Blogging Elsewhere Today

I’m writing on my The Secret Language Of Dolphins website today. Http://secretlanguageofdolphins.wordpress.com/  Thanks for coming by, and please have a look again another day!

Time Passes So Quickly

I try to get something up in the blog almost every day, but my work schedule doesn’t always allow for it. Next thing I know, so much time has flown by.

Here’s a quick look at my typical week.

Saturday – We go to sales, auctions, and tag sales. That night I take photos to get ready to list things on Sunday morning. That can take at least 5 hours, and I can take, correct, and upload more than 120 photos.

Sunday – If I need to do more photos, then I’m up at 6 A. M. By 9 I try to tune in to CBS and Sunday morning. Then I listen to Bob Schieffer right after that. From there, I put on a movie that I know by heart so I won’t have to think or listen to it, which fills the sound space while I do the listings. I list, nonstop, until 7 P. M.. and get the listings up for a 7 day length. When the auctions begin to close at 11 P. M., which is the best time to accommodate as many buyers as are interested, I’m working both closing and opening ones. As the new listings go up, the previous ones from the last week listings end. I send invoices, print them out, and then keep checking the new listings to make sure they are up and correct. I hit the bed around 1 A. M., or even later!

Monday – I get up and immediately begin to pack, label boxes, and get things ready to go to the Post Office. Then I go about the “must-do’s:” of the day. 8 P. M. Is Antiques Roadshow, which is a fun resource and educational tool. Sometimes I even know more than the appraisers, which is like being on Jeopardy! I try to watch Market Warriors, but these people are terrible pickers. In the real world they would starve. One person, and she will remain nameless, sets the advance of women back a hundred years. How embarrassing is she? I cringe every time she cuddles up to dealers. Perhaps they should add people who sell on eBay and know what they are doing! Hint, hint.

Tuesday – When possible, I write more listings to go up that night, after 11, for a 5 day auction. Yet another trip to P. O. (this happens as soon as a payment is made), and other work related things.

Wednesday – Write on this blog, the one for Enchanted Environments, and on my newest book. Go to previews, early sales, and so on.

Thursday – See Wednesday.

Friday – Sales, auctions, writing, Clean things I’ve acquired, do research on them.

Every day, between 3 and 4, I am ORDERED to feed the five dogs by the dogs. They let me know if I am not quick enough to suit them.

Then there are the days when I spend hours helping to appraise items for other dealers and auctioneers. To me, this is like being on a terrific treasure hunt. You never know what you’ll find.

Ahh, the fabulous, fun filled, action packed life of an antiques dealer.

Help, Please!

I have decided that I can’t do everything all by myself. I have been holding onto a large number of items which I can’t quite identify to my satisfaction.

I actually just acquired even more, and I no longer have the patience to wait years to discover the information, or the room in which to store it all.

I sure could use some help with this, which is why I came up with the idea of asking YOU to help me out.

I will be taking photos of the items and will put them up on the Help Me page as often as possible. Here’s your opportunity to not only solve a mystery, identify something, and give it a name, but to also show off what you know. If you email me with your suggestions about the item, I will do the intensive research to support it, and then will also publish a thank you to YOU for your help.

As a version of the saying goes: So many things to learn, so little time to do the research!

History In Your Hands

The online Free Dictionary defines Psychometry in this way:  (Psychology) (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) (in parapsychology) the supposed ability to deduce facts about events by touching objects related to them.

Well, this may be true, or not, but I love antiques because so often when I hold them in my hands I get a feeling of being connected to the past in some special way.

I can appreciate the artistry that went into creating an object, and feel a certain sympathy with those who had owned it before it came to me. It’s why I do so much research into many of the things I acquire and sell. I can’t always get a good history of an item, but I can usually track down something about who made them, and when I get to speak with the families of the original owners, I can also track down how they came into their possession.

Rare personal, pocket diary, including entry for April 15, 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

I once visited a behind the scenes display in the American section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Manhattan. There were so many items similar to what I have sold over the years (not to them, but some did go to other museums.) There were thick alarmed walls of glass separating me from them, and I could feel my hands just itching to pick them up, turn them over, and then get a good look at the marks on the bottom.

It was frustrating to have the barriers there, especially because my own home is filled with a huge array of items for sale that were in even better condition than what the museum had on display.

I receive high praise for how I pack things for shipping. I wrap extremely well because I am aware of how special everything is, and how irreplaceable each item is. As I wrap each piece, I like to imagine the pleasure the new owner will have once they receive the “new” treasure, and then hold it in their own hands!

 

Antique Limoges Art Nouveau, hand painted pitcher.

Good Luck And Not So Good

I was able to acquire many wonderful antique items today. Unfortunately I was unable to get the main lot that I wanted – more than a dozen antique cold painted Vienna bronze figures. I didn’t want to pay almost $1,000.00 for them. I’d have had to pass the cost on to my customers, and I didn’t want to do that. But I still wish I had been able to get them!

I will be able to list the other items once they arrive here next week, but until then I will be looking forward to their coming here.

There are a few physical auctions I will be attending, too, so I look forward to seeing what I can bring back. Some of my favorite ones no longer exist, so I have to work much harder to find those special things. But when I do, it’s worth all the effort, travel, awful food, and long times waiting for the things I want to bid on to come up. Thank goodness I’ll almost never alone. My DH, comes with me as often as he can, and then there are the other members of our family.

This is from the Antiques and The Arts newspaper. Obviously the Pugs were more interesting than me, the one with the arm on the left side.:

They are now known as “The Auction Dogs”.

Since then we have added Pixie (3) and Sadie (9 and a Silky Terrier) into the mix. Because there are five dogs, all rescues, we usually only bring one or two along. Woody is now 12, Aimee is 10, and Bessie is 7 and only Woody, of the original three Pugs, still likes being there.

Pixie always wants to know when you are going to come pet her!

 

They keep me from heading to the door too early.

Sadie says hello to everyone.