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!

What Does a Maven of Vintage Clothes, Accessories, Style, Designers and Fashion Wear?

I love clothes. Quality material, detailed construction and good design can make me quiver. There are large plastic bins stored here full of cocktail dresses, gowns, lingerie, dresses, blouses, coats, etc., - some designer, some just superbly made, very stylish clothing. Vintage silk hand rolled scarves with descreet designer names in the corners, vintage purses from chainmail to wood and plastic to petit point needlework, and vintage hats from the truly absurb little caps with 12" or more bobbing things to the wide brim with hat band accented by a small gemmed pin. Clothes and accessories enough to carry you thru any occasion, taken from the decades between 1910 and 1970.

So you would figure I'm a walking fashion plate right? wrong! What do I build my daily wardrobe around? Long, large denim jumpers with lots of pockets - and by the way, the pockets are deal breakers. These perfect fashion finds are the ultimate necessity to me. In the summer they are worn over tank tops and when the weather gets cooler, short to long sleeve tops or dresses (also long and cotton only).

Why are pockets deal breakers? Cause I can fill those pockets and keep myself hands free. When working at home I've got discs for my camera, gel ink pen, pencil with eraser and fine point marker, metal pull out measuring tape, small magnifying glass, reading glasses, index cards, iphone and possible munchies all tucked about my person, easy to find and get to. When shopping, replace the discs with cash, the index cards with a small notebook, and I'm ready to go junking.

These denim life savers are almost totally impervious to staining, so all the different goos and glops I use to clean little treasures with can dripped, spilled or wiped on myself with impunity. I can grab a bit of my jumper, do a quick rub and polish on something and not worry about ruining my apparel. Best of all, while eating, I can read, surf the internet one handed or carry on a convesation with lots of hand gestures without worrying about the salsa or whatever drips - it will wash out!

So, though I have sold Ceil Chapman cocktail dresses, vintage Pucci prints, Hermes scarves, Chanel clutches and have more to offer up to the fashion conscious online buyers, I myself usually look like the Queen Mary decked out in denim, floating by. Add old lady comfort shoes and you're got a pretty good idea - I'm the Queen Mother hippy style. The purse and jewelry are the only real hints to the fact that I might actually have some taste and you'ld probably have to be detail oriented to notice them.

Of course none of the above excludes me from being harshly critical, cuttingly derisive and horribly snobbish about how everyone else dresses! Major pet peeve regarding the younger generation's style - those low riding jeans, no matter how young you are or how nice your figure over all, only look good on about 1 out of a 1000.

Shopping Tip No. 2

Junk Shopping - Tip No. 2

There is one refrain I hear constantly from the people who know me, "How do you find that stuff? I go to the Goodwill, the Salvation Army, yard sales, and I never find that stuff.". This remark is often accompanied by a look that says "you must have other places to shop, you just won't tell anyone about them". Sometimes it is even accompanied by a verbal, "come on girl, tell us where you really find the goodies". Sorry everyone, but we do shop in the same places but we shop very differently. My personal observation is that it is not where you shop, but how you shop.

Tip #2 - How to junk shop. Most experienced junkers combine necessity shopping with the treasure seeking. Necessity shopping needs no tips. You know what you need so that's what you look for. My taste in clothing and accessories still does not match my budget, and probably never will! The majority of my exterior wardrobe has been second hand since 1970. Finding home office supplies like notepads, printing paper, index cards, etc. can save me $20 to $50 a month. The same for many housewares, business display items and other continuing expenses.

Looking for an antique, art piece, vintage designer label, or other treasure discarded as worthless, that is a different type of shopping. For this type of shopping you need knowledge, gut reaction or "an eye" and timing.

Knowledge: If you are a beginning collector or dealer, go to shops that sell the types of items you would like to find. Look at them carefully and if possible, touch them, pick them up and smell them (yes, smell them! certain materials have distinctive odors), get an idea of the texture, the colors, the "look". Go online and research them. Study the photographs and read any relevant text even if it is an auction or store description. As an example, let's say you have decided to collect vintage California dinnerware. When you're looking at three 20 foot long display racks with three shelves each, all piled up with plates, glasses, bowls, etc., it will help to be able to recognize glazes, colors, texture. Narrowing your search to 20 possible pieces is a lot easier than picking up every single one and looking at the bottom for a mark!

