Hello All, Jamie Graser here (JamesGraser67)
My stepdad (Richard "Rick" Russell) was an avid Pepsi-Cola Collector going back as FAR as I can remember (Early 1970's), he would take my mom, my younger sister and I to swap meets and flea markets each Saturday and Sunday, when we lived in Los Angeles. I remember all the Pepsi stuff we would obtain week-after-week as that was our main focus. But but, but... I totally forgot about all the "other stuff!" You see Rick started to get sick as you do when you are 70+ years old, he was a tough guy and I hated to see him get sick, but just as Rick would have wanted, he went out his way, no doctors, no hospitals, just my mom taking care of him until he passed. It was hard on my mom, but it was Rick had wanted, so she honored him. Rick passed going-on eight years ago and my mom stayed rather status quo, but then she called me totally out-of-the-blue and said, "Come and get this Pepsi Collection or I am going to throw it all in dumpster somewhere!" I was literally driving up from ATL to Detroit the next day to start to curate and relocate that “stuff" from Detroit to Atlanta, where I reside.
I will be honest, it was not easy to empty a house of several decades of collected items, especially when you are a novice. I literally wince when I consider all the items that I thought were trash, that now (looking back) were ANYTHING BUT TRASH! This was a lesson I learned rather late in my life, and that lesson was "You never know what is of value to someone else!" Thankfully, I got the Lions-share as and over the last three years or so have gone back and forth and back and forth. I did not like it much then; it was a ton of work. BUT truth be told, I was rather surprised as I loved going through ALL the Pepsi Cola Collectibles, taking copious photographs, collating, curating and then time-to-time stopping and pensively reflecting and remembering when and where we found ____ .
Rick would pay my sister and I a "finder’s fee" for anything we found with Pepsi Cola branded with a double dot between the two words PEPSI and COLA (Pepsi:Cola), as that meant it was from 1953 or earlier!) What we were paid the most to find were items that featured "Pepsi & Pete," which were two cartoon keystone cops that Pepsi Cola used in their advertising-starting in the 1930s. These unique items brought us triple the finder’s fee!
What I totally forgot about and was the literal treasure-trove of other antique& vintage collectibles, as Rick collected much more than just Pepsi Cola, he collected items that he thought, in his own words were "trick!" He loved old items from 1900 to the 1950's. I have uncovered he had a lot of automobile items; emblems, badges, lights, hood ornaments. Other examples include: Ty Beanie Baby’s circa 1992-2003, WWII recruitment posters, old comic books, baseball cards, vintage magazines; Life, Collier’s, Saturday Evening Post, vintage ash trays, Corel ware, marbles, jars, glasses, matchbooks, advertising ephemera, metal signs and trays, US & foreign currencies and on and on… So now my non-Pepsi items are currently growing to nearly the size of the entire Pepsi Cola Collection!
It took me nearly two years to curate and photograph the Pepsi Cola Collection, and I have now moved on to the other stuff, so be patient with me as I am a rather novice Seller on eBay and this is not my actual job or profession. That all just means that it takes me awhile to get everything posted and as my wife likes to tell me (near daily), she tells me I am too verbose. But whatever, as Popeye said, "I am what I am... Ag Ag Ag!"
So that is my back-story, up for grabs today is a fantastically persevered:
1921 State of Illinois License Plate - 101 Years Old and Gorgeous!
This plate is 101 years old and will truly only appreciate in value. I have 200+ vintage and antique license plates from the USA, Canada and some Islands that they visited, some of these date back to 1905, so take a look at my other postings!
A couple quick items about what kind of eBay Seller I am:
(1) I will always accept a return from a buyer who is not delighted with their purchase. My stepfather was kind of an asshole when it came to selling or trading to/with other people on what he collected. It was one of few times that I (as a kid) thought my stepfather to be an incredibly cruel man. He relished the power he had over those people who wanted something, that he had. To be honest, I hated this about him and as such, I just do not do that, I WILL always negotiate the PRICE, as I do not want the price to be the determiner that kills the deal. I will always do my best to not allow you to walk away unhappy just because I want to gouge you for a few more dollars on an item. Truth is, I know how much fun "collecting" was to Rick, so I have decided to honor his memory by finding homes for his very unique items with other collectors as passionate as he was about his collection(s). That said, I will obviously take your item back from you and provide you a refund, IF YOU ARE NOT 100% satisfied with your purchase. I believe this is the way that professionals conduct themselves, I am from the school of Treat Others as You Want to be Treated! So don't fret, I will only ask that you ship it back to me unscathed, just as you received it from me!
