Finally there was a “ GOLD MINING STOCK CERTIFICATE NAPANOCH NEW YORK.” This is a certificate for a Gold Mining company in Napanoch, New York. It was a printed original but had not been issued. I went to $22.00 and it sold for $23.00. Had it been issued it would have been worth more to me. I had the feeling the seller might have other copies. Time will tell. I’ve added Napanoch to my KEYWORDS that are run against eBay listings and upcoming auctions. If another copy comes up I’ll be immediately notified.

What have I learned? The material is unpredictable but very interesting. Some sellers are evasive. They’ll describe an item in a way that is not easily searched on ABE. Many sellers may hope you don’t look. Others try rather hard to make it difficult to look. That should tell you everything you need to know: you have to look. eBay auctions are extremely interesting and great fun to participate in. But you can’t bid in a vacuum unless you are prepared to be someone’s sucker. All buyers, myself included, need to always look for other copies. It’s not difficult to do and it is necessary.

All in all it was a very good month. I’m spending about fifteen minutes a day looking at matches plus another hour or so on the weekends on broader searches. And what did I spend? $324.53 for seven items and I really enjoyed the experience.