I May Have Broken my $1000+ Single Item Hurdle

[theantiquetiger]

***This is not a plug for my ebay auction, thats why I posted it here***

I have been treasure hunting now for about five years and made ALOT of money, but I have never broken the $1000 mark on a single item. Well, today, I think I did it. I was at an estate as usual, bought a bunch of odds and ends for $75. I saw this mantel clock that was very unusual and marked $500. I know nothing about clocks. I ask the lady and she tells me she doesn't know who made it and she said that the owner said he thinks it is about 70 years old. The lady said it was made of cast iron, it weighs about 30lbs and is 19" tall. I take it down and open the back and find a hand inscription "Cleaned Nov 1887" and realize it is not cast iron but bronze. I cannot find a maker's mark so I take the chime off the works and there was the maker's mark. It is very tiny, and all I can make out "Freres" and maybe 1855. So I risk the $500 and take it home. I use one of my wife's checks so I call her at her work while on my way home. She thinks I am crazy paying $500 for something I have no clue about what so ever and so did I until five minutes later. I tell to log on to Ebay and search highest price for "freres clock" under completed items. She tells me the first one was $12,000!!!!!! The maker is Japy Freres from France. The lady said it was German. I get home and start searching, and cannot find this exact clock on the internet, let alone Ebay. It goes up for auction tonight, starting at $500. I am hoping for $2000, but anything over $500 will be great.

[batmanmc]

usually anything brass and older sells for a decent amount.

[theantiquetiger]

I don't know if its brass or bronze. I have done pre-listed it on ebay and described it as bronze. How can I tell the difference?

[Adam West]

I am guessing it is bronze. I don't think they used brass for castings like that.

It is a very nice looking piece and you have a good eye. It was also smart to take a look inside.

Clocks in general are not worth very much because they are usually broken and very expensive to repair. You have more than just a clock though...it is a work of art.

Knowing what you now know, I'd almost be tempted to avoid Ebay altogether and send pictures up to Sotheby's or Christie's and see what they think and if it is worth selling through them. The bronze casting itself will make it worth at least $500 easy. Now that you know it is a popular maker, this thing could be worth a small fortune.

It is not unusual for me to see the Antiques Roadshow and see someone bring in something like this to find out it's worth $25,000. Someone on Ebay might grab it for well below what it's worth so I don't know how bad you want to re-coup the $500 but I would do some asking around before throwing it on Ebay.

Great find.
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I can almost say with certainty it is not German. It just doesn't have the stylistic features you would expect in a German clock which is more function over form. This definitely looks French and the gargoyles are a really nice touch and reminiscent of Notre Dame Cathedral. I bet this baby is worth some big bucks.

[mitchedwards]

Congrats.

You have all the good luck my friend.

[megocrazy]

I am guessing it is bronze. I don't think they used brass for castings like that.

It is a very nice looking piece and you have a good eye. It was also smart to take a look inside.

Clocks in general are not worth very much because they are usually broken and very expensive to repair. You have more than just a clock though...it is a work of art.

Knowing what you now know, I'd almost be tempted to avoid Ebay altogether and send pictures up to Sotheby's or Christie's and see what they think and if it is worth selling through them. The bronze casting itself will make it worth at least $500 easy. Now that you know it is a popular maker, this thing could be worth a small fortune.

It is not unusual for me to see the Antiques Roadshow and see someone bring in something like this to find out it's worth $25,000. Someone on Ebay might grab it for well below what it's worth so I don't know how bad you want to re-coup the $500 but I would do some asking around before throwing it on Ebay.

Great find.
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I can almost say with certainty it is not German. It just doesn't have the stylistic features you would expect in a German clock which is more function over form. This definitely looks French and the gargoyles are a really nice touch and reminiscent of Notre Dame Cathedral. I bet this baby is worth some big bucks.

I have to agree. Don't be hasty and just drop it on ebay. I would do a load of research on this before going that route. Sotheby's and Christies would be more in suit with this kind of item, plus they will contact high end collector's that are on their lists as to the items and time of auction. If someone else's clock is worth $12,000.00 why can't yours be? I would wait and research. Knowledge is power and in this case $$$$.

[Sideshow Spock]

At the very least bring it to a couple local antiques appraisors, or even a well-respected jeweler who also does business with clocks and watches. Knowing what you actually have would obviously be in your best interests.

[toys2cool]

congrats man,I hope it goes well over the $1000 mark

[theantiquetiger]

Well, after a couple hours of research, I have come to the conclusion that it will sell around $2500. The $12,000 clock is 1000x more ornate than this one. The ones I saw that were similar to this sold in this range, even though I have yet to see this clock again.

We don't have any local appraisers around here, Google can tell me more than any of these idiots who own antique shops around here.

Like I have said many times before, I don't do this for the money, the money is just the scale I use to see how good I am at finding things. The mone isn't exactly the scale, its the ratio of payback. If this sells for $2500, that is only a 5:1 ratio, which is nothing compared to some of the things I have bought that were 200 or 300:1 ratio. This is my first time spending this kind of money blindly or even on a single item. I have only spent this kind of money on collections.

