DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE MAGIC IN THE ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE DOMAIN
IS THE QUILT MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY BED COVERING? DEPENDS ON YOUR SENSORY PERCEPTION! MAYBE…..MAYBE NOT!
ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHORT-LIVED TELEVISION SHOWS, BACK IN THE LATE 1980'S, WHICH I DEFINITELY THINK HOLLYWOOD PRODUCERS SHOULD RE-VISIT, WAS ABOUT A CLUSTER OF ANTIQUE DEALERS, WHO QUESTED DAILY FOR RARE AND EVASIVE ANTIQUITIES. AFTER ADVENTURE-FILLED MISSIONS, AND SUDDEN DISCOVERY, THEY WOULD IN TURN, PURCHASE THESE SPECIAL (ENCHANTED) PIECES FOR THEIR COLLECTOR-CLIENTS. AT LEAST PART OF THE SHOW WAS BASED ON THE MAGIC OR SUPERNATURAL POWERS OF A UNQIUE ANTIQUE QUILT, KEPT IN A SPECIAL CHEST IN THE SHOP. THE POWER OF THIS QUILT GENERATED MANY ADVENTURES FOR THE ANTIQUE HUNTERS, AND THERE WAS THAT STRANGE MIX OF SAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROFESSIONALS, THE ODD PRACTICALITIES OF ACQUISITION, PLUS THE ROUTINELY CURIOUS COINCIDENCES, AND PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES THAT MADE FOR PRETTY DECENT HOUR-LONG ENTERTAINMENT. WHILE ANTIQUE COLLECTORS AND DEALERS WERE CHARACTERIZED IN MANY IMPORTANT BOOKS WRITTEN BY SOME OF THE BEST KNOWN AUTHORS IN HISTORY, THE MODERN ERA HAS ONLY REALLY BRUSHED ON THE ANTIQUE PROFESSION AS BEING OF GENERAL INTEREST………DOUBTING THAT ANTIQUES ON THEIR OWN WOULD MAKE GOOD FICTION. IN THE CASE OF THE "GHOST WHISPERER," ONE OF MY FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOWS, THE MAIN CHARACTER'S ANTIQUE SHOP IS OF CONSIDERABLE INTEREST, ESPECIALLY TO FOLKS LIKE US…….BUT IT'S MOSTLY USED AS A BACKDROP FOR EFFECT, IN THE PLAYING-OUT OF "OTHER-WORLDLY" CONTACT, BY GHOSTS REFUSING TO WALK INTO THE LIGHT. THUS BEING STUCK IN THIS EARTHLY EXISTENCE, AS EVER-WANDERING SPIRIT-KIND. AS A DEALER, I'M THRILLED WHEN OUR ENTERPRISE GETS SOME CREDIT, AND RECOGNITION FOR A SMATTERING OF ITS IMBEDDED MYSTERIES.
IN YESTERDAY'S BLOG, I WROTE ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, HAVING HAD A DREAMLAND ENCOUNTER WITH, I SUPPOSE, MY GUARDIAN ANGEL. THROUGH MY LIFE, INCLUDING ENCOUNTERS WITH THE PARANORMAL , WHICH BY THE WAY, ALL OUR FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE BEEN EXPOSED, (IN VARIOUS PLACES WE HAVE LIVED AND WORKED), I DRAW BACK TO THIS FEVER INDUCED AUDIENCE WITH AN ANGEL, AND WONDER IF THIS WAS THE KIND OF MIND-OPENING EVENT, THAT REMOVED THE SOCIETAL CONSTRAINTS, ABOUT ADMITTING A BELIEF IN THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT…..AND AT ALL OTHER TIMES OF THE DAY. WHILE IT TOOK ME MOST OF A LIFETIME TO ADMIT TO HAVING HAD, WHAT IS, AS IT TURNS OUT, A PRETTY NORMAL SICKNESS-INDUCED DIVINE INTERVENTION, I JUST HAVEN'T FELT RELUCTANCE ADMITTING A BELIEF IN PARANORMAL QUALITIES AND QUANTITIES. AS WELL, I HAVE NEVER BEEN FRIGHTENED BY ANY SUCH ENCOUNTER, WHETHER IT WAS A STRANGE VAPOR WITNESSED ON A STAIRCASE, A FREQUENT RAPPING ON THE DOOR OF MY APARTMENT, OR FOOTSTEPS ACROSS A WOOD FLOOR WITHOUT A HUMAN SOURCE. MAYBE HAVING A VIVID ANGEL DREAM, WHILE FEVERED, ON THAT OCCASION, GAVE ME…..AS THERE IS THE CLAIM, A CAPABILITY TO SENSE EXISTENCE BEYOND WHAT I MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE…..WITHOUT THIS VISION. WHO KNOWS.
