My Lord,, if your hubby has a nose for things like that (yes, I know it is not the one pictured) I would have him out looking everyday !!
Hope your mother is doing well !!
Sounds like you have had a rough couple of years !! Hope things are better now !!
The reason I asked about your store,,#1 is because I have debated on trying Etsy !! And #2 is because there have been a few things I have been looking for so thought I would check and see if you had them !! One is a particular piece of bar ware that I can not find anywhere !!
Furniture is my area so if you need assistance there,, just yell !! 19th and 20th century or if its older than that I have a friend that is an expert on the colonial/pilgrim era !!
We also are on antique-shop.com if you would like to join !! Its pretty much an interactive group and we all pitch in to get the correct information for those that ask questions !!
One thing I can tell you about those unmarked pieces you mentioned,, If you can`t find it with a descriptive search,,just forget it and go on to the next one !! Doing what you are trying to do you will spend more time that they are worth !! And as they say,, time is money !!
Will be looking for your post as you get things in order !!
Would love to visit your store !!
Martha
🙂 So, I was an English teacher for 21 years, then I sold yearbooks for Jostens for about 4 years. Then about a year ago, I started flipping furniture on the side to keep active and make a little money….. in the process, I bought the contents of a Storage Unit (yes, it did feel a little like Storage Wars — without the bidding)…. The contents of that unit had more than furniture to flip, and I didn’t know what to do with the “smalls”….. so I started an Etsy shop last October.
For whatever reason, the email that I used when I opened the shop was not in the email accounts I had on my cell phone, so I never checked it. I sold 3 items out of my shop without even responding to anyone for two months!!! Once I contacted them and sent them their items, all was good, (and, of course, I then added that email address to my phone contacts) but I didn’t know how to properly wrap items. I had to issue refunds because I sent things that smashed in the shipping process…. Tough lessons, but important ones.
Once my husband realized that we could turn the “smalls” into cash, too, he started going to Goodwill every day at noon and searching interesting items he found on the shelves…. I call him my “treasure finder” 🙂
Since I was still working full time and flipping the furniture on the side, putting the items we found through Goodwill, Salvation Army, online auctions, etc, was NOT a priority. Then, my mother broke her hip in April and for 115 days her illness and rehab was also added to my daily responsibilities.
I quit Jostens at the end of July and am now wading through the “smalls.”
I literally (and I do mean literally) have about 1,000 items to photograph and post. I always check to see if these items sell, for how much, how many watchers they might have, etc…. but it is HARD to find some of the items… Yet, after doing this collecting for about 8 months, spotting the items innocuously taking up space on a shelf is the easy part. Figuring out WHAT they are (especially if there is no bottom stamp) is the pain! And, it is a “time trap” of sorts!!! I can sit down and start searching for a —- cobalt ceramic bowl shaped like two overlapping shells with a single “W” stamped on the bottom —- and look up to see two hours have passed and I am no closer to finding the darn thing.
I’m embarrassed to share my website with you because I do not have very many items on it, and all were either a part of the original storage unit or some of our earlier acquisitions. They do not include any of the true valuables we have found since then, because those are still in my bullpen either waiting to be cleaned or photographed.
Obviously I am not very good about checking this message board, either…. but I will share with you in a week or two my progress. 🙂
In the meantime, here is a quick peek at what my husband is good at spotting. Of course this pic is from the internet and the one we acquired at the Salvation Army for $10 is very tarnished, but I think we can get some money out of it…. 🙂 It is a Lemonade and Tea server from Charles Hamill made in the late 1800s….
What is your shop name ?? Mind if I look around ?? Or just post a link !! I will sure try to help if possible !! Careful not to overload your self !!
Mmmm,, thats less than half in almost a year !!
Before you list,an item,,do you check to see how many are available and what the starting prices are ??