Auction season, with many outdoor estate and moving auctions, has finally started here on the tundra. I am going to go to Kari's Red Barn Minnesota to price the 4-5 items that I brought in for her sale and then I am going to go to a nearby moving auction.
Tomorrow I am considering attending a multiple estate auction in South Dakota. Friday there is my regular auction at Miller's in St. Cloud. And there are a number of choices for Saturday and Sunday. I really like the better weather and the much broader selection of auctions.
Mr. Flannery
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Making Some Pillows
I was looking through some boxes that had ended up in my eBay room. I found two nice pieces of fabric that I am going to have made into pillows. The Purina sack has an orangy yellow checkerboard and a faded blue lettering. The photo shows the piece doubled over, so I think that two separate pillows can be fashioned from it.
Unfortunately my sewing skills are non-existent. When I went to school, boys did not learn typing or home ec. Both skills that would have been much more applicable to my later life than metal shop or social studies taught by the basketball coach. So here I sit hunting-and-pecking away on a keyboard with 3-4 fingers at low velocity, eating my microwaved breakfast contemplating a sewing project. Shows you what the expert educators knew.
The second pillow will be made from this naval signal flag. The square yellow with black (now faded to gray) circle represents the letter "I". A signal flag pillow may make a nice accent to a maritime decor.
Mr. Flannery
Monday, May 12, 2008
You Have to Deal with Items that You Like
One of the interesting and frustrating things about the occasional sales is that you get an opportunity to hash over sales. What sold, what sold quickly and what you still have sitting there. Armed with this information you can reach the conclusion that you can shape your goods and inventory to maximize sales next month. That is the fallacy because the sample is too small, the market too short and the buyer too fickle to ever get a real handle on what is going to sell.
When I started selling in an antique mall I decided that I had the business figured out. I began buying inventory that I didn't like just because some other dealer had sold one earlier. The earlier sale usually occurred on my work day. I was shocked when the customer brought the item to the counter and paid real money for it. When I saw one at an auction after that sale I would bid it up and buy it because it will sell at the shop. A long time later that item is still waiting for a 2nd buyer.
I have come to believe that a seller cannot successfully sell items that he/she does not like. The item appears to gather the seller's thoughts and exude negative waves to any potential buyer. Long ago I decided that I am going to deal with items that I like. My taste may not be perfect, but at least I will be able to stand the piece in my house if I can't convince anyone else to buy it.
I really liked the birdcage that I bought last Saturday. I would have been pleased if it had to live in my house for a while. I am sure that it gave off tons of positive vibrations while on display at the shop. And it sold quickly for a good profit.
The items that most of us buy and sell are unique. We are not Macy's buying and selling 300,000 units of model 12bdc men's dress shirts. We have one to buy, one to sell and only one customer to find for each item we move through the shop. I now trust my judgment, trust my taste, and live surrounded by my market mistakes.
Mr. Flannery
When I started selling in an antique mall I decided that I had the business figured out. I began buying inventory that I didn't like just because some other dealer had sold one earlier. The earlier sale usually occurred on my work day. I was shocked when the customer brought the item to the counter and paid real money for it. When I saw one at an auction after that sale I would bid it up and buy it because it will sell at the shop. A long time later that item is still waiting for a 2nd buyer.
I have come to believe that a seller cannot successfully sell items that he/she does not like. The item appears to gather the seller's thoughts and exude negative waves to any potential buyer. Long ago I decided that I am going to deal with items that I like. My taste may not be perfect, but at least I will be able to stand the piece in my house if I can't convince anyone else to buy it.
I really liked the birdcage that I bought last Saturday. I would have been pleased if it had to live in my house for a while. I am sure that it gave off tons of positive vibrations while on display at the shop. And it sold quickly for a good profit.
The items that most of us buy and sell are unique. We are not Macy's buying and selling 300,000 units of model 12bdc men's dress shirts. We have one to buy, one to sell and only one customer to find for each item we move through the shop. I now trust my judgment, trust my taste, and live surrounded by my market mistakes.
