A Bummer

We got our deposit for a couple of shows returned with the following letter today. Seems the economic hard times have hit the local show promoters, which is really no surprise - a disappointment, for sure, but understandable. The note from Jeff reads in part:

"It is with my sincere regret to announce the cancellation of all 21st Century Shows scheduled in 2008 and 2009. The sluggish economy, reluctance of dealers to travel to shows, weak customer spending, and continuing increase in the costs of renting facilities, advertising, and energy costs, have forced us to make this decision which we feel is in the best interest in our dealers and customers."

Bummer, like I said. (Interesting to note, though, that it was just last week that we ran into this same person at the international airport in Atlanta, where he was returning home from making a purchase of 10,000 license plates. I know that you have to invest in your business in order to grow it, but maybe he could have managed to put on a few of the shows instead of canceling ALL of the them had he not decided to buy all those mother lovin' pieces of metal? Just a thought.)

So that freed up our calendar a bit, again - there's a show that we had rejected out of turn because it was immediately after one of the 21st Century Production ones, so we'll look into getting into that. And we've been able to book a spot in this fall's Antique Alley show on November 9th in Bellair Bluffs. This is one of those shows that we've faithfully attended as shoppers for years now and have had our eyes on as dealers. Last spring we failed to get called on the stand-by list; this time Bob was proactive and gave the organizer a call to see if any spots had opened up. (The squeaky wheel gets the grease!) And what do you know - she had a dealer cancel due to medical reasons, so in we've squeezed.

I think that we'll find other shows to cobble together the season, but perhaps they won't be what we originally planned to do - I'm not averse to some creative thinking :-)

A Jewelry Purchase

Here's a photograph of a jewelry lot purchase made this week in St. Petersburg. My magpie eye did the choosing, I'm afraid, and I probably passed over some other, perfectly wonderful pieces in favour of these that most definitely caught my fancy.

They range from an Austrian brass belt buckle that's inlaid with enamel and malachite; to a Peruvian stylized bird brooch of hand hammered, oxydized sterling with plain sterling silver overlay; A Taxco pin by Bernice Goodspeed; a figural brooch of sterling and mother of pearl; a Norwegian sterling and enamel bar pin; a German pendant of an Edelweiss flower; a Star Trek-like pin with an onyx stone; an old Mexican brooch of a flower basket with green turquoise stones; a cross-hatched rectangular sterling pin; a cast sterling bracelet with a lovely turqoise stone with fine spider veins - it doesn't show at all in this group photo, and a pair of Georg Jensen earrings that have been converted to clutch-back from screw-back type.

Quite a lovely collection, if I say so myself - and I sure have, haven't I?

Hurtin' for certain

Oh, well. It was a nice weekend for sitting outside! We did about a third of the sales at this Dade City's Antique Faire as compared to the same event last spring. So much on the economic landscape has altered - gas prices are at a new, higher standard; many people have watched their investments take their own wild rides; the silly season of the election has many people on edge as the future leaders of the country are a couple of question (and perhaps some exclamation) marks; - it's a much different world to be trying to do business in.

I did a side-by-side comparison of the sales records of the events from this past weekend against the same one several months ago. The same type of merchandise was selling, so we made no missteps in what we brought with us; but the volume was just way, way down. C'est la vie, as they say.

One of the marketing tools that helped us slightly was to set up a table with value priced items on it - in our case, it was everything for $5.00. It was a popular choice for the bargain hunters - who, though not out in any kind of numbers, made up the majority of our shoppers. So we're doing the right thing, you know? And also, just asking our customers just what their price range is is often very helpful. We're a lot more familiar with what's out on the tables than the casual eye can pick out. That helped us sell a teapot.

Finally, I wanted to share some photos of how we had out booth set up, showing the $5.00 table, our shade canopy (and matching chairs!), and the very lovely setting under the Live Oak trees in Dade City.

I do think that this will be a difficult season for us all, but we're in this for the long haul - Bob and I both believe that it's important that we continue to put ourselves out at these shows. You can't do business if you don't put yourself out there to attract it, after all.

Dade City this weekend

We're spending the weekend in Dade City for the fall Antique Faire, being held on September 27 and 28. When we did this great show in the spring, we commuted back and forth each day - but gas prices are substantially higher now. Bob had some hotel points to use, so we were able to check in to a local Hilton property gratis. The long range weather forecast has been calm, so my fingers - and toes - are crossed that we'll have no news to report there. The mornings have been starting to become a bit cooler. We're almost approaching what approximates autumn for these parts.

I'm happy because we've been assured of having the same spot at this upcoming event, and we know that we'll be able to spread our stuff out pretty comfortably. I'm looking forward to being able to debut the jewelry made by Susan Olivio, of Trinity, Florida. She's a gifted crafter who has made a range of earrings, rings, and some necklaces and bracelets in vintage-inspired designs. I am delighted to be able to offer her wares through our booth at these local shows.

Adding more items to the store again

I think I needed an extended break. For whatever the reason, I feel my batteries are recharged finally and now I'm starting to add items again to the store on eCrater. This time I've decided to concentrate on glass - we have a wide variety of decorative and functional beauties.

One of the more whimsical lovelies is a cranberry glass basket. It's medium sized, about 7 inches tall, with a gorgeous shine and a deep ruffled edge. It's one of the inventory items that we acquired when we originally purchased the business. It gets a lot of admiring looks when we bring it to shows, but hasn't yet been scooped up. The right home is still waiting for it :-) I don't mind, really, as it's a joy for us to hang on to until such time as the correct buyer is matched up with it.

Isn't it a beaut, though?

I wrote another Squidoo lens

It's been a long time since I paid any attention to Squidoo - and I'm still not sure what the heck it is. But I decided to write a lens about Bunnykins tableware, since I think there's a scarce amount of information compiled in one place about the history of this type of china. When you google it, all you ever get are eBay listings (grumble, grumble) - and that's not about to change unless I make my own contribution. So, there it is.

I had a busy week!

Three sales this week - I am flush with success. Two teapots and a book, and I'm so happy that the eCrater store is truly bustling - and that the listings on Amazon have come back to life. Something having to do with the school year starting up again, I think.

I do hope that the customers are pleased with their purchases. That's the only suspense of shipping the items off - I don't get to see their happy faces when they open the boxes.

Bob came back from a business trip (er, that would be with his day job) with treasures that he found at an antique shop in Savannah that was having a moving sale. Some Wedgwood Jasperware - great! - and a pile of interesting photographs, which I'll take the time to sort through, slip into protective plastic sleeves, and leave for others to wonder just who the people in the pictures are...

Seems all I do lately is polish silver!

Not that I'm complaining - but my shoulder is :-( Not the arm doing the rubbing, but the one that's doing the bracing. I decided to dose up with some ibuprofen and forge onwards. I'm still working through that box of silver and brass that Bob brought home a few weekends ago. Thinking that if I rub long enough, a Djini (that would be a Genie to us modern folks) would bubble out in a cloud of smoke - but, no. I have to content myself instead with the inherent beauty of the piece that is revealed by the effort of applying paste, over time, to a heavily tarnished piece of silver plate.

The favored paste I like to use is still Goddards, which I order directly on the internet. I can't say enough about their products, as the shine comes up quickly and stays for a long time.

I'm not planning to put these items on the website, but only because they get snapped up so quickly at the shows that we do. (Well, also because I find them to be dastardly difficult to photograph, but that's not reason enough!) But a nicely polished piece of silver is pretty easy to maintain. Keep it wrapped up when not in use - that is, away from the effects of oxygen in creating more tarnish on it - and it will stay shiny and lovely. The best way to stay lovely looking, though, is to USE IT. There is something wonderful about the dining experience when silver is involved. A meal prepared with love and care becomes memorable when you are using utensils that have heft to them. I know that I treasure my own set of silver cutlery when I bring it out for holiday get togethers. (Never mind that my mother gave it to me after my parents divorced! I can handle that sentiment...)

Even the brass candle holders have polished up very satisfyingly - they become so warm and gleaming. I'd be likely to cover them up with a hurricane glass cover to prevent spattering if I was to use them myself, but they too are likely to find welcome homes this year.

