Lenci Doll

Lenci Doll

Know what You're Collecting

You've seen it: An eBay news report says a highly valuable and rare Lenci porcelain figurine was recently sold on eBay for the astounding bid of $17,100. The figurine was sold by some power seller out of a small eBay store in a small town and purchased by an undisclosed European buyer.

The item is porcelain figurine of a nude woman sitting on a painted pear. It stands 9 3/4" tall, and the base is 8 5/8" across. The name Beltrami is carved on the rim, for the designer Beltrami Po. The figurine is also marked Lenci Made in Italy 13-1-30 and the number 7. The number 92 is embossed in the base. The figurine was described to be in excellent condition, with no breaks or chips.

Then you read that the seller is a client of the power seller who brought the item in for liquidation on eBay.  The first bidder placed a bid of $10 on the figurine. The price quickly climbed to $4,700 after the first day. After one week and 34 bids, the winning bid of $17,100.

Let's face it: this is a collectors' dream come true.  How many of us out there hope to find a rare collectable figurine or porcelain doll in our attic, run down to the nearest eBay store, list it and watch the bids soar?  For certain, if you don't know what your collectables are worth, you could wind up losing money this way.  You have to be careful.

One pretty solid writer on collecting calls getting started "an unconscious decision." Something you find yourself doing for a while before you realize you're doing it.  It might start with a Gunsmoke lunch box you picked up at a garage sale one weekend.  Someone in your family, or a loved one finds another lunch box and brings it home to you.  Before you know it you've got 35 lunch boxes and counting.

But sometimes collecting is a conscious decision, too. Either way, if you think you see yourself one day trading or selling on eBay or another site, you need to know what your stuff is worth, right?  First of all, the word collectible means different things to different people.  Perhaps lunch boxes aren't your thing.  Maybe you prefer to collect Jim Shore, or Snowbabies figurines, for example, or maybe you're into Beanie Babies or perhaps stamps and coins.

Ask a collector and you'll get an in-depth answer on the feelings that are evoked, the investment made or the quest to find their stuff. Although collectors hope their collections will increase in value, that's usually not the reason they started collecting.

It doesn't always have to be a particular item you collect in order to call it a collection.  Some things are collected by color, fabric, metal, plastic or even shape they are made in.  Some collect things that revolve around holidays, others prefer a theme, such as the old west or India. Either way, your collection is your personal treasure.

Depending on what you collect, the term limited edition might come up. A limited edition can be anything the manufacturer wants it to be. The item might be limited to the year it was produced, with hundreds of thousands being produced or it could be limited to a specific number of pieces.

Before getting excited that an item is a limited edition, find out more about the edition size and how the company released the pieces. Also check previous editions from the same manufacturer to see if they sold out and/or retain their values.

Buy the very best example you can find. A piece of pottery with a hairline crack or a glass plate with a chip should be substantially less than "book value" and will not appreciate in value the way that perfect piece might. Even if you're not buying for investment, when it's time to sell your stuff, it's a lot harder if the collection is chipped and cracked.

Problems to beware of, depending on the collectible, include: rust, chips, cracks, missing pieces, tears, fading and stains.

Newer collectors often feel an item can be repaired or a part replaced, unfortunately that's not an easy task.

If you're collecting vintage items, research is the key to being a smart collector, especially if you intend to eventually sell.  Buy a book on your collectables or the trade. That could be your smartest investment in in your collecting. 

Two great resources are the Collectible Books/Price Guides and Miller's Buy, Keep or Sell.  Google the Free email Newsletters for Collectors, another great resource for learning about what's going on in the industry.

About the Author

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LENCI BOUDOIR DOLL