There is no garbage in the world – there are things that simply lie in the wrong place. This saying is attributed to Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. It’s a good principle, and it’s also suitable for digging finds. I will leave the topic of scrap metal and scrap of any non-ferrous waste outside the scope of this note. Therefore, I will tell you about my personal experience of selling in bulk or in bulk lots a number of interesting finds.
Horsemeat. (horse harness decorations). Or, as a sign in one of the Crimean museums states, “uniform buttons of Ottoman soldiers.”
An absolutely illiquid type of find. Just four years ago, when I just became interested in instrumental search, on the vastness of specialized sites one could see that someone was buying horse meat in large lots. But when, two years ago, I decided to put up a similar lot weighing more than a kilogram at a starting price of 300 rubles, the auction ended without arousing anyone’s interest.
Crosses. It all depends on the type of crosses included in the prefabricated lot. In the first photo you can see a lot of typical “petal” crosses. With an initial bid of 100 rubles, the lot did not arouse interest from any buyer. The lot from the second photo went for 350 rubles + 150 postage, well, most likely, the buyer was interested in the pewter icon. This year, a composite lot of eleven “besogon” crosses went at an online auction for 1,700 rubles with postage.
Uniform buttons. Here, as with crosses, everything depends on the rarity and condition of the finds. So the entire lot shown in the photo was sold at auction for 1.5 thousand rubles.
Weight buttons. Until a certain point, I threw these finds in the trash along with other junk. Until, one day, I saw a lot of 1,800 weight buttons in a completed auction. ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED!!! Charles!!! Now I don’t remember the specific sale amount, but, in my opinion, the price tag was around ten thousand rubles. That's when I caught fire. The idea was not so much about selling, but about understanding how many weights I could put on in a year. As a result, in two years I was able to dig up no more than five hundred. Yes, it’s not one thousand eight hundred, but still.
USSR coins before 1961. Wholesale costs, on average, 10 rubles apiece. As I understand it, such lots are bought by people who are well versed in the types of coins and have good eyesight coupled with a microscope. In a pile of three hundred coins there may be a couple, or maybe more, of rare varieties of stamps. Everything is so complicated in Soviet coins. For example, one kopeck with Madagascar in the coat of arms can cost 10 thousand rubles, and without Madagascar 30 rubles. Just try to see this very Madagascar.
Kakalki (RI coins in very poor condition) As in the case of Soviet coins, they purchase them in bulk in the hope of finding something rare. But, unlike the previous example, people buy poop only if the seller has not washed or cleaned it. The intrigue must remain. And here it’s up to the digger himself to decide. Clean coins to see the year and variety, or throw them unwashed into a jar, so that they can then be guaranteed to sell in bulk.
Silver coins RI. I put all silver coins that are cheaper than 500 rubles into wholesale lots. I don’t see the point in selling them separately and I just don’t want to waste time. The total amount varies depending on the interest of buyers. But, as a rule, no more than 100 rubles apiece.
Scales. The most liquid and popular type of wholesale purchases. They are bought at a price of 20 rubles per piece. It is advisable for the seller to distinguish between rare varieties of scales. This is Godunov, Shuisky and everything that came before Elena Glinskaya. Why did I choose Glinskaya? I recommend reading the history of the monetary reform by Elena Glinskaya.
Here is my short list of the main lots of finds that may or may not be sold in bulk via the Internet. I know that many diggers often sell everything at once in one lot, everything that was dug up in one trip, but this is not my topic. But I am now preparing to sell about 50 rings in one lot. If you are interested in how it went, write in the comments, and I will definitely tell you about it in one of the following posts
