Paula's Perspective of New Year's Resolutions

To celebrate my first year of "social networking" I've decided to share the same resolutions I make every year. And yes, I do have a pretty good track record of keeping them. Not perfect, but decent. They are easier than diets and work out plans, they only take a few seconds a day, and they don't cost anything. They do take a bit of commitment and effort in the beginning but they soon become natural. And best of all, they're usually fun and they make me feel good!

• Paula's Perspective on New Year's Resolutions:
  
  Smile at people. Most of them will smile back. Besides, if you're the first to smile and they respond, it makes you the alpha!
  
  Laugh first thing in the morning. Smile for tomorrow last thing at night.
  
  Do one nice thing, no matter how small, for another person AND for yourself each day.
  
  Give a compliment to someone AND to yourself every day.
  
  Learn one thing or try something new every day. Look up a word, ask old ladies in supermarkets how to cook something, read an article in a section of the paper you never look at, watch a show on one of the documentary channels, listen to music by someone you've never heard of, sign up for ballroom dance lessons, try sushi - anything!
  
  Put a dollar in a jar every time you say "I can't", "I will never", and "I don't like that" (when said in reference to something you've never tried).
  
  Once a day, each and every day, stop for one moment and think of what you have to be thankful for. From the basics of a roof over your head, food to eat, clothes to wear, a car to drive to the unbelievable advances in technology and science. Compare your life to others in the world and/or to how your life may have been 50 years ago, and say thanks.
  

Oh - and one more for this year - to write in my blog more often!!

Proudly Introducing My Bonanzle Widgit as the Newest Addition to My Blog! Thank you boyz!

See my widgit? It's on the right under About Me. I'm tickled pink and ready to pass out cigars.

I'm not going to tell anyone that it only took me all day to do!! Making it was easy, the boyz at Bonanzle got it set up to where it's literally a couple of clicks to accomplish and then they give you the code to copy and paste.

Figuring out how in the sam hill to get the thing on here was the hard part!!!! For the other tech challenged, middle aged computer befuddled, and hot flashing with minimal patience folk out there - go to your Dashboard, then Layout, then click on Add a Gadget, then under Basics, click on the HTML/Java Script one, put in a title - I used "A Peek at My Bonanzle Booth", paste the code you copied from bonanzle in the content block, hit SAVE and voila - you got a widget, I got a widget - everybody got widgits!!

Ron McCoy's Antiques Newsletter, Flicker and the Library of Congress

One of the few regular newsletters that I receive is the Antiques & Collecting Newsletter, Ron McCoy, editor. It comes once a month and rather than articles about what is this, how much is it worth, what is this mark - Mr. McCoy offers a variety of interesting and very eclectic links to sites that folk interested in antiques, vintage and collecting, might find fascinating. Since these same folk tend to think a bit outside of the box, the sites offered are the same. A selection of original pin-up girls painted on World War II planes, mens' tie fashions over the years, Route 66 history with photos, various strange landmarks or man made oddities found off the beaten track, vintage TV collections, etc. Even if you're not a dealer or a collector, if you like the unique to the absurd, you'll enjoy this newsletter! You can check out past issues, read some articles or sign up for the newsletter here: Ron McCoy Newsletter

Awhile back he posted a link with some info about a large collection of of old photographs from the archives of the Library of Congress now being shared on Flickr.com. This is a pilot project begun in 2008 to share some of the most popular images from the Library with a wider community and to encourage actual interactions among viewers. The photos come from the Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information, Bain News Service, selected panoramic photos, and other photos from different collections. Most of the photos range in age from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. The photos have no known restrictions on publication or distribution and they have high resolution scans. Here are a few that I really like. I've added names to these because they were available either in the photo, from the Library's notes or from added comments from others.

Library of Congress on Flicker Many came to the Library with no descriptions or background, and the Library encourages tags, comments and any identifying information. Warning, you can get lost in there! The range of photos is fantastic, and reading some of the comments makes them even better. People are actually identifying many of the people in these photos as family members or long ago local celebraties, politicians or characters still remembered in their communities. Even some of the unidentified photos, like the ones taken of female carnival performers from the early 1900's, have started online conversations about the emotions and thoughts the photos stir in people.And you can search for different types of photos, women, fashion, cars, sports.

Vintage Aluminum Ware or More Correctly, Antique Aluminum Ware

Aluminum was discovered in 1845 and for a few years was valued as and used as a fine precious metal. In 1886, all that changed. Electricity had made the extraction process quick and inexpensive and aluminum became everyman's metal. Designers from all styles loved it. The arts and crafts people made tree branch handles, hand hammered utilitarian pieces, and placed decorated sheets on wood furniture; the art nouveau group swirled it, vined it and flowered it; the deco crowd loved the simple angles and curves easily obtained, and the matte to shiny surface options especially for dining, cocktail and entertaining pieces; the modernist and bauhaus designers jumped on it creating tubular furniture and solid pieces in waves or with sharp angles. Barclay McClelland was producing colored "spun" aluminum decorative serving pieces before WWII. The war slowed down the decorative and housware production, but after the war, the new colored ware with smooth or brushed surfaces became very popular. Granted there are some very generic aluminum pieces, especially those produced during the depression as a poor man's replacement for silver. But there are some truly fantastic pieces also, highlights of their particular design period from the late 1800's to the present.

