Topics

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Antique Questions Forum / December 6, 1917

« on: December 06, 2013, 10:20:42 pm »

9:04:35 am December 6, 1917

The relief ship IMO and the munitions ship Mont Blanc collided in the Narrows of Halifax Harbour. The resulting fire, explosion and tsunami devastated the city of Halifax and part of it's sister city Dartmouth across the water.

2,000 died  (600 were under the age of 15)
9,000 wounded
1,600 homes destroyed
12,000 homes damaged
6,000 homeless
25,000 without adequate housing

The following day 16 inches of snow fell during a blizzard………..those trapped in the rubble froze to death.

The first major wave of relief from outside the province itself came from the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts. They came by train and brought with them doctors, nurses and medical supplies so desperately needed. They were followed by more crews and trains loaded with supplies of all kinds that emptied warehouses throughout Boston and surrounding areas. Without this unbelievable and most welcomed help, the city of Halifax and it's residents would never have recovered as quickly as they did.

To the people of Boston and the entire state………. Nova Scotians from Halifax, Dartmouth and across the province…….. THANK YOU

Your tree is on it's way!!

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EBay Forum / ebay is going to kill cross border shopping!

« on: October 26, 2013, 05:57:09 am »

This rant is going to be looong........

I hadn't bought anything for a couple of months so I don't know how long this procedure has been in effect since it doesn't appear to apply across the board for all items/catagories. ebay has now started collecting an 'import charge' which is remitted to Pitney Bowes.

I think I have only ever paid duty on receipt for one item in the years I have been buying. It was on a larger ticket item and I paid at our post office. I realize Canada Post has always been slack when it came to collecting duty, but if they don't care ...... why the hell does ebay and Pitney Bowes??

I was wanting another cell phone, started following the one I wanted and this is how it went.....

Starting bid $9.99, shipping $17+, import charge $0 (to be based on current bid)

Two bidders bumped it up to $11, shipping went down to $10+, import to $6+

I had placed a max bid, so my bid followed by another or both of the other bidders brought it up with no change to shipping/import. It stayed this way till the end of the auction when someone tried to snipe me with 20 seconds left to go. In the last 5 min. I increased my max bid from $34 to $43 just to have that extra edge.  My final bid came in at $26 in the last seconds to counter the sniper.  As soon as it showed me winning the shipping changed to $13+, the import charge to $7+. I wish I had taken a screen shot of the payment page before I went forward.

Here is the final breakdown I located on my Paypal account.

To the seller $29.09  (bid $26.00, shipping $3.09)

To Pitney Bowes $17.79  (shipping $10.15, import charge $7.69)

Total of $46.88......when converted to CD and add in those extra cents/dollars that always seem to slide over to Paypal without explanation  $50.08 CD.

Why two shipping charges?  $3+ is not enough for shipping to Canada, $10+ more like it.....but why is the seller not collecting. And who the hell is getting that import charge? Does Pitney Bowes remit that to Canada Customs?  And why?........if they've never bothered collecting it themselves.

To top it off the seller was in contact with me and it turns out the address he received was for Kentucky!! I'm thinking he was sent the info on the last second sniper and the shipping estimated for that distance. I supplied him with my correct shipping address and he apologized saying he would need another $5-6 to cover international shipping. I'm glad we were in touch, cause god knows where the phone would have gone. I sent him that via Paypal with a few questions in mind, but am thinking ebay/PB are also screwing over some sellers as well. With converting back to US funds and god knows what Paypal charges him to receive the extra bit for shipping I sent $8 CD just in case.  Now up  to $58.08.

When did Pitney Bowes get into bed with ebay, what was the purpose of this and has anyone been able to make out the tangled garbage of an explanation posted on the site??

http://pages.ebay.ca/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html#programfees  (and this is only PART of the 'Terms' !!)

Payment to your Seller: PayPal will transmit to your Seller's PayPal account that portion of your payment consisting of the GSP Item price and the amount (if any) charged by your Seller to ship the GSP Item to the U.S. Shipping Center.  

Since when did a seller ship to a 'shipping center'? Mine thinks he's shipping to ME!

Remittance of Program Fees to Third Parties. Upon receipt of your payment of the Program Fees, Pitney Bowes shall be responsible for paying its service providers for fees owed to its service providers and for remitting Commodity taxes to governmental authorities, as applicable.

So who is P/B's 'service provider' and which 'government' are they remitting the so called Commodity taxes to??

And the best one...............

Exclusions. You alone are responsible for any customs duties, taxes, surcharges, fines, penalties, or other charges which may be imposed on you by customs or tax officials after a GSP Item has successfully cleared customs and been delivered to (or made available for pickup at) the delivery address specified by you.

SERIOUSLY?  You just charged me an import fee, on top of your shipping fee, on top of what you alloted as his shipping fee and I still may have to pay duty!!!!!!  

Don't get me wrong......provided the phone works, I still got a good deal..........but as far as I'm concerned if I'm paying the $$ then it's the seller who should benefit (minus shipping/ebay fees of course). I don't want to pay padded shipping fees, plus an import fee if the seller is shipping directly to me and I am still liable for duty on arrival.

Rant over........time for more pepsi and a cig or two.

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Antique Questions Forum / my double post :P

« on: August 25, 2013, 05:40:41 pm »

oops!!!
   

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Antique Questions Forum / For wullie.........my mud buddy

« on: August 25, 2013, 05:40:35 pm »

Although he's not 'old'.......his look of age, wisdom and kindness touched me. I'd love to find him some company someday.

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Antique Questions Forum / 925 mark on silver jewelry ?

« on: August 14, 2013, 04:50:05 pm »

I picked up a ring yesterday that really caught my eye. It's vintage looking but I'm skeptical as to age (was not sold as vintage or antique, just paid for the weight of the silver). 