I will post a link this evening to the auction when it starts at 8:30 pm central time.

[Adam West]

I don't know about you but absolute $ gains would be more important to me than ratios. I'd much rather buy a clock for $500 and sell it for $2,500 than buy something for $1 and sell it for $300.

Good luck. I would hate for you to sell it only to find out it is worth 10x the price of what an Ebay'er buys it for. It might not be as ornate but this could be a rarer casting or a casting by a more famous sculptor at the clock company or possibly even the original casting!

[theantiquetiger]

I don't know about you but absolute $ gains would be more important to me than ratios. I'd much rather buy a clock for $500 and sell it for $2,500 than buy something for $1 and sell it for $300.

I have tried to explain this to people before. If I needed the money (and yes $2000 extra is nice), I would be studying up on the high end stuff at these estate sales, buying the things they mark for $100's and sell them for 2 or 3x that amount. Anyone can see the beauty in this thing (except my wife, she thinks its uglier than sin), you just need the $500 to invest into it; not alot of people can find something that most people would throw out with the garbage, pay $1 for it, and get it home and find out it is worth $300 or $400. This is what I like to do. This is my hobby, and if I start studying up on stuff, make high end investments with just 2 or 3x profit, it is no longer a hobby, it is a job, and I told myself I will stop this when it turns into a job.

I have two types of money, my real money, the stuff I make at my work, pay bills, put away, etc, and there is my play money I get from treasure hunting. I treat this money completely seperate from my real money. If I would have spent $500 on this clock with my real money or spent $1200 on Mego's like I did in the last two months, my wife would be in jail for murder because she would have killed me.
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As for it not going for the top value on ebay; I looked at the ones that are listed, and the counter on them are very low. This tells me the market for this thing is very small and the only people who will really look at it are the collectors.

[Adam West]

I am guessing the reason the counter is so low is that collectors of this type of item don't go to Ebay, they go to one of the big auction houses.

I spent some serious money on Duck Decoys a few years ago but I have never purchased one on Ebay. I want it appraised from a reputable dealer who knows his stuff and can authenticate the item.

Just my own opinion. Good luck. $2,500 is a great return on a $500 investment.

I totally understand the play money part of it. I was at an auction not too long ago and was bidding on an African American iron bank that although very derogatory, I knew was collectible. I stopped bidding when it got to $75 because I knew my wife would have killed me but after getting home saw the same bank selling for around $600 on Ebay. I did pick up an authentic German WWII helmet at a Church auction for $50. A military appraiser told me it was worth around $600 or so but I decided to keep it since I like history and have a small collection of militaria.

[theantiquetiger]

Well, I have just found out some more great news from this estate sale. I been so busy all day studying up on the clock, I forgot about the $75 in purchases I also made today. The estate was of a man who owned a gun store here in Baton Rouge. I found seven store display Winchester Rifle posters. I didn't think much about them, paid $10 for the seven posters. I just did a quick search and found two store display posters sell for $350. Now, they are not the same posters, but there is some good vibes coming from these things.

[Meule]

***This is not a plug for my ebay auction, thats why I posted it here***

I have been treasure hunting now for about five years and made ALOT of money, but I have never broken the $1000 mark on a single item. Well, today, I think I did it. I was at an estate as usual, bought a bunch of odds and ends for $75. I saw this mantel clock that was very unusual and marked $500. I know nothing about clocks. I ask the lady and she tells me she doesn't know who made it and she said that the owner said he thinks it is about 70 years old. The lady said it was made of cast iron, it weighs about 30lbs and is 19" tall. I take it down and open the back and find a hand inscription "Cleaned Nov 1887" and realize it is not cast iron but bronze. I cannot find a maker's mark so I take the chime off the works and there was the maker's mark. It is very tiny, and all I can make out "Freres" and maybe 1855. So I risk the $500 and take it home. I use one of my wife's checks so I call her at her work while on my way home. She thinks I am crazy paying $500 for something I have no clue about what so ever and so did I until five minutes later. I tell to log on to Ebay and search highest price for "freres clock" under completed items. She tells me the first one was $12,000!!!!!! The maker is Japy Freres from France. The lady said it was German. I get home and start searching, and cannot find this exact clock on the internet, let alone Ebay. It goes up for auction tonight, starting at $500. I am hoping for $2000, but anything over $500 will be great.

The lady said it was German, but sounds to me like she's mistaken. "Frères" is French for "brothers". Japy doesn't sound like a French first name, so it may well be a last name, the Japy Brothers. If that's the case your clock may very well be worth close to $12,000. Putting an antique like this on eBay doesn't sound like a smart thing to do
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I just did a quick search on Google, couldn't find a single clock of theirs below $1,000. Nothing close to $12,000 either, but all over 1K. Looks like congrats are in order

[theantiquetiger]

I just did a quick search on Google, couldn't find a single clock of theirs below $1,000. Nothing close to $12,000 either, but all over 1K. Looks like congrats are in order

Thats about what I found. thats where I came up with the $2500. There was only one that was $12,000 and it did not sell on ebay and it is re-listed on ebay for $12,000 again.