Tools I Use and Tools I Want

The following are affiliate links to Amazon meaning I will get compensation if you purchase an item through the link. I just signed up to their affiliate program so this is my first time using these. They are all truly items I use in my ebay business or items I am thinking of purchasing. If you see something that you use that I'm considering please let me know in the comments how you like that item. What are your favorite tools for business?

Here we go. First off are things I use.

This is my new printer I got for Christmas. I haven't hooked it up yet. I'm excited to try it because ink for my old printer was eating me out of house and home.

I use this SKIL rechargeable box cutter almost every day. I LOVE it. It has saved my hands. It's an easy 'zip zip' to cut boxes down to size or cut pieces to use for padding. I've had it for three years and had to replace the blade once. It holds a charge for a good long time. I can't even remember the last time I had to charge it.

I use this ink roller to go over information I want to cover up. I bought it to obscure names and addresses on magazines that I sell or donate but I also use it to go over bar codes on boxes that I use when shipping. You can use it on your personal mail as well to make sensitive information illegible.

I just got this speaker for Christmas. It's bluetooth so I can carry it around to wherever in the room I'm working and still hear whatever podcast or audiobook I'm listening to even if I'm bunching up newspaper or ripping tape. Hey I don't want to miss any of my Scavenger Life or Serial podcast! It is nice and small, just a few inches high.

Now for some things I might try.

This is for resizing a box. I tend to have a hard time with getting the sides even and the box ends up looking pretty wonky on the end I've modified. This has been on my Amazon wish list for ages and I just can't decide if I want it or not. Has anyone tried something like this? Or do you have a way to make your resized boxes nice and straight?

I also want one of these light box/tents. I'm embarrassed to say my workroom is too much of a mess right now to have one of these. For shame! I wish they sold a Magic Room Organizer on Amazon.

I hope you enjoyed my list. Hard work is the most important thing to bring to a reseller business but gadgets sure are fun.

BOLO Naked Ladies, Monsters and Flamingos

What?!

You heard right. Naked ladies, monsters and flamingos. What do they have in common?

I almost purchased a couple of vintage paint by numbers today at the thrift but passed them up because they weren't done very well. When I got home I decided to do a little research on paint by numbers and I saw that 'naked ladies', 'monsters' and 'flamingos' (not together) sell really well.

Some people collect them and display them in a group

photo via country living.com

Have you ever sold paint by numbers? I'll be keeping an eye out for these although I don't see very many paint by numbers myself. 

How Much Money Do You Have Sitting At The Bottom Of That Pile

I have these items that I buy. After researching them I regret the purchase. We all have these don't we? They sit and they sit. I don't re-donate them. I don't list them. They gather dust and make me feel guilty every time I see them. Well lately I've focused on getting them listed  or donated. Giving them one last chance.

It's amazed me how many of these have sold and how much money I have made just listing things I have had for over a year (more like 2). I'm showing them below and adding up how much money I made. These were since Oct 25th. Most weren't huge sellers but that's okay because they are now out of my home and someone is appreciating them. And I have a little more cash.

Club Pan (I thought maybe I wanted to keep this for myself…)

14.99

Vintage Nickelodeon Magazine with Rosie ODonnel cover

9.99

Blues Clues Plush (I thought it was too pilly to sell)

19.99

Ceramic Baked Potato Serving Piece (I even tried to sell this for a quarter at my rummage sale. It didn't sell.)

12.99

Vintage Model Kit (I couldn't tell if it was all there)

50.00

That's $107.96 for stuff that has been gathering dust for at least 2 years. 

For each thing I had some reason why I wasn't listing it. For instance for the model kit I wasn't 100 percent sure it was all there. The instructions were in another language and I didn't feel like figuring out based on the pictures if all of the pieces were there. Well as you can see that was definitely worth listing even though I had to say I wasn't sure it was complete. It was the only one like it on ebay and sold for good money. A lot of times it boils down to insecurity. I think my object isn't good enough or not as great as I thought it was when I purchased it. So lesson learned. Either donate it or list it. Don't let stuff just sit around. It may be worth some cash and is definitely taking up precious space in my house and in my brain. 

Do you do this? Or are you good about re-donating things you wish you hadn't purchased? If you do this too, try an experiment. Just list those items once and for all. Give them a couple of months to sell and then set them free (re-donate) if they don't. Maybe you have $100 waiting for you. 

