These items come from a personal collection, and each item has been professionally authenticated and certified by such prominent and reputable services as the AAU of “Pawn Stars” fame.

We were contacted by the owner of this historical sign who offers the following bit of information:
This fabulous sign was taken down from the Harley Davidson Corporate building in Milwaukee, WI in 2008 by The Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company, marking the 105th anniversary. Sadly no replacement sign was put back up over time. The massive sign was carefully removed by an authorized Harley maintenance crew. The sign was issued as “pass” by Harley to one of the men on the crew. A “pass” is written permission for Harley property to be removed by contractors, employees, etc. The owner of this sign and another man performed some home remodeling work for the Harley employee and the two of them agreed to take the sign as payment for the work done. In 2008 the housing market was flush and the two men thought of the sign as an investment. Since that time the sign has been stored in indoor storage. When the bottom dropped out of the home remodeling business the men began to talk of selling the sign. So the pair unwrapped it, assembled it, and have it available for viewing with the hopes of selling it to a good home. The men, living in Harley’s Home town thought the Harley museum would want it but turns out the museum only accepts donations. This is what brought them to Pot of Gold Estate Auctions in hopes of finding a home and buyer for the sign. Some additional interesting facts are that it was the only lighted sign that ever hung on the Juneau Street Headquarters but based on the signs’ ability to be broken up and displayed in 3 separate pieces there were years when one of the bookends (bar & shield logo) were displayed separately.

POG is excited to be part of the search for a new home for this historical sign but because of the logistics of shipping the sign from Milwaukee, WI to Avondale, AZ we decided to take the unusual step of letting the world know that this gem is available and you can contact the owner directly if interested.
Bob at this email address: dieselfitter11@yahoo.com, and welcomes any serious interest…and tell him his friends at Pot of Gold sent you!

Pin trading began in the Disney parks in late 1999 and became a huge hit and it is something adults and children can do together! Disney has rules and regulations for how pin trading should be conducted within park limits, one main rule - money cannot be used in a trade (only pins for pins). While in Disney parks cast members may be wearing lanyards with pins, guests are able to trade with them up to 2 pins per person as long as you don’t give them a pin they already have! 

What to trade for? Some people focus on one character, movie or attraction to collect while others, like me, collect whatever they think is “cute” or special to them. Both ways of collecting are fun and exciting and you never know what you are going to find next time you are on the hunt in the parks!

There are several different types of pins: Limited edition, open edition, Artist Proofs, Cast lanyard pins, Cast exclusive pins, Slidder pins (moving parts), 3D or raised pins, and many more!

Here is some information taken from Disney’s offical pin trading website:

HOW MANY PINS EXIST?
Thousands of unique Disney pins have been created over the years. And that is part of the fun of Disney Pin Trading – our incredible assortment. Guests may find pins from Disney Parks & Resorts, as well as pins from other divisions of the Walt Disney Company, such as DisneyShopping.com. The key to Disney Pin Trading is finding favorite pins to personalize a Disney Pin Collection.

WHAT IS AN “ARTIST PROOF?”
For every pin created, there exists a series of Artist Proof (AP) pins. At Disney Theme Park Merchandise, we receive approximately 24 Artist Proof pins per style of pin. For pins with lower edition sizes, we may receive even fewer AP pins.

An AP pin typically has an “AP” mark stamped on the back side of the pin. Stamping the letters “AP” on the back of a pin is an extra step that the manufacturer does once the pin has been created. There is no difference between a retail pin we sell in a merchandise location and its AP cousin except for an “AP” mark that will be found on its back stamp. Artist Proof pins, however, are not sold in our stores.

Once “AP” pins are produced, they are sent to Disney Theme Park Merchandise headquarters where they are used for a variety of purposes. One of every pin created is kept in a permanent Disney Pin Archive at Disney Theme Park Merchandise headquarters, and one pin is sent to the Walt Disney Archives at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. The remaining AP pins may be used for trading or may become part of auction lots featured at Disney Pin Events. You never know where you may find an AP pin for trade.