Just checking in

Nothing's really doing, but I thought I should write *something* to keep my hand in. It's a long stretch until the next show - at the end of September in Dade City. We're confirmed as having the same spot in the parking lot, under some beautiful Live Oak trees with Spanish Moss draped from the branches, as we had when we were there this past spring. If the weather cooperates (we're just now expecting our first major storm of the season to bear down in the next couple of days), it will be lovely. Hot, most likely, but a good show.

Bob came home from his foraging last weekend with a big box of "silver" - was it silver or not? We spent a few days digging in and marveling at the beauties that we've adopted. Silver (plate and sterling) items are always in demand at our shows, so it's wonderful to have an inventory from which to choose. Also in the lot were some brass candlesticks, some German Silver wine goblets - which is not silver at all, but an alloy similar to what coins are made of, and which came clean easily with brass polish. Most of the items were really heavily tarnished, so I've been taking my time with each piece, really giving them a workover with the ol' silver paste and sponge. Somehow uncovering the beauty of an elegantly executed piece of silver gives me great satisfaction, and I don't mind the elbow grease required to discover them. (Though I did manage to do something to my shoulder in the process - it hasn't felt right since I spent the afternoon polishing a bunch of silver items several weeks ago!)

We went through most of the boxes brought home from the last show, and repacked them. We hadn't run out of wraps at all - there were unused ones in virtually each box we repacked, which means that they were in a hurry at the time, and that Bob's help was inexperienced. Um, and maybe didn't relish the thought of ever being asked to help us out again? Clearly Bob and I have evolved in our works patterns so that we've become fairly efficient in the packing process. It was easy enough to recover the "lost" wraps and economically repack the boxes, so everything had a home again.

We're a better team than we give ourselves credit for, undoubtedly.

Next in the pipeline is to put more glass on to the website - we picked out a box full of suitable items. I've got a huge box of jewelry from Steve Cope that needs to be priced up - that will take quite some time to do it correctly. So I think the stretch to the next show is going to feel pretty small.

Lessons Learned

We probably shouldn't book shows that we haven't attended ourselves as customers. Fort Lauderdale was not an appropriate show for Time Travelers, unfortunately, but we couldn't have known it unless we had gone to it in the past. It was high end - what I would consider museum quality merchandise; and there we were, with our quaint and kitschy teapots and painted plates and depression glass. Kind of country mice come to the big bad city. We, er, didn't do well at all. Did not manage to recoup in sales what the fee to enter the show cost us. Oops. Put this one down as a show to have learned from - noted.

But, having said that, here's something downright strange. We sold, in a single day at the show, five sugar and creamer sets. That's astounding! I actually stopped unpacking more sets because I saw how many we already had out, and muttered to Bob, "we gotta stop buying these things!" And what do you know, five of them went in one day, during a show when we weren't selling much of anything.

Which is another lesson - you never know what is going to sell at any given show. (How many people do YOU know who regularly use sugar and creamer sets, or even collect them?)

So, yes, the show was a great disappointment to us. But it was also kind of quirky. And I consoled myself with a fabulous pair of Yves Saint Laurent (the genuine article) sunglasses from another dealer's booth. Diane got a pair for helping us out - Christian Dior, huge honking ones from the 1970's or early 80's, and selected a pair of Guy Laroche, equally as enormous, for her sister Sara.

Next month's show in Dade City is a known quantity for us - we did this show in the spring (and it was lovely and wonderful and one of our best shows ever). No qualms there. And the following month's show in St. Petersburg is one that Bob and I have been attending as customers for 7 years, and we're very happy to have been able to get in to - we'll do just fine.

So, we're down but not out.

Indoor show coming up in Fort Lauderdale

Of course (of course!) I'm filled with anxiety about our first indoor show, our first show in Fort Lauderdale, coming up next weekend - August 2nd and 3rd - who would I be without my stories of anxiety that never come to fruition? Gotta keep that monkey mind busy, is the order of the day.

We have our lovely and to-code fire retardant table covers. We are amply - AMPLY, that is - stocked for the upcoming season. Nothing has been packed away even unless it's been priced and tagged, which is pretty methodical if I say so myself. We installed the passenger seat in the minivan because Bob's daughter will be accompanying us, both to help us set up for the show, and to visit with his parents. This does mean that we'll have less room to take things with us, but, on the other hand, we're not having to take tables and chairs with us. I'm thinking it'll be a toss-up.

So what on earth am I so worried about?

Worried that we won't be successful. Several months have passed since our last show, and the nation's economy has been in steady decline, particularly in our part of the state. Gas prices have risen steeply. I know that I am not going out for shopping trips as often, and I'm feeling the impact that higher food and gas prices are having on my own discretionary funds - times are feeling tighter.

But Fort Lauderdale is worlds away from here. Just the other side of the Florida coast from us, the local population is much more affluent and the economy more stable than ours presently is. There's more of year-round population than our transient one, too (the traffic is horrendous!). Having an antique show during the summer in Florida is kind of, well, weird. You just wouldn't do that where we live - there's no business, and no dealers, either. They all go up north. But we're making the presumption that this show in Fort Lauderdale will have customers, and plenty of dealers.

I would love to say that I'm excited rather than anxious about this show. And perhaps it's partly because we've had this gap in our selling season, and I just don't have a pulse on the shopping public at the moment. All I know is what I'm exhibiting as behavior - which is, stagnancy. I'm not doing much shopping, and I'm not doing much driving either. I'm holding my breath, really. Which is also uncomfortable! And makes for more anxiety. (Note to self - remember to breathe!!!) Maybe it's just in my nature to worry so before an event. I do know that on the day, I will be able to relax and enjoy the moment, enjoy the buzz of seeing other dealers and their treasures, and really enjoy engaging with the public. As much anxiety as I've ever felt, it doesn't interfere with the business itself, which is good :-)

We have a Spooner!

No, it's not a sleeping device :-) It's a bit clunky for cuddling up to. It looks like a sugar bowl that outgrew itself. Some people just put a cup on the countertop and stick their teaspoons in it, but you're supposed to use a spooner. During Victorian times they were not only a symbol of ready hospitality, but also a sign of increased affluence among the expanding middle class who could now afford silver spoons. They had almost completely disappeared by the 1930's.

Because some dealers at flea markets and malls do not recognize spoonholders, they are often mislabeled. The beginning collector or dealer needs to look closely and study to differentiate spooners from open sugars, sugar bottoms, celery vases, goblets, and tumblers. Spoonholders are narrower and more cylindrical than sugar bottoms or open sugars. Unlike goblets, which always have a smooth-rimmed lip, stemmed spooners are usually scalloped, serrated or beaded at the top, and the stems are shorter. Though many flat-based spooners have smooth rims, old tumblers tend to be slightly shorter and narrower than spooners and are slightly flared toward the top.

So, now that you know all about spooners, here's the one from our store: a leaded crystal example. It has a small ding on the rim (there's a close up photograph of it - we always fully disclose condition issues when we're aware of them) but that really does not detract at all from the beauty of this piece.

First Sale at eCrater!

We opened shop at eCrater on May 30th, and today we got our first sale. Processing the transaction through Google Checkout was a breeze - the address was verified without my having to do anything, and they automatically sent the customer a confirming email. Once I processed the transaction (again with a click of a button), had the item boxed up and ready to take to the post office, Google sent another email confirming the shipment to the customer. I fiddled a little bit with the eCrater screen in order to print out a packing slip to put in with the item - I just didn't want to send something out without any documentation. Google doesn't seem to have the option of printing out a packing slip, or it's possible in my excitement and rush to get the order to the post office before it closed (today's Saturday) I just couldn't find it.

Then I looked at Google Analytics to see exactly how the customer had found us - we had been Googled. So that stuff is all working well for us - we show up on targeted searches there and on Google Shopping, with a thumbnail photo right from the website. Every item in our inventory has Google attributes associated with it, basically descriptors that identify the brand, product type, material, and country of origin - this helps items get picked up by the search engines.

I also noticed that the message boards I've posted at, for collectors, have resulted in some hits. So that's nice so see, that some of the work I've been doing is starting to pay off. And all this, so far, without having to pay for advertising, or listing. It takes my time and effort - but it's so satisfying to now see the reward.

