Stocking the Shop: Estate Sale

Heidi and I hopped in the van and headed down Hwy 49 to Auburn, for a meeting with a collector. She had a hand-painted antique Chinese rice winnower for sale. We negotiated price but weren't able to find a common ground. We ended on a positive note, snagging a few smaller items for the shop, and promising to stay in touch.

19th Century Rice Winnower

On the way home we saw the small, handwritten sign: "ESTATE SALE." Weeds sprouted alongside the driveway of the luxurious yet unkempt home, and an untended spring garden overflowed the rock walls. The elderly lady had moved in with family, and her daughter (herself getting on in years) was running the show: "It all has to go! Mom was a collector. It always drove me crazy."

This is going to take a while to list! 

Our eyes popped as we scanned room after room of vintage & antique dishes, glassware, jewelry, clothing, uniforms, furs, games, collectibles, handbags, gadgets, tools, shoes and furniture. Within minutes our arms were full.

Small Collection of Steiff Handmade Animals

"Where can we put this?" She reserved an armchair for us, which quickly disappeared under a mountain of treasure. She had several elderly girlfriends helping her run the sale. After close to two hours of gaping, and trooping back and forth to our armchair, we were ready to check out.

Whole Set of Metlox Aztec Pottery!

One of the lady helpers was irritated and conflicted: she was annoyed by having to package so many items! At the same time, she was happy that we were buying so many items. It was funny to watch her face as she struggled with her feelings.

Treasures we kept for ourselves! 

On the way home the van had an air of celebration. Of course we picked up a few things for ourselves: an antique ivory bangle for Suuzi, a ceramic Venus de Milo for Heidi, an antique fountain pen ink case for Heidi's husband, a cast iron enamel pot for the kitchen and a hand-painted serving platter for Kelly, who cheerfully stayed behind with Heidi's kids at home! Sorry Kelly. We'll take you next time!

The Male Side of an Estate

Often when I clear out an estate, it tends to lean towards the feminine. Sterling, jewelry, china, linens, etc. All wonderful things that I adore, but I am always still on the lookout for what men like. (not that men don't love what women love & vis versa. I'm generalizing a bit) I know men love vintage. I'm married to an antique fountain pen collector who also loves old books, antique wood boxes, old space toys, etc. etc. He's taught me to keep my eyes open.

Yesterday I headed 3 hours back up north to pick up more items from the rare estate I'm handling. I was able to get a sneak peek into the male side of the estate and boy, what a peek it was. He's into cars. Lots of cars. He has 3 warehouses and one stock yard. Over 100 cars in the stockyard that are waiting for restoration. Then they head into the first shop for cleaning and evaluation. After that they go to the second warehouse for disassembly. Finally, they go into the third warehouse for restoration.

I was given an informal tour of the final warehouse. I was only able to see a few autos, but what beauties they were. A crew of the nicest guys work on these cars daily. What a great job!

The reason I ended up at this warehouse was due to all the antiques stored there. Since each warehouse is huge, he has lots of extra space for whatever he picks up at auctions. Apparently he stores a ton of antiques. His crew kept rolling their eyes behind his back and mouthing "you have NO idea!"

It was so quiet inside the warehouse when I was there. There was a fine layer of dust on all the cars. I felt a sense of anticipation when I saw all those cars there-as if they were ready to roar to life off to some big adventure.

In this car bay, I was shown a glass sided commercial icebox, a giant scale that must have weighed around 300 pounds, an old turn of the century butcher store block, old metal signs, a china cabinet and early 20th century coffee grinders. (yes, more coffee grinders. He was at one point really into them)

I'll head up again in the next two weeks. It's such an adventure. It's made me realize I need to invest in a box trailer. Renting trucks isn't cost affective at all. Now I just need to figure out how to ship all these heavy antiques!