 |
| Ginger Jar in my Green Window this week |
It’s our 4
Year Anniversary in the shop today. Yay,
who would have thunk? Although we’ve
been dealing in antiques for 25 years, this is the first shop we’ve ever had
and we opened it just as the Global Financial Crisis started. What excellent timing – yes sirree, we have
damn fine business sense. But it means
that during our foray into retail we’ve never been through boom times, and yet
we’re still surviving. In fact we’re
still thriving. And, most importantly,
we’re still having fun.
The editor of the local
community magazine unexpectedly came by to take my photo with some of
our new stock – coincidental to our anniversary because she didn’t know about
that when she visited - and took a shot of me holding my current favourite
thing in the shop, which is a large English chinoiserie ginger jar. I hate having my photo taken, and naturally I
was having a serious Bad Hair Day.
Calypso was shop manager at the time and I suggested photographing her,
seeing how she was artfully snoozing on the Manager’s chair with her legs on
either side of the back, looking for all the world like a leopard sleeping on a
tree branch. But no, the photo had to be
of a human. Holding something nice. And looking excited about it.
So anyway,
I submitted and cracked a suitably embarrassing
how-thrilled-am-I-to-be-going-through-this grin but I’d rather the stock, or
the moggie, or really anything else except me, be photographed. Doug and I spent many years flying under the
radar (old habit from a former life) and it doesn’t sit well with me to be
willingly photographed. But hey, it’s
free publicity and it was a nice thing for them to do. Even if I do look like an utter dag.
 |
| One of my current favourite American Calendar Girls |
 |
| One of my current most pneumatic American Calendar Girls |
And it’s already working because two women
have come into the shop today on the basis of seeing my happy smiling
face in the magazine yesterday. Well,
that’s how they kindly described it. And
one of those ladies bought some jewellery, which was good. And just now someone came in to buy the
Chinoiserie ginger jar on the basis of seeing it in the magazine. I know I’m going have to do some marketing to
really get the website up and running, and this exercise just proves how
effective that can be. And yet photographing the stock can be dang difficult. I took shots of my current favourite American Calendar Girls just to show how hard it is to photograph through glass., plus a couple of my current favourite glass pieces, and although they look interesting they're much nicer in real life. So this will be a challenge.
 |
| Glass Comport that looks & feels like an upsidedown Sea Anemone |
 |
| Vintage Citrus Juicer just like the ones used by street vendors in Istanbul |
But some things are easier to photograph, so I'll just have to be selective. The commercial standard Citrus Juicer I put in the window this week was easy to shoot. In Istanbul we noticed that street vendors selling freshly squeezed orange juice were using juicers just like this one, and boy they worked well.
 |
| Glass Butterfly Tray, which is actually pale blue |
The
enamelware window last week attracted a huge amount of attention, which was of course the whole idea. The only problem was that it was a
very crowded window, which it needed to be to achieve the Riot of Colour impact
I was after. But this did lead to a
disaster, because getting in and out of the window proved to be a challenge and
naturally people were asking me to retrieve things for them. Last week I discovered a man down on his
elbows and knees, bum in the air, peering under the brass-topped Byzantine
Revival table, but I was able to intercept him before he bodged at it too much. You
make a very tempting target I told his rear end as I approached him from
behind. He quickly scrambled to his feet
and said he was just trying to see if the top came off the table, which indeed
it does and it might have been easier just to ask me that. But you know how men don’t like to ask,
right?
 |
| Top of the offending table |
So on
Market Day, with the shop full of people and me here alone and the usual scrum
around my table thanks to Calypso, I did not notice that someone else had
fiddled with the table and had in fact moved the top out of alignment, so it
was now quite precariously tilted. Can
you see where I’m heading here? Yet
again someone asked me to get something out of the window, and as I nudged the
table as I stepped past it the fabulous Aladdin lamp that was sitting on it –
the one with the big, beautiful white glass shade – went flying. By golly it made the most amazingly loud smashing
crashing noise you’ve ever heard. Very
impressive. The café next door was full,
our shop was full, so I looked up to see dozens of saucer eyes and mouths in
the O shape all directed at me. Oops, I said. I think I also said Bugger. And I couldn’t even
blame the cat. But oh well, what can you
do? Accidents happen.
Besides
that incident it was a solidly good week again, and just as well because as of
today I have started to plan the September buying trip so I’m up for some
airfares real soon. I had hoped to have the
time to head to the south of France
 |
| St George & The Dragon Vintage Tin |
 |
| Side view of tin |
We’ve
unpacked quite a number of additional boxes this week, and have enjoyed
rediscovering some nice things. I have
kept one vintage tin at home this time, while I consider whether to keep
it. I probably will. It features St George & The Dragon, and
they are depicted in an attractive mosaic design and I quite fancy it. The last time I had a tin clearly made by the
same company because of the mosaic design, it showed the Three Wise Men
following the Star to Bethlehem
 |
| French decorative cast iron top of a gate to a church yard |
 |
| French decorative cast iron top of the metal arch of the gate into the church yard |
This week I
have also finally unpacked some lovely French ecclesiastical metalware, which I
knew would have Dibs on from the moment I bought it, and indeed it was greeted
with great joy and whooping and kiss-kissing on both cheeks by the Fabulous
Fran. She deserves all the nice things I
can find for her, so I don’t mind that she keeps propelling herself to the top
of my Wait List for these type of things.
Beautiful religious objects are always popular, but very difficult to
come by at reasonable prices. These two
are respectively from the top of a gate into an old church yard, and the top of
the metal arch over the gate into that church yard. I did see a gorgeous marble angel at the
Porte de Clignancourt Markets in Paris
 |
| Getting closer to obtaining a decent photo of Mischka |
In non-shop
news, finally I’m getting closer to taking a decent photo of Mischka. The trick was to first exhaust her (and me!)
with a game of chasey around the central table in the shop. Is it any wonder that things break around
here with all this idiot behaviour?
She’s very good at doubling back on herself and feigning going in one
direction but quickly jumping in the opposite direction. She is always IT and I am always the chased
one. I put up a pretty good fight but
she always gets me in the end, often by cheating and going across the table
rather than around it, but that’s the benefit of being an agile pussycat
chasing a galumphing human.
 |
| Caleb is almost ready to come home |
Meanwhile,
we draw closer to bringing Caleb home – only two weeks to go now. We visit him every Sunday after we close the
shop, and what a sweet, engaging, schmoozy little boy he is. He leans into you when you scratch his
shoulders, and then throws himself down so you can tickle his belly. We’re going to get on fine. The rest of the Gang is so good natured that
after the initial settling in period I’m sure they’ll take him into the fold
and teach him how to be an Utter Ratbag too.
And did you hear about the cat in Alaska
No comments:
Post a Comment