Mostly, I must say that I am impressed with the comprehensive help that's available at the online forum at eCrater. What a motherlode of information, ideas, guidelines, out-of-the-box and inventive bunch of individuals that have collected there. Although I found it mind-boggling at first, and overwhelming, if you tackle the building of the store according to the simple instructions available to dealers, it's pretty hard to go wrong.

A little blip

I sent out postcards to my very small database of customers regarding the upcoming show in Fort Lauderdale on August 2nd - and got an interesting phone message on the machine from one lady. She was the dealer from the Dade City show who had bought the picnic tin basket. (I could have guessed that she might have had something to say about the invitation to the show, having remembered our fractious customer-salesperson relationship!)

Gist of the message was that there was No Way On Earth she would consider driving All The Way to Fort Lauderdale for a Lousy 60 Dealer Show. You could just about hear the capitalizations in her voice! Oy vey. But, since we were at it and had her on our mailing list, we could send her 4 free passes for the Sarasota show in December. You gotta love the nerve of this woman. Oh, and she wants to look at any beaded purses we might have to sell to her. Actually, I'm a little afraid of showing them to her - what a bully she was! I'm thinking, instead, that perhaps she needs to be deleted from the mailing list. I don't need to get feedback like this from my tiny customer base.

I've taken a little break from the nonstop work on the eCrater store. There's no shortage of work to be done - and I'm not even midway through the Expo 67 project - but I'm acknowledging that I'm suffering a bout of depression that has broken through and left me feeling, for lack of a better word, utterly paralyzed. I see the work that needs to be done, but I don't have the energy to do it.

So I'm allowing myself a bit of a break while I allow some adjustments I've made in my self care and lifestyle to take effect. Trying to be good to myself. This internet store will be waiting for me when I'm ready to tackle it again. It could be just a few days, but I'm not putting myself on a schedule, but letting my mind and body tell me when they are ready to enjoy themselves again. This is such an enjoyable part of my life - I refuse to let it become the chore that depression can make it.

Bits and Pieces

So the experiment with stopping the garage sale shopping hasn't exactly worked out. I think Bob was able to go 2 weekends without shopping, and both weekends were clearly torturous for him. Who am I to keep him from his bliss, then? The important thing is not to let his activities interfere with my own projects with the business - he has to be able to do the stuff that he's been handing off to me to take care of in order keep me smiling and complacent.

It's a bit of a struggle.

But, I've been able to work on my Expo 67 project, and it's coming along nicely. I have a nice little category started at the eCrater store devoted to the memorabilia from the world's fair. I do get a bit lost from time to time in doing my research bits - there are a few pages out there with audio files, and news archives from that year. I find that my fascination has not flagged - a true sign of a collector. Yet by putting these items into the store, I'm also releasing them from my closet, where they have been stored - and NOT been enjoyed, as they should be. At the very least, by photographing, researching and writing about all these souvenirs, I'm rediscovering my memories about that special year. But I'm also allowing others, for the first time, to share in my enjoyment of them.

My mom asked me whether I wasn't putting things up for sale that have sentimental value for me, and the answer is - everything that we have for sale has sentimental value. That's what makes them valuable. But sentiment is one thing, and a family heirloom is quite another. What thrills me in the selling process is seeing someone else identify the same qualities in an item that I have felt myself - the "I remember this!" moment, or "Look what I found!", or "I've been looking forever for this!"

I've realized that this antiques business is really a catch-and-release process. That we don't actually own any of these items forever. We capture them, we value them, enjoy them for a time - perhaps years - and then, we release them, on to their next home. The sentimental value for me is the recognition that someone else sees the same quality that I do in an object, and are as happy as I was when I "discovered" it.

The other thing that I have come to learn in these few short months of being an antiques and collectibles business owner is how easy it is to acquire more and different interesting objects. Over the course of the selling season, we found homes for some very special objects: a generously sized McCoy planter; an Alfred Meakin commemorative plate celebrating the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway; several lovely teacups and saucers; some glorious pieces of silver plate. Anyone could argue that these were sentimental pieces that we should have held on to because of their value, their beauty, their historical significance, or their desirability. Yet in each case, we were more than happy to send the item home with their new, thrilled owners. And, as Bob has shown in his weekly shopping sprees, there are treasures galore in the immediate area, just waiting to be discovered. More McCoy. Italian Murano glass ashtrays. Depression glass. Music boxes. Dolls. Wedgwood. Royal Winton. Clocks.

It really never ends, if you just keep looking. Sometimes, the treasures come to us, as when we were at the show on Treasure Island, and a customer approached us and we did a trade. Her box of things for a selection of things from our booth. It just goes on and on.

And isn't that wonderful?

Expo 67 Nostalgia

Wow, I have just begun to go through the collection of souvenirs and memorabilia from Expo 67. That would be the World's Fair from 1967, which was held in Montreal, Canada - my hometown. I found out some totally neat factoids from Wikipedia ((((wikipedia)))) about it, of which I'm inordinately proud:

• It was considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with over 50 million visitors and 62 nations participating.
  
• It also set the single-day attendance record for a world's fair with 569,000 visitors on its third day.
• Expo 67 was Canada's main celebration during its centennial year.
  
• The fair was originally intended to be held in Moscow, to help the Soviet Union celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution but, for various reasons, the Soviets decided to cancel, and Canada was awarded it in the fall of 1962.

Since our family lived in Montreal North, we made several excursions to the fair over the course of the summer. It felt like all our relatives came to see us that year (probably just the ones with cameras, because we have loads of photographs from that year). I was very young - I turned 5 years old at the end of the summer - yet I retain many vivid memories of the sights and smells; the crowds, the fantastic architecture and cultural exposure of those months. From Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome of the United States pavilion to the austere, sail-like roof of the Germany pavilion; to the stoic concrete pillar of the Great Britain pavilion, to the exotic tent structure of the Ethiopia pavilion - these and so much more made huge impressions on my very young mind.

I do recall that my oldest brother Stephen performed with the Montreal Youth Symphony, dapper in his red and white striped jacket and towering over the other teenagers with his bass cello.

I remember the great logos of that year - the stylized maple leaf commemorating Canada's centennial - the signing of the nation into confederacy. The theme of the fair was "Man And His World" - and the accompanying logo was a circle of stick-figure people with arms outstretched towards each other - that's the image in the photograph of the lighter.

Even music played its role that summer:

• The song that most Canadians associate with Expo was written by Bobby Gimby, a veteran commercial jingle writer who composed the popular Centennial tune "Ca-na-da", which went on to sell over 500,000 copies. Gimby earned the name the "Pied Piper of Canada".
  

A few years after Expo 67, Bobby Gimby was still doing his schtick as the Pied Piper of Canada. I was one of the rats (um I mean, amongst a group of children) he led through a downtown building concourse, singing the Ca-na-da Song while he led us with his jeweled cape and oversized horn.

So, I'm having a lot of fun in going through the bits and pieces that have found their way into my hands over the years. As I get the items photographed and put into the eCrater store, I'll continue to throw up some links here for come of the totally cool stuff.

The show season is trickling in

Like the snow melt at the start of spring, we've begin to see a show here and there get booked for the season which is almost upon us.

The first is a pre-season show, really, and such an exciting departure for us, because it's an indoor event. AIR CONDITIONING!!! NO WIND!!! NO SUN!!! (Can you tell I'm charged up about this one?) We'll be at the Fort Lauderdale Antique and Collector Faire on August 2nd and 3rd. We'll stay with Bob's folks and so will save on the hotel expense. We invested in some classy looking navy blue flame retardant tablecloths that reach to the floor for our tables, because we do plan to do more indoor shows in the future. The fees are higher than outdoor shows for a vendor, but the advantages - particularly at this time of year, with the weather so capricious, makes it a no-brainer for us.

We had considered doing a dry run of setting up the booth in advance of the show. On Sunday we cleared the garage of our vehicle and set up a table, put the new tablecloth on it (looks great!), and then kind of stood there... because it dawned on us that we didn't really need to do any more preparation than that. We've already determined that our merchandise is substantially better than most at the outdoor venues, and the last show we did we already weeded out what we would not be taking to an indoor show, by putting those items in a separate bin and marking it appropriately. So the work has already been done. I guess we were just a bit nervous, eh?

