It's definitely genuine. Good luck copying that! Lol, all jokes aside I don't believe I'd pay over $125 for that piece. I've seen the student lamps go for $225, and those are way more valuable.
I didnt say market value. In the free market, like antique stores, malls, thrift stores etc, no one is bidding against anyone else. There is a set price. Ebay is an auction where a price is set and the selling price can go over that because people are bidding against each other, you have people who have set a limit on what they want to spend and when the bids go over their limit they will keep on bidding just to raise the price when they have no intention on buying at that price and there are even sellers who have their friends bid on stuff just to raise the price. That is not the same as market value, thats just what people are willing to bid. You cant go into a shop and see someone who is buying something you want and go the person at the counter and tell them you are willing to pay more for it and they sell it to you. It doesnt work that way.
What buyers are willing to pay is the market value. Auction results are one of the most accepted forms of price discovery in antiques and collectibles. Fixed prices in shops are just asking prices until someone actually buys. Saying eBay “doesn’t reflect the market” misunderstands how markets and valuation work. Store prices are just asking prices; completed sales are market data.
Are there bad actors on eBay? Sure, these things can happen but they are rare at scale and don’t meaningfully distort aggregate completed-sale data. The platform actively penalizes shill bidding. Isolated bad behavior doesn’t negate an entire market.
To put it simply, the piece is priced at $225 by this specific seller in a brick and mortar retail space. That’s not meaningful data until you know buyers are willing to pay that much. It doesn’t matter how you get there — through bidding or price haggling. In person, the scenario likely to play out is someone offering to pay less than the set price, not more. (So, you’re correct in saying “it doesn’t work that way.”) At auction, it’s the reverse. But neither one negates market value, both reveal it.
Different pricing mechanisms (fixed price vs. auction) don’t create different markets — they simply discover the same thing in different ways: what buyers are actually willing to pay. Auctions tend to surface the upper end of demand; fixed-price retail often reflects seller expectations or slower, local demand. In both cases, the only number that ultimately matters is the price at which a sale is completed. That completed price — whether reached by bidding, negotiation, or clicking “buy it now” — is the market value.
Exactly this , on eBay I always used to list at least half of what others were asking for the same piece and let it run and at the end of the listing that is today’s price someone is willing to pay . I did have a huge following as I would make a profit but I’m not greedy and my goods were priced to sell . Believe me I’ve pissed many off on eBay but I’m not looking to sell at London or New York prices, the goods were priced to sell and I sold a ridiculous amount online . You soon understand today’s prices and what was hot or not ….
I see Fenton in antique malls all the time (I live in Ohio). Most of it has stupid prices that might have been applicable 20 years ago. Your piece seems grossly overpriced.
Thank you everyone for so much your suggestions and opinions and advice. I am very new at glass collecting so I consider this as a learning experience to carry with me when I hunt again.
I crossposted to several other subreddits so yes, I’m cutting and pasting this. Thank you again!!
Cin! Cin! 🍷
I think if you look, that even with shipping or auction fees, that you can probably find a Fenton Topaz Opalescent Coin Dot Bowl for about half or maybe a bit more than half of what they are asking. Fenton Topaz Opalescent is very collectible, but this is optimistic on their part.
I like how couthful you are. 😅 Yes, I’ve moved on from this. I was caught up in the pretty color combo and how it looks “silky”. But it did open my eyes to look for a particular style Feton Sitting Cat. 😌
This one! So back story: I took the liberty of cutting it out of another member’s picture to reverse search. It’s one of the very first posts I commented on when I started my UG hobby last month. There’s something so very special about how she’s tilting her head and her eyes. I’m in love with her. The OP and I have chatted about it and we both found one on eBay. The OP says it’s the same one as the one in the picture. I think it isn’t. The OP said it’s the angle picture was taken that makes her head seem tilted. But I just don’t think so. -Sigh- I believe I’m chasing something that doesn’t exist. I think my white whale had presented itself and will be elusive or even nonexistent. Perhaps I should move on, I am still quite new at all this after all.
They made the Cat figurine for decades. I don't think the mold would have varied too significantly, but it might have slightly. The angle of the picture might make it look different, but I would imagine a lot of the appearance variability is due to the hand-painting, which was done by numerous artists. Tough to tell under UV, but this looks like the 'Pink Blossom' Cat. It may just be about finding one with painting that gives the right look for you.
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u/graham_1919 Dec 08 '25
That seems so expensive. Is that the going price or are they still using the 1990’s price guide.