Meissen Dancing Girl and Made in Japan Lady with Parrot Porcelain Figurines

This dancing girl is so finely made she appears to be ready to step off the base and skip across the table. A lovely Meissen piece from the 18th or 19th century I believe. Not being an expert, I'm not sure how to date her, but her marks and her quality, establish her as Meissen. Although I'm not particularly drawn to figurines, the movement in this little lady drew me from across a room. She was tucked in the corner of a large case used to display jewelry at a local thrift and she caught my eye when I walked in the door.

But, have to admit that the following lady also caught my eye. Another thrift, another day - but she grabbed my attention in the same way.



Made in Japan by Trico, Nagoya, Japan, she's rather crude compared to the Meissen piece. What should be a hair comb is painted the same color as her hair and you can almost imagine the color of her gown was chosen so they could paint the parrot and her gown all at once! She may be no match quality wise, but I find her just as charming. Her original mold was done well catching her perfectly in a small step forward, almost as if she was attempting to hear something or looking to see who her visitor was. And strangely painted hair or not, the fact that she's a red head makes her rather unusual.

These ladies are why I will probably never be a serious antique dealer. Definitely have the "eye", but that same eye is just as drawn to the low end treasures as it is the high end ones!

Antiques Vintage Collectibles - Where Are the Buyers?

I see this question constantly in the Bonanzle forums and every other forum, board, network, etc. I visit/participate in concerning on-line sales of antiques, vintage, collectibles on the web. And since this is my blog and I get to say what I want - I'm going to tell you what this old broad really thinks the answer is.

Again, this post has to do with selling in the Antique, Vintage and Collectible categories.

Ninety percent of the time when this question or one similar is the lead post, I bite my tongue - or should I say my fingers? - and leave the thread without posting. Why? Well, mainly cause I always go to the poster of the question's store or booth and guess what - there's not much there and what is there isn't presented very well either visually or verbally. Sorry but it's often the truth. Just because stuff is old - just because you saw one sell on ebay 3 years ago for a lot of money - just because your friend after his 4th beer said he'ld pay a bunch of money, if he had any money, for one like that - just because you saw one in an antique store "just like this one" for a 3 figure price tag - DOES NOT MEAN THE ONE YOU HAVE IS WORTH ANY MONEY!!!!! And if it is worth money - no one is going to give you that money until you have shown them a picture of every surface, plus the interior if possible and close-ups of any marks. Good clear photos not one fuzzy shot taken from across the room. There needs to be a description that includes colors, materials, measurements, condition, condition, condition!! And close-up photos of any flaws!

The other ten percent of the time the people have wonderful items for sale. Once again, often there is only one photo (which always makes me wonder why you don't want me to see the rest of it), no measurements, a one or two sentence description that says nothing, and no photos or details of any marks, lettering, etc., none of which makes me feel secure in buying something from you. Then there are those that do have great photos and descriptions but the titles and set up aren't search engine friendly or optimized for search. Beautiful Vintage McCoy Vase With Flowers Like Grandma's as a title isn't going to get you too many hits because your only good keywords are mccoy vase and even using advanced search (which many people still don't), there are 194,000 results! But, using advanced search, blue handles iris "mccoy vase" turns up only 140 results. Chances are a buyer is going to have a much better chance of finding your vase among 140 compared to 194,000.

Serious collectors and dealers are getting very savvy about using search. Give them what they are looking for and they will find you! And read google's policies, help pages, tutorials and all the help available on Bonanzle's forums. Titles entirely or with words in all caps will not do well, symbols like !?*"':; will not do well - and yes that means you actually have to type the word inches instead of just adding " to the number. Putting Free Shipping in your title or the first part of your description will not get you noticed, it will get you spit out of the search engine!

So where are the buyers? My personal opinion again - They are where they have always been - out looking for things to buy. If you've got the same thing everybody else has, yours had better look better and seem better than the rest. If you've got unique higher end pieces, they should be standing out of the crowd not lost in it. If you want to sell your stuff, you'll do what every salesperson has done since retail started, you'll figure out where your market goes to shop, you'll make sure they can see your stuff when they get there, you'll present your merchandise in the best possible light, you'll know your merchandise in order to present all the points being sought after, and you'll work to make the shopper feel safe and valued.