DNTO Definitely Not The Opera

photo via this blog

Yesterday I found a new podcast (new for me). It's called DNTO which stands for Definitely Not The Opera. It's similar to This American Life on NPR. Each episode is about an hour and focuses on one topic. Host Sook-Yin Lee shares five or six stories that explore that topic in different ways. I found this Canadian podcast on a blog that I follow (see my sidebar) Things I Find In The Garbage. Martin who writes this blog was featured on DNTO on an episode where the topic was…wait…..can you guess? …GARBAGE! Yes the whole episode was on garbage. That may not sound so great but it is. I listened to the entire episode and it is a scavengers dream podcast. You must go check it out. I love to listen to a podcast when I work. It makes for a much better day of taking photos, shipping or cleaning dirty vintage stuff when you're engrossed in a good podcast. Unfortunately until yesterday I didn't have enough! I had my favorite Scavenger Life and a new one Serial and some Youtube resellers I would listen to when desperate but I didn't have enough to fill my roster. Now I do. I have loads of DNTO to catch up on. I don't even know how many There are six years worth. but it looks like it will take me a while to catch up. I listened to three yesterday; the episode with Martin on garbage (my favorite), an episode on Art, and an episode on Regret. Please check out the one on garbage if nothing else. Trust me you won't be able to stop with just one.

So am I just way behind the times? Does everyone else already know about this gem LOL? Please go listen now and then come back and tell me your thoughts.

My Best Sales This Week and a BOLO

Darice Doll Heads

image from ebay auction

I know I've seen this once in a while. I have never picked them up because I didn't realize they are worth something and I just plain don't like 'um. They remind me of those crocheted dolls that would sit in the middle of your bed. I'm pretty sure I had one of those. The memory is hazy. Anyway pick them up if you see them new in package and put together a lot. Good money. Here are completeds.

Sales were steady this week. I had another Bonanza sale and another Etsy sale. Woohoo. Seems like views are really picking up for me on those two sites.

On ebay my best sales were:

Disney Bowling Style Shirt. Paid $4 or $5. Sold for $36 best offer plus shipping.

Set of Vintage Clay Angels. They were 2 bells and a candle holder. Paid about a quarter in a church bag sale. Sold for $29.99 plus shipping.

Vintage Leather Trench. Free. Sold for $49.99 plus shipping. These were very popular about 35 years ago when I was a teen. 

I've noticed the last few days that ebay's search is wonky. When I'm doing research I put in a couple of key words for example 'black shirt' and get let's say 1000 results. When I go to narrow that down by putting in 'black shirt -polo' I get more results instead of less. This happened to me several times using different searches so I knew it wasn't just a fluke or mistake on my part. Anyone else notice this? I've also noticed that when I typed in keywords I wasn't getting suggestions from ebay on additional keywords or most popular keywords to go with mine. I hope they get all of this sorted out. Holiday time is not the best time for the search engine not to perform. 

I just heard my phone cha ching so I must end this and go back to work! Happy sales.

My Little Pony

I've seen these around the blogs and I always thought they were so pretty. This is the first I found. I was so excited. You know the adrenaline rush you get when you find a new treasure. It's a Swedish Dala Horse. It measures 6.5". Initial research shows there are fewer green ones than orange and red so hopefully that is good for the value. I don't think we have a very large scandinavian population where I live so I don't get to see a lot of the cool danish modern things that other thrifters find. The picture is bad because it was taken with a flash. I couldn't wait to show him to someone but I'll take better pics tomorrow with natural light before I list it. It was just $2.49.

Sales have been steady. I'm having a hard time keeping up with shipping the last couple of days because I have had some other things to do as well. I'm glad for the sales though. I had my second Etsy sale yesterday. 

Edited to add: The dala horse sold for 39.99 on etsy!

Mystery Purchase

I bought several of these ceramic things at an estate sale recently. They look like flower pots but are covered on the top with just a small hole. They are glazed on the outside and some are green and others black. They are about 4" tall. Does anyone know what these are and what they were used for? I've never seen any before. 

Don't Misuse USPS Priority Materials

I may get some negative comments from this post but I think it is an important topic.

While I list I watch a lot of reseller Youtube videos. I also read a lot of reseller blogs. I won't name any in particular but I will say that it really bugs me when resellers brag about misusing USPS priority materials. They usually do it with a grin on their face like it's a little joke that we all share. One of those…everyone does it so it's okay kind of things.