The ones who ask questions, go to shows, galleries, museums, read books, do some research, and spend some time learning about their particular love are the ones who usually find the treasures.

Personally, because I love all types of decorative items, my knowledge is thinner on specifics and broader on a greater range of types. I have learned how the base of a 19th century glass vase will look compared to the base of a contemporary reproduction piece; how different types of prints look under a magnifying glass; how the texture of the material, the way it was cut and put together looks on a 1930's day dress; how the hinges, finish, corners of an old box will look; and many more bits of information. In other words, I may not immediately recognize a 19th century ceramic bowl by it's maker or pottery but I will recognize the age.

My tip here is obviously to spend some time learning about the treasures you hope to find. Even if you just want to shop for "old stuff" in general, you should do some research. What types of materials were used in certain eras? What do the different era styles look like, i.e. deco, nouveau, arts and crafts, Edwardian, Regency? What "true age" signs to look for? What should be hand made and what is fine if machine made?

Gut or "Having an Eye": Look at things that draw your interest. I don't care what it is, look at it! You will often hear a collector or dealer talking about themselves or someone they know having "an eye" for particular items. This "eye" did not come with detailed knowledge and footnotes! The fine tuning comes from years of learning, the origin of the "eye" comes from what literally draws your eye. Most of the ability in my opinion comes from a natural appreciation of the item. People who love pottery usually have an already built in good eye for glazes, types of clay, and design. They may not know the verbage for these things or the technical aspects, but they know that they like it. They find it attractive and it calls to them in a way they can't describe. That is what attracts them to pottery in the first place and that is having "an eye".

If it catches your eye, your inner self likes it and it's affordable, buy it. As simple as it sounds, that is basically how I shop. Granted, there are probably subconscious triggers from the part of my brain storing the knowledge discussed above. I have to give my gut credit where credit is due though. Some of my best finds have been items that were a total mystery to me. Their only qualifier was the gut feeling they gave me. One of the great things about true junk shopping is that you can give in to your gut at a very low monetary cost. You find a bowl that for whatever reason you just love. When that bowl costs $1.99 or less, buy it. Buy what you really love and can afford. So what if it turns out to be a made in China repo? You like it and you've bought a nice home decor item for a great price! Then again, maybe it will turn out to be a nice 1950's California pottery piece or maybe you've hit the jackpot and it's 17th century Chinese export porcelain. Whatever it turns out to be, you are enjoying it, possibly learning from it, and it's easy on the budget.

Sometimes that initial attraction departs quickly when I get closer or once I'm holding it in my hands. Then there are the times it stays even when I don't like it! Some of my best "finds" have been things that I personally did not find especially attractive. I bought a 1970's 1980's southwestern style pottery wall plaque once for $2. There is a photo at the beginning of this post. That era of faux adobe with color schemes in turquoise and pink is just not one of my favorites, BUT it caught my eye for some reason. The quality of the work was outstanding, this was a piece made to last and it was signed. Because of these things, because it caught my eye and mainly because it gave my gut a twinge - I bought it. Researched the name, Vera Russell, found out this was a desirable item with a solid collector base and sold it for $140 at an online auction.

Then there are the times that the attraction stays even though I have no earthly idea what this thing is. My guilty secret is that these are my favorites. I love researching these mysteries and get my money's worthy from the fun of solving them. Invariably I learn something, not only about the item itself, but other bits of interest for use elsewhere or in the future.

Note of warning: If everything catches your eye, this won't work for you. And you probably won't do well at collecting or dealing either - just a quick heads up.