THERE ARE LOTS OF FOLKS OUT THERE, DOING THEIR DUE DILIGENCE IN LIFE, WORK AND PLEASURE, WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SOMETHING THAT WOULD QUALIFY AS PARANORMAL. YET ONLY A TINY PERCENTAGE WOULD ADMIT TO THIS, BECAUSE THEY FEAR BEING LABELLED A FROTHING, FOAMING "NUT-BAR". NO ONE WISHES FOR RIDICULE ALONG LIFE'S PATH. WELL MAYBE A FEW. JUST NOT ME. THERE ARE OTHERS WHO KNOW WHAT HAS HAPPENED, AND WHY, AND CAN ATTRIBUTE IT TO AN EARTHLY VISITATION, BY A LOVED ONE, WHO HAD SOME TIME EARLIER, CROSSED OVER. A SIGN THEY RECEIVED, THAT CAN'T BE EXPLAINED RATIONALLY. SOME TIMES THE RATIONAL APPROACH JUST DOESN'T WORK ON MATTERS OF THE HEART AND SPIRIT, AS WE PERCEIVE THEM, BY FAITH, AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF, TO EMBRACE US WITH SECURITY. TO ANSWER WHAT WE REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE UNIVERSE……OR ABOUT DEATH ITSELF, WE OFTEN FIND SCIENCE IS OF LITTLE HELP. I BRING THIS UP, AS I HAVE SEVERAL TIMES IN THIS BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES, (BECAUSE MY BELIEF IN THE PARANORMAL, AND THE ABILITY OF THE DECEASED TO COMMUNICATE WITH HUMANKIND), HAS BEEN WITH ME SINCE MY FEVER-RELATED ENCOUNTER WITH MY GUARDIAN ANGEL…..A SENSATION OF PEACE AND GOODWILL THAT HAS NEVER ABATED FROM THE DATE OF THIS STRANGE UNCONSCIOUS MEETING…….AS THE RESULT OF AN INFLUENZA THAT HAD TAKEN A BAD, BAD TURN.
SO EVEN AS AN ANTIQUE DEALER / WRITER AT PRESENT, I AM WHAT I AM. I CAN'T TRAVEL FIVE INCHES DOWN THE OPEN, BECKONING ROAD, ON A TYPICAL ANTIQUE HUNT SATURDAY, THAT THIS AFTERLIFE BELIEF DOESN'T AFFECT WHAT I DO, AND HOW I GO ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF THE DAY. IT DOESN'T MEAN TO SAY I'M HAPPY ALL THE TIME, OR LIVE A DEPRESSION-FREE EXISTENCE. I DON'T CONSIDER MYSELF, OR OUR FAMILY, WEALTHY, ACCEPT IN HEART AND SOUL. JUST BECAUSE I MET WITH AN ANGEL IN MY DREAMS, AND THE EXPERIENCE WAS PROFOUND AND ENLIGHTENING (IN MY OPINION), DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT MADE ME A BETTER ANTIQUE HUNTER, OR AUTHOR FOR THAT MATTER. WHEN I WRITE FREQUENTLY ABOUT TALKING WITH THE DEARLY DEPARTED, IT ISN'T TO MAKE LIGHT OF THE SITUATION. I DON'T WANDER AROUND ANTIQUE MALLS TALKING TO DEAD PEOPLE (OR TALKING TO MYSELF). I DON'T USE MY BELIEF IN THE AFTER-LIFE TO PICK HORSES AT THE AFTERNOON RACES, OR TO ARRIVE AT WINNING NUMBERS FOR THE EVENING LOTTERY DRAW. I HAVE NEVER MADE DEMANDS ON MY PARANORMAL INTERESTS, AND THE ONLY WAY I PROCEED ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS, REGARDLESS WHETHER AT WORK OR RECREATION, OR BOTH, I JUST KEEP AN OPEN MIND, AS I HAVE SINCE CHILDHOOD. I DON'T ERECT MINDFUL OBSTACLES, AND I ALLOW FOR THE UNEXPECTED TO OCCUR……AND THIS IS HOW IT ALL COMES TOGETHER. I HAVE FOUND THE ANTIQUE PROFESSION BEST SUITED TO MY ATTITUDE ABOUT THIS