I don't do it and here is why.

Our USPS system is already financially in trouble and this can only make things worse for an already strained system. How will the people who do this feel if USPS has to stop offering free materials to save money? We all lose out. I don't work for the post office. I just appreciate what they do and the value of their service. They come to my door, pick up all my packages. I order more boxes free off of their website from the warmth and comfort of my home. People seem to think it's a victimless crime. It's not. Those boxes cost money. As a reseller how would you feel if your customers were penny by penny siphoning funds from your paypal account? Just a little at a time. Can't hurt, right? I don't think we'd like it.

Part of doing business as a reseller is finding a way to get boxes. Many resellers visit stores and request their empties or count on friends and family who have access to used boxes. Some take them from dumpsters. There are alternatives to stealing USPS boxes. The alternatives are better for the environment as well. In my case I have a friend who gets a lot of used boxes from his job. I also save all the boxes I get when I order things. Lastly I do a lot of priority shipping and have a large variety of the priority boxes on hand.

I just had to get this off of my chest. I expect that most of my regular readers are not the people who do this. Those people probably don't read my blog but I just had to vent anyway.

Last week I did a post on the Batman commemorative stamp set that is now available at the post office. Here is an interesting article about commemorative stamps and how their subject matter is chosen and some recent controversy regarding the images chosen to be on the stamps.

How do you feel about the post office, postal materials and those that misuse these items?

I had just one sale on Cyber Monday and it was a Bonanza sale. Eight total sales on Bonanza now since I opened my store there a few months ago. Not bad since I wouldn't have had those sales otherwise and it takes very little work to maintain my Bonanza shop. The only thing I regularly do is make sure what I sell on Bonanza I delete from ebay and vice versa.

My ebay inventory is now up to 955. My goal at the beginning of the year was to be at 1000 by the end of the year. Will I make it? I hope to but I'd rather items fly out of my store too quickly these next three weeks for me to reach my goal :)

My Best Sales This Week

Sales have picked up a little the last few days. Below are my best sales. The first sale is a brass Holy water font. I paid 1.99 and it sold for 29.99 plus shipping. This is my second religious item to sell. 

Music Box. I had this music box for about a year. It sold for 27.99 with free shipping.

The book below sold for 34.99 plus shipping. I can't remember how much I paid but it would be less than a dollar. So many books I pick up are only worth about 9.99 with free shipping but once in a while I hit a winner. I love books and it's hard for me not to buy them. The problem is they take up a lot of room.  

This wool mens Timberland sweater sold the same day I listed it for 34.99 plus shipping. I paid 3.00 for it. I'm thinking about buying mannequins for my clothes. I think they look much better on a form of some sort. If you use a mannequin what kind do you use? 

I want to share a couple of pages from a 4H cookbook I sold this week. It's from 1959. Washing dishes was quite a bit more complicated back then. It made me laugh so I thought you might enjoy it too. 

I hope your sales have picked up too. Have a good week and a nice Thanksgiving. 

BOLO All Penguins

image from Wikimedia

Have you read this article? It's a really sweet commercial. I gather from the article that all things penguin are hotter now. Keep your eye out for anything penguin especially plush and/or list um if you've got em.  I have one lone penguin ornament to list but I'll be looking for more penguin paraphernalia when I'm out thrifting.

Bonanaza

Before today I'd had one sale on Bonanza since I started listing there a couple of months ago. Well today I had two sales and one offer which I accepted but hasn't been paid yet. To me this is an indication of holiday buying. If you have been thinking about trying Bonanza now is probably the best time to do so. Below are the things I sold or had offers on today. So if like me, you have a Bonanza account but just haven't been using it get your ebay or etsy stuff up there. Or if you've been thinking of opening a Bonanza account now is the time to try it. Do you use Bonanza? If so have your sales been increasing there? 

The Sorcerer's Apprentice Book

A lot of Gurley Christmas Candles

A Framed Print of a Lighthouse

Batman Stamps

I am a stamp geek. I don't have a formal collection and I usually use my stamps but I consider myself somewhat a stamp collector. I love stamps. Particularly I love commemorative stamps. I love the art work. I love the little stories they tell. The pieces of history depicted. I had to show you my latest. These are currently available at the USPS. I'm not really interested in older stamps that are valuable because of age unless they are also cool looking. As you can see I already used a stamp off of this sheet. These would be a great gift for a Batman lover.

