Thimbles!

In the last year and a half my interest in thimbles has revived and slowly I have bought a small number of thimbles I thought I would never own.

Since the heyday of thimble collecting in the 1980's and 1990's, thimbles have tumbled in price. In the years since I wrote 'American Silver Thimbles' I hadn't followed the prices of thimbles. I hadn't realized quite how far they had fallen until I stumbled on a thimble listing on eBay, followed it and discovered oh how the mighty have fallen!

Being a bit of a contrarian, the fall in thimble prices revived my interest and  I started following and posting eBay listings for thimbles on my website. Each time I have followed listings on eBay I have been surprised at the reasonable prices that some of the great American silver thimbles fetched. Of course, there are still the thimbles that fetch over $1000.00, but this week, for example,  I found a handful of wonderful collectable thimbles that look as if they will fetch only a fraction of what they were worth 20 years ago.

And for fledgling thimble collectors, I just found two very pretty American thimbles with little scenes. Their auctions end today and so far the price for each is $9.99. One has a single bid; one has no bids. Given the quality of each of these little thimbles, the price is very reasonable if they go anywhere close to $10.00.

Is it a smart financial move to collect something that has fallen so much in price?

I don't know about the financial end of it all, but I do know that these are wonderful little collectables from a bygone era and they are suddenly affordable again after a long spell where they cost a fortune.

So here I am again, watching thimble listings on eBay and hoping that a few more come my way.
It's great fun to revisit a hobby I thought was long dead for me.

So wish me luck this week. I have my eye cast on two thimbles in particular and the rush of the hunt is well under way.

Gay Ann

To visit some recent prices for thimbles, visit my website, www.GayAnnRogers.com and click on 'Thimbles' on the yellow navigation bar.

I have some recent listings, but I have also posted pictures and  prices that collectable thimbles have fetched over the last year and a half.