But I don't think we'll change what we take to the Ft Lauderdale show. Our teapots, the other porcelain, ceramic and glass items; books and jewelry; and pictures. As I've written here, Bob's done plenty of restocking for this upcoming season (ahem), so there's no worry that we won't have a good variety to bring. I do have confidence that the quality of our merchandise is up to the standards of any indoor show we've been to.

In September, we've got a show in Dade City booked, on the 27th and 28th. We did their spring event and really loved the setting and the show was a great one for us. I've requested the same booth space - since we prepay for the spot, rather than reserve it and pay on the day of the event, we'll probably be granted our favored spot. It was under several large trees in the municipal parking lot. We'll bring the shade canopy with us, though, since we won't be able to rely on the weather's cooperation on the day, and we've learned the trick to anchoring the canopy on pavement without being able to drive stakes into the ground. (That would be attaching gallon bottles of water to the canopy with bungee cords - that sucker will not budge. Sometimes you need to add a couple of cinder blocks to the base for extra measure.)

And a few weeks after that, we do another indoor show, this time close by in St. Petersburg. On October 10th through the 12th we'll be at the Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show at the Coliseum. (A note about the link for this show - it hasn't been updated since the January 2008 show, grrr. Oh, and there's a typo on the title of the link too. I hate stuff like that! Why do they start promoting the shows when the websites aren't up to date? Drives me batty.) We've gone to this show as consumers every year since we've lived in the area, and started talking about having a booth there as soon as we bought the business. It will be interesting to see if it lives up to our expectations. The venue is rather wonderful - a Jazz Age dance hall that is still used for weekly Tea Dances, across from the Lawn Bowling Club. Can't get any more "old St. Pete" than that. It's always really well attended, with some wonderful vendors.

So the summer has barely started, and we already have the new season starting to get booked up. I think it's pretty wonderful - I guess I'm in the right business.

Here's a photo for today - another piece of Bunnykins. This is called a Hug-a-Mug. Such a cute name for a practical shape, made for little hands to easily bring a cuppa something safely to their mouths. This design is called Unravelling The Knitting, for obvious reasons! Everybody is pretty cheeky on this cup, even the design on the reverse side, showing a bunny with a piece of knitting wrapped around his head. You can see why I love these adorable pieces so much.

All about Bunnykins Tableware

I'm more than halfway done putting the Bunnykins collection on to website. What's impressed me most in doing my research has been how little information there is about the pieces available for sale on the internet; and also how much incorrect information is out there. I thought I would clear up a few misconceptions that I've keep reading about.

Many items for sale on the internet claim to have been made in 1936, based on the backstamp on the item, which reads Copyright 1936. This is FALSE. 1936 is when the Bunnykins trademark was copyrighted by Royal Doulton, but there are very few items for sale in the market that date that far back. Many surviving pieces show a great deal of wear from the enthusiastic eaters scooping up their porridge to enjoy the scene underneath. Collectors also like to find scenes incorporating Barbara Vernon's facsimile signature, although sometimes this was cut off the transfer. Barbara was the daughter of the manager of the Royal Doulton Stoke-on-Trent pottery and she first imagined the exploits of the Bunnykins family to entertain the children in the class at the convent sch00l where she taught. She began to send her sketches to the factory where they were adapted for the lithographic printing process by one of the resident designers, Hubert Light. He also designed the chain of running rabbits which has appeared around the rim of the Bunnykins pieces since their launch in 1934.

Many of Barbara's designs had been withdrawn by 1952 and are amongst the most desirable today. Collectors appreciate her simple designs and the charming subjects which evoke her era. One of Royal Doulton's art directors, Walter Hayward, took over the range after the Second World War. Initially he adapted the remaining Barbara Vernon drawings for production but he soon began to create his own scenes although her facsimile signature continued to appear on on the ware until the mid 1950's. Walter Hayward's work can be identified by the presence of some lively little mice that became his trademark. Eventually, no longer was Bunnykins intended exclusively for youngsters, but scenes were developed for grown-ups, featuring briefcases dashing to work.

In 1987, Colin Twinn was commissioned to produce a set of Bunnykins books, and many of his drawings were adapted for use on the nursery ware. His scenes are known for having pastel colors and fluffier bunnies than the originals. While this approach worked well in little picture books, established collectors felt that the Bunnykins characters had lost their identity with these new designs. Production of Colin Twinn designs had ceased by the early 1990's.

Frank Endersby is a freelance illustrator who works from his studio in the the Cotswold region. He assimilated the essential qualities of the original Bunnykins style and his scenes feature the strong outlines used for the original characters as well as their bright blue and red clothes.

I've been collecting Bunnykins tableware items since my mother brought home a plate, well worn with the design all but missing, from the Salvation Army, late in the 1960's. When I lived in England I was fortunate enough to have lived close by the Potteries region, and so was able to make several visits to the Royal Doulton (and Wedgewood) factories, and take full advantage of their on-site stores. I've taken great delight, over the years, in enjoying my morning cup of coffee, or a soft boiled egg, from these happy pieces of china. I've never thought that they should be solely within the realm of children, but should instead inspire the child in each of us.

Here's an example of a money ball, for saving your pennies for a rainy day. I've been careful in my store listings to use the titles of the scenes and also the design numbers, as Royal Doulton issued them. Another thing I noticed while doing my research was that most items for sale on the internet used the most generic of terms to describe Bunnykins items - a frustration for the serious collector.

Time to ease up on those garage sales, buddy!

Yikes, is all I can say. Weekend after weekend of relentless pursuit of hours of garage sales. The dining room table never really gets emptied of Incoming! - that is, items to be logged in, to be researched, to be priced, to be cleaned, tagged, and wrapped up for future sale. It started to get to me. I missed seeing the wooden surface of my dining room table.

So I've called a halt, for the moment, to the influx of Finds and Treasures into the House of Trautman. Just long enough probably to clean the place up for a little bit, but it feels good. I have a really lovely table underneath all the stuff!

And yes, let me say it here - I'm not the person who has been doing all that shopping every weekend. I'm perfectly content to sit with the morning newspaper for a few hours, enjoy my coffee, and relax. Bob, on the other hand, is a man on a mission. He's prepared with the newspaper listings for the sales for the weekend, and his GPS unit for the car, and raring to go before 7AM!! As I've mentioned before, I don't really enjoy the garage sales, for several reasons: the quality of the items offered is often quite suspect; the prices are all too often way beyond what they should be (more like retail); and, more and more, we're spending the precious commodity of increasingly expensive fuel dashing all over the county - for the UNKNOWN. Never mind that it's summertime in Florida. By 9AM it's already insufferably hot and you really can't stay outside for very long.

So, most times, Bob has been doing the garage saleing solo. But he's been coming home with some substantial hauls some weekends, and we're quickly running out of storage... I'm running out of patience as far as being able to keep pace with the onslaught of treasures coming into the house.

So we're taking a little break from shopping for now. Thank goodness.

I don't think I should blog about the books...

Sales dried up as soon as I did! I swear, there is simply no rhyme nor reason to sales there. It's a mystery. Maybe it's the phases of the moon - I sure don't want to make any predictions at this point.

We went to a great estate sale this afternoon. 3 teapots, a small footed glass dish chased with silver in a thistle design, a letter holder in the shape of a peacock on a marble block (looks a lot nicer than it sounds, honestly!), a glass llama figurine, a small porcelain clock, a lovely Japanese hand painted creamer and sugar, and a set of depression glass salt and pepper shakers. Plus a few odds and ends for the house, not really meant for resale (too new!). Tomorrow I'll try to take a couple of photos and throw them up here. Some of the items will definitely go into the store. Others we'll put aside for the shows, since we've been making the store more of a specialist destination.

We are definitely using this hot summer season to do our "stocking up" for the winter selling season ahead. We plan to be doing shows most weekends, so having a variety of inventory from which to pull for various shows will give us some peace of mind. I definitely prefer estate sales to any other type of venue for finding items: pieces are almost always very well cared for, though you still have to do the "feel" test for chips and keep your eyes open for condition issues.

