Star Wars Galore and More!

Items I'm selling on behalf of our high school band.

I haven't finished anything much for my store lately because I've been embroiled since Friday in a huge charity project to benefit our high school's marching band program. Well, actually, that's not true; I did get rare Secret of Madame doll by Madame Alexander finished and was all ready to list her when my daughter showed an unusual interest. The doll was made in 1975 and was based on the Frances Cavanah children's book The Secret of Madame from a decade earlier. My daughter's interest was piqued by the secret pocket in the doll's petticoat, which holds a pearl necklace. Evidently the historical tale relates the mystery of a fashion doll which is stolen from a colonial American family home (we ordered the book but haven't received it yet; the book is pretty rare too!). The doll was sent over from England or France to show colonial women the latest clothing styles. The family had hidden their jewels inside the doll's clothes, so they lost a significant treasure during the burglary. We don't know what happens yet and my daughter is beside herself waiting to read the story. I felt like any doll that engenders such interest in history and literature should belong to her. Funnily enough, even though that doll is rare I came across another the other day and when it arrives I'll fix that one up for the store.

Asian teapot

Anyway, other than finishing the doll I decided not to sell, I have been appointed in charge of selling more valuable items from the North Lincoln High School Band of Knights yard sale. Each year townspeople and parents donate items for the band to sell at a two-day yard sale. Actually, only one day is open to the public, so it's a really short sale. Usually everything that doesn't sell in this (to my mind) extraordinarily brief period is donated to Habitat for Humanity. I don't have anything against Habitat, but we live in the poorest area of our state and the arts programs, like band, are always uncomfortably close to the chopping block. In fact, my younger kids' elementary school ran out of paper weeks ago and they still have a month of school left! So last year when I saw some unsold Vermont Teddy Bears with their tags still attached (I had already forced the other band moms to raise the price from $5 each to $10) heading for donation I grabbed them and a couple other things I thought I could sell and listed them in my eBay store. A week later I'd netted about $75 extra for the band. No good deed goes unpunished, of course, so this year I was put in charge of pricing. The sale did well; we earned almost $1700, but I was given several boxes of collectibles to try to sell online. These came from a woman in her 80s who said the band could have anything in her storage buildings to sell as long as someone came and cleaned them out. A lot of her stuff was junk, but there are actually some really nice things in the lot. I've already sold over $100 since yesterday in my "after-sale sale"! I still have a LOT to move out of my dining room, however, and I've been working for free for two days now, so I hope you'll check out our sale. I'm donating all proceeds to the band.

Vintage Lipper & Mann party plates

Vintage lustreware teapot

We have some vintage motion picture stuff: a projector with splice kit and a movie camera, both in cases. There are several Japan made ceramics which I mostly haven't listed yet and Fenton-style art glass pieces. The lady with the storage buildings collected teapots and even though we sold an amazing number at the yard sale we still have a few left. The Asian brass or copper teapot shown above is a really special piece. Then we have STAR WARS, STAR WARS, STAR WARS... an unbelievable amount. These are selling so fast some have sold as I've been writing, but I still have about half the lot left. There are some rare pieces of Star Wars stuff, including the Dejarik chess pieces and a whole bunch of hard to find preschool figures. The band could really use your help, so please stop by Atelier Mandaline on eBay to shop for the band. I am not finished listing yet, so please keep checking for new stuff. I am updating my Atelier Mandaline Facebook page as I get stuff listed so you can check there to see what all I have and what has sold.

A huge lot of Star Wars stuff

Star Wars preschool stuff