SENSORY PERCEPTION STUFF, AND LET ME TELL YOU, THAT TO HAVE STUCK WITH THIS DEMANDING BUSINESS, FOR ALL THESE YEARS, THROUGH VALLEYS SO DEEP AND LONG, I FELT WE'D NEVER SURVIVE, IS TESTAMENT TO MY LOVE FOR ITS IMBEDDED TRADITIONS. I FIND THE PROFESSION COMPELLING, ALLURING AND SATISFYING. EVERYTHING I'VE POINTED OUT IN THIS BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES, HAS A KICK-BACK TO MY LIFE-LONG WONDERMENT ABOUT OLD THINGS, AND THOSE WHO CHERISHED THEM. IT'S ABOUT PEOPLE WHO DWELLED IN THE PLACES AND ABODES I VISIT;…..THOSE ALIVE, THOSE DECEASED, AND ALL THE STRANGE VIBES IN BETWEEN. WHEN I WALK UP THE STONE PATHS TO A FAMILY HOME, WHERE AN ESTATE IS BEING SETTLED, IT ISN'T POSSIBLE FOR ME TO REMAIN UNAFFECTED BY THE AURA OF "HOME." WHAT IF IT WAS MY ESTATE THEY WERE SETTLING INSTEAD? WOULD I BE WATCHING OUT THE WINDOW, TO SEE WHO WAS COMING UP THAT WALKWAY. THE ANTIQUE DEALER? THE INDIVIDUAL WHO MIGHT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SELLING OFF ALL MY COLLECTIONS? IF THERE IS LIFE AFTER DEATH, THEN YES, I WOULD BE WATCHING OUT THAT WINDOW, AND BE IN THE ROOM WITH "THE DEALER," FOR THE ENTIRE PROCESS OF SETTLING THE ESTATE. I MIGHT JUST PINCH ONE OF THEM IF THEY MAKE ANY SMART ASS COMMENTS, ABOUT OLD CURRIE BEING A HOARDER.
I CAN PASS AN OLD HOUSE, ON A WALK-ABOUT, AND OFTEN FEEL INTENSE SADNESS OR HAPPINESS, SENSING THE KIND OF HOME IT HAS BEEN DURING ITS ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY. I COULD NEVER EXPLAIN THIS TO ANY OF MY GIRLFRIENDS OR MY WIFE TODAY, BECAUSE IT IS SO IMMENSELY PERSONAL……AS IF THE HOUSE IS SHARING ITS SECRETS WITH A KINDRED SPIRIT……SOMEONE WHO WON'T BETRAY THE TRUST. I'M WILLING TO BET THAT MANY OF MY READERS TODAY, ARE SIMILARLY INSTINCTIVE ABOUT PLACES THEY VISIT……WHO MAY NEVER HAVE HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE IN THEIR LIVES (THAT THEY ACKNOWLEDGE), YET SURPRISINGLY SENSITIVE TO AN UNANTICIPATED "VIBE" GIVEN OFF BY SOME STRUCTURE DOTTING THE LANDSCAPE. FOR NO APPARENT REASON, THAN GENERAL APPEARANCE AND THE PREVAILING DIN OF THE REAL WORLD, AND THE DAY'S WEATHER, THEY WILL PERCEIVE SOMETHING EXTRA……ALMOST AS IF THERE IS SOMEONE LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW OF AN ATTIC, CALLING FOR HELP. I CAN WALK DOWN A LONG LENGTH OF URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD, IN THE OLD SECTIONS OF TORONTO, FOR EXAMPLE, AND THERE WILL BE ONE HOUSE OUT OF SIXTY, THAT I WOULD DESCRIBE AS BEING "SAD." IT'S JUST A PERCEPTION, AND MAYBE I'M WRONG. THEN AGAIN, MAYBE I'M NOT. WE HAVE THESE SENSORY PERCEPTIONS FOR MANY DIFFERENT REASONS, BUT MOST OF THE TIME, WE JUST ATTRIBUTE THEIR ACTIVATION TO THE MORTAL MOOD OF THE HOUR. SO THEN, IMAGINE THE TURN OF EVENTS, WHEN YOU'RE CALLED IN AS AN ANTIQUE DEALER TO DO AN APPRAISAL OF THE ESTATE FOR THAT SAME HOUSE.
