conservative side until i was more confident in the pricing. Also i'd assumed this listing was overlooked and the guys feedback was low enough to discourage most other bidders. It's nice to know i can push the envelope a little harder.

 

[bottleboy311]

Michael,

I have learned that Red Book values and ebay sold prices many times do not come out the same. One example is on ebay a MRS CHAPIN'S MAYONNAISE JAR sold for over $13.00 plus shipping about a month ago. This is around a $8.00 Jar in the red book. A week and a half ago on ebay, a Pint Milk Glass Flaccus complete with band and matching lid sold for a little over $160.00. This is in the Red Book for $200.00 plus.

Many times prices on ebay are a little lower, I think, because the buyers are afraid there may be a problem with the jar, chip, crack, etc. that the seller is not revealing. Also they figure additional costs with shipping. However there are still deals on ebay. I bought $30.00 of jars on ebay and sold them for $125.00 plus. You just need to look for them.


Lee