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This is turning out to be an unusually quiescent Silly Season on eBay.  Traditionally, Fall is the best time to buy and sell glass because cooling temperatures are driving both sellers and collectors inside to huddle around the incandescent warmth of their computer monitors.  This  translates into an abundance  of glasses to choose from, but the downside is that competition for even the mundane glasses becomes fierce.  Watching two newbies slug it out over a $10 Hayner is always entertaining, but having to pay >$60 for less common picture glasses is enough to drive one to the point of distraction.

But this year...  

Yes, there are some nice glasses on offer, and yes, there are some common glasses that are commanding outrageous prices, but sometimes the Glass Poobah feels that playing canasta in an old-folks home would be preferable to logging into eBay at the moment.  Maybe it's something to do with the economy?  Any ideas?

Here's the highlights and the lowlights.

"Steal of the Week" definitely goes to aquabluecreations for walking off with a prime side of pre-pro glass for only $0.99: see the chat room for more details on that one.

In the "MMTS" category,  we have several worthy contenders.
First up is the "Fine Old Kentucky Taylor" (below).  It is a great glass even though a text-only and I vividly recall paying way too much for my own minty example, but is it worth $48.00??????  Maybe in 10 years.  johnschaller walked off with this one after a grudge match with our good friend Arkansas Joe. 
Second up is a LAX German-American Wine Co tonic.  Given the depth of the "SCA",  this one must have been lying in Death Valley for so long that it could kill you if exposed to it for >10 min.  Bottle collectors love this aberration, shot collectors hate the amethyst, yet it attracted 13 bids and closed at $51.00.  Oink! goldilocksand3wears took this one.  Hopefully it will disappear into a bank vault and be lost to collector-dom forever! 
Finally, johnschaller features again as high bidder on a dog-of-a-faded-piggie-dose-glass from  Hiller Liquor Co.  It closed at $61.01 after a bidding war between Mr. Schaller and scubadoodoc.  scubadoo-doo indeed.

I'm biting my tongue on a CRACKED  Old Capitol glass from Graf of St. Louis that closed at $37.96 with a bidder list that featured many of the usual suspects.

The "Where's the @#i%%i*~ Reserve???" category features three Merry Xmas glasses from A.M. Smith of Minneapolis, MN.  Minnesota-based Joe glasshopper8 bid on all three and failed to make the bell ring on any of them - an exemplary demonstration of restraint on more common examples from the highly collectible souvenir series.

In the "Huh, what did I miss???" category is this beaded McBrayer that sold for a whopping $87.00!  McBrayers are always popular, but this auction was a real eye-opener.

So how about a SOTW?

This week's winner was selected for rarity as much as anything.  It's an Old Harper, from Bernheim Bros. of Louisville, KY.  There are so many Old Harper variants available that it's difficult keeping track, plus the fact that the brand name was carried into the post-Repeal era by Schenley means that the brand has become tarnished by modernity.  Glasses bearing the Old Harper brand name are often disparaged as a consequence.  But this week's SOTW is special because it's etched in black, something we don't see very often in pre-pro glasses (it could be an aberration of lighting technique, but that's the way it looks in the auction photo).  Perhaps that in itself would be enough to discourage the regulars from aiming their sniper barrels at the glass, but oldwhiskey was Interested, with a cap. "I".  Unfortunately bluroc and junkmoney found it intriguing also, but the glass ultimately ended up on its way to MD after being grabbed by lucky101blue for $46.88.  Can anyone say "@#i%%i*"?!

Congratulations to the winner!  

last updated: December 03, 2005                  

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