I listed 13 items yesterday. That is a record for me. Yeah! I had four sales as well which is high for me.

My Best Sales This Week

Pendleton Shirt. I paid $4 for this shirt. I didn't notice when I bought it that it had paint all over it. I listed it anyway at a lower price and described the condition. It took quite a while to sell but finally sold this week for $24.99 with free shipping. 

These Levis cost .50 at an estate sale. They sold for $39.99 plus shipping. They were made in the USA which makes them worth more (I didn't know this but someone messaged me about them and clued me in). I had them priced at $14.99 before. Valuable lesson learned. 

Lastly. I sold this model kit before but the buyer didn't pay. Took a best offer of $50 this week and the buyer paid this time. I paid a dollar for this at a rummage sale. 

Sales have continued to be slow again this week. I have an auction ending today on this St Elizabeth statue that I featured in a previous post. I started it at $79.99 and have one bid so far and 4 watchers. I'm hoping it goes high. 

Lastly yesterday I went to a very unique estate sale. It was the contents of an art gallery. The owner of the gallery died two years ago and this sale was to sell everything in the gallery and settle his estate. There were hundreds of pieces of art, books, some furniture and a bunch of persian rugs. I went toward the end of the sale to get some better deals and not have to fight crowds. I purchased two rugs, a set of collages, a bunch of art books and catalogs and a framed vintage woven bag. All in all I spent $270. OMG! I've never spent that much in one shot. I'll post some pictures of my finds later. It was a fun experience. 

What happened in your store this week? Are you experiencing a holiday rush yet? 

Baby Ben Clocks by Westclox

I find these cute little Baby Ben clocks by Westclox fairly often. I think I've sold two and have two listed right now. I love their style. This morning I got a question through ebay messages asking if I knew the age of the clock. From it's appearance I thought it was 60s but I went searching the internet for some information to back me up before answering the potential buyer. I found this great site that I wanted to share with you in case you ever need to date Big Bens or Baby Bens. Interestingly my clock was made between 1979 and 2000. I didn't know they made them that recently. There are earlier models but this isn't one. I guess I should remove mid century modern from my title LOL. Previously one I sold was a mint green. It was really cute. The two I have now are off white. Hopefully the person interested in them will buy one or two..

My Cap Climbed a Mountain!

I love to read when sellers get a nice message from a buyer. I get them once in a while but none recently. So yesterday when a buyer left me feedback for a Chicago Cubs hat they bought from me I was happy. They bought the hat specifically to represent their home town when they climbed Mt McKinley  Whitney. I messaged them back and they sent me a photo. How cool is that? I blurred their face since I didn't get their permission to post their photo. Beautiful view. 

It's a rainy cloudy day today so I won't be listing much. I'm taking advantage of the weather to prep items and organize. 

Some More Cool Religious Finds

Last night I caught a little bit of the movie The Davinci Code on cable and it made me all tingly thinking about my recent interest in looking for religious items. What if I got caught up in something like the Davinci Code ;) Hey it could happen! 

Yes, I found a couple more neat religious items this week. The first I found at a thrift store. It's a vintage 7" carved wood sculpture of a saint. Very lightweight. Doesn't appear to be really special. After a bunch of research I am pretty sure it is a piece made by the company ANRI. ANRI is a very old company in Italy that makes carved wood pieces. I put it up at auction and already have a bid after just a few hours.

The second is a set of two vintage carved wood plaques of two figures praying. They are about 12" in height. The one has a feather in his hair which to me indicates American Indian but I don't really associate Christianity with American Indians? Or maybe praying with hands together isn't just Christian. Any thoughts? I haven't done much research on these yet but they are very cool looking. I found one similar pair on ebay. I haven't listed them yet.  

I had ZERO sales this weekend and haven't had a sale yet today on Monday either. Gulp. I thought things were looking up. It's given me lots of time to list though which I have been doing…religiously.

My Best Sales This Week

Vintage Electric Angel Tree Topper. I can't remember what I paid for this. Sold for 22.95 plus shipping. Christmas type sales are picking up. I also sold a lot of satin beaded ornaments this week and a set of Santa nesting dolls last week. 