Does anyone know when 925 was first used to indicate sterling silver? There are no other markings that I can find. The 925 is not inside any shape mark (oval, etc) nor preceded by a ' . ', just the numbers stamped into the metal.

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Antique Questions Forum / Happy Birthday, Wullie

« on: June 23, 2013, 06:43:42 pm »

OK, so it's passed already at 'home'.......but 'here' it still qualifies 

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Antique Questions Forum / The 'ugly' lamp

« on: February 09, 2013, 05:44:43 pm »

I have been given temporary custody of an old oil lamp by my best friend. She lost both parents this past year and has the task so many inherit of sorting and selling their house and contents. She had thought this lamp.....which many years ago she had christened the UGLY lamp....should be destined for donation at a thrift shop. I threatened to whoop her if she did any such thing. So she delivered it to me and told me to enjoy the quest.

From what she was told it belonged to her father's grandparents. Her dad was 90 when he passed. It has been converted to electric.......I'd say in the 40's/50's by the looks of the plug. There are no cracks, chips or flaws in the glass that I have found, other than what appears to be a small piece missing from inside the metal threaded area which appears to have a cement of some sort. I can find no other mark except a 332 (?) on the underside of the metal base. Her father had told her that the chimney (she assumes he means the original) is still somewhere in the house (that part is her quest).

Am I close with a Gone With The Wind, circa 1890's?  Does a rather home done conversion detract much from it? Any idea of approximate value?

Unfortunately waited a bit too long today and missed out on good daylight. It's not quite as 'lime' green as it shows.....personall y I don't consider it ugly, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder 

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Antique Questions Forum / Bounty crew member had historic ties to ship

« on: October 30, 2012, 04:32:16 am »

Claudene Christian, who sadly passed away in hospital, was the g-g-g-g-great granddaughter of Fletcher Christian. This past August when the Tall Ships made their stop in Halifax she had the opportunity to meet with and learn from some of the original builders. The Bounty and her sister ship, The Rose, were both built in Lunenburg, NS.

May her family find some comfort knowing she fulfilled many dreams and touched many people while crewing on this beautiful ship.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/156986-bounty-victim-was-mutineer-s-relative

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Antique Questions Forum / wullie! stripping question (no not that kind!)

« on: October 15, 2012, 07:42:20 am »

I picked up on this in the chair thread.......


"double zero steel wool should be used...
but  not used on oak, because remaining traces of iron may react with tannins in the wood to produce blue or black iron stain. Bronze wool or stainless steel wool may be used to avoid this"

And am wondering if this is what happened to my sideboard when it was stripped at some time in it's life...........and how do I fix/avoid it when redoing??  Are you saying I shouldn't strip it......that the whole thing needs to be done by hand? (please say I don't!!)

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Antique Questions Forum / Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving everyone!

« on: October 08, 2012, 04:53:52 am »

 

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Antique Questions Forum / Trunk clean up help ?

« on: September 16, 2012, 02:05:42 pm »

Trying to get at some of my projects and get a room ready for a visiting daughter at the same time. I've decided that I want to put my old steamer trunk in the bedroom I'm getting together (waiting on painted furniture to dry).

Other than deodorizing and airing out I've done nothing with it.  The finish on the wood has more or less been worn off, I'd like to just give it a good cleaning and use a natural treatment (suggestions?) to give it more life.  The metal I'll be painting black, as that's what appears to have been on it originally. Now as for the canvas.........it's not in horrible conditon, but not great. I'd like to keep it. I'm wondering if I should just give it a cleaning and refreshing (but with what) or should I paint? 

If I end up painting I don't want to totally seal the trunk, so was wondering if a water based paint would be good, or is there a paint specifically for canvas. Really don't want to do such a total make over as to make it 'new' again, I'd like to retain as much of it's character as possible.

It still has an old shipping label which I'd like to try to freshen up as well, but it's similar to card stock, so other than dusting I doubt there's much I can do with that.

The inside has all it's lining (linen or light canvas) but needs some re-gluing. No tray was with it, so that's not an issue.

So any suggestions or helpful hints would be appreciated........ just really want to help it look more like it should.

**second pic shows more of the true color, light khaki green

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Antique Questions Forum / Small footstool.......approx. age?

« on: September 13, 2012, 07:58:25 am »

Now that I've gotten a start on cleaning out a bedroom downstairs I can finally get to work on some of my long waiting projects. In the meantime, I found this at my (where else) fav. thrift shop.  I thought it would look fairly good with my Eastlake style rocker.


16" X 8 1/2" and 5 1/2" high (excluding padding)

I can find no sign of screws/nails so assuming it is glued. Hoping the top isn't also.  Base of the top appears to be plywood, don't know if is a replacement or original.

I'm thinking 50's or before ??  I don't know as there was much call/use for such a small and 'ladylike' style any later on.

Any opinions?

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Antique Questions Forum / Posting problems?

« on: September 13, 2012, 07:55:29 am »

Anyone else having a problem posting thread/pictures

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Antique Questions Forum / Guess it's time to dust off those old oil lamps

« on: September 05, 2012, 04:42:42 pm »

..........and stock pile the water.  Anyone got instructions for an old fashioned bomb shelter?

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Antique Questions Forum / Any idea what this may have belonged to?

« on: August 29, 2012, 07:39:42 pm »

Someone near me has this up for sale. I've only seen this picture, have no measurements.  They thought it might have come off a piano/organ.......but I feel that's highly unlikely.

Appears to me to have Eastlake influence, possibly from a sideboard or bureau? Trying to figure out what may have been 'attached' to the front as it looks as though something was removed from the vertical protrusions.

Might me interesting done up with a mirror insert with some sort of shelf made for the bottom then hung in a hallway/entrance.