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Lizzie Borden Hatchet Grease

Sunday, December 10th, 2006

A very funny item has appeared on eBay—-Lizzie Borden Hatchet Grease—this one required ingenuity and creativity to craft. It is a good hoot and a half to read! One thing, however. The seller is using a photo of the Gray’s Portrait Studio “Lizzie”—which has been deemed by experts not to be her!

So, this auction is funny for several reasons—but probably not the reasons the seller intended.

Custom labeled antique bottle. Stopper not included. Bottle shipped empty and not cracked, chipped or split, but interior may exhibit signs of age. Will make a wonderful addition to your cupboard, apothecary table or theme collection.

Lizzie Borden Hatchet Grease – Lizzie Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was a New England spinster who was acquitted of the brutal axe murders of her wealthy father Andrew Borden and stepmother Abby Borden at their home on August 4, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was ever tried, and Borden was ostracized for the rest of her life. Even after her death, she has remained an infamous figure in American folklore. The slayings, trial, and surrounding media circus became a cause célèbre. The notoriety of the case has endured in American pop culture and criminology as one of the most celebrated incidents of the Victorian era. Dispute over the identity of the killer continues to this day. Bottle is 6.5” tall.

Shipping is $5.00 via USPS

Posted in Are They Crazy?, Borden Buzz, Lizzie 4 Sale, Lizzie Web Images, On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Honest Overpricing

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

A seller on eBay has this explanation for the exorbitant shipping being charged for their auctions:

Don’t get sticker shock over the shipping cost. Obviously, I’m factoring in a base starting price to save on fees. Can I do that? Well, others do. Let’s see what happens. (Can you tell I’m new to selling?) haha

$11.50 shipping for a $12 mug. Hmmm. Does the honesty make it all right? Or does the honesty make you doubt the integrity of the seller? Here is a link to the auction. You decide for yourself.

mug

eBay does have rules about such things:

Excessive Shipping Charges Policy

Sellers may charge reasonable shipping and handling fees to cover the costs for mailing, packaging, and handling the items they are selling. While eBay will not prescribe exactly what a seller may or may not charge, eBay will rely on member reports and its own discretion to determine whether or not a seller’s shipping, handling, packaging, and/or insurance charges are excessive. Shipping and handling fees may not be listed as a percentage of the final sale price.

Sellers who want to be sure they are in compliance with this policy may charge actual shipping costs plus actual packaging materials cost (or less).

In addition to the final listing price, sellers are permitted to charge:

Actual Shipping cost: This is the actual cost (i.e. postage) for shipping the item.

Handling Fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual shipping cost may be charged if it is not excessive.

Insurance: Sellers offering insurance may only charge the actual fee for insurance. No additional amount may be added, such as “self-insurance”. Sellers who do not use a licensed 3rd party insurance company may not require buyers to purchase insurance. This is a violation of state law.

Tax: Only actual applicable federal, state, country, city, VAT, and equivalent taxes may be charged.

For cross border transactions, sellers may not collect tariffs and duties. However, buyers may be responsible for actual, applicable tariffs, and duties as requested by respective country laws.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:
Listing cancellation
Limits on account privileges
Account suspension
Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
Loss of PowerSeller status

I do note that the seller no longer includes this “honest” caveat to their auctions, but continues to try to charge very large shipping fees.

Note this auction.
And this auction.
And this auction.

Posted in Are They Crazy?, Borden Buzz, Lizzie 4 Sale, On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Nance O’Neil Color Card

Monday, October 16th, 2006

nancepost

A lovely color photo postcard of Nance O’Neil is for sale on eBay at the moment. Starting bid is $45 but the card is quite nice.

As you know, Nance O’Neil was a stage and early film actress who had a friendship with Lizzie Borden.

The auction ad reads:

As an actress she was the star in companies featuring the young John and Lionel Barrymore, but she remains known to posterity in part due to the fact that she was allegedly the lesbian lover of the legendary accused murderess Lizzie Borden. A rare original color photographic postcard of Nance O’Neil with New Year’s 1906 greetings and message to reverse. Light wear else fine. Buyer pays insured shipping. Reduced postage for buyers of multiple items. Credit cards accepted with Paypal. Inquiries always welcome, and you can visit the OldTheatreShop site by clicking on the “Me” page. Please visit my other eBay auctions for more early theatre and historical autographs, broadsides, photographs and programs and great actor and actress cabinet photos and CDV’s.