Mr. Flannery
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Back to Commentary on the Shabby World
Its been a long two weeks getting together for the monthly sales in Buffalo and then Sauk Rapids. There is one more sale at Red Barn Minnesota starting next Thursday, but I have committed to do much less for this sale. Kari has her semi-annual sale starting on Thursday and she will have out of state customers parked in her parking area over night before the sale. People love her stuff and the junk prepared by the other dealers that she lets sell there. I have never committed to the full space and she has always graciously permitted me to place a few pieces in with her stuff. I feel privileged to have my hogs considered good enough to fit in with the rest of the items.
I hope to get a few blogs written this week that sound less like commercials for my next sale and have a little more wry observation of the state of our business and a man's sojourn through the shabby world.
Mr. Flannery
I hope to get a few blogs written this week that sound less like commercials for my next sale and have a little more wry observation of the state of our business and a man's sojourn through the shabby world.
Mr. Flannery
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Fabulous Victorian Birdcage
The grand opening at Gypsy Lea's has been good. My sales have been brisk. The customers have been excited by the concept and the merchandise. Kris and Gypsy have been nearly suicidal in their efforts to set and reset the shop. They were there at until three this morning resetting from Friday and setting Saturday.
I attended an auction a couple of miles west of Gypsy Lea's this afternoon. I bought a fabulous Victorian birdcage and a few other items. I brought them to the shop immediately, rather than taking them home and burying them in my black hole of inventory. The birdcage sold within an hour of coming into the shop. I was thrilled.
Mr. Flannery
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Set Up and Stuffed to the Rafters
I finally have some pictures of the set up at Gypsy Lea's. I used my old camera and am not very pleased with the quality. But you may get some idea of what the new shop looks like.
The 4 day per month occasional sale format will make this shop unique for the St. Cloud area. The hallmark of the shop will be the fabulous set up and incorporation of diverse styles and ages of inventory into a cohesive and fascinating display.
This is the "back" of the apothecary station that I bought last Saturday.
And the front of the same piece.
The 4 day per month occasional sale format will make this shop unique for the St. Cloud area. The hallmark of the shop will be the fabulous set up and incorporation of diverse styles and ages of inventory into a cohesive and fascinating display.
This is the "back" of the apothecary station that I bought last Saturday. 
And the front of the same piece.
Bed, French doors, pillars, tin ceiling lintel, church newel post foot board.
Lots of light.
Art Deco back bar with abstract oil paintings.
Pumpkin pine cupboard.
Huge RRPCo Jardiniere on 16' bar.
Organ keyboard in a frame, violin case, guitar.
Fallout shelter sign, oak cabinet with green interior.
Mr. Flannery
Opening Night Jitters
It has been a couple of very late nights getting set up for the Grand Opening at Gypsy Lea's. The space is beautiful, but almost cavernous. We keep bringing in more and more inventory and spaces and holes continue to open. Yesterday I brought in three large totes filled with old books. That is enough books for my space at the Porch with two totes left over. I placed the books in some of the spaces and Gypsy Lea asked me when I was going to bring in the books that I had promised?
We have 15-16 large hanging light fixtures, including the 6 hanging church lights that I pictured earlier. Yet this morning I am rewiring 3 large school house lights because more light for accent and to fill the dark spaces around big furniture is now needed. I also want to bring at least four or five table lamps and a couple of floor lamps. It is an amazing space. Kris and I hung paintings, prints, piano keyboards. guitars. autoharps, saxophones and various organ parts (non-organic) along one wall. We now refer to the space as the music room. All it needs now is the tuba and accordion that I have already loaded into my truck for today's venture north.
The St. Cloud Times, which is a daily newspaper, is sending a reporter and photographer to the shop tomorrow. They are hoping to have a little article about the place in the Thursday morning paper to coincide with the opening. Gypsy Lea is very excited about the extra exposure.
