Discounts Are the Name of the Game Now

The hardest thing I find about the antiques trade is proper pricing.  Dear Husbola and I do not sell "common" items.  In fact--we find the usual stuff you see in most malls very boring.  Really--does anyone even LOOK at depression glass anymore?  Stacks of glassware and dishes are "dead in the water" as we say--if they sell at all--they are selling for a fraction of what they once were.

Shoppers are more savvy these days--they ask for discounts now far more often than they once did.  Everyone knows that antique sales have slowed--and the chances that sellers are more hungry for a sale has increased.  Shoppers know that--and are not shy about asking for "a  better price."  I know it--and I do it myself.

But some shoppers are so RUDE about it--it makes me want to scream.

Most recently, we set up and sold at the Blumen Gardens show in Sycamore Illinois.  It is our second year and we sold well--and 99% of the buyers and shoppers were pleasant, conversational and respectful..  But ohhh--that 5 % was a real wing ding.

Respect is a two way street.  Respect for our customers needs to bet met halfway with a respectful understanding that we do not get our inventory for nothing--and you ask me politely--I will discount politely.  Seems simple.

Take the woman who spent 15 minutes going through a large container of vintage sets of dice.  I had not intended to sell any--they were just decorating a large bowl--but when people started asking--I figured I would sell.  Now these were CHEAP!  REALLY cheap.  Her purchase came to six dollars.

"I'll give ya five," was her wonderful offer.

HAPPILY when a shopper is making a purchase of consequence--we give an attractive discount.  We realize that that is part of the antiques commerce.  When we sell in an antiques market setting like Elkhorn--we especially expect it. 

But--at a lovely indoor show--knocking a buck off a 6 dollar purchase?  No thank you.

I told this Wonderful Perspective Customer--"No--at that price point there is no discount."  At this point--she shot me a look that would have withered limestone.  Or curled the toes of the Wicked Witch of the East.

Funny--I forget all the great customers that weekend--and remember This One Treasure.

(PS-She bought them anyway---)
(PPS-Why the artichoke picture?  Just because it is spring and in season in France--and pretty!)

Mushroom Picking and Antiques

We are getting to the time of spring in the Midwest when morel mushrooms come into season.  These super mushrooms are little niblets of golden brown that grow in secret woodland places--and I guess would be the Midwestern equivalent of french truffles.  People who pick mushrooms--both here and in Europe, treat the locations like state secrets.  The rest of us--if we are lucky to see them on offer--have to pay huge prices for them in restaurant recipes--and I have never seen morels at a standard farmer's market.

Bohemians are great mushroom pickers and lovers.  This autumn on our trip to Bohemia and Moravia we were touring an incredible library and country house near Brno.  After meeting with an academic and  conservation staff we sat a few minutes in their offices.  Smack dab on the middle of the work table was this "houby basket".

Yes--this is a vintage basket, lined with leaves--used to wander in the woods and pick mushrooms.  Something about this seemed so timeless and charming to me.  Everyone loves mushrooms in Bohemia--and foraging for them was a lunch hour pastime.  Soooo Hansel and Gretel!!!

French markets have cepes mushrooms this time of year.  I remember traveling in the south of France and seeing cepes offered in recipes from omlettes to bread.  The flavor is remarkable and you just smell and taste the woods while eating them. They are one of those foods that you have to eat in season--right now-not later.  They do not transport well.  French strawberries are like that--you buy your fruit and must eat  it that day. The water content is so high and the taste is so delicate that they deteriorate in the fridge or even overnight. 

That is a crystal clear memory from my childhood.  In addition to the clear Midwestern seasons that would mark ones life years, fresh fruits and vegetables that were not available year round were like that.  Mushrooms-strawberries-peaches-tomatoes-figs---the march of time just like winter/spring/summer/autumn.

What do mushrooms have to do with antiques?  Last year at the Elkhorn Antique Flea Market in May--some dealer was selling morels for $20.00 a pound.  I balked at the price and passed them up. 