Amazon Bookselling going great guns

I can't figure out, for the life of me, why some weeks are busier than others. Last week we sold 6 books in 7 days, which I think is a record for us. A couple of the titles I had just added on and they sold the next day. I'm running around 95 titles or so. Every now and then I'll get ruthless with my own bookcases and have a run through them, cull a few out, and put them up for sale. I'm still working through the many cases of books I acquired at the same time I bought all those teapots - but at the moment I'm actually selling more of my own collection than those I'd acquired.

And the nice thing is that I feel perfectly fine buying myself a book here and there, knowing that I can recoup some of the money back later on when I'm finished with enjoying my reading. Some books are "keepers" - I have no intention of selling them on to someone else. But others have languished for ages - I'm unwilling to pitch them into a garage sale as they're "too good" for a 50 cent pile.

The only books that are really impossible to resell at Amazon have been best sellers - there are just such high quantities of them around, and the values get driven down just by sheer volume. But last week I decided to put on a textbook about the honeybee that I'd hung on to for no good reason, except as a reminder that I'd once taken a course at an agricultural college for beekeeping (which I was absolutely dismal at, but really enjoyed doing for the short time it lasted). It sold within a day, to some guy at a genomic biology company in the midwest. Way cool. It had gone out of print.

Meanwhile, back on eCrater, I've been adding more and more items to the store. I got some feedback from another dealer about how I had some of my products categorized - so great to get constructive criticism that I can put to immediate use! I implemented those few changes, updated some of the photos at the store's home page, and have been diligently putting additional Bunnykins china items into the inventory. Oh, and I added specific language in our Terms section that we won't ship orders COD :-)

Sometimes blogging feels like a very lonely thing to do.

nm

And on to Bunnykins!

Just the name makes you giggle. But the first piece I grabbed failed to be easy to research - I've got the pattern number and name from my trusty Charlton Standard Catalogue (note the spelling, ahem) of Royal Doulton Bunnykins as the Letterbox design - but there's a drought of information about it out in the ether.

Harrumph. I guess Wedgwood was a walk in the park!

Scratching my head on this. There's the book value, that's the one that makes your eyes water and you marvel at the astounding Find you've got on your hands. But you really have to know the retail value, what it's worth in the marketplace, in order to be accurate. I'd be scaring people off to put the book values on the collection - and really, that's funny money. It's what you hope the item to be worth to a collector - but it's not usually a reflection of the current going price.

So, it looks like I've got my work cut out for me. It also doesn't help that, although there are proper names given by Royal Doulton for each of the patterns issued, many times, if you do a search for just "Bunnykins", you'll gets results that describe the shape of the piece, like plate, or two handled mug. Well, duh - they issued those shapes for virtually ALL the designs they created. So it's quite a slog through the information bog - I mean highway - just to filter out to what you're exactly looking for.

For example, a search this morning turned up a cup described as "two handled with cute bunnies scampering and getting into lots of trouble." OK, then - I don't think I can really pin that one down without having to take a much closer look. Oh, and while I'm at it, can I just mention again my pet peeve about how many poor quality photographs there are out there? It staggers the mind how people manage to sell their items from blurry or poorly lit images. I'm presuming that they're selling.

Yes, I'm frustrated. This will be a more labor intensive batch of collectibles than I'd anticipated. But I'm hoping they'll be worth the effort and the wait.

The Wedgwood just keeps on coming

(Blushing)

I guess I didn't realize how much we'd amassed over the years until I started to catalog everything for the store. I'm not done yet, though, and I'm up to 37 items. That even beats out the teapots, which I thought was spectacular. I'm almost at the end (I hope), I'm starting to dream about Jasperware, and seeing Dancing Hours every time I close my eyes.

There have been a few surprises along the way. Things like I thought I've seen items when I've searched on Google, yet when it came time for me to research the thing, I haven't been able to find any information at all. Things appear on the internet, and things drop off. (I guess as items come up for sale and then the records are deleted.) So it's made me appreciate the necessity of jotting down notes as I go, and putting them with the objects whether I'm ready to work on it at that time or not. This happened to me just the other day with a cachepot, sometimes also known as a jardiniere. When it came time for me to put it on to the website, I had the hardest time doing my research - many of my searches turned up auction sites that required a registration in order to find out any real information, like what the thing actually sold for. Persistence pays off, though, and I was able to cobble together a great description from multiple sources.

And here's a real wowee-cowabunga one: a perfume atomizer. I got this at the Wedgwood factory in Burslem, England in the late 1980's, not long after the color went into production. Perfume atomizers are highly collectible; Jasperware in rare colors is highly collectible - what this is is what's called (in the parlance of the trade), a "cross collectible", or desirable to people for multiple reasons.

I get it, now

It just dawned on me what that whole COD I-want-those-teapots-but-only-if-I-can-get-them-Cash-On-Delivery... it was a tidy little lesson in boundaries for me. So here's your first transaction being dangled in front of you, but let's violate your business terms straight out of the chute. How's them apples? I actually lost sleep over this last night, because I extrapolated the transaction out to where we actually made some kind of arrangement. And it scared me because I wondered where the next boundary infraction would come from - she wouldn't like the teapots when they arrived, or they wouldn't be shipped quickly enough - all this spouted from the emails that we had sent back and forth over the last week or so. With me repeatedly stating our policy, and the other person, just as often, trying to run it over with a steam engine.

I was relieved that the outcome ended up to be - if she can't get a hold of a credit card to do the transaction, then she'll go elsewhere to get those teapots on the terms she desires. And good luck to that.

As with any time that I've held my boundaries firm, it's felt scary and empowering at the same time. I didn't cave in, and I also didn't make a sale. I think, though, that in a case like this, it's a win-win for me :-) I not only didn't make the sale, but I also didn't have to worry about the rebound effects of having made it. And it will be easier the next time someone suggests an alternative to our clearly stated purchase terms, to say, Sorry, but No. (Which was what I said all along with this - it just wasn't heard until the third time.)

Well, I'm impressed!

The store at eCrater has been open around a week or so - and we've got our first sales transaction in progress. I've specified that we'll accept payment of money orders and bank checks in addition to being able to go through Google Checkout, and we've had an inquiry from a customer who doesn't have a credit card. There are plenty of folks out there who either choose not to have them, or don't really trust the privacy of their information on the internet, I'm thinking. We won't accept personal checks, and we'll only take money orders in US funds - I think this covers our behinds fairly completely.

So I've told her the total amount necessary to buy and ship the product - in this case, the Big Bob Goes Fishing Teapot - and, as they say, "the check is in the mail."

This is already more traffic and business than we ever had at that Other Place, so I'm tickled pink. Of course, the real satisfaction will be when the money order arrives, but I'm sure we've got a transaction in progress here.

So happy, so relieved, so - yes, I'm going to say it here - proud of what we've done in this short time!

This is what a squidoo looks like

I made a Squidoo lens about Wedgwood Jasperware. I still don't quite know what a lens is or what it is supposed to do, but I did it. Along the way I found a site for the Wedgwood museum, which was kind of cool. And I also found out that in the 19th century the company supplied a dental firm in London with the porcelain required to make artificial teeth!

Kind of a neat loop given my experience working in a dental laboratory, and then a dental practice. Synchronicity...

Growing the store

I've got the Attributes thang down! And figured out how to copy an item, so now when I add something new to the store, I select something that is similar (in type and maybe color, if I'm lucky), and the attributes are copied over along with the rest of the file. This rocks - it saves SO much time.

I put Bob on to the task of the metatags and description, since I totally didn't know what I was doing there. He found a free metatag analyzer through the eCrater forums (which also rock - so many resources there) and spent over an hour tweaking the words to get the percentages up. It turned out that my blind shot in the dark wasn't so bad in the first place - we had a better than average outcome with the keywords I had originally chosen. Dropping the extraneous "ands" and what I call fluffy words helped to get the numbers up.

And every time you add more items to your store, or you sell stuff, it's worth running the analyzer again, because it can change your numbers. I don't know if this is hard science or snake oil, though... hard to tell without any sales yet.

And Bob was flummoxed by Squidoo! At least I wasn't the only one :-) I'm going to give it another go, though, and see if I can't make some more sense of what on earth those lenses are all about!

