Recently I listed a Coach® Handbag for sale. And to tell the truth, I had a hard time listing it for sale. I wanted to keep it for myself.  You see since the 1980s, I carried a Coach® handbag back and forth to work each day. I chose the versatile “City Bag” and had it stuffed full of those essentials a working professional needs each day. I loved it because it was stylish without being over the top and very functional. All those zippered pockets and the secure top flap made everything stay in it’s place. I carried the same bag for years because it lasted. The leather became more beautiful the more wear it received.

Vintage Coach Handbag

So I decided to look up the history of this company and found several versions on line. All agree that Coach® is the designer of prestigious handbags, as well as briefcases, luggage, and other fashion accessories. The company made a name for itself by making and selling high quality merchandise in traditional styles. “Classic American style” is what the brand claims to be about. For this reason, Coach® is one of the best-known leather brands in the United States.

A Quick History

• In 1941, Coach® was founded as a family-run business in Manhattan, making small leather goods.
• In 1960, Miles Cahn noticed the distinctive properties of the leather used to make baseball gloves. He adopted this type of leather to make bags that would wear longer and take dye better. This sturdy style of cowhide purses quickly became the company’s signature product.
• In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Coach® began using mail order to sell their bags while opening their first specialty stores.
• Coach.com was launched in 1999, giving tech-savvy shoppers a convenient way to purchase their favorite items.

A genuine Coach® bag is an investment piece that will last for many years. Collectors flock to them because of their quality. I found a forum for vintage purse collectors that has a lovely photo gallery of vintage Coach purses.

For those of you new to the world of re-purposing lingo, “cutters’ are damaged tablecloths that crafters and others use for sewing projects. Often “cutters’ have big holes or stains making them hard to sell as a collectible tablecloths. But these still have value to creative crafters who are constantly coming up with new ideas on how to salvage the best parts of these textiles. You can buy “cutters’ on Etsy, eBay and from dealers who buy lots of tablecloths.

Cutter Tablecloth Listed on eBay by RosesButtons

Here a a couple of tips on what to look for:

• Look for where the stains or holes are. Usually projects utilize the patterned or embroidered portion of the fabric. You want to have enough of these portions free and clear to make your project.
• Look for bleached out areas or large frays (larger than a quarter). These weaken the fabric itself and indicate that the material may be weakened and won’t last in your project. So unless you plan to back the fabric in your project, you may want to skip that tablecloth.
• Look for cloths that haven’t been cleaned. Sometimes you can use a soak to improve the stain so that you can still use it in your project.
• Please don’t use a collectible vintage tablecloth as a cutter. These Hint: Click on the links and photo for more information!

Vintage Coach Bag…Fisher Price TV Radio Toy…Copper Toothpick Holder…Cedar Trinket Box

Link to My eBay Store to view and bid.

Now listed in  eBay Store

Now listed in eBay Store

Now listed in eBay Store

Now listed in eBay Store

On Sunday, I’m listing a vintage Fisher Price toy and thought I’d give you a little background about Fisher Price and it’s toys.

1959 Fisher Price Wood/Plastic Toy

Company History:

According to Wikipedia, Fisher Price was founded in 1930 by Herman Fisher, Irving Price and his wife, illustrator and artist Margaret Evans Price and Helen Schelle.  The name Fisher-Price was established by combining two of the three founders’ names.  Fisher-Price’s fundamental toy-making principles centered on intrinsic play value, ingenuity, strong construction, good value for the money, and action. Early toys were made of heavy steel parts and ponderosa pine, which resisted splintering and held up well to heavy use. The details and charm were added with colorful lithographic labels. Mrs. Price was the first Art Director and designed push-pull toys for the opening line, based on characters from her children’s books. 

In 1931, the three founders took 16 of their wooden toys to the American International Toy Fair in New York City and they quickly became a success. The first Fisher-Price toy ever sold was “Dr. Doodle” in 1931.  In the early 1950s, Fisher-Price identified plastic as a material that could help the company incorporate longer-lasting decorations and brighter colors into its toys. “Buzzy Bee” was the first Fisher-Price toy to make use of plastic. By the end of the 1950s, Fisher-Price manufactured 39 toys incorporating plastics.

During the 1960s, the Play Family (later known as Little People) product line was introduced and soon overtook the popularity of earlier toys. In 1969 the Quaker Oats Company bought Fisher-Price. In 1991, Fisher-Price regained its independence from The Quaker Oats Company and became a publicly traded company. Two years later, in November 1993, Fisher Price became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel.

Fiddler on the Roof Cassette…Mac Davis Concert Program

Link to My eBay Store to view and bid.

This is a BUY IT NOW listing!

Link to eBay Store

This is a BUY IT NOW listing!

Link to eBay Store

This week I had this experience on my RosesButtons site. On Wednesday, I listed my collector buttons as “buy it now” instead of at auction as an experiment. And wow! Here it is Friday, and two of the four are sold already!

So, that makes me wonder if I shouldn’t do more initial listing as “buy it now” instead of as “auction” listings. So I created a poll to ask you what you think. I’ve listed the main types of listings that I do as Roses Sundries. And you can tell me what you think.

Buy It Now or Auction??

I will respect your privacy and you don’t have to give any information you don’t want to give. But if you’d like a personal response, please include the information that I need to do so.

I recently listed a banjo ukulele and before I did so, I consulted a local ukulele player that I know about what it was. My question was “Is it a toy?” Her response was “No, it’s a banjo ukulele”. Well, with the correct terminology in hand, I googled “banjo ukulele” and discovered a whole new world. New banjo ukuleles, banjo ukulele instruction and music are readily available.

Banjo Ukulele

Here are the highlights:

• It isn’t known who invented the banjo ukulele, although some sources credit a Hawaiian by the name of Alvin D. Keech with the invention of the banjo ukulele, in 1917 or 1918. He trademarked the name “Banjulele.” But, banjo ukeleles exist that were made by John A. Bolander in California, with a patent date of 1916.
• Banjo ukuleles produced more volume than did the ukulele. This made them very popular.
• Banjo ukuleles are about the same size as regular ukulele and are tuned the same.
• Most banjo ukuleles have a pot size (head diameter) of between six and eight inches. Most modern banjos have eleven inch pots.
• During the 1920s and 1930s banjo ukuleles were produced by most of the banjo makers. They were manufactuered by the thousands, and the majority of them were inexpensive instruments, often retailing for $2.00 or possibly even less.
• Banjo ukuleles parallel banjo construction, on a smaller scale, in terms of overall construction. They are almost always fretted.
• Most are built of wood with metal accoutrements, although the mid-century “Dixie” brand featured banjo ukeleles made from solid metal.
• The neck typically has sixteen frets: shorter than a banjo, but longer than a standard soprano or concert sized ukulele.
• Banjo ukuleles may be open-backed, or may incorporate a resonator.
• The banjo ukulele is commonly tuned GCEA (“C Tuning”) or ADF#B (“D Tuning”), with a re-entrant 4th string. The ADF#B tuning often produces a more strident tone, and is used for this reason. Both of these tunings are known as “my dog has fleas” tunings (5th, Tonic, Maj 3rd, Maj 6th).

Sources:
banjoukes.com
Wikipedia
For Strings,bridge,vellums
UK History site

Hint: click on links for more information!