Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. So, these are market values based on prices I find on the web, not appraisal for insurance purposes that I suggest for items that have been determined to be of great value.
This week’s questions are about gypsy fortune-telling cards, Bazooka bubble gum comics and needles.
Question:
I have a very old deck of gypsy witch fortune telling cards by Madame le Normand and would like to know how much they run at.
Answer:
I wrote about Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Cards in a blog post last year after coming across a deck at auction. I learned that the cards were based on ones created by a French mystic called Mademoiselle Le Normand, who used her own customized deck of 36 cards to tell the past, present and future.
She was actually Marie Anne Lenormand, the fortune teller of choice for some very famous people during the 18th and 19th centuries. After she died in 1843, a special deck of Lenormand cards were made.
The Gypsy Witch cards were first offered around 1904, and you can still buy them today. When I wrote the blog post. I found them selling for less than $10 on several sites.
I suspect that your cards are worth about the same amount. To be sure, though, try checking eBay and Google to find out if they are selling and for how much.
Question:
I have 2,200 comics from the mid-70s and also about 30 of the big cardboard comics. Sure wish I knew their value.
Answer:
Everyone must have chewed Bazooka gum and saved those comics because I get lots of inquiries about how much they are worth. I remember the gum as a child and may have kept a few of the comics. But I didn’t realize anyone actually hoarded scores of them until I came across a collection at auction two years ago and blogged about it.
The comics are not worth very much because there are too many of them out there. Here’s a link to a blog post I did in answer to another reader’s question like yours. I offered some suggestions on how the reader can figure out the market value of the comics.
Also, here’s a link to a blog post with tips on how to determine the value of your items. I mentioned in the blog posts that the comics won’t make you rich. If you’d like to know how much a buyer is willing to pay for a collection, check eBay and Google.
Question:
I have recently found a pack of Kirby Beard War Pack Scientific Needles. Also at the top of pack says sharps 3/9. Is there any value?
Answer:
I love sewing paraphernalia – from sewing boxes to sewing machines to a mystery needle case – so when I stumbled upon some needle packs with lovely lithographs on the cover a few years ago, I had to write about them.
The reader didn’t send me a photo of his needle pack but I suspect that it was a small plain pack of needles without any ornamentation, like several I found on the web.
The needles were made by a British company named Kirby, Beard & Co., which made straight pins, safety pins and a host of other items including what was called the Kirby grip hair slide or Kirbigrip. It’s what we call bobby pins. The company was sold in 1929, but products bearing its name were continued to be made until the 1970s. Here’s a 1937 ad for several for its products.
I could not find your needles on eBay, but there were several Kirby Beard items on the site. Most of them were sold, including a pin cushion sewing kit/needle box for about $250.