Timing: The early bird gets the most worms at yard, garage, church, school, estate type sales. They do not necessarily get all the worms, so don't blow a sale off because it's been picked over. Excellent finds can get passed over in the initial rush. Sometimes there is such a quantity of stuff that it's impossible to see everything and sometimes people just don't see what's right in front of them. I can not tell you the number of times I've been the last in a group of avid dealers perusing a sale and still found some great stuff. Plus its fun when you're in line to pay and those who were first to shop are asking you "where did you find that?!"

When shopping in thrift shops, if you specialize in collecting or dealing certain items, be it glass, vintage clothing, or snuff boxes, then there will be certain areas of a store you will peruse carefully. My tip here is to not forget the rest of the store. I've found pieces of clothing and accessories like scarves, hats, ties, purses, mixed in with tupperware and books. Found a large old Redwing Pottery jug at the end of a clothing aisle and found some nice framed seriographs sitting on a shoe display shelf. Spend the majority of your time in the section of the store that should have what you are looking for but allow for a careful walk thru of the whole store before leaving.

We are a very nomadic society in many ways. People are no longer grow up, marry, raise children and age in the same house, or even city, they were born in. Most can not move several generations of belongings with them every time they change residences. We are also a throw away society, constantly replacing the old with something new and better. For those of us who appreciate the old, these two conditions provide unending inventory.

When people ask why you love to dig around in all that weird stuff, just tell them that you are helping to save the past and recycling style.

Victorians - Death Chic - Mourning Jewelry, Basic Black Dress, and

Queen Victoria lost the love of her life, her consort Albert, and so great was this woman's influence that she took her whole country into mourning with her. Black reigned supreme in the well dressed Englishwoman's wardrobe for more seasons than would seem possible. Unless you were a young, unmarried female, your formal day and evening wear was all in classic black. Granted, if middle, upper or titled, the material range, velvet, organdy, satin, heavy to gossamer silk, fine wools, serges, crepe, garbedine, gave you some options but not many.

Even jewelry was influenced by the mourning of their queen. Locks of hair would be cut from the dearly departed and woven or braided into intricate designs. These fantastical creations were made to fit into glass framed lockets, pendants or brooches. Jet , a fossilized coal, was used to make shiny black stones and beads. These were made into jewelry and used to accent clothing or accessories.

Some women even took daily doses of arsenic to give them pale, translucent skin so conducive to a melancholy air. In other words, the whole style became so popular that you not only dressed as if in perpetual mourning, you also wanted to physically look the part.

To some the Victorian era of style is one better forgotten. Furniture
incorporated design details from several centuries the result was mostly overlyornate pieces with no style of their own. To top it off, it they weren't even comfortable to sit on. Decor tended to be in umber shades with dark, dark jewel tones. Too many, too much of, too fussy, and too totally overdone were the catch phrases for
interior design. Fashion was elaborate both in style and in the number of things one ended up wearing to be properly dressed. The saving grace was that, as noted above, almost everything was in black. Which backs up my belief that if you have quality wardrobe basics in black, you can get thru anything, even a fashion era as bad
as the Victorian one.

There are three results of that era I really like. Number 1, they made something for everything. For every single thing you might use or eat, they had a dish, serving utensil, box, holder, and so forth. These "things" were often quality made, with fine attention to detail. Seen standing alone, relieved of the Victorian clutter, they are often beautiful. The Victorians made fantastic smalls and I love smalls -
you got to give credit where credit is due. Number 2, they loved gadgets, simple things compared to today, but you could consider them the first techies. If it was mechanicized, they wanted one. Even though it took longer and was more difficult than doing it manually!

Number 3, they were the founders of goth fashion. I am not a goth myself, but like the style. Using the basic colors and theme of constantly acknowledging death introduced by the Victorians, it has evolved a much more attractive look. Like the Victorians, it incorporates other eras. Unlike them, it has restraint. And I hate to keep beating the same drum, but I'm back on the black basics of quality theme. Think about it. Those who go thru a Goth phase and do it well will have a lot more wardrobe items that will turn out to incorporate well into any new look. I mean, how much of that hip hop, rockabilly, emo, grunge, surfer, hippy, leather studded stuff hanging in your closet is going to look good at the office?