Today's picture is of an absolutely lovely piece of Carnival Glass that Bob found this past weekend. This is a tumbler from the Dugan and Diamond's Storks and Rushes pattern, which was made between 1920 and 1931. This color is called Marigold - you also see it in Blue. The iridescence is just so very pretty in this piece, and it's in perfect shape. The mold markings are very bold and pronounced, which is perfectly acceptable. This pattern was reissued later on, by Westmoreland, but was marked as such with a "W" - which this tumbler lacks. By deduction, it's an original.

Google Attributes

Yesterday I logged on to the eCrater account and saw a new button next to all the items in our inventory - the unmistakable G of Google. eCrater supports a certain number of Google Attributes, which are like keywords that describe your stuff that's for sale, and that the Goggle search engine will look through first when someone types in a search.

Here's a great article from the Search Engine Journal, from February 2007, that explains them really well. The upshot is that the more attributes you assign to describe something, the more particular you can get about your search, and the easier it becomes for your potential customer to find their exact match with your product.

I must admit that when I first started to read about attributes and how to assign them, my heart fell - I had already put 53 things into my store without knowing what an attribute was or that it was a good idea to assign them to each one! And it wasn't a matter of doing one record, and copying and pasting it into the rest of them; I had to go into each record individually and put the criteria that described that particular item itself. I tried to take plenty of breaks to give my eyeballs a rest (I tend to not blink often enough when looking at the screen), and also to stretch my back out. After about a day's work, I'm all caught up. And from here on in, when I add anything else to the store, I can select a similar item, copy that record, and the attributes will also be copied, for me to fine tune as necessary.

Once again, I am learning so much by doing this all myself. I guess there are plenty of people out there who hand over the running of their internet stores to a Web Master - and also hand over the money to do it - but this way I am gaining a real sense of ownership, and a depth of knowledge that I never would have imagined acquiring a year ago. Such a richness! And there's still room in my brain for more stuff!

The Google Help Base Center - a place that's dry as burnt toast, highly technical, crammed with information but not exactly geared for low-tech klutzes like myself, is also a good bookmark to have, because every single attribute that Google supports is listed, explained, and an example given.

Now I'm feeling slightly more in control of how the website is developing. I did write a Squidoo lens, though ya got me as to how those really work (maybe I'll have to do another one to get the hang of it?).

Today's picture is of another piece of Wedgwood Jasperware. This one is a commemorative pin dish made to celebrate Canada's centennial, in 1967. The applied white relief is a stylized maple leaf - no mention of Canada or the year anywhere on the piece. If you didn't know what it was or what it represented, you'd think it was a Star of David gone wrong! But in our house, mom had even made a needlepoint chair cushion using this motif. When I spotted this piece at the estate sale last week, I got all excited (that's a Canadian living in the United States for you!). Enjoy - and look forward to many more souvenirs celebrating that year in history.

Building up a store

I've got this sense of deja vue that I just can't shake - and for good reason. Taking photographs, doing research, putting items into the online store... I've been here before. Yet this time around it feels so much better. I feel so much more my own boss at eCrater, a freedom and a responsibility at the same time. I don't quite know what a metatag is, but I know it's important! And what the heck is Squidoo? Yet another form of self promotion, and it's free, so I'm going to do it.

I've begun putting some of the Wedgwood Jasperware items on the site. We have so many, it is going to be a regular department store by the time I'm done. Today's picture is of a very pretty, deep rose teapot. Yes, it's fully functional, glazed on the interior. Unusual in that it has a trivet or stand on which to place the teapot. I think we found this piece at an antique store in Tarpon Springs, long before we ever thought of having our own business.

The most famous of Josiah Wedgwood's inventions was Jasperware. The unglazed vitreous body provides the perfect background for classic scenes in bas-relief.

Venetian Decanter and Glasses Set

I just think this set is stunning, especially after we cleaned it up at home. Hand blown Venetian glass in a turquoise, almost teal color, with a gold, lacy applique overlaid in a beautiful pattern. It's right out of the 1960's and you can just picture it on somebody's kidney shaped coffee table, serving up some sherry.

Evocative.

I just love how some objects we find can transport us to another time like these can - one look and they definitely are NOT from a 2008 Crate and Barrel catalog. They are swinging; they are lounge music from an enormous console in your rec room; they are air blue with cigarette smoke, and ladies' hair teased into Dippity-Do gravity-defying shapes. All this from looking at a bunch of glass!

Yes, I love what I'm doing.

I hope that the photo does the set justice.

Time Travelers now at eCrater

Wow, my head is spinning, and so early in the day. I've been working on setting up shop at eCrater, and getting Google Checkout ready there, and we even bought a domain name. I think I have the forwarding set up so that it will bring people automatically to the eCrater storefront.

Let's give it a try, shall we? Try this link: timetravelersonline.net

That should take you to a very small storefront at eCrater. At the moment, we've got it on hold until all the kinks are worked out. I think we'll be opening it soon even though it doesn't have many items in it as of yet, because now that I've got the hang of all that taking photographs and writing descriptions down, the process is a bit more efficient than it was 6 months ago.

But please, take a look at the store, with all its 4 items in it. I like the look of the place, myself. It shouldn't be unfamiliar compared with the TIAS store, apart from looking rather empty... just a virtual change in geography, as it were.

I can't believe that I've done as much as I have. We've had to forward the domain name to eCrater instead of masking it because bookmarks won't work properly, and there is some glitch with the Checkout unless you do it this way. But I don't mind. I like the domain name better than the clumsy one we'd been using before, and we'll be able to take it wherever we end up. I have a feeling, though, that we'll be at eCrater for some time. They make it very easy to set things up, it's completely personalized, and all the promotion - the really important stuff - is also, totally up to the seller.

So we'll give this a try.

Quite a nice bunch of stuff

The estate sale we went to couldn't have been better. Close to home, and just overflowing with lovely, well cared for items that had seen a lifetime of love. We whizzed through the home and quickly built up a pile of some very special things to take away with us.

I took a quick photo of what we found. Briefly - some Wedgwood Jasperware ashtrays, including a Winston Churchill, and, to my delight, a Canadian 1967 Confederation one (which you had to know what it was just by the abstracted symbol of a maple leaf on it - no mention of Canada or 1967 at all). I was tickled pink to find it, because I'm a closet 1967 memorabilia collector. Also a covered trinket box, and a horse and chariot ashtray, both in the classical Grecian relief that you often see on the Jasperware pieces.

Silverplate - some serving pieces, like a large ladle, a small lade, a cake server, a sauce boat, and a sugar and creamer set. All terribly tarnished, but with TLC, some time and my favorite silver polish, they will all soon be gleaming, and will command decent prices.

A very pretty hand painted teapot in a soft teal color with gold handle and spout. So pretty and a practical size.

A covered cheese dish - something you just don't see any more. Very old, most definitely antique. It's lightly crazed all over and does have some staining from age, but I don't think it's a detraction. It's a special piece and in great condition.

A Stangl 1960's flower vase. I'm just starting to learn about and appreciate American pottery, and I'm glad I spotted this tucked away in a china hutch at the sale. It's in some very "Florida" colors - turquoise and gold - and still has the label on it from the factory. Mint condition.

A Venetian glass decanter set. Something special for company in a deep turquoise glass with gold lace decoration. It has all 6 glasses present in the set.

We also picked up a covered casserole dish that caught our eye, cream with green relief decoration. It just looked like something that people might like.

So that's the shopping for today. We are really pleased with what we found!

Doing some Shopping, and Looking Ahead

We're going to an estate sale tomorrow afternoon. What a luxury - a sale during the week and without a show facing us! It's been a while since we've felt the absence of any pressure to restock, but we have officially ended the show season. We won't be doing anything until an indoor event in Fort Lauderdale at the beginning of August.

So now we are able to catch our breath and really take a close look at what we have left from the shortened season that we just got through. I want to do a review of exactly what has sold well for us - I bet it won't be what we think it's been. I know that Bob gets excited every time we've sold something that takes up a lot of space! even if it hasn't been of high value; he's also been pretty happy when something heavy has sold, because it's meant that he wouldn't have to lift and carry it again... So does that mean we should only be buying light, fluffy things??