Posted in 6 º of Separation, Borden Buzz, On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Lizzie’s Bust

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

bust

You know it is Halloween time when eBay explodes with very kewl items for your perfect scary party or house decor. Here is a great item—a carved bust of Lizzie Borden, measuring roughly 31″H x 22″W x 5″D.

It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t exactly look like her—what counts is they tried, and I think, mostly succeeded in capturing an angry woman who looks like she did the dastardly deeds.

Bidding starts at $49.99.

Posted in Borden Buzz, Lizzie Web Images, Scary Lizzie, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Moody Signature on eBay

Friday, October 13th, 2006

moody

On sale on eBay is the signature of William H. Moody, prosecutor in the Lizzie Borden trial and fomer Secretary of the Navy.

Here is the link to the sale.

moodysig

MOODY, WILLIAM HENRY 1853 – 1917: born in Newbury, Massachusetts, son of Henry Lord and Melissa Augusta (Emerson) Moody. Educated in the public schools of Salem and Danvers. Massachusetts, he prepared for college at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 1872. He continued his studies at Harvard University where he graduated third in his class in 1876. He studied law at Harvard and in the office of Richard H. Dana, Esq. and was admitted to the Salem bar in 1878. He then began a practice with Edwin N. Hill, Esq. in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Active in civic affairs there, he served ()it III(school board and held the post of city solicitor in 1888 and 1889. He was subsequently elected district attorney for Essex County, a position he held for six years. It was in this capacity that he was appointed by Massachusetts Attorney General Albert E. Pillsbury to serve on the prosecution in the Borden trial. He delivered the opening argument for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Lizzie A. Borden. In 1895, he was elected representative to Congress for the Sixth District, an office to which he was reelected in 1896, 1898 and 1900. In 1902, he was named Secretary of the United States Navy by President Theodore Roosevelt, succeeding Hon. John D. Long. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Amherst College as well as one from Tufts University in 1904. That same year, he was appointed to the position of attorney general of the United States and remained in President Roosevelt’s cabinet until he was chosen to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in 1906. He retired from the bench due to ill health in 1909 and was residing in Haverhill, Massachusetts, at the time of his death. The following year destroyer #277 in the United States Navy was named for him in recognition of his accomplishments when serving as secretary of that division of the armed forces.

Source: Commonwealth of Massachusetts VS. Lizzie A. Borden; The Knowlton Papers, 1892-1893. Eds. Michael Martins and Dennis A. Binette. Fall River, MA: Fall River Historical Society, 1994.

Posted in Borden Buzz, Case Related, On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Passion of Lizzie Borden

Wednesday, July 26th, 2006

The late poetess Ruth Whitman published a collection of poetry in 1973 and titled it The Passion of Lizzie Borden. It is a very nice book and since Lizzie is in the title, and one of the longer poems in the book is about Borden, it is a fine addition to any Lizzie Borden collection.

There is one on eBay right now that has a starting bid of only 1 cent. Cool, huh? Well, not so fast amigo. Look at that shipping fee: $5.00 for MEDIA MAIL, which would actually cost the seller under a buck for this slim volume. So here we have the classic snarley auction tactic: sell the item for cheap and jack up the shipping to make up the difference in item price. Please don’t fall for this type of disreputable behavior. You can grab this title on Abebook.com for under 5 dollars and shipping is a reasonable $3.50. I use Abebooks.com all the time and the book arrives very quickly and I have always (knock on wood) been happy with the condition matching the book’s description in the listing. On eBay, on the other hand, I have more than a few times been disappointed with the book’s wear. In once case, the seller even misread the jacket and sold the book as a Lizzie connected item when it wasn’t.

passion

Posted in Book and Media Reviews, On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Not Lizzie Borden

Friday, July 21st, 2006

UPDATE: auction ended early on July 22. No other details than this from eBay: “The seller ended this listing early because the item is no longer available for sale.”

This just popped up on eBay, but don’t let the auction fool you. This is NOT Lizzie Borden of Fall River hatchet murder fame. It might be some lady named “Lizzy Borden” as the signature states, but it isn’t Lizzie Andrew Borden. 100 bucks plus 10 for shipping. Hmmm. Let me see . . . was I born yesterday? Nope. And neither were you.

ebayLizzieNO

An Actual Photo of the Ax Murderer Lizzy Borden?

The photo is in nice shape but for a small chip visible near her right eye

Print in bottom of photo reads “No Main St ALLEN Mansfield MA” and the photo is Signed “Lizzie Borden”, is it her signature?, probally not as it appears to be written in blue ballpoint ink which was not available when lizzy was alive.