Depending upon the manufacturer, the “AP” stamp will appear in a variety of locations. There are very rare occasions when an Artist Proof pin may not include an “AP” mark on its back stamp. We have seen some AP pins in the Disney Pin Vault from the early days of Disney Pin Trading that did not contain “AP” marks. If such a pin is included in an auction lot, we will describe it accordingly – “This is an Artist Proof pin but does not contain an “AP” mark on its back stamp.”

Below are some examples of “AP” marks and where you may find them on the back stamps of pins we create:

WHAT IS “LIMITED EDITION”?
Limited Edition pins are just that – limited. This means there will be a finite number of pins manufactured and sold. The “back stamp” (the text on the back of a pin) on the pin will list the edition size. Sometimes, a Limited Edition pin will be individually numbered meaning it will be #XXX of XXXX (depending upon edition size).

Once a Limited Edition pin sells out, it cannot and will not be re-ordered again. For Guests, this is a unique opportunity to own a very special pin. The starting retail price for a Limited Edition pin is typically $8.95 (for a flat pin). Depending upon the additional features on the pin, the retail price will increase.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “CAST EXCLUSIVE” AND “CAST LANYARD SERIES”?
There is a difference between “Cast Exclusive” and “Cast Lanyard Series” pins. The “Cast Exclusive” pins are only available for Disney Cast Members to purchase. These pins are found within “backstage” Cast Member retail locations.

“Cast Lanyard Pins” can be traded with Cast Members at Disney Theme Parks and Resorts.

Great conversation piece… “Oh this old thing, I got it at Pot Of Gold Estate Auctions for only….”

Hanging out a shingle with a start up Estate Sale Company

We recently had the opportunity to have an email-based conversation with MA resident who is considering starting their own Estate Sale Business.  The topic at hand was: “Please share with me how you became successful in the Estate Sale Business”. 

Pot Of Gold Estate Liquidations, LLC & Auctions has been in business for 16 years, and have learned a lot over the years, so it was fun and interesting to trip back down memory lane as I wrote my reply, which I share here: 

“Starting a new business is an exciting venture, and I am happy to help!  My first instinct is to ask you a series of questions: 

Do you have any practical experience in the area of organizing  / running
Estate Sales?   

Do you have an opportunity to apprentice under another company?  If so, try
to pick someone in another area, who you won’t be directly competing with in
the future – it’s awkward to the relationship when the time comes to break
out on your own. 

What logistical obstacles to you have in your area?  In our experience, in
rural areas the population density is too spread out to make Estate Sales
practical.  And conversely, in condensed urban areas the parking / hauling
is very problematic.   

What about Estate Sales makes this the type of business you are interested
in building, over other possibilities?  You will need a strong back,
excellent organizational skills, patient & empathetic people skills (you are
selling people’s memories & dealing with grieving families), salesmanship,
and knowledge of current values of any number of items.  You also will need
to understand that working within the inner sanctum of people’s homes
requires a special set of intangible qualities, such as being
non-judgmental, not gossiping / posting on Facebook about the occasionally
odd items or un-cleanliness of people’s homes.  Dignity and confidentiality
will help you get good referrals, because people will know you are
trustworthy. 

When we began our business we had a team of two (myself & my husband) for
all the set-up / pricing / advertising.  On the day(s) of the sale(s) we
would have a staff of 3-4 additional people who we were fortunate to have as
mostly volunteer labor.  Friends & family who would work for a free lunch or
for the chance to pre-shop the public.  I was lucky to have a very
knowledgeable and professional staff even though they were volunteering.
Sales would run from 7:am – 3:pm for 1-3 days – so even if we had been
paying labor costs it would have been less than you are estimating.   

