How Do You Measure Success ?

With a great scale! That is how you measure success. Scales have been one of the most important instruments for the person in business since ancient times. I remember in movies of the Roman Empire scales being used. At one time, the instruments were very primitive - composed of a lever with weights hung on one end and the item to be weighed was placed in a pan at the other end. This was functional but compared to today’s scales that are digital and can measure things minutely, we have come a long way.

The scales that really caught my eye were the gold scales use during the great gold rush. Stories abound of how merchants cheated the miners by under-weighing their gold. One of the old sayings was "How could you get a true measure." But in the old West and the rest of the country, scales were being used to measure grain, medicine, candy, milk and almost anything else that was being sold by merchants.

Later, the greatest scales of interest to me were the ones used in carnivals and amusement parks to weigh a person. I remember one that had a clown’s head that moved and its eyes opened and closed as you were being weighed. People have always been interested in their weight - so scales of all types have been manufactured that we can obsess over our weight.

Our mail also has to be weighed so that the proper postage fee could be applied for its shipping cost. There is airmail or ground mail and parcel post or priority mail and your cost varies depending on how fast you want the receiver to get your package. But the question is: Can we make money purchasing and selling scales?” I will let you be the judge. The Eine cast iron suspension bridge scales from the 19th century should bring more $5,000 today while a Rosenfield Reliance penny cast iron scale might sell for more than $15,000. There is a wide verity of different scales to choose from, but generally, the antique ones will bring you $500 or more. Today, you may find scales used for the wrong reasons but in the past they were an instrument necessary to conduct business. The more unusual the scales, the more valuable they will be, so keep a keen eye out for the scales to success.

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Gold, Silver, Copper and Bronze

Art Metals continue to bring in good prices. Learn more about Roycroft, Jarvie, Heintz and other 20th Century valuable art pieces.


Alert! Alert! Gold and Silver are falling.

Even the weight of a bad stock market can’t keep the value of these industrial metals up. In the best environment these metals could have, they are hanging on by their teeth. Sell, Sell, Sell, and then check back with me in six months. I think you will want to buy me dinner.

This is the third time I have put out the alert To sell gold and silver, and because of the time lag from the first call to sell, I believe this decline will even be steeper than I originally imagined. Trade your gold and silver for wonderful and fantastic items produce from the common metals. I personally believe this is where the money is to be made in the short run.

Even though I am very negative on gold and silver, I think differently about choice antique & collectible pieces made from copper and bronze. If you have followed the metal markets, all the touters are pushing investments in gold and silver very heavily. This is usually a signal that a top has been reached in the market for those commodities. This can't be said for copper and bronze however.

Fine art pieces from the Art and Crafts movement will continue to bring high prices for items produced by such companies as Roycroft, Jarvie, Heintz, Gustav Stickley and Dirk Van Erp.

The real Arts and Crafts look will be hammered, and this hammering will be wonderfully crafted. Most of these copper pieces were meant to be displayed with furniture of that style and era, namely Stickley, Limbeth and others.

When you become familiar with their marks and learn about items from these companies, you’ll be paid handsomely in the future. Right now, the 31 Club is discussing the possibility of buying a large collection of Roycroft through our Associates Program. I have my fingers crossed on this one. What a great buy this will be for both the club and the member who called for our help.

Bronze has been used for producing figures, jewelery, sculptures and different types of lamps from almost the beginning of civilized man. It is easily worked and develops a wonderful patina over time. Items made from these metals bring huge prices in today’s markets. Rare bronze sculptures can easily bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars with ease, but the more common pieces you’ll find can fetch from $5,000 to $25,000. Considering most dealers can't tell the originals from the reproductions, they pass on all of them. This knowledge served one dealer I have previously written about when he purchased a Jarvie Candelabra for about $80 and sold it for around $7,000 or $8,000 if my memory serves me correctly. You will clean up big time if you have the knowledge in this area.


Our Marketplace has been expanded. If you haven't visited recently, take a look at our new additions. And don't forget, we will always have room for your items.

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SPARKLE SPARKLE LITTLE STAR - How I Wonder What You Are. DIAMOND - RUBY - EMERALD - SAPPHIRE

Jewelry. This is a subject that women never tire of and we men should pay attention to. The women have always had it right, and yes, diamonds should be their best friend.

I have a little different approach to buying jewelry than most, and I find my way to be very lucrative. It is very difficult to go out on a Saturday morning to the sales and not have a chance to buy multiple pieces of jewelry. Yes, most of these pieces will be costume, but don’t be so quick to judge before you examine them.

I will give you my rule in buying jewelry, and it goes like this. First, check to see if the piece is mounted in gold or platinum and what karat this metal is?. Next, you should know that gold can come in several colors and you make yourself aware of these varieties. Platinum is usually white or silver and is the most precious of the metals that you will find. Most pieces of jewelry will be marked unless the mark has worn off or the piece is very early.

Once you have been around jewelry for a while, you can guess at what the value of the gold or platinum in a piece is worth on the open market. Yes, 24 karat gold is worth more than 14 karat but by only about half as much. With gold at the present time selling at the $800 range per ounce, it doesn’t have to be a very large piece to have quite a value. The same with platinum, but even more so.

You will need to find a good book on metal marks so that if the piece is gold plated or filled you will know not to buy it for the metal content. Have you noticed that I haven’t even mentioned the stones that it may contain?Yes, I have done this for a reason. Can you guess why?

I always try the buy jewelry at one third the value of the actual metal. Example: If I think that the ring has one half ounce of 24 karat gold in it and the market price for gold is $800, then I try to buy the piece at about $260-$270. By doing this I can assure myself that I can double my investment even if I have to scrap the metal. Scraping mean to sell the base metal in the commodity market. By doing this, you are assured of taking your next step in the race to 31 Steps, and that is our goal in the 31 Club's Million Dollar Race.

Now you know my secret. It doesn’t matter what the stones are, because they are just the icing on the cake. If they are semi-previous stones, so be it. But if they are Diamonds , Rubies, Emeralds, or Sapphires, you may have found yourself a real treasure.

I think I have told you the story about the watch that my friend, Warner, bought for $200 that turned out to be a french designer piece worth at least $5,000. I know personally that his wife was very pleased with that purchase and still has it to this day.

Even the cut of the stones can be misleading. There was a diamond cut in the early years called the "mine cut." Today, if you find a piece of jewelry with mine cut stones in it, you might very well think that it might have very little value, but you might be surprised.

I have shared with you why there is always a crowd around the jewelry cases. I hope that from now on, there will be one more person there, and that person will be you.

Be sure to visit our web site for more information about how you can join the 31 Club and start your own race to your millions! Read more about it here!"The Guy in the Red Tie" --- Daryle Lambert

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