I HAVE NOT REMAINED IN THE ANTIQUE BUSINESS, NOW GOING ON FOUR DECADES, BECAUSE OF THE GREAT MONEY WE MAKE. SADDLING UP TO HISTORY IS SOMETHING I FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH, AND THE PARALLELS AND COINCIDENCES I FIND ALONG THE WAY, KEEP UP THE INTRIGUE OF THE BUSINESS…..WHICH HAS OF COURSE, A SOCIAL/ CULTURAL SIDE, THAT HAS TO BE RECKONED WITH, AS I'VE EXPLAINED BEFORE. FACT IS, THE ANTIQUE PROFESSIONALS HAVE TO DEAL WITH DEATH AS THE CONDITION, BY WHICH THEY GET A CHANCE TO BID ON ESTATES. ANTIQUES ARE OF AN AGE OF COURSE, WHICH BY DEFINITION, MEANS "ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD", THAT DEATH HAS OCCURRED ON THEM, AROUND THEM, AND SOMETIMES EVEN BECAUSE OF THEM……AND SHORT OF BEING MEDICAL STAFF OR THE UNDERTAKER, ANTIQUE DEALERS HAVE TO GET UP CLOSE AND INTIMATE WITH HEIRLOOM POSSESSIONS, THAT MAY HAVE BEEN CHERISHED BY THE FORMER POSSESSOR. IF YOU'RE SUPERSTITIOUS, OR SENSITIVE TO PARANORMAL ENERGY, THEN YOU WILL APPROACH THE ACQUISITION AND DISPERSAL WITH EYES WIDE OPEN. ONE DAY I HOPE TO WRITE A LENGTHY SERIES OF BLOGS, TO OFFER SOME OF THESE PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES, ENCOUNTERED BY OTHER ANTIQUE DEALERS…….WHO MAY NOT HAVE BEEN SCARED BY THE INCIDENTS, BUT BY STRANGE OCCURRENCES, CONVINCED A FORMER OWNER DIDN'T WANT TO LET GO OF ALL THE STUFF ON THE AUCTION BLOCK.
BEING KEEN TO THIS ACTIVITY HAS HELPED ME AS AN ANTIQUE DEALER
It may surprise some folks, that antique dealers are like barbers, taxi drivers and bartenders, in the conversational sharing department. We often hear wild and wooly stories from our customers, on hiatus, talking generally about history and antique hunting adventures. I've enjoyed these opportunities to discuss ghosts and all the assorted bandy-legged wee beasties that haunt and taunt, as we carry on our profession. Suzanne was told a story last weekend, about the apparition of a former owner, still occupying a regional farmhouse. The story teller was sober as a judge, a person we respect for her straight forward, matter of fact handling of life's affairs, and the last person on earth who would tell a tall tale……or invent a ghost. I won't repeat the story of course, because we offer our customers confidentiality on all their antique hunting stories. But we hear these stories regularly, and I do feel they are rather commonplace in the industry……dating back at least three or more centuries