I had been picking up vintage tablecloths for a while and had amassed a pile that was just sitting and sitting as I didn't want to list them. Why? I was thinking it was going to be this huge job of measuring each one and meticulously going over them for stains and holes. I could see without much work that some had stains. Finally I did my research and ended up listing them as a lot of mixed sizes as is with some stains and holes. I still got 45 dollars plus shipping for 9 tablecloths. If they are pristine you can get around 10 a piece for them. People buy them both to use and to repurpose in crafts. I love their bright colors and patterns. 

Finally yesterday I hit a church/school sale. I've got a method now where I go at the end of the day for the bag sale. At yesterday's I got some great items for 3 dollars a bag. This is my new favorite source that I'll be looking for each weekend. Indoors. Cheap. Huge variety of things. I just have to be careful to leave those items behind that I know are only going to net a few bucks. It's hard! and I fail sometimes.  They had a whole table of religious items which I scooped up. I'm hoping there is something interesting in the bunch. 

My primary source is thrift stores but church sales are closing in. I hope they last all winter. What is your favorite source? Estate sales, rummage, thrift stores or church sales? Or other? 

My Ting and Motorola Photon Q Review

I originally heard about Ting a couple of years ago when I was looking at cell phones and plans. I went with a different provider at the time. Fast forward to present day. I was spending almost 90 dollars a month for my cell phone plan through ATT. I'm also paying for a land line. I'm one of those old school people who have a hard time getting rid of the land line. My cell phone was reaching the end of its life plus I was trying to cut some expenses. With Ting you pay according to what you use. Here are their rates. If you didn't use your phone at all you pay a flat $6 a month. I was paying way too much for the type of usage I had with ATT. I don't talk a lot on my phone. I don't text a lot. I don't use a huge amount of data for internet but I didn't want to NOT have it because I like the GPS feature and sometimes I will look something up for resale. Even that I don't use very much though because I like to be inconspicuous when I shop. So I was paying a lot for the least amount I could get. At the same time I was reading on Scavenger Life what Jay and Ryanne had to report on their recent experience with Ting. As phones go I have a difficult standard to meet. I want/need a real keyboard on my phone. Not all companies/plans offer a phone with this. I've tried phones without a keyboard. For a short time I had an iPhone. I just couldn't deal with it! I need a physical keyboard. The trend indicates that some day I will probably have to go without my keyboard. Sprint (which is what Ting uses) has a phone which I liked a Motorola Photon Q. I purchased it on ebay for $100. Knowing there was no contract I knew I could always sell the phone and go back to a more conventional plan if I didn't like it. Based on their maps of coverage I saw that I do not live in an area with optimal coverage. Ting uses Sprint satellites. But based on the price and the fact that Sprint offers a phone I was happy with (it has a keyboard) I decided it was worth a try. I've had my phone  for over a week. Porting my number and joining Ting was super easy. I've had no dropped calls which is what I was most afraid of. I love the phone. I'm very happy with Ting so far. I'm including my referral link in this post. If you decide to try Ting and use my referral link we each get $25. I used Jay and Ryannes link and I got $25 off of my first bill.

I haven't got my first Ting bill yet as it's just been a little over a week but I'm hoping to at least halve my cell phone bill. And did I say I love my new phone?

Ting referral link. 

My Best Sales This Week and My First Etsy Sale

Sales picked up this week. My sales were about double what I usually reach. Yeah! Below are my best.

Framed signed art print. Paid $3. Sold for $29.99 plus shipping. $3 of that sale went to a Mission Fish Charity.

Koala Salt and Pepper Shakers. Paid 50 cents. Sold for $29.99 plus shipping.

Serengeti Sunglasses. Paid $1.99. Sold for $65 plus shipping. 

And I was kind of excited this morning to get my first Etsy sale. This vintage little girl lamp.  Paid under $5. Sold for $39.99 plus shipping. Isn't she cute? 

So now I've had one sale each at Bonanza and etsy in about 6 weeks. Obviously not going to replace an ebay income but it's something. I've got less than 15 items on etsy and 900 on Bonanza. All are from my ebay inventory. No original items. I'll keep listing in both places. It doesn't take much time or money. How have your Bonanza and etsy sales been?