(2) Should my listed price be too high, just take a second and let me know and please feel free to make me a counteroffer. I know the value of many of these items, but again, price is only one part of my selling. I used to do a lot of Auctions via eBay, but those just seemed to drag on and on and on and on and on and on. Then I learned about Buy it Now and that seemed a much better and faster way for me to get items to people who wanted them without having to wait XX days for the auction to end etc. Again, I obviously want to make a few dollars selling all this cool stuff, but it is truly not my biggest objective. It seems very strange to say that in a post where I am selling something, but it's true. I want these items to find a home similar to where I grew up, we had so many rooms filled with antiques and vintage advertising, it was just common place for me, but when new friends came over to my house for the first time, they were floored with the Pepsi Parlor (I will try to find and include a photo or two so you understand).
(3) I forgot to express my abject hatred of other sellers who attempt to make up their cheap listing price, by gouging on shipping costs. THIS is why I almost always offer Free Shipping. This way you can calculate and know proof-positive exactly the REAL COST of what you are buying. I think it is the fair and reasonable way to conduct business.
As an example, I many times list things as such; Blah-Blah item for $18.75 with free shipping to Continental USA, (sometimes I will also pay the stupid 'sales tax' that is now charged upfront on every item), but if do not, I ensure nothing is left as a surprise! So for that Blah-Blah item, I listed it at $18.75, knowing and telling you you will pay $1.31 in sales tax, then in the description portion, I will net-net it all out for you and say, "This item will only cost you a TOTAL of $20.00 to buy and receive the Blah-Blah item delivered to your door." I try to make it as easy as possible for you and others to do business with me!
Therefore, today's example works out like this:
1921 (3 years Post WWI) State of Illinois Vehicle License Plate a plate over 101 years old with a listed price: $148.75 + $10.41 sales tax (they charge it, nada I can do), so you will walk-away paying a TOTAL price of under $160.00 = delivered to your door, as I pay the shipping cost!
(4) Please know that I will review any offer that is made regarding any item I am currently selling. So tell me YOUR Story! Tellme why you want ____ and let's work to get you the item or items you want and need! Life is just too short and if I can make your day, maybe bring a smile to your face by getting you an item for a price that is a bit better for you, well, I just may do that!
I want us both to walk away from the deal happy, (You know that feeling where you cannot wait to go and tell someone what you just got and for such a great price, Wow!? That is what I want for you because I get the same type of feeling when I sell a blah-blah item (that I may or may not have helped collect as an 11-year old) for $XXX.XX, Why? That's a two-fold answer: A) I make $ that then goes directly into my two teenage boys college fund! and B) I enjoy watching people's joy when they get what they want for a fair price, moreover, knowing I facilitated that joy! Weird I know, but that's probably why I ended up in Training, Learning & Employee Development as a professional, as my passion has always been people. AND as I am rather obviously transparent, those who buy my items usually enjoy the process as well. In fact, the feedback I hear the most is that many enjoy buying from me, as they claim that I am different. Now I am not so sure about all that, but I know this, there is no "caveat emptor" here (Latin/English = Let the Buyer Beware) - and yes, I learned that Latin phrase from watching Brady Bunch re-runs on tv as a kid!
The fact is I am not going to get rich selling items on here. I could go on about how all this has changed in the last 5-10 years as there are now a shit-ton of new and different fees we face; insertion fee, selling fee, listing fee, listing upgrade percentage (fee), store subscription fee and let us not forget the nearly always subjective and baffling final valuation fee, but that would be like explaining to you the difference between the USA currently having high inflation versus being in a true recession, it still hurts, it's really boring and it doesn't matter as at the end of the day - It is, What it IS.
...But maybe my explanation will help you make sense of why and how I do what I do.
Plus, this is truly just my side-hustle, I enjoy it, it's fun for me, and it makes a little extra money for my boys college fund, so I thank you for looking and if you like what you see - make me an offer you as you never know what mood I am in and what I will accept!
Thank you for looking!
JamesGraser67 = Jamie Graser