The new memory stick for my camera arrived yesterday. It did not resolve the problem. I think that a piece of the plastic frame from the old stick is lodged in the camera and prevents the new one from seating properly. I have started disassembly of the camera, but now I need a very small screw driver to complete the mission. I have dug out my old camera and will attempt to take some pictures of the new shop today. I will probably just incorporate them with this blog.
Anyway it is an exciting time for a new shop. We are all hoping that a new location, where the occasional sale concept hasn't been attempted, will be accepted. The building and the contents are very interesting. So let there be CUSTOMERS.
Mr. Flannery
We have 15-16 large hanging light fixtures, including the 6 hanging church lights that I pictured earlier. Yet this morning I am rewiring 3 large school house lights because more light for accent and to fill the dark spaces around big furniture is now needed. I also want to bring at least four or five table lamps and a couple of floor lamps. It is an amazing space. Kris and I hung paintings, prints, piano keyboards. guitars. autoharps, saxophones and various organ parts (non-organic) along one wall. We now refer to the space as the music room. All it needs now is the tuba and accordion that I have already loaded into my truck for today's venture north.
The St. Cloud Times, which is a daily newspaper, is sending a reporter and photographer to the shop tomorrow. They are hoping to have a little article about the place in the Thursday morning paper to coincide with the opening. Gypsy Lea is very excited about the extra exposure.
The new memory stick for my camera arrived yesterday. It did not resolve the problem. I think that a piece of the plastic frame from the old stick is lodged in the camera and prevents the new one from seating properly. I have started disassembly of the camera, but now I need a very small screw driver to complete the mission. I have dug out my old camera and will attempt to take some pictures of the new shop today. I will probably just incorporate them with this blog.
Anyway it is an exciting time for a new shop. We are all hoping that a new location, where the occasional sale concept hasn't been attempted, will be accepted. The building and the contents are very interesting. So let there be CUSTOMERS.
Mr. Flannery
Sunday, May 4, 2008
How Much Stuff Does One Guy Need?
I decided that two lifetimes' worth of inventory may not be enough and therefore attended an auction in Walker, Minnesota yesterday. Walker is about 220 miles due north of Minneapolis, very near the edge of the advancing continental glaciers. Attendance demanded that I be on the road by about 6 AM. The auction bill included photos of many great (and huge) looking pieces of furniture and antique store counters. I hauled my trailer, a second trip to pick up the pieces that were too big for the truck the first time was not feasible.
There is still enough ice on Leach Lake at Walker for the fishermen to be standing on the bay doing their fishing. At least they didn't drive their 4 wheelers to the spot to enhance their sinking possibilities. Its May 3rd and the ice is still thick enough to support standing men. So much for global warming here on the tundra.
There was almost no one at the auction site. I parked in the row one off of the the building and directly out from the doors. This was a very encouraging sign. The furniture that was pictured on the auction bill was at least as good looking in person. This was going to be a fun auction. Well even though there were only 50-60 bidders there at any given time, they all had money and they all wanted to spend it on the things that I wanted. I ended up with an awesome Apothecary counter from the 1900 Nissawa Drug Store, a counter from the International Harvester store in Winger, a great green painted two drawer 1860's library table, a porcelain on enamel Family Fallout Shelter sign from the 1950's, a high school shop project of an airplane wing strut from the 1930s, a 1/2 round window with saw tooth design on the casing, 2 1940's pressed steel lawn chairs (one chippy blue and the other faded red, I have a similar white one to place between them for our July sale) and a couple of bark cloth cushions that will work well when I find that 1940's wicker chair missing it's stuffing.
The Apothecary counter must weigh 500-600 pounds in two large pieces and the IH counter is only slightly smaller. All the pieces were loaded on to the trailer or into the truck. Being quite clever, and realizing that there was no way for me to unload this mammoth load at home alone, I stopped at Gypsy Lea's enroute. She was there with her friend Mark, we called Kris and Mike, who live near by, and between the 5 of us, mostly Mark and Mike, the trailer was unloaded directly into the new shop.
