Featured So what got you started ?

Soooooo, interesting mos, with the forbidden territory

Thanks for sharing, more than interesting

 

Did it make you more interested in antiques aqui, or the opposite ?

 

Actually, Charlie, as we got older, yes, I liked them, but at the time I wasn't "in love" with them the way Mom loved them.....I kept telling her over the years to do her research and keep good records, 'cuz I didn't have the interest that she did, and I knew I'd probably be the one to, at least mostly, be handling the estate!!! The good thing is, I don't think we got "taken" on too many things, as over the years, I DID "absorb" a LOT, and yes, now, have a deep appreciation of antiques!!!

 

I'm sure you did her proud aqui

Love ya

Charlie

 

For me,it was Hats...

 

Awesome mate

God do I love ya !!!!!!!!!!

 

I grew up with victoriana in the house, and some of Grandma's old jewelry. One of her pieces that I hated was among my first jewelery sales on eBay. (custard glass... darnit on the one hand, but it was still ugly on the other!)

 

Old clothes are as close as we can get those days Charlie.Hell,I wish postage was cheaper-we do get Woolrich in the Thrifts up here-but mailing es mondo espensivo ! Man,those UK & Euro Auctions blow my mind-but the Mail !!!

 

I got a widows peak in my 20s that never got worse

And have always loved hats

That is an awesome collection

Jealous !!!!

 

GREAT Display!!!

 

The hat I bought today for £4 is a vintage golden swallow, Peking China

Trapper type full fur, gorgeous

 

With me it is genetic, I swear. Countless generations of bling wearers, men and women. And you can never have too much bling, right?
I have my great-grandfather's obituary, in which he was called a dandy. In a newspaper!

You too?! For me it was both 30s and 40s. That Marlene Dietrich look, except being a petite brunette, I looked nothing like her. But her wardrobe, wow!

Exactly.

Same here.

I have always worn and collected hats. I don't collect them anymore, lack of space, but I still wear some of them. In winter usually a Russian style fur hat. In summer wide-brimmed straw hats, including a Venetian gondolier hat.

I still regret giving away my black Cordoba (Spanish) hat, hope to find another one that fits. They have to be the most beautiful hats in 'hat land'.

 

I'm more a vintage guy. Being a Baby Boomer, I feel fortunate to have lived through an amazing era in music, clothing, furniture, advertising, graphic design, poster art, drugs, etc. Most of my stuff [except the drugs] got tossed when we moved from my childhood home in '74.

I started doing the garage sale thing many, many years ago looking for cool stuff. When I started perusing estate sales, I was drawn the items I grew up with, and subsequently lost. Although, I do have a deep love for the Art Deco period, so when I see something in that realm that I'm attracted to, I'll grab.

I sell a lot, but keep some cool stuff for me

 

Charlie I never found a Mrs. Beeton cookbook you mentioned. Some go for good money so have a look on ebay to find what yours is going for unless you don't plan on selling it.

 

I was surrounded with antiques so that is what I loved. My first (not antique) piece was an LE Smith ground stopper blue jar I bought new at ZCMI in Utah while going to college. It wasn't old but it was cheap at 59cents. I still have it in my bathroom. I knew that old jars had ground stoppers.

 

Good question. Where does the madness begin?

Reflecting back, I suspect it was roaming the deserts of Arizona with my dad when I was very small and bringing back all the beautiful bits of rocks (fool's gold, sand ruby garnets etc). Then going to rock and gem shows with my dad (from the earliest time I can remember) and seeing all the beautiful things that I couldn't have.

My dad also had framed points (arrowheads) that he had collected with his father hanging on the wall at home. It made me so aware of earlier peoples and their things.

Fast forward, I was always interested in handmade pottery but not as a real collector. I developed some urge to handle and understand 17th and 18th C ceramics that might have been used around where I live. The trouble was that there wasn't much to handle and fiddle with. Museums don't want you to touch. Enter early Ebay. I could find old ceramics to study and the doors were open! Egad!

 

Growing up in a house where OLd Stuff was the norm. You couldn't buy new furniture much when my parents got married, and anyhow, they liked old. I think I bought my first Old Thing when I was about four at a jumble sale.

 

I think today's kids (I'm surrounded by them at the Thrifts) are thrilled to find 90's garments.They really don't look at the glass,pottery or art-it's all clothes.No Dior or purple label Italian R. Lauren,it's Lululemon,Patagonia
Lululemon,N.Face,Nike,phony Supreme,5 yr old beer logo t-shirts,etc.
Us senior pickers squeeze by them,smile or roll our eyes and move on.
First amazing garment I saw was in a little clothing store on Haight St. in 1966.It was a 19th century swallow tail captains coat w/braided epaulets-$18.I was earning 25-50 cents (total) for mowing lawns,a new Beatles album cost 8-10 lawn jobs.

 

For me it started when we had to move my parents out of the house they had been in for 40+ years. It was a big house (I'm 1 of 9 kids) and all my sibs wanted to toss everything. There were some small things I just couldn't let go of, they seemed so interesting. So I tok them home, found ebay, and an addict was born

BTW, here is 1 of my first sales on ebay. My father had worked for RCA after WWII and I found these 10k "years of service" pins and money clip. The lot was bought for $75 and the buyer told me the money clip was a promotional item given only to shop owners. He was going to a Glen Miller collector's group party and couldn't wait to show it off to everyone:

 

Like moreotherstuff, I started collecting things I found and liked at a very early age. Someone gave me a ship in a bottle that I cherished. I was always fascinated by science so had magnets, magnifying glass, a compass, and even a blob of mercury. That soon became more organized into collecting rocks and other things. I had a good collection of bird's nests by the time I went to kindergarden. I collected them in the field and knew what species they came from by observing the birds and watching them fledge their babies. I collected the nests by climbing the trees once the birds had gone. For some reason, my dad did not appreciate the collection in the garage and it disappeared one day. I still have some of my original rock collection.

My grandparents lived in a huge Victorian house full of what they inherited from my great grandparents. My grandfather was the chief packrat, though I think I have probably surpassed him now. When they passed, I was 14 and helped liquidate the house. My parents took a lot of the better stuff but, living 400 miles away, there was only so much that could be brought home. They had a big auction that I attended and I was hooked. I bought an old Oliver typewriter from the sale that I still own. There was an old spool bed in pieces that did not sell. It became my first restoration project once I got home.

By age 18, I was buying and selling antiques on the side. At about age 40, I became a full-time antiques dealer. I retired last year but can't help but continue to buy when I find good things at a bargain. There is going to be one heck of a sale one day. I hope it happens before I am gone. If not, maybe it will serve as inspiration to someone who attends the sale.