Our commission rateis reasonable, but has grown over the decade + that we have
been in business.  Commission was not something we ever negotiated
on.  We have always offered an excellent service, included advertising expenses in that
rate with no hidden fees, completely emptied each house and vacuumed up
after ourselves – making the property realtor-ready when we were finished.   

Competition has grown significantly over time, with many people wanting to
‘do-it-yourself’, so we rarely even do Estate Sales these days.  We are
mostly geared toward encouraging people to bring their items to auction
where the public competes to drive the prices up, rather than negotiating
prices down as they would at an Estate Sale.  

We were very blessed to have had the good fortune that came our way early on, but we met those blessings with dedication and hard work.  As Thomas Jefferson so aptly said, ‘I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it’”. 

Our best wishes to anyone who decides to dive into this wonderful and exciting business!  I invite you to share your stories – tell us what went well, what didn’t turn out as planned, and a little bit about some memorable cilents!

This fabulous dragon bracelet and earring set is a perfect example!  Available for bids in the October 19, 2010 auction catalog.

A little known designer costume jewelry maker, “HAR”, was based in New York, and was only in business for a few short years in the 1950′s and 1960′s.  This dragon bracelet (with matching earrings), is one of their signature pieces, and was even featured in Judith Miller’s 2003 Collectors Guide (page 164), as valued at $700-$800! 

While not much is known about Hargo Creations, it appears as though it was founded in 1955 by husband and wife, Joseph Heibronner & Edith Levitt, and that the “HAR” trademark was only used for a span of ten years.  The most likely reason for this is that Joseph passed away in 1968, and Edith must not have continued the business without her husband.

Their creations are well made with fine metalwork and include stones called lava rocks, and aurora borealis, that enhanced the exotic nature of their highly sculptural creations.

Gorgeous, unusual, and a wearable piece of American history!

Later in this post I will share that email exchange, but first let’s consider the driving reasons behind this question.

First, the idea behind Do-It-Yourself projects of any kind are, to some degree, based on the notion that it will cost less.  Or, in the case of Estate Liquidating, the idea is that more money will be netted by the family if no commission fees are being paid out to a professional.  In my experience, as both a previous Do-It-Myself-er, and as a current Professional Estate Liquidator, I believe this is a false premise.  Professionals have knowledge, connections, and skills that a layman won’t have – and a skilled professional in this field will most often net enough money to more than cover the commission paid to them.

Second, selling one’s own items can be a very emotionally draining experience.  We all have emotional attachments to things in our homes – items received as a gift, or items which are tied to a special memory, or simply the idea of no longer having “that thing that I might need someday” – there is separation anxiety to wrestle through when parting with furniture, household items, and even decorator items and trinkets.  Sentiment can cloud the judgement of family members concerning the real-world value of any given item.  A professional will be sensitive to those emotional ties had by the family (and in many cases, help the family decide if a particular piece may be too important to the family to sell - no amount of money can pay for the sentimental value of a treasured possession), but also be able to properly evaluate the item(s) in order to connect the item(s) with an appropriate buyer. 

Finally, liquidating an Estate often involves the cooperation of several siblings and other family members.  In the best of circumstances it might be difficult to come to a consensus on the details of when, where, how, and for what dollar amount to sell things.  Grief or stress WILL exacerbate these emotions and make even small decisions appear to be paramount; and in my experience, cause family discord which can mostly be avoided by having a professional company involved.  A skilled professional will attend to the concerns of all the parties involved, while working toward the intended goal of a timely and financially successful Estate Sale.

As the old saying goes, “A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.”—Sir William Osler.  For all the reasons listed above, this understandably goes for Estate Liquidation as well. 

The email exchange below will spell out some of what most families are wrestling with as they approach a decision over how best to handle a Moving or Estate Sale.

Q: Can people “bargain” on a price of an item at an estate sale or do they just accept the tagged price?

A: In the Estate Sale format people often do bargain, and unless the company has posted a sign that their prices are “firm”, and therefore, not negotiable, bargaining is a common and even somewhat expected practice.