Mike, Mark and I assembled the Apothecary counter, deliberating placing the top piece on the counter 180* out of normal because of the dramatic effect that it provided. The piece looks spectacular. My huge pumpkin pine 2 piece cupboard was dwarfed by its presence. It will work as a room divider or bar or other focal point in a home wonderfully.
I stayed at Gypsy Lea's to well after 11 PM getting things arranged. It was a regular Furniture Dancin' Hodown. Today we are planing to meet in Buffalo at 5 PM to remove anything that didn't sell at the occasional sales there and haul it all to Gypsy Lea's. The grand opening is only four days away and we are hustling to get things in place.
I hope that the new memory stick for my camera arrives soon. I will take pictures and will keep living by my antiquing name.
Mr. Flannery
aka Dances with Furniture
There is still enough ice on Leach Lake at Walker for the fishermen to be standing on the bay doing their fishing. At least they didn't drive their 4 wheelers to the spot to enhance their sinking possibilities. Its May 3rd and the ice is still thick enough to support standing men. So much for global warming here on the tundra.
There was almost no one at the auction site. I parked in the row one off of the the building and directly out from the doors. This was a very encouraging sign. The furniture that was pictured on the auction bill was at least as good looking in person. This was going to be a fun auction. Well even though there were only 50-60 bidders there at any given time, they all had money and they all wanted to spend it on the things that I wanted. I ended up with an awesome Apothecary counter from the 1900 Nissawa Drug Store, a counter from the International Harvester store in Winger, a great green painted two drawer 1860's library table, a porcelain on enamel Family Fallout Shelter sign from the 1950's, a high school shop project of an airplane wing strut from the 1930s, a 1/2 round window with saw tooth design on the casing, 2 1940's pressed steel lawn chairs (one chippy blue and the other faded red, I have a similar white one to place between them for our July sale) and a couple of bark cloth cushions that will work well when I find that 1940's wicker chair missing it's stuffing.
The Apothecary counter must weigh 500-600 pounds in two large pieces and the IH counter is only slightly smaller. All the pieces were loaded on to the trailer or into the truck. Being quite clever, and realizing that there was no way for me to unload this mammoth load at home alone, I stopped at Gypsy Lea's enroute. She was there with her friend Mark, we called Kris and Mike, who live near by, and between the 5 of us, mostly Mark and Mike, the trailer was unloaded directly into the new shop.
Mike, Mark and I assembled the Apothecary counter, deliberating placing the top piece on the counter 180* out of normal because of the dramatic effect that it provided. The piece looks spectacular. My huge pumpkin pine 2 piece cupboard was dwarfed by its presence. It will work as a room divider or bar or other focal point in a home wonderfully.
I stayed at Gypsy Lea's to well after 11 PM getting things arranged. It was a regular Furniture Dancin' Hodown. Today we are planing to meet in Buffalo at 5 PM to remove anything that didn't sell at the occasional sales there and haul it all to Gypsy Lea's. The grand opening is only four days away and we are hustling to get things in place.
I hope that the new memory stick for my camera arrives soon. I will take pictures and will keep living by my antiquing name.
Mr. Flannery
aka Dances with Furniture
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Antique Steel Table with Queen Anne Legs, Why?
I have some great stuff at the Porch this month. I also have some not so great stuff and some real junk. The great stuff includes an 1880's steel table with Queen Anne legs and antique typewriter-like dimpled brown painted and pinstriped legs and rails. The table is a wonderful cross of American Industrial Revolution meets Queen Victoria parlor room style.
The sales have been better again this month, but I am having trouble getting better furniture out the door. It is also always interesting to see what the first items of mine to sell. One month, from amidst all the wonderful baubles and glorious hogs, it was a rock. This month it was the wood propeller from an old farm windmill electric charger and the bright yellow pop-bead style Italian designer purse.
I spent a good part of Wednesday getting more things ready for the Grand Opening of Gypsy Lea's. I hung 6 huge glass and metal church chandeliers in the trusses of the ceiling. They look spectacular and do not overpower the room. They form a walk-way from the front of the shop to the bar and back bar. Many a guy's definition of going to church.
Mr. Flannery
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