BOLO and a Tip

I have some vintage tablecloths I'm researching and while doing so I learned that the Wilendur brand of vintage tablecloths can be very lucrative. See completeds. I love the vintage tablecloths that have the colorful designs like cherries or florals. I've been picking them up one by one when I see them cheap to sell in a lot. See completeds for lot of vintage tablecloths. You can make a lot of money off them.

My tip is something I learned by accident this past week. Here it is. Sometimes I will list a particularly nice item in two categories IF the categories are both relevant, thinking that I'm increasing the number of people who will see the item. Well last week I learned that this can be a bad idea and work against you. I had a pair of Vintage Serengeti Drivers Sunglasses. I listed them in Mens Accessories and also in Vintage Accessories, at a good price with best offer.

I had them listed for a couple of months with no offers. One day I was looking to see where my listing was placed in among the other listings and couldn't find it! I looked and looked. Mens..Accessories...Sunglasses...Used...It wasn't there. When I searched in Mens Accessories Sunglasses Used there was only one page of listings coming up so I just couldn't understand why my listing wasn't showing up. Finally a few hours later in the day it dawned on me. Because I had also listed them in the Vintage Accessories category they were NOT showing up in the USED mens accessories. Why? Because they were in the Not Specified categary of mens accessories. What? you ask? Because 'vintage' does not have a Used/New catgegory and that was what the search defaulted to. I don't kjnow if it was because I picked that category first or if it always defaults there but that was why. I ended the listing, removed the Vintage category and relisted them just as used in the mens accessories where most of the other vintage Serengeti sunglasses were listed.  A couple of days later I had a sale.  Be careful when you list in multiple categories. One may influence the other in ways you're not aware of. I know this is kind of convoluted. I hope it makes sense!

BOLO Flocked Animals

I have a soft spot in my heart for flocked animal figures. Probably because they were popular when I was a kid. As a kid though I didn't think they were anything special. A cheap souvenir to pick up on vacation. As I grew older though nostalgia kicked in. This past weekend I picked up a flocked doe at a bag sale (pictured below). Is he not the cutest? Mostly I picked it for myself as it doesn't look to be worth much but I researched it anyway 'cause you NEVER KNOW.  Look at some that are in recent completeds. I'll definitely BOLO this Kunstlerschutz brand. So I always pick flocked animals up if they are cheap and I have sold a few pieces but never found any worth a lot. I may start saving them instead of selling them....maybe the doe is the start of something :)

Do you remember flocked animals? Maybe a flocked easter bunny in your easter basket, a flocked deer that decorated your home during the holidays or maybe a flocked bobble head on the dash of your parents car?



In the spirit of Halloween I'm looking for scary movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime. What are a couple of your favorite scary movies old and newer? Some of mine…Tonight I'm trying out The Awakening on Netflix streaming.

The Omen
The Exorcist
Poltergeist
The Blair Witch Project
Let the Right One In
The Birds
Carrie (I thought the new Carrie was pretty good too)
The Paranormal Movies

My Best Sales This Week

Sales have been picking up this past week after a very slow week the week before.  How are your sales this week?

Bailey's Irish Cream Cookie Jar. Paid $4. Sold for $54.99 plus shipping. This cookie jar even had some chips on the edge of the lid.

Vintage Pendleton Plaid Skirt. Paid $3. Sold for $39.99 plus shipping. Perfect for Christmas.

Double H Cowboy Boots. Paid $5. Sold for $40 best offer. Plus shipping.

My Search for Religion

Lorraine at Clamco has written some very interesting posts lately about interesting items she's found. If you haven't yet read the series you should hop on over there. I was excited after reading the posts to add some of the items to my BOLO list and get out hunting. At my third thrift I finally found a vintage religious object. A holy water font. I remember as a kid having one of these in our hallway and then later I had one in my bedroom. Ours weren't this fancy. It cost 1.99 and I've got it listed for 29.99. I priced it at the high end of similar items but it is pretty cool. Thanks Lorraine for writing about your interesting religious finds. If anyone know which angel this is please let me know. I wonder if it would be a guardian angel. Completed Religious Objects. One thing about looking for vintage metal objects is there are so many 'fake antiques' out there from stores like Hobby Lobby, Pier 1 and other stores of their nature. Sometimes I'm not sure. I guess if it says made in China that's a good clue :) My holy water font has some good ole grime and oxidation on it so I'm sure it's true vintage. Are you ever fooled by faux vintage?