We move slowly at first, but all of a sudden this week things have come alive.   Single Suzie and I have been working in the barn this past week and things are starting to come together.  Hope we make it for the May 1st opening of the antiques shops in the Lakes Region of NH.

We’re picking up a house lot of furniture from a man who lives in Mashpee MA.  Somewhat typical story, one of my first boy-friends from high school and I reunited at our 35th High School Reunion.   A year or so later he finds himself, like so many fellow Baby Boomers, having to hear his father has advanced cancer and needs to move closer to my friend in PA and give up his condominium he’s lived in for 14 years.  Unfortunately, this is also a tale of a cigarette smoker.

At first, my classmate just asked me to go to Mashpee, to look at and get a feel for what was there.  He was afraid there might be something really good that an dealer might feel they could scoop for a really large profit.  It does happen, I’m afraid to say so arming yourself with knowledgeable people you can trust is the best way to proceed.  Picking an antiques dealer or auctioneer is much like picking a Doctor, Lawyer, Banker etc.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions about their qualifications and make sure you’re comfortable with them because there will be intimate moments you’ll share while cleaning out an old person’s house.   You’d be surprised what I’ve found but that’s fodder for another blog another day, back to my story.

So I arrive in Mashpee look over the things and in my head sum up the value of the items in the condo at $2,500 roughly.  Most of the items in the house are saturated with second hand smoke.  None of the items except a pair of twin size brass beds are antique and it’s basically used furniture from the 1980′s.  It was a period in the 20th century when people were just celebrating the bi-centenial in the US and trends dictacted many homes were furnished with “Early American Style / Country Furniture”.  Now it’s so out of date it hasn’t come back in yet.  It’s downright un-hip right now.  Young people are buying up mid-20th century Art Moderne as quickly as possible, but this just hasn’t hit the nostalgia button with younger buyers yet.  That aside, back to the estate.

So the next step was to come home and anylize the photos and make a list of what was in the house and what I could put a value to it.  I spend thousands of hours per year at antique shows and auctions so I have developed an  innate ability to know what prices are.  It’s my job after all.  Kind of like knowing what a loaf of bread costs or a gallon of gas.  I just happen to know the value of items.  So I put a value with each item, based on what I think I would pay at an auction or what I’d have to pay on eBay.   Sure I want a good deal and I need to make money because the IRS looks as me as a profit machine, but I also want to be as fair as possible with my old friend, who might make a potential new friend.

Once I put a value to all the items it totalled $1,780.  I already have one trip to Cape Cod in to advise David which cost me about $200 and I blew the engine in my antique pick-up driving home, but that aside.  I took the $1,780 thought about making the one trip and also now needing to make another trip with Son Sterling, his friend Charlie and my assistant Single Suzie with a van, a U-Haul trailer and my Toyota RV.  And don’t you know they’ll probably look to me to get paid and eat.  So I offered David $1,500 half hoping he’d say no way, but also knowing he knew what we were dealing with, he took the deal.

Really?  Wanting to approach any situation with a happy open heart I thought, OK it’s Spring, let’s do it.  Let’s help the friend, let’s put Son Sterling, Friend Charlie and Asst. Single Suzie to work, let’s help an old man but what am I going to do with this stuff

The laws of attraction and timing n life are simply amazing and as serendipity would happen, my cousin Steve has decided it’s time to move from California home to Wolfeboro to care for his mother, my Auntie Sue and wants to rent a furnished apartment from me.   So what’s gone from being a sticky situation is turning around here.  There’s my furniture I’ll need to give to my Disabled Vietnam Veteran Cousin who smokes which will allow him to pay me rent each month, instead of the dead-beats who’s been in the apartment now, and I HOPE I can make enough profit selling a few of the items to help me pay for the trip expenses.  It’s a long shot, not quick money or large money but . . . Here is a list of the items in this estate and what I offered – Beside each item is what I plan to do with it.

