The item above is one of hundreds being auctioned by bloggers all over the world for the Nies Plane Crash Victims. Please read the news article below this blog entry if you wish to participate.“How to Get Started Effectively in Buying, Selling, Trading, and Learning Antiques & Collectibles”
(when you don’t know anything)
Never blogged in my life. Been to a World's Fair, Milked Cows by hand, Caught lightning bugs in a jar, entered turtles in a race, and went running nekkid through downtown once when I was just a kid. But I've never blogged. When I found this little corner, I knew that I found a place to hitch and share. So kinda be easy on me and anyway you feel you can help me out, just jump in and help away. This blog is an intro and beginnings of our Andtique (yes, it’s spelled that way on purpose) world! So how did it start?
It usually starts with a simple interest. For us, it began with our enjoyment of old kerosene and oil lanterns. There is a deep fascination of wondering just who may have had their hands wrapped around the handle of each glowing light making their way in the dark to their barn or reading some precious book with the very lantern we are holding standing proud and useful on their primitive bedside table. Antiques and Collectibles tell silent stories of their owners from windswept days gone by. We wanted to know who, how, what, when, and why about everything we touched! So, on our journeys we would stop by flea markets, yard and estate sales, and later auction houses to find old lanterns, meet new friends, and learn something new.
The more we continued our adventures, the more fascinated we became with other antiques and goodies. And well, the snowball has been rolling and getting larger ever since. We decided to get into selling and trading for a couple of good reasons. First, our used-to-be well kempt home soon became a warehouse of old things with more of a barn décor than our normally organized homestead. We became more and more addicted to anything older than our family dog as we found our phases of enjoying this thing and then wanting to learn more about that thing. Which led to having many more this things and that things that kept multiplying like little rabbits! The bottom line is that we needed space again! Secondly, there is great joy and satisfaction in meeting and making friends with all the dealers, auctioneers, collectors, and just good ole folks. So many folk stories told over fresh coffee let us know we were in a happy place of yesteryear’s desire to stay alive by carrying on the “way it used to be” if only in memory. Yesterday’s gathering around the old radio to hear the news and happenings of the day is shaking hands with today’s technology and the internet to share with the whole universe. It simply became natural for us to step into this world on a deeper and even more meaningful level.
Antiques always Start Before the Begnning and so will we. While this is certainly not a “For Dummies” book, we are in hopes this will help the people who have the fascination and the “want to”, but just don’t know anything yet. Well, neither did we. So how about we start from knowing nothing?
What’s gonna be your niche amongst all the other stuff you are going to end up with?
1. Find an interest. You probably already have one. Remember the old lanterns? That’s how it started. Your interest may change down the road, but for now………find the thing you love and begin to search for it. Our love of old lanterns lead straight into the world of Original Aladdin Lamps, but we certainly didn’t start there.
2. Your interest doesn’t have to have great monetary value. This may change for you later, but for now, just enjoy the adventure for the joy of just “doing it”. Many lanterns we only paid 5.00 or so for. We bought them because they were pretty or someone called it a “railroad” or “granny” lantern. We didn’t care what it’s worth happened to be, if any. It was worth OUR having and enjoying and that’s what mattered most.
3. If your interest is already rare and gonna cost you some bucks, you will need to read my next blog on “What you don’t need to know!”
So for this week, I wanted to give you a small introduction into our world before moving on too quickly. We would love to hear from all of you and any interests you may have or anything you may teach us. Remember that next time we are going to move a little more down the road and see “Who just may be home!” Until then, Have a great week! Tom and Teri
We are just setting up our new e-store off Ebay (whew, they are makin it tough on us little guys over there) and we welcome you to come take a look! I’m loading it up every day so drop by from time to time. Might find a story you just can’t live without! Go to: http://andtiques.ecrater.com/
SPECIAL NOTE: Help for the Nies Plane Crash Victims!
Bloggers are uniting nationwide to help the Nies Family critically burned in a horrible plane crash. They have created a Blog Auction. Please consider helping. We have one of my calligraphy items up for auction with all proceeds going to the Nies Family. You may read the story by clicking this link:
For the item I am donating, go to the link below, then send us the amount you wish to bid to:
The item is the Christmas Ornament Pictured Above, Personalized in Calligraphy with the name or names of your choice in the frame.
Here is the link to this item in my store.
The auction will end on Sept. 10 and I will notify the winner. I will send you the paypal link that goes directly to the paypal fund set up for the Nies Relief Fund. Once you have made your donation, I will ship the winning item at no charge.
