Dorset Finds

Doing your taxes? If you're like me, you want to have some excellent procrastination tools handy. I mix my Cost-of-Goods-Sold calculating with virtually visiting some amazing collections of cool things. Try the Dorset Finds board on Pinterest.

Legal Lamp Chop Shop

Sometimes the best way to reuse an item is to break it down into parts.  Often, collectors and normal people (collectors, did you know you weren't normal?) have an old piece of furniture or a lamp that they love, but it is missing that one thing that will make it beautiful or functional. Here are some photos showing how we removed the decorative cast iron spill ring from this antique oil lamp.

Collector Cool

OK, now, I'm not really a collector. I'm more a little-bit-of-this-and-that type of antique buyer. I had a small collection when I was a kid, but didn't really hunt things down the way Keith did.  One thing that makes it clear I'm not a collector is my interest in common things. This little leather keychain would not thrill any collector. Collectors focus on the rare and less common, and there were (and are) just too many of these around to really interest a collector. But I think this image of the 1940s car, pressed into the leather and worn just a bit, is pretty neat.  Your father won't be impressed since he probably had the car and not just the key case, but in my opinion this is an authentic affordable antique. (If you're picky about your antiques being at least 100 years old, can I call it a valid valueful vintage?)

eBay's Video Game Nature

Winter is here, so it is time to sell on eBay.  It's also time to be reminded that not all eBay shoppers are the same or want the same experience. We've often talked about how some people treat eBay auctions like a video game, placing each bid individually instead of using proxy bidding, constantly refreshing the screen to see the latest results, racing against the clock and against the other bidders as the auction nears its end. Along with the race comes the risk of not getting the item. For these buyers, the gambling is part of the fun, though robot bidders called snipers have ruined the fun for many. 

Others just want to find the thing they're looking for and buy it immediately.  This is what we want when we buy on the internet, so this year we have made a change in how we sell on eBay. We set a "Buy It Now" price on almost all of our items. If they want it, they can get it right away, no waiting.

Recently, though, we have stumbled across a new type of eBay video game, and a new type of eBay customer.  We added a "Make Offer" button to a few listings, and immediately noticed a pattern. As a seller, you can set it up so that eBay automatically accepts offers within a certain range and rejects lower offers. But everything we added a "Make Offer" button to was sold at the lowest price in our acceptable range.  There was no offer in the middle of the range, only at the very bottom.  Apparently by adding the "Make Offer" button we attracted a new type of gamer. This person has fun by finding "Make Offer" items and trying to figure out what the lowest acceptable price is.  They make low offers that get automatically rejected, then they gradually raise their offer price until they hit the bottom of your range.  In person, at a show, that type of behavior would just piss off the seller and end with a confrontation. Fortunately, eBay has thought about this potential problem and limits the customer to three offers per item, cutting short this particular shoot-em-up video game.

All Things Adjustable

People were shocked when we gave up our desk jobs and changed our lives so completely. To us, the desire to change our lives seemed so natural that it was not really a change, it was just part of our long term plan. Of course, our plan was more  "and then do something completely different." The detail about selling antiques came later.  Apparently, when faced with "what would I do if only I could make a change..," others would not choose to buy used things and try to sell them.  Go figure. 

People don't always like change, but furniture doesn't even consider it.  Most furniture is not adjustable, and wasn't designed to be. Here is a wonderful industrial sewing machine desk that grows as you grow.

Sights, Smells, Sounds, and Mud of Spring

Spring is coming, and lately I can see, hear, and smell it.  Pretty soon it will be time for the mud boots. There was a farm equipment and tractor auction today, so maybe I should already be wearing them.  The equipment auctions are a regular spring thing in our area of Pennsylvania, though usually they don't get started until the official first day of Spring. For the reason, see the mud comment above. 

We saw that some robins came out of the woods this week. The bluebirds have been hanging around all winter, though, so the robins seem a bit wimpy. We also heard spring peepers the other night.  Were they around in the suburbs when I was a kid? I didn't notice them until I went to the mountains with Keith, but maybe I wasn't paying attention. I don't think the tractors drove by pulling the manure spreader, either, or the dump trucks with loads of mushroom soil.


We did have crocus, though, followed by the daffodils.

Summer shows and Winter web

Now comes one of the parts of this job I love:  changing with the seasons.  In the spring, when it is almost time to go out to the markets and set up at the shows, I am anxious for it.  What could be better than to be in a huge community of tents, full of familiar vendors, interesting items, and happy customers sharing chit chat about the weather, the price of gas, and whether this year will be as good as the last?  There is no time when I am happier to be out of the cubicle, away from the computer, and off mixing with the wonderful, diverse mix of people that make up America.  This is an amazing country and there is no better way to experience it than at a country fair, or, in my case, a huge outdoor antique show or flea market.  Let's face it: at a wonderful, huge show like Brimfield, we clamp our tents closed at night and no one messes with them. Amazing.  Fortunately, we spend the winter in a place similarly wonderful.  People in our area go into the convenience store in the morning and leave their cars unlocked and running outside. It warms the heart as well as the globe.  Are they misguided? Having grown up in a more guarded place, I am amazed but soothed by this ability to trust that everyone's mother taught them decency and civility.