Pine Drop Leaf – 6‘ long – $50 – Cousin Steve (CS)
Yellow painted Windsor 1970′s – $20 – CS
Avocado painted 1970′s Windsor -$20 – CS
Captain Chair – $10 – CS
Mission Oak Desk – $50 – Sell in shop for $125 (mark $150 and come down)
Kenmore Washer / Dryer – $125 – CS
Pair of White & Maple Contemporary Stools – $25 – Sell in yard sale for $50
Poloroid Cameras – $20 – Put out to auction
Golf Clubs – $50 – Think I overpaid because he pulled the best ones out and I didn’t notice that in the pictures.  Sell to dealer for 50.
2 Upholstered Chairs – $50 – CS
1 Ottoman – $20 – CS
Pine TV Cabinet – $100 – Sell in shop for $200
Milking Stool – $25 – Sell in shop for $50
Three baskets – $125 – One antique, 2 David’s mother made.
Small contemporary Quilt for wall hanger – $25 – clean and sell for $75
Small table/cabinet next to couch – $15 – Sell in shop for $35
VanSchiver bedroom pcs. consists of Bureau, Chair, End table (best thing in house) – $150 – Sell in shop for $300
Flower basket door stop – $25 – Sell in shop for $75
Yellow Oriental Chest – $35 – Top might be dust or might be stains – will try to sell for $75
Blue Pine Chest – $25 – $50
Oak cabinet, table and 4 chairs – $250 – Sell in Shop for $500
5 Lamps $75 – Put out to auction – get whatever I can - they are a hard sell
2 drawer stand (other end of couch) – $25 – CS
Woven Dressing Screen – $20 – Put out to auction – get whatever I can
Plant Stand- $20 – Sell in Shop for 75
Pine Commode- Missing door – $20 – firewood really as is – I hope I can find the door
1950′s Portable Singer Sewing Machine – $25 – Why do I keep buying these?  This one is SO clean.
White wicker chair – $10 - Put out to auction – get whatever I can
Blue distressed painted stool – $20 – Sell in Shop for 45
Small wooden trunk – $25 – Sell in Shop for 100
Pair of twin size brass beds. Mattresses? $175 – An auctioneer has to throw out mattresses they can’t sell them only give them away. CS
Ogee mirror in upstairs $25 (David changed his mind and took this back)
Upholstered Sleep sofa – upstairs – $25 – Son Sterling and Charlies going to kill me – it’s a sleep sofa on the second floor CS
Kitchen Cabinet Contents to include Blue Willow $175 (there are a few links below showing completed prices on eBay) – Sell in Shop for $300 to $400
Blender, Bowls, Plates, Glasses, Silverware, – $25 – CS
Kitchen Cabinet Contents to include Blue Onion – $175 – Sell in Shop for $300 to $400 - (there are a few links below showing completed prices on eBay)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Enoch-Wedgwood-Tunstall-Blue-Onion-China-61-Piece-Made-in-England-Antique-Tea-/221189404788?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337fea7874

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seltmann-Weiden-Bavaria-Christina-Dresden-Classic-77-Pc-8-9-Pc-Sets-Blue-Onion-/271140608426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f213d59aa&nma=true&si=mDCYLch2IFEQIQMN%252FgNYOZJUJ5Y%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

So the way I’m looking at this deal is. I help my classmate, I help his father, I help my assistant, I help my son, I help my son’s friend, (they are trying to get to Austin TX for a Festival) I help my Cousin, I help my Aunt who needs my cousin and when all the dust settles who knows if there’s any bit of a profit left for me.

The good side of the project is that it gets us out and moving and if something does show up in the apartment that I could potentially “SCORE” on, my classmate knows I’ll bring it to his attention because it otherwise would be known as un-due enrichment.  I assured my friend that if I found anything substantial which he nor I have seen in the condo to date that we’ll split it 50/50.

Rotary International has developed a Four-way test which is always a good thing to remember.

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

I’m not a Rotarian but I do hope this transaction has met that test.   I think it has.

I’ll keep you posted on the trip to Cape Cod and our trails over the next few days.

All of the objects above and below and in the video were saved from extinction over the course of just 2 mornings – 1/2 hour each.
Just think if everyone got this frugal? We might just help save the planet.

If you live in Holderness, New Hampshire then you know “To Da Dump Road” is a  town paved road which quite obviously leads where-else, but to the dump.  I never realized it was a Yankee characteristic, but rather just a jingle my Grandmother Earl would use when she wanted to rally me to go to da dump.  My grandmother was also an avid antiquer dragging me all over MA & NH looking at antique shops.  As you can see I come by it naturally.