As sellers we need to learn how to best optimize our merchandise for feeds to search engines. We need to read more tech and business articles about how on-line shopping is changing. We need to listen to the people we know who do shop on-line. We need to keep the selling venues of our "old stuff" up to date. Basically, we need to do what we've always done: figure out where the serious, good buyers are going to shop, make sure we're noticed positively when they get there, present our wares attractively, and be knowledgeable dealers who value their reputations. Fifty years ago a shopper might look under Antiques in the yellow pages, then call around to see which shops carried items of interest to them. Back then, you spent time and money to make sure your shop was listed and stood out in those listings. Now shoppers go to the internet and immediately shop for a specific item. The good news is that unless you pay someone to do it for you, getting your inventory into the searchable listings is free. The bad news is that those listings are also open to everyone else in the world and their inventory. You have to spend the time to learn and the time to actually do what is needed to come out in front of the pack.

Paris Apartment Paris Apt. - Search Keywords I Love When Shopping

Here's a link to a Hand Picked List called Paris Apartment Accents that I put together on Bonanzle. The link will only be active until June 4, 2009. Will try to keep it in my menopausal memory bank to come back and replace it with some photos then.

http://www.bonanzle.com/hand_picked_lists/18538

Paris Apartment or Paris Apt., are keywords occasionally used to describe a certain "look" and "feel". Like shabby chic, it got way overused at one point with the resulting search results overwhelming you with stuff that in no way related to what your were looking for. Unlike the example used though, it seems to be quietly making a return and lets hope it stays quiet! Since I don't think I have many readers here, am going to say that searching Paris Apartment is becoming interesting again.

I know that interior designers and decorators often use it to search for accent pieces, and I know that some buyers use it. How do I know? Because some of my best repeat customers found me thru those keywords. BUT before you use them, be as sure as you can be that your item would be considered Paris Apt. decor. Those same buyers will probably never look at your items again if they click on one by the sound of the title and the item itself is not true to the keywords.

This is a tricky one because it can be used for Asian made and Asian inspired, overdone rococo and vintage industrial, deco, nouveau, Victorian, Edwardian and folk art, and so forth and so on. Antique and vintage items are preferred but there are new, contemporary ones that also fit. It really is more of a feel than a look on the deciding end.

I always try to imagine myself as a person living in Paris sometime between 1920 and 1960, there to pursue the arts and literary energy, past and present, that the city is known for. Somehow, it is my dream after all, I am invited regularly to salons, dinners, teas, cocktail parties and other social events held at the homes of people with their thumbs on the pulse of Parisian intellect and arts. Then I ask myself: Would this item look right in one of those homes?

It makes sense to me and actually works for me. But - my thought processes, as the other half tries to occasionally remind me, do not work along the same lines as the majority.

My Shabbi Chic has a booth on Bonanzle! Finally!

My booth is open with 69 items listed so far. I'll be adding more items every week. Spent several months checking out, watching, and getting a feel for all the new selling sites on the web. With a large number of former ebay sellers, especially those selling antiques, collectibles and vintage clothing/accessories/jewelry, looking for a 'better fit' for their treasures, the market for selling sites has expanded and is still growing.

Bonanzle is the one I chose for me. One of my first priorities, wrong or right, was how the homepage looked and how the category pages were presented. Bonanzle has a clean, professional look with no pop ups, no adds with large bosumed ladies wanting to talk to lonely people, and NO ads or links to other sites. Just the Bonanzle logo, their rallying cry of "everything but the ordinary" and, on the home page, an ever changing grouping of photos chosen from actual items found in the booths on the site. These are called hand picked lists and are created by Bonanzle members. The lists are put together around a theme and the best are chosen to rotate on the home page. There are usually up to 25 different lists rotating every day. If you don't do anything else on Bonanzle, go to Bonanzle.com and check the lists out - you can see the different ones by clicking on the logo in the upper left corner. Some are based on colors, eras, seasons, categories; some are classy; some are tongue in cheek; some are plays on words; and all of them are really attractive!

The owners of Bonanzle, Bill Harding and Mark Dorsey, wanted to create a site for people wanting to sell unique or one off items rather than wholesale, 1000 to a box, inventory. There are new items to be found there, but on the majority you'll find antiques, vintage, collectibles of yesterday and ones that will be tomorrow, and some great bargains on gently used but still good merchandise. Every seller has an opportunity to fill out a Profile and a More Booth Details section. Thru these you can see where the seller lives, how long they've been on Bonanzle, any feedback received, and information about what they sell and why. And there's a real time chat box in every booth! So if the seller is online and you have questions or want more info on an item, you can just type it in. Even if the seller is listing or elsewhere on the site, they'll be notified that someone has posted to their chat box and can get with you very quickly. Payment options are up to the seller, so checks, cash, money orders, Paypal and Google Checkout are all found and some sellers even process credit cards on their own.

Here's the link to my booth: http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/myshabbichic

And here's the link to Bonanzle's home page: http://www.bonanzle.com/

Please come visit me or just visit Bonanzle. I'll be posting more here as I add more treasures. May not have been selling much online the last few months but that doesn't mean I haven't been treasure hunting! and I have some really neat stuff to share!