Please come back to Elkhorn this year Mr. Antique and Houby Man. 

No More Estate Sales

Years ago when I first started out in this business, estate sales were the best way to find inventory to sell at our shops and shows.

When we lived in a Chicago hi-rise--I would get up early--and make the reverse commute to a news stand in the near western suburbs and get the local papers and scope out the estate sales.  This was before the internet--so the only way to find out what sales were happening was to check out the classifieds.  I would spend a happy morning  doodling around Oak Park and environs and get treasure to sell.  There was some competition--but not much--and I never came home empty handed.

Nothing stays the same.  Fast forward to my life way west of the city now twenty years later.  Sales are published on special websites,  in online papers and on craig's list.  Thrifting and repurposing in are in vogue now--and competition for the treasure has increased many fold.  More hands and feet are mining for gold.  The gold is still out there--just not at estate and garage sales for me.

Oh sure.  We all have seen the tv shows where the person has found a $50,000 widget that they bought for a buck at an estate sale.  I have a few incredible stories I think I have shared on this site.  Like John Wayne's high school yearbook that I found at a local estate sale for $30 bucks and I sold for four figures.  Really.

But no more.  Maybe this realization comes because it is my birthday today and I am becoming more profound in my old age.  No more estate and garage sales for me. 

The antiques trade is truly a food chain-garage sales on one end and high end auctions or antiques shows on the other.  Over time--Dear Husbola and I have purchased at these two venues and all in between and found items that we can sell onward. A dealer has to buy right.  If we buy items at retail and try to sell onward--our inventory will get old and stale and not move on.  Savvy shoppers know these days what items are worth.  It just boils down to how much time I want to spend  looking for things.  I get no pleasure anymore from stopping at 15 garage sales or estate sales and finding little of interest.  In this case I do not enjoy the journey because the rewards have become more scarce.

So what am I saying?  I would rather pay a bit more and buy my inventory a little higher up on the food chain than at a garage or estate sale.  I will let someone else stop at those 15 sales, find it, clean it up, repair it, futz with it--and I will buy it room ready and sell it on.  I will just be more selective--so there is a fair profit in what I buy--certainly not as large a profit--but my time is worth something, right?

So--my fellow Way West of Chicago Antique Dealer Competitors can breathe a big sigh of relief.  We will not run into each other in front of a house at 5am for an 8am sale.  I will not be sitting in a cold car waiting for a sale to open.  I will no longer show up at a sale that is advertised to open at one time with no early birds and then has opened early to a few pushy dealers.

  But let's keep in touch--I'll come visit your shop or show and become one of your better customers.

I'll Never Be Able To Talk the Talk

The spring show and selling season is upon us--and with gusto.  If sales so far are any indication--this could be a very good selling year.  Let's hope so--in spite of my inability to Talk the Talk.

I read some antiques journal and magazines--and have added some flea market styling type magazines to make a decent attempt at figuring out what people are buying in the vintage and antique markets these days.  Is it all white or chippy shabby white?  Is is sort of Belgian browns and creams and chocolates?  Is it big pops and snaps of color?  Or lots of bright discordant hues as a hodge podge?

I am not sure there is a consensus this year-- nor am I sure there are any real "style mavens" anymore.  I remember somebody named Martha was able to get half the country to buy yellow ware one year and green jadite the next simply by publishing photos in a magazine.  Or "The Woman Who Used to Live in Chicago and Her Name Starts with an O" who could get people to buy a particular type of brownie made in Geneva or get people to make a book an instant best seller.

I do know that sometimes I hear other dealers use language that just makes me smile when I hear it--or even chuckle under my breath.

"This has just  FABULOUS detailing!"
"What KILLER hardware there is on the piece."
"Isn't this a DELICIOUS color of yellow"
"AWESOME AWESOME original surface!"
"What a PRECIOUS frame on a SCRUMPTIOUS print."