My relationship and memories through the years with the dump have evolved.  When I was a little girl the dump wasn’t very high tech or organized.   I grew up in Melrose, MA and we had trash pick up and round cast iron buckets in the side-walks for garbage.  But in the summer, our camp in NH was less then 50 miles from the Atlantic Ocean in Maine and so the sea-gulls would find their way to Wolfeboro.  It made a grand impression on me, along with the flies.  They would dive and pluck there happy little way thru a Saturday morning trash.  It was nasty and we’d drop our stuff and do the windows up regardless if it was a 100 degrees or not outside.  It was a dash and drop proposition.

Now-a-days, the dump is totally different.   It’s far more professional with pleasant employee guides and lots of organization.  We have a spot for burnables, cardboard, newspaper, office paper, glass, plastic, tin and aluminum cans, steel cans, compost, shingles, and then 3 large bins set away on the upper level where you can leave your construction debris, old appliances, metal scraps, etc.  But the gem of the dump is the SWAP SHOP or Beech Pond Mall as many call it as our dump is located on Beech Pond Road.

There are some people in our town who think the SWAP SHOP is for people who “NEED” the items.  Others look at it as a place to recycle things that are still viable.  The think it’s much better to give the stuff away rather then to plow it under.  I’m in the second group.

I watched a 20 minute video last night about the largest landfill in the United States which is outside of Los Angles.  Not such a big deal until you think this is just one dump of which there is one in every city or town, big or small.  Trashed, a 20-minute documentary, takes viewers on “an existential road trip through the quixotic American waste stream” to give you an idea of what our throwaway society is truly costing the planet.  Trashed – A 20 minute documentary

The only way I can help this massive problem is to REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, RE-PURPOSE, RECLAIM, RENEW!  My friends talk about building new “green houses”.  How is it that manufacturing new anything is green?  Is abandoning your present foot-print to move to a smaller, greener one a wise idea?  Sounds like another blog post another day.

Salvaged from permanent waste – Five vintage fur coats. Mink, Chinchilla, Beaver, Lamb.

Knowledge is the key  Which extends to knowledge of history so you know what era something is, the manufacturer, and material but also knowing how to pick out quality.  When some people look at objects, they see trash, junk, old stuff, useless, no good, crap.  Whereas, someone with the advanced junk training looks at the same objects and sees, useful, pretty, collectible, free, treasured vintage objects good to save to dispense to family and friends and God forbid, yes to sell.

Yes I do see these things, these treasured vintage objects, this trash as money.  It’s money I need to live and the dump finds provide me money so I don’t know why people get so irritated with my sales of things from the dump.  I use the money to be a productive member of society.  I pay for my heat, electric, internet, water, sewer, phone, my assistant, my mortgage, my taxes of which a portion goes to the local schools.  I use it to make charitable contributions and buy art from starving artists so they don’t starve.  I use it to buy groceries so my son and I can eat and so that my assistant and her son can survive.  I use the money to make ends meet.  Money isn’t everything but it’s right up there with oxygen.  People need money.  They don’t need faux-alligator, green stilleto heels.

There are those who would look their snobby little noses attached to their small minded brains down at me, but second hand living is so ingrained in me as a Yankee that there is no way I can do anything but live like this.  My mother dressed me in second hand clothes as a child, not once but 3 times because I had 3 older sisters so as I’d grow I’d get hand-me-downs from all of them.  It was all so 1960′s and by the 1970′s Artist friend Alice Matthews Gentili used to get a kick out of me in high school because I’d wear my Aunt Sue’s hand-me-downs. I was never one to follow trends but rather would like to think of myself as setting them.

Even in high school I preferred listening to the oldies (1960′s) and perhaps I was just out of touch but my generation was the first to embrace Earth Day.  It was started April 22, 1970 – I was in 7th grade.  Earth Day Began as a Unesco Project.  With the  confluence of Earth Day, a really great high school art teacher and my frugal cheap family ever knocking on my conscience it has became a way of life for me.  It’s interesting Unesco has recently played such a big part in my life during my trip thru Central America down to Panama which is yet another blog.

