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?

Juggling

Feeling a bit stressed at the moment as we've done three shows in as many weekends! At least three empty tubs as a result - that's a lot of stock that needs to be replaced. I've already told you about the adventure of the auction process. Last week we were able to visit an estate sale, and also a few garage sales in order to replenish the inventory. At the moment it's not at all a leisurely activity, but more of a bit of a panic! as I've had to update the website by deleting items as soon as we've finished a show by deleting the items that sold that day. In one case, I had to delete an item that I'd JUST added (obviously, a real find!) the day before.

So, it's busy time for me.

Compounding the "fun" is the fact that one of the lamp's bulbs burned out and I'm waiting for the replacement to arrive. This means that I'm currently taking photographs outside in the blinding sunshine - really hard to do! Most times you can't even see the object in the digital camera's screen, so you're kind of taking pictures blind. It will be nice to be able to get the little photo studio set up again in the house (and my retinas will thank me, too).

So, estate sales. Usually a professional service comes into a home in order to make it "broom clean" and ready for sale, and it does so by placing a price sticker on everything within the house that be able to be removed. This, of course, is after the family members and friends have been distributed their share of belongings that they've been promised. You can expect prices to be somewhere between retail and wholesale at an estate sale - there isn't usually any haggling to be done, but as the end of a sale approaches, and the idea of it is to empty the house compeltely, you might be able to strike up an agreement.

Some estate sales are as the result of divorce or foreclosure; more often, though, they are the result of downsizing, serious illness, or death. I can get quite melancholy going through an estate sale as I contemplate the lives that the objects had before coming to this state. Sometimes you can tell that something spend years in a closet and never had any use at all; other times you can plainly see that something was used daily and was a loving part of someone's life. It's a stark reminder of eventual possibility that all of our treasured objects might end up in an estate sale somewhere. (A gentle reminder to enjoy your treasures now! And also to find homes where they'll be appreciated and valued, else they end up in an estate sale.)

Every object in an estate sale has been priced already before the house is opened to the buying public. There's usually someone to total up your purchases on a receipt, and a cashier to take your money to streamline the process - these sales can be quite crowded. They will usually provide you with plastic bags, empty boxes, or newspaper for wrapping up your purchases.

The other place to go shopping, is the ubiquitous garage sale. I've said before that I find these to be labor intensive and not always enjoyable - but, as they say, one man's garbage is another man's treasure (and, er, vice versa). There are some perfectly dreadful things I've seen put out for sale in people's driveways. Filthy, broken, and way overpriced! But now and then, there will be a glimmer of treasure there - it's just a bit of hard work sometimes to find it.

Yesterday, for example, we went across town to one garage sale, and Bob spotted a Schmid music box for 50 cents. It was of an owl and squirrel. When we got home and cleaned it up a bit, did a little bit of research on the internet, we found that it was a Beatrix Potter music box of "Old Mr. Brown", and on one site we found it listed for $110! (I don't know what was so special about that particular one, but we saw several elsewhere for around $45, which is probably what it's actually worth.) So this was a case of someone just wanting to clear out their garage and not wanting to go through the bother of putting this object on eBay, or Craigslist - they just wanted it gone. And we found a treasure as a result. It will go on to a new home - maybe to a Beatrix Potter collector, or to a music box collector (that's called a cross-collectible, BTW). It was a VERY good find.

Oh, and that Thieves' Market we did on Saturday? The best outing yet for us - just mobbed with shoppers. Contrary to the weather predictions, it rained, and we were caught out without our tarps to cover our tables. Actually, this was to our advantage, as some people were determined to keep shopping, and we went on to make several more sales in the pouring rain while we were scrambling to pack everything up! We'll be back next month at this market, and pass on the Tampa show instead. It was just a brilliant mix of vendors - something for everyone - in a beautiful setting - and it was free to the public. The best of combinations.