This photo was found stuck in a book about lizzie borden at an estate sale about 10 miles from Fall River Massachusetts

This may or may not be a photo of her, it looks like a lot like her but Lizzy was a little plumper, the photo is being sold as is/as found

Posted in Are They Crazy?, Lizzie Web Images, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Porter

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

This reprint of the 1893 classic by Porter is a good buy on eBay if you can grab it for under $35. The starting bid is only $15. There are a lot of them out there, but a deal is a deal, so if you can snag it for cheap, do it.

Edwin H. Porter. The Fall River Tragedy. A History Of The Borden Murders. A facsimile of the 1893 bookk with a foreword by Robert A. Flynn. Portland, Maine: KIng Philip Publishing Co. 1985. (Copyright 1985; This First Facsimile…is published…in the year 1985). 9.25×6 inches(h x w)/green textured cloth, gilt lettering front and spine/gray-green endpapers/312 pages/illustrated/no dust jacket. Condition: boards and spine are clean with very little wear, soiling to page edges (light to moderate), sound hinges and clean endpapers, clean pages. Please add $3.00 postage.

Posted in On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Knowlton Papers

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

On eBay now is a copy of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Lizzie Borden.

No no no no NO. Do not pay $600 for this book. While it is out of print, it is not worth that amount of money. You can find this book every once in a while and if you are patient, you can, like I did, find one in a used bookstore for $20.

knowltonpaprs

Posted in On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Lizzie by Haskell

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

For sale on eBay right now is a great item: LIZZIE BORDEN A Play by Owen Haskell signed ltd. The opening bid of $24.95 is fair and you won’t regret this purchase—if you can grab it for under $50. It is funny and bright and full of surprising scenes and dialogue. Plus, this copy is signed and has a dust jacket. A rare find indeed. PS: there are a few copies available on bookfinder, but the cheap ones are without dustjackets, so if you just want a reading copy, buy one of those.

LIZZIE! , A two act play by Owen Haskell, hardcover with dustjacket, in maroon slipcase, signed by author and illustrator, Ted Beargeon, one of 26 lettered copies it is in excellent condition. The play follows closely the facts of Lizzie Bordens trial and the day of the murders. the front cover there are 41 axes hidden in the picture and the back has 40. Published by Lazarus Press.

haskell

Posted in Book and Media Reviews, On the Web, eBay Auctions | 1 Response »

Lizzie in the Library

Monday, July 10th, 2006

This auction is for a book that is quite interesting but if you wish to read it I would suggest that you Interlibrary loan it for free. It really isn’t a book to buy at a premium as it is a very short reference work that is only 18 pages long. Starting bid is $49.95 and BuyItNow is $99.95.

LIZZIE BORDEN AND THE LIBRARY CONNECTION. RARE

LIZZIE BORDEN AND THE LIBRARY CONNECTION by John David Marshall. 18 page softcover book. Published by the School of Library and Information Studies, Florida State University. Frontis of Lizzie Borden. 18 pages.

INSCRIBED TO KENNETH SOUZA AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR ON THE TITLE PAGE

A very rare Lizzie borden item, the theme of this is Lizzie’s connection with three librarians, a judge and, of course, her connection with books

marshall

Posted in Don't Waste Your Money, On the Web, eBay Auctions | No Responses »

Signs

Friday, July 7th, 2006

There are two interesting signs on sale on eBay related to Lizzie Borden today. This one Primitive Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Sign, is an original piece, which makes it ultra cool in my book. Says the auction: “An original Design of Mill Creek Primitives. Base painted Black with butter pecan lettering…Stained and sanded. Approx 7 1/2 by 18 inches in size.”

originalsign

Then there is this one making another appearance. You can read all about the history of this sign on other posts by me recently. Apparently, the seller decided that his $200 auction was too steep to garner a sale so he lowered it WAY down. Might be worth getting if you can get it inexpensively!

littlesign

Posted in Borden Buzz, On the Web, eBay Auctions | 1 Response »

Lizzie’s Ghost

Tuesday, July 4th, 2006

Inventive original art. Original Halloween Painting – Lizzie Borden Ghost.

This is an original painting in a frame. Painting measures 6.5″ by 4.5″. The entire piece measures 7.75″ by 5.75″ from the outside edges of the frame. This painting is done in acrylics on a 5″x7″ canvas board. It shows two jack o’lanterns looking up at the sky in a worried manner. Two ghosts are floating there who may be Lizzie Borden and a cat. This painting was recently completed in 2006 by the artist (me). The frame can be stood up, or hung on a wall.

ghostLizzie