Some people like to go to a job, get paid, buy newly created products that won’t last because the quality is so poor.  They buy jeans that are pre-ripped and excessively consume enough products to generate an average of 5 pounds of trash every day.  Every day!  I don’t buy into it.  I was taught to “make do or do without”.  I don’t want to give anyone the impression I never pay for things.  If I had been offered these same exact objects in someone’s house I would have probably offered them $100 or more expecting I might make $250 to $300.  However, for the sake of the story – I’m going to put these things out to auction and see how much I net.  I’ll keep you posted in a future blog.  This will be fun, my kind of fun.  Please check out my latest video:

Talking Trash – To da dump, to da dump, to da dump, dump dump

This is my first blog entry to include a video.  I hope you enjoy this 6 minute video on what I found in the dump this week.  It’s a bit sketchy and I noticed several times when I abbreviated my descriptions on things which is ok if you’re “in the trade” but I’ll try to steer away from that in the future.  My Assistant Single Suzie Extraordinaire said I used the word “nifty” a few too many times but it’s a start to what I hope will be many more blog and video entries for you to enjoy.  Stick with me as we learn this new marketing venue.  I hope to share knowledge, views, market trends along with honest editorial about the Antiques trade  with my friends and customers.  If you have specific questions don’t hesitate to ask.  If I don’t know I’m glad to help you find the information – that way we both learn and profit together.

As I was leaving the swap shop, I went over the the windows to get rid of my real trash and I leaned into the glass bin.  The guy standing beside me must have known me because he groaned “Oh come on, you’re not taking from here too – are you?”  I laughed and said no just the cobalt blue bottles so I can make a blue bottle tree.   He seemed to like the idea and said, “oh I have some, I’ll drop them off at your house.”

Saving Cobalt Blue

As I have for many years now I’ll close my entry by inviting you to
“Come Antiquing With Us!”

Warm Regards,

Cathy Sykes, Dragonfly

Dragonflies Antiques
The Historic Yellow House
116 South Main Street
Post Office Box 678
Wolfeboro, NH 03894

603.569.0000

P. S.  If you like what you see please help us out by sharing the video,
sharing the blog, liking us on FB, etc.  Please help spread the word.

I always am so vindicated when I put something out into the world and then everyone starts saying  "Ya, Me Too!"   I was one of the first to have problems with Countrywide, long before others were talking about it.

Well this time, my recent NEMESIS, is eBay.  Not sure about anyone else but we've been having wicked troubles with eBay sales lately.  Not sure if it's eBay, Pay-pal or the United States Postal Service but our decision to leave eBay is a difficult one after a good 10 year run.

It would seem that eBay has now gotten to be one of those too big to fail corporations which means it's mired in so much red-tape, restrictions, fees, and garbage that it's no longer effective and nothing but a new way to rape the average Joe.

For those who might not know, our company was an early eBay user.  Antiquebug was the first "banner ad" on eBay.  We have more then 6,225 feed backs.  We had a 8 employees listing objects and 2 shippers at one point.  eBay even sponsored our antique shows in the early years so they could get out in front of antique dealers

But now, they have become a miserable rotten company who writes their own rules and takes advantage of their customers, ie the sellers.  They laundry list of issues goes on and on and makes my blood boil to sort it all out but needless to say we've decided to change our method of operation.

From this point on our internet presence will be on our own website.  We've been working the past few weeks on getting our own site up and running as well as putting delightful things into our catalog for you.

The link to our product catalog is:  www.dragonfliesantiques.com/catalog

We have different categories which we'll be adding to on a daily basis such as Vintage toys, Folk Art & Americana, Antiquarian Books and Ephemera are just a few of the categories.  

It's starting to feel like spring in New England.  Lots of maple syrup buckets out and lots of sapping going on. We've started working in the barn this week.  Cleaning, dusting, culling, organizing, vacuuming, decorating and enjoying the fresh air.  If you see 0ur OPEN sign out please stop in.  It's still pretty chaotic but some people actually like it kinda crazy.  We're itching for warmer days so we can open on a regular basis.  Lots of folks have been dropping by and calling so why not open the doors - right?  Soon!

Clever tip of the day:  Use lemon peels to polish chrome, or add to the kindling in your fireplace for a pleasing scent.  I also like it in my garbage disposal.

Newsletters Articles of Interest:   Good article on why you would want to go to an antiques show. http://antiques.about.com/od/regionalantiquing/a/ReasonsAttendAntiqueShows092811.htm?nl=1

This wonderful photo above was by Daniel Spendolini, a local resident who loves photographing my house and I love his creativity.  This photo is the transom window above the barn doors on early December morning sunrise.

We really hope to be ramping things up over the next couple of weeks as we come out of hibernation and prepare for the summer onslaught.  Please help us spread the word by sharing our blog and liking us on FB.  Boy it's a new world out there isn't it?