Q: Do you (the professional company) price the item in an estate sale or does the owner price them or do you do it together?

A: Generally speaking, the owner has hired the Estate Liquidation company for their expertise and professionalism, and therefore trust the company to do the pricing, marketing, and bargaining. Pot Of Gold Estate Liquidations, LLC believes in open communication, and welcomes general input and any historical information from the family, but harmony and timeliness of the running of the sale is best served when the family allows us to work in freedom and trust.  These are pretty specific questions you are asking…do you have an Estate Sale you need us to organize for you?

Q: Yes, we will probably want to have an Estate Sale early in November, 2010, but we are selling some things now.

A: Please allow me to offer you some things to consider:

If you are selling items before you hire a professional you run several risks. 

 #1) You are likely not getting the best price for the items you are selling, and may even make less than you would net after paying the professional’s seller fees.  It is not uncommon for people who aren’t in the business, and who don’t have the connections and knowledge of second-hand market pricing, to inadvertently sell all the high-dollar items of value for less than they could have netted, and then be left with only unsellable items.

 #2) A full home, which appears as a genuine ”selling of all items in a person’s estate” will attract more people, and will cause each item in the home to, therefore, command a higher price than will a small amount of items in a home that looks “picked over”. 

 #3) An Estate Liquidator of our caliber will not take “left-over” sales.  And in our experience, the companies who will, are likely to gain you only “Garage Sale” or “Moving Sale” prices, rather than “Estate Sale” prices.

Again, I hope I have been of help. 

–Cheryl Todd

Ertl Precision Series 1, "The Farmall F-20" McCormick Deering, International Harvester Company.

Who doesn’t love vintage tractors?! 

They are so rich with the history of America – farming, industrialization, westward expansion, agricultural world trade commodity…you name it!  It is understandable why people would want to own a piece of that history!  

While it’s a little difficult to collect the full-size versions…where on earth would you put them?!…these miniatures are a GREAT alternative!  Whether you love the 1:16 or the 1:32 scale, the attention to detail on the Ertl and Franklin Mint brand models, especially, are AMAZING!  Model tractor collecting is an fun and contagious hobby, and with good reason.  America’s Heartland, and the farming families across our nation are our backbone and our heritage. 

Tell us your American Heartland story.

Antique 1934 Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine

Did you know…?  That Singer sewing machines were first manufactured in 1851?  Collecting Antique Singer Sewing Machines is a serious business, where style of machine, manufacture date, and condition are all-important.  The small, portable, and just-darn-cute Featherweight Styles are particularly sought after and highly collectable.  In order to determine the vintage, look to the serial numbers on Singer sewing machines.   If manufactured prior to 1900 you will find numbers only. After 1900, the machine serial numbers have a single or two-letter prefix. 

Two great websites to check out are: Singersewingmachine.com and Sewingshop.com.

Vintage Wooden Pinocchio Puppet on Strings

In honor of the Pinocchio collectables we have in the Sept 21st catalog we have found some fun bits of trivia to share:

 1) The 1940 Walt Disney animated film was based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.   It was the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; it was released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on February 7, 1940.

2) The scenes of the woodlands and the forest fire were later used in Bambi (1942).

REPORTED:Internet Movie Database.

3) In the pool game on Pleasure Island, the yellow 1-ball turns into a red 3-ball.
REPORTED:Internet Movie Database.

4) When Pinocchio becomes entangled with the dancing marionettes, two extra marionettes suddenly appear.
REPORTED:Internet Movie Database.

5) When trying to free Pinocchio from Stromboli’s cage, Jiminy Cricket takes his jacket and hat off and put them on the padlock. In a later scene, they are no longer there.
REPORTED:Internet Movie Database.

6) Actress Evelyn Venable provided the speaking voice for the character of the Blue Fairy; however, she is perhaps best recognized as the live-action model for the Columbia Pictures trademark.
REPORTED: Melanie Emmons 08 MAY 97.