Oh my.  I've tried--I really have tried.  Dear Husbola has tried too.  Can't do it.
I hope that our inventory speaks for itself.   I hope that taking care with display and attractive pricing can make our goods for sale all those things--fabulous-killer-delicious and awesome.

Ok Ok--really--the layers of original paint on the cabinet doors IS killer--and the assortment of enamelware--filled with fresh flowers will be precious--and the old painters bucket and brushes ARE awesome!

Come see these and other treasure at the Blumen Gardens Show in Sycamore IL April 27-28.

Sunday Afternoon Art

I continue my love affair with paintings that are best described as "Sunday Afternoon Art".  These pieces were created usually by ladies in the late 1800s as good leisure occupation for Sunday afternoons.  Women in the middles and upper classes who did not have chores to do on Sundays were taken with  the natural world and particularly horticulture--and would paint flora and fauna simply for their own enjoyment.  Sometimes these paintings were signed--but most times they were not.

Yes they are sentimental.  Yes they are "old fashioned".  Yes they are fabulous.

These beauties are a complimentary pair, unframed and in terrific original condition.  These were usually framed in heavily ornate frames--that I think actually can detract from the very talented depiction of nature.  They can stand well on their own.

I am accumulating many of them for the Blumen Gardens Show in Sycamore  Illinois on April 27-28.

Paris Apartment Chic

I love all things vintage french.  There is something about the french and design--and you can just tell when something is made in France or has french design influence.  If it is handpainted and toleware--all the better.

At a recent auction--buried on tables of dreck--was a diamond in the rough--this fabulous vintage french bouillotte lamp with a metal tole shade.  I saw it--or maybe Dear Husbola saw it first--and my heart started beating faster.

This great handpainted french lamp is marked on the bottom.  It was made in France in the 1940s-ish--and all the gold is handpainted.  These signature items were marketed in high end stores--particularly Neiman Marcus and Marshal Fields.  For as long as I have been selling on ebay--the mid 1990s--these have been in demand.  So in demand--that at the recent Northern Illinois Antique Dealers Show in Rockford--we sold another one--different style--in the first hour.  Love these lamps.

You can see this lamp on an ebay.com auction under our selling name sellinglikecrazy.

Spring is in the air--daffodils are popping up, daylight savings time starts Saturday night,  midwestern weather promises to be in the 70s next week--and diamonds show up in the dreck at auctions. I love spring!

Dinner With Tony Bennett and Nobody Else

Dear Husbola and I just returned from a twice yearly trek to downstate Illinois to attend a weekend full of shows and visit a passel of shops. (Where we just came from--they say "passel" instead of  "many")  We thoroughly enjoy traveling three hours south of us--because it feels like a million from home.  All in a nice way.

Last night--after going to two antique shows, and an Amish grocery store--we decided on dinner at an Italian restaurant we have eaten in before.  Last November, Dear Husbola chowed down on eggplant parmesan and I remember a glass of good white wine the size of a small cistern.

Oh boy--what a difference a few months makes.  We should have taken it as a clue that last year the parking lot was jammed when we arrived.  This year--two other cars.  On a Friday night.  In a town where fine dining is most often Denny's.  Hungry and hopeful--we went in anyway.

Two of three dining rooms did not even have lights on.  But we were greeted warmly and given a seat.  Actually our pick of several dozen tables.  The server was pleasant but when I asked to order some wine--we were told that the bar had moved out at the first of the year and with it the liquor license.  OH NO--Italian food without a little wine?  The framed articles about their interesting chef were missing from the walls.   Well--the hot breadsticks were good dipped in olive oil, the lettuce salad limp but serviceable --and the lasagna had good flavor, but I am not remembering any noodles.

But, Tony Bennett was singing hits from the 50s throughout the dining room, we had a car full of antique treasures for resale, I was with my charming Dear Husbola who 95% of the time puts a positive spin on things, and we were planning our attack at the biggest antique show for the next morning.

Methinks next November when we return, there will be a booth at Denny's with our name on it...