I can see us developing several different levels of merchandise. One level for outdoor shows, where people expect to find and see the "bargains" of the collectibles world. The $5 table at the Treasure Island show was truly a good thing for us, because it allowed us to pull together a bunch of items that we wanted to clear out of stock and reduce their prices to sell. It was the right thing to do, and it created some room for us.

Bob and I want to start doing indoor shows, which cost more to participate in - usually three times the cost of doing the same show out of doors. But you don't see the same merchandise indoors as outdoors - once inside, you see a higher quality of merchandise, expect to see higher prices, and you might not even negotiate on the prices as you would outside. All this just for airconditioning!

The good news is that we won't have to buy all new (old) merchandise in order to start selling at these indoor shows. We already have a broad range of prices and values in what we offer. We will have to go through the bins and decide what exactly is appropriate for the indoor show, and what we should leave at home - and that brings up another point: we'll likely have less space, so we'll have to be more discriminating in what we bring.

I'll also take a look at table coverings that can help make our lovelies pop! The right color and texture can make a big difference. At the higher end of the shows you see retailers getting into elaborate displays, spot lights, and cases. Again, since this is our first year, I'll be trying to keep things as simple and inexpensive as I can for now.

Realistically I think we'll be doing both types of shows, as weather permits, and where it makes sense to do business indoors and where it will be expected that we show outside.

Meanwhile, eCrater awaits. I've been toiling on putting the correct values into the dreaded Shipping Matrix, the place where you can make or break your own store. I've read easily 20 pages in their online forum about the subject, so it's worthy of extra study up front, before I get too deep into this new store. Once those values are in (how much to charge for shipping by weight), then I can start to enter some items into inventory, which will require me to enter a weight in for each at that time. If I don't have a value for weight, then I can't enter an item. Luckily, I just happened to have bought a postal-grade scale when I was setting the shop at at That Other Internet Place - which we didn't end up using, but should have, in hindsight.

But first things first. Shipping Matrix. Then I get to pass go.

Sun, Sand and Swing?

No, no, and no.

Not at 84% relative humidity and over 80 degrees F with a constant breeze. It was what I would imagine a slow roast in a convection oven would feel like. Totally unpleasant. And absurdly inappropriate to have the vendors come to set up at 7AM, when the main attraction, which is live music (that would be the Swing part of the event's name) doesn't even begin until 3:45PM. So for 6 and 3/4 hours we were pretty much twiddling our collective thumbs, waiting for the crowd to arrive. What were the Treasure Island Chamber of Commerce thinking when they planned this act of stupidity? What a complete and utter waste of our time.

Note to selves: we won't we doing this event next year.

The ultimate in recycling

As we continue to fill our landfills more quickly than new ones can be created, it's worth looking at how green it is to market antiques and collectibles. What could be more wise than to reuse an object, rather than to discard something to a garbage bin and purchase a new one to replace it?

This is more than clever marketing - this is about reducing our production of refuse in our world. If we encourage people to buy gently used glassware, linens, clothing, dishes, and decorative objects, we are preventing those very objects from becoming fodder for the overburdened landfills. It makes huge sense.

I often speak of the treasures that we find at garage sales, estate sales, and auctions. We also have things just outright given to us to resell - and these things would not otherwise be used. We aid in finding these items their new lives in peoples' homes. Buying used items means that you're not contributing to the mindless cycle of always buying new, and discarding your old, things. You're breaking that cycle - interrupting it - and also extending the life of an object by enjoying it for many years, before in turn, sending it on to another home yourself. And likewise, when you're done with enjoying something in your home, think about donating it to a charity shop, gifting it to someone else in your family if it's a precious heirloom, or have a sale of your own, instead of putting it in the garbage. Just because you're done using it doesn't mean someone else won't get years of enjoyment from it - if anything, it's kind of wonderful to think of the extension of life it will get by being passed on to another household.

It's another way, however small, to green your small corner of the world.

Internet store to live another day

First of all, wouldn't you know that we got an order on the TIAS site yesterday??!! Massive panic as we searched through multiple storage bins to find the item that was purchased - I knew this would happen! After months of packing and unpacking for show after show, never being able to pack a bin the same way twice, it's become complete chaos to try to find anything that we've listed on the website that is also something that we take to the shows.

Which is our complete internet store inventory.

And now approaches the end of the TIAS store, and an opportunity to start fresh someplace else. We are going to set up shop with eCrater, a free web store builder and a free online marketplace. With this new store will be different merchandise, however. I have seen (and did see, the entire time) the sheer folly of listing the same inventory in the old store that we were taking to the live shows. Keeping track of items sold was never a problem - I keep very detailed records - but that nightmare of actually putting my hands on something that's been carefully wrapped and packed away in a box that's buried 3 deep and 2 back in the spare room - well, that dream was realized and it wasn't pretty! The air was blue with the language coming out of my mouth, oh my!

And we never did set up our shipping rates properly at TIAS, which meant that we hadn't covered our expenses properly. So this time we'll be doing our homework more diligently, and also, having to weigh each item as we put it into the new store. The shipping rates will correspond to the postal service's Priority Mail rates, which is how we prefer to send items out.

My head is spinning at the work ahead of us. I've got the postal scale already, as I'd bought one months ago, then not used it when setting up shop at TIAS. Hopefully, this will dovetail nicely with the end of the live show season here. As we slow down with the shows, we'll be ramping up the new internet store.

A new look (template)

I've changed a few page elements and so thought I would freshen things up a bit overall with a new template.

We're getting ready this week, after a bit of a break, for the Sun, Sand and Swing celebration right in our own backyard here in Treasure Island. It's only a mile away from home - what a treat! And so we're shaking things up as far as what we're bringing to the show. We're debuting a $5 table, with selections taken from our original inventory of items that came with the purchase of the business. Something for everyone, we believe. I'll be making up an eye-catching sign for the table to help draw attention to it.

In preparation for this weekend we had the chance to really go through most of our inventory - several hours worth of work, but very satisfying as there were odds and ends that were in bins that we had forgotten about; so they'll get to see the light of day again. It's interesting to take a fresh look at these things given our accumulated experience of having done a few months' worth of shows, and having gone to estate sales, and auctions. It really helps you see what you have with new eyes - sometimes more discriminating, and sometimes with more appreciation.

What we're surprised about at the moment is the number of garage sales in the area at any given time. There hasn't been a weekend when there wasn't an enormous choice of sales, whether they were church rummage sales, community sales, multi family sales, estate sales run by professional appraisers, or people who just dragged all their contents of their garage out to the front lawn and stuck a sign on to a telephone pole with some duct tape. You can always find a good 10 to 15 sales going on within several miles of where we live. We've never had to go beyond our county limits.

A lot of it has to do with where we live, geographically. You can hold garage sales year-round, unless there's a hurricane bearing down on us. No danger of being frozen out, or often, in this years-long siege of drought that we've been in, rained out. So we don't have a season when people are clearing out their homes - it's more of a perpetual happening. I've already done my haranguing about the garbage versus garage sales that goes on, but I'm thinking that's a cultural happening that I just hadn't been exposed to before. Kind of in the same department as the guy next door who you never see wearing a shirt, and you wished to god that you could cover him up, because it's not a Chippendale moment when you lay your eyes upon him! It's just what some people do, put it all out there, because, well, they can. It's a free country, ain't it?

Darn #@!!$$ Internet!

Say - here's a link to our storefront at Amazon where we've been selling our books - and thanks to the fellow seller on the forum there who suggested I put it here...

I did spend too much time trying to figure out how to add the link as a permanent page element to this blog, unsuccessfully. I tried over and over to add it as a page element, only to have the link not appear. Luckily, though, it only reminded me of an Eddie Izzard discussion about computers that I watched the other day on YouTube, which totally made me laugh out loud.

Sigh. Now my eyeballs are hurting from forgetting to blink! Tine for a break.


Early the next day.... I tried again. Turns out that I needed to give the link a name. (Cyber dope-slap to the forehead.) Now it works great! Thanks again to the seller on Amazon who walked me through the maze to get there. I will link to his blog and sites too.