Peace!

Cathy DragonflyWolfeboro, NH
603.569.0000

As many of our friends know, Son Sterling and I recently made a trip to Atlanta and Nashville.  I was going to write my first blog about that trip but I thought I’d preface it first with an explanatory blog and then delve deeper into the real nuts and bolts of the antique and collectibles business in future blogs.

I met a Facebook friend who was a dealer in Nashville recently and she gushed – “I just love reading your posts – you’re not afraid to tell it like it is – you say what I can’t”.  Which gave me this idea.   Let’s write about the business and tell the truth for a change – at least my truth as I see it.  Not the sugar-coated truth, not just the sticker-price shock news, the celebrity news but the real news.

So as I see it, the business has been hit very hard with the past five year economic dip but I’m here to say it’s coming back.  The Decorators who drive this market are back with enthusiasm.  New housing which takes 3 years from seed to completion are coming back on the market and the decorators are finally being called back to work.  If people aren’t buying and selling houses then they generally aren’t redecorating houses and therefore not buying antiques – so this is a GREAT SIGN!  House inventory is again getting low and interest rates are favorable.  People are starting to speculate again on houses.

I’ve personally realized I’m unable to exhibit furniture and big things at shows any more.  It burned my ex-husband out and my 24 year old is already planning to bail ship to start his own 4th generation Antiques Business in Starr King – Jefferson, NH this summer.

1. .  So the obvious hit me broadside this last trip – I need to start dealing with smaller objects – which we call smalls and mediums in the business.  My extraordinary assistant Single Suzy has even drawn the line.  No more shipping big things – apparently USPS doesn’t like big things either.  We’ve taken a terrible beating by eBay recently which is yet another reason to blog later.

2. The other thing I’ve decided about myself is that of my four greatest passions, travel, antiques, art and writing, that writing is the one thing I am most compelled to do.  So I need to do it more, hence the need for this new blog.  Hopefully I can artfully blend history into my travels and at least feed my passions.

3. Antique Shows no longer pay if you have to travel a long distance.  The cost of living, hotels, food and gas kills any potential profit.  I will get into this later in my writing, but between certified appraisals,  writing and my antiques shop and our new website we will work on attracting people to us thru the social media on the internet, our physical shop in Wolfeboro, NH,  and products on our website.

So I hope you stayed tuned and send me comments, concerns, ideas, questions, feed me – I’m hungry to write and share information so please help me.   I plan to go where no other writers go – and tell inside trade information, show $ numbers, auction tips, shop shots, auction write-ups and whatever it is that comes across my desk.

And one last thing – the money – we can’t do this without money.  So please don’t hesitate to hire me to do appraising, pre and post show press releases or auction reviews,  shop reviews, anything you need.  After 28 years in the business I certainly don’t know it all but I know enough now that it’s time to start passing on things.  I also hope to have advertising slots as soon as I get a good steady month of writing and product posted so please consider an ad with us in the near future.

Any producers out there who want to talk about my TV show idea?

Come Antiquing With Us!

Cathy Sykes, Dragonfly

603.569.0000

P.S. Yes, it’s snowing once again

Any shop owner in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire knows that rainy days are inside days.  Bad weather or even anticipated bad weather will drive people off the lakes, golf courses, tennis courts, etc. and send them into the downtown galleries, shops, boutiques, and eateries.   This weekend was no exception.  We’ve busier then I can ever remember and we’re bracing for the Huggins Hospital Street Fair next week.

Someone told me once “you never make money until you have an accountant” and I now contend “you are never without weeds until you have a gardener”.  I recently hired a young women by the name of Raya and she has done a beatiful job cleaning up my gardens.   It’s the only way I can enjoy my gardens because I’m so allergic so it’s the one thing I splurge on.

My friend Single Suzie, who has worked for me on and off for me for years is now on again.  She does a great job keeping things up on our Bonanza.com website as well as on eBay.com.  She attends to the shop and does a really great job creating displays and keeping things clean and orderly.  Look out New York.  Suzie is on her way!

Since this is my first blog post from my newly re-designed website I’ll keep it short this time.  I hope to use this to bring you news of the antiques world, Wolfeboro and the State of New Hampshire.  Antiques Week in NH is coming up soon as well as the Huggins Hospital Street Fair.  I’ll try to stay up to date – if you stay tuned.

~ peace~Dragonfly Cathy