What's Selling on eBay
A run of antiques that sold on eBay, from a prisoner-of-war bone automaton to a high-wheel bicycle, and what an appraiser’s comments on each one teach about reading an online auction result.
Reading an eBay auction result
An eBay result is more than a price. Each sale recorded here comes with the final bid, the number of bids and sometimes the number of bidders, the seller’s own description and an appraiser’s comment on whether the price made sense. Read together, they show how the online market valued a piece at a particular moment, and why a figure that looks high or low may have a good reason behind it.
Three questions run through every result. How rare is the object, and how many comparable sales exist? What does the seller disclose about condition, repairs and replaced parts? And does the object belong to a second collecting category, such as railroadiana, that pushes the price above what the object alone would bring? None of the prices below is a current value. They are historical results, useful for the reasoning behind them. The first four sales date from the years just after September 2012, the date of a Sotheby’s sale the appraiser used as a comparison; the last group comes from April 2017.
A prisoner-of-war bone automaton and the problem of comparables
A mid-19th-century French folk art automaton sold for $1,384 after 34 bids. It measured only 1.25 inches wide by 2 inches long, and when the handle turned, a tiny lady carved from bone spun her wheel, lifted her left arm and turned her head. The seller disclosed an old replacement piece beside the wheel and loose threads that needed replacing. Similar pieces were described as French prisoner-of-war work, made from scraps of cow and pig bone.
The appraiser found two similar objects at small British auction houses for £270 and £700 (about $438 and $1,135), and one sold by Sotheby’s from Brooke Astor’s estate on September 24, 2012 for $3,438 with buyer’s premium. That one was larger and had four women instead of one. Her conclusion: the object was so rare that its future value was hard to predict, but against the Astor sale it looked like a good buy.
The arithmometer: when a high price is earned
An arithmometer made in France in the 1880s by Louis Payen sold for $4,539 after only seven bids. The seller had taken it to the Antiques Roadshow in Cincinnati, where it was judged in very good condition for its age; the ivory knobs and mechanisms worked, and one small corner piece was broken.
Thomas de Colmar patented the arithmometer in France in 1820, and the mechanical calculator was made from 1851 to 1915. The late 1880s, when Payen managed the plant, were considered the golden age of its manufacture, and this example had a 16-digit capacity. British and German clones are common. The appraiser called the price high, but justified, because fewer machines survive from the original French company. The company itself struggled during World War I and was sold in 1915, when shortages of materials and trained workers made it unviable.
A penny farthing bicycle with every option
A high-wheel bicycle made by G & J of Chicago between 1888 and 1890 sold for $6,212 after 18 bids. It had a 52-inch driving wheel, a Lillibridge saddle, upgraded rams-horn handlebars, ball-bearing pedals and ball bearings in both axles, options that cost extra on top of the $79 the bicycle cost in 1888. All the spokes were original and the wheels were true.
The British name comes from two coins, the large penny and the small farthing, which resemble the wheels seen from the side. The large wheel was faster and smoother on cobblestones, but falling off, “taking a header,” could prove fatal. The appraiser noted that a penny farthing could be found for about $1,000, but not the deluxe version, and that the full set of original features drove the price.
April 2017: silk boots, a towel steamer and snow goggles
A later round of results, from April 2017, shows how a matching set can be split. A pair of red and blue 1870s silk boots by Madame Elise, court dressmaker of 170 Regent Street, London, sold for $3,521 (19 bids, 3 bidders), while the matching Columbine costume brought $2,286 (14 bids, 4 bidders). The appraiser called the boots rare, since few antique boots survive in such condition, and judged the costume low for that dressmaker, probably because it was a fancy dress outfit for display rather than a gown.
A copper barbershop towel steamer patented in 1925 and 1926 sold as-is for $1,275, with a cracked handle and dents fully disclosed; polished, restored examples had sold for more. A pair of carved antler snow goggles from Siberia brought $2,550 after 19 bids. The Inuit made such goggles to prevent snow blindness, the earliest nearly 2,000 years ago, and unlike sunglasses they do not fog or ice in polar cold. The appraiser described the price as closer to a retail price than an auction one. In each case the description of condition did as much work as the object itself.
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Questions and answers
How do you read an antique sale result on eBay?
Look at the final price together with the number of bids and bidders, the seller’s description of condition and repairs, and any comparable sales. Many bids from few bidders can mean two determined buyers. A frank description of flaws, like the cracked handle on a 1925 towel steamer, explains a lower price. A second collecting category, such as railroad china, can raise one.
Why did a Limoges railroad cup sell for $3,181 on eBay?
The cup carried a Lanternier & Breuil Limoges mark from 1885 to 1887 and a Santa Fe Route emblem. Railroad pieces often bring three to four times the value of the plain object. Even so, the appraiser could find no reason for $3,181, since the cup appeared to be whiteware rather than fine porcelain, and concluded that the seller got the deal.
What is an arithmometer?
An arithmometer is a mechanical calculator patented in France by Thomas de Colmar in 1820 and made from 1851 to 1915. It was used by banks, businesses and accountants. An 1880s example made under Louis Payen, with a 16-digit capacity and working ivory knobs, sold on eBay for $4,539 after seven bids.
Are eBay prices a reliable guide to antique values?
A single eBay price is one result on one day. The appraiser’s comments show why: a bone automaton at $1,384 looked cheap next to a Sotheby’s sale at $3,438, while snow goggles at $2,550 looked more like a retail price. Compare several dated results, note condition and size differences, and treat old prices as history rather than a current value.