Stuff from Under The Sink

I really, really wish that people would not sell their half used toiletries from underneath the bathroom sink. Gross! One place this morning had three tables' full of it - hello? Would you buy an open tube of toothpaste from a garage sale? Do people actually buy this stuff?

Not us, obviously.

I used a bit more discretion today in how carefully I looked over some the stops on the garage sale trail - I didn't sit in the car the whole time, but I was rather quick in my perusals. It saved my senses from feeling overwhelmed, so it would seem that I learned my lesson last weekend.

Generally speaking, we do best at the homes of older people, whose belonging are also older. That makes sense. At the same time, you have to look much more carefully at these stops for the condition of the items; there will be things that have been used for decades, and so will be much more worn. We're always looking for those treasures that come from a loving home - well cared for.

(And if you can believe it, we even bought a couple of teapots today. I never thought that I'd be buying more teapots!)

Getting Re(t)a(i)l

OK, so that's an awkward title for a post! But I'm actually excited that yesterday I took delivery of a credit card terminal so we can put through those sales that I've been whining about. I'm waiting on a call from the helpful technician from NACCA, who sent us the machine. He'll run me through how to operate the thing, and we'll be off.

It's a step backwards technologically speaking, since we started out being set up for doing the transactions with them for the internet store. But since that's about to close up shop, we had to make alternate arrangements so that we could still have the convenience of offering the convenience of plastic at our shows.

This company has been helpful and supportive throughout the entire chaotic experience with TIAS. They actually speak with me on the phone, and answer their emails within hours, if not minutes, of getting them. Yes, I'm still a mite titchy about the treatment we had at the hands (-off) of TIAS.

So we'll be able to do the manual imprinting at the shows, and run each transaction through the terminal at home (or wherever we are, as long as we have electricity and a phone line) and that will be it. What a relief. And, what an advantage!

....The training for the terminal unit was a breeze. I was able to key in the transaction that I had left over from the West Palm Beach show. So great not to have to worry about the website coordination to do these! This is older generation technology - you need a land line for the phone, and a plug. None of this handheld wireless stuff - but then, this IS an antiques business. Aw! Isn't that cute! (But I loved it!)

What we pack our treasures in

Here's a secret to share from the antique dealers' world. We wrap our treasures not in newsprint, getting our fingers dirty and necessitating multiple uses of baby wipes, or, if we're lucky, soap and water; we have a secret weapon.

They're reusable, waterproof, absorbent, soft, and inexpensive. You'll never guess what they are...

Puppy training pads.

They allow us to pack up a show in the rain without having to worry about drying everything off first, because they're absorbent. They've got a waterproof underside so you don't have to worry about everything getting soggy and falling apart. The absorbent material is very soft and cushioning so it's perfect for fragile porcelain and glass objects. You can buy an enormous package of 200 12" x 24" inch pads for about $20 and they'll last for years. They don't shred or disintegrate - bad for landfills, but great for durability.

And that's the Tip Of The Day.

Garage Sales and GPS

We've spent the weekend going to the many garage sales in the immediate area, to stock up on the particular things that we need (colored glassware, teacups, and animal figurines - go figure!). Around here and during this time of year, the newspapers publish a garage sale map every weekend of the county, with the Saturday, Sunday, and both days' sales clearly marked on the map.

Armed with our TomTom - perhaps Bob's most favorite Christmas present of recent years - getting from house to house without a hassle is all but guaranteed. You do need to type in your next destination before you leave your last, or at least I do, risking getting car sick and getting confusing commands from the calm voice of the unit, as it tells you to "turn around as soon as possible." And there are times when the thing just seems as lost as WE are. But overall, it's removed the stress from figuring out which way the one-way streets are going, and how to most efficiently get from one place to the next.

All I can say is - thank goodness for that gadget, because the garage sales themselves are really hard work to go to. In many ways I have to equate it to dumpster diving, because people will put broken and filthy items out for sale that aren't even suitable for donation to a charity. I don't know how people get the nerve to do it (I even saw, at one garage sale, a package of feminine yeast infection OTC remedy - what on earth?) - is it desperation, stupidity, or what I've come to think of that Jerry Springer mentality, where people don't seem to mind that they are literally airing their dirty laundry for the sake of a couple of dollars? Got me, but I felt slightly sickened at what I saw at some of these sales.

We did pick up one bad find this morning, at what had been signed as an "estate sale" outside of a double-wide trailer. It looked like tables of stuff that had been left outside for weeks, if not months - covered with dirt and grime. We found a lovely teacup and saucer, and negotiated down to what we thought was a fair price. It wasn't until we got it home and gave it a good wash that we saw that the underside of the saucer had a chip out of it. Darn! Condition is king in this business, so although it's still a very pretty piece, it's not worth very much at all because of that chip. So we've got to be more careful, and feel the edges of what we're proposing to buy.

Also picked up this weekend: several pieces of jewelry, a German beer stein, an owl ceramic bank (looking very 1970's), a brass owl trivet, and some amber glass tumblers and dessert glasses. We were pretty careful to stick to our shopping list, as we could have easily come home with plates, books, and other things - but I'm guessing that it makes sense to be firm in sticking to what we know we need, rather than buying what catches our eye.

This definitely is almost as hard work as doing the shows - it's a lot of driving around, and for every garage sale where we find one item, we'll have stopped at four or more that will have absolutely nothing for us. But these are the right places for us to look for our stock. We also struck out early this morning to check out the 49er Flea Market in Clearwater, Florida, which some dealers had recommended to us as a source for inventory. It opened at (yawn!) 7AM, but, as the season really is over for this area, most of the outdoor stalls were empty; many local dealers have probably started doing the shows farther north by now, where the weather is cooler. Many people travel north during the spring and summer, coming back down to Florida for the winter months.

We didn't buy a single thing there. It's not that there weren't items to buy - but the prices certainly weren't as low as I thought they would have been, even given the bargaining that you're expected to do at flea markets. And actually, nobody was selling what I had on my shopping list - no colored glassware, no (suitable) animal figurines, but ones that I would not have wanted in our booth. Not a single teacup to be seen. The jewelry was not as contemporary as the pieces that I like to sell - more of the Old Lady stuff that just doesn't interest me. So again I'm glad that we stuck to our guns and passed on the impulse shopping.

We'll probably be doing the same next weekend - we'll see how the sale-ing goes then!

Leaving TIAS

We've decided that after a six month trial at TIAS to admit defeat, pick up our marbles and leave. A single sale in January can't justify the monthly fee that we're charged; the company doesn't seem to be seller-oriented in their support (just read about my recent experience with them trying to process credit card transactions as an example); and their cloodgey, clumsy search engine that prevents getting a good result a couple of times a day means that even if someone ever found us on the World Wide Web in the first place, they can't always get the search engine at the site to work properly. Here's an immediate example of how they aren't oriented towards serving their dealers - I sent them a message yesterday afternoon about terminating our service with them, and here it is, the next day, and I have yet to receive an acknowledgment or reply from them. It really says it all. On the Information Highway, TIAS has been a Dead End for Time Travelers!

I'm feeling defeated by this decision, but at the same time, greatly relieved. It was so disheartening to check my emails every day and NOT see any orders. It was discouraging to write press releases twice a week, only to have them swamped amongst the scores of others on the TIAS site within hours. It's really, really hard work to take good product photographs and write the appropriate copy, only to have it sit unread and unseen in your store. I've learned how to take great pictures! And I'll continue to post my best ones here for people to enjoy.

The reality is that our antiques and collectibles business is quite successful - the shows that we've been doing have been getting better and better with each time out, as we refine our product selection and learn our customers' wants and needs. This after only 4 months of doing shows. It makes sense to cut back spending money where it's not being used wisely, and concentrating more on the areas where we are doing well.

Upcoming for Time Travelers: Memorial Day weekend we'll be close to home at the Sun, Sand and Swing event at our very own Treasure Island. Right on the beach! Music! Food! (I wonder if we'll sell anything??!!) We'll just have to see.

The last weekend in May we'll be doing a one day show in Arcadia, Florida - surely the last outdoor one of the season!! This is a regular event that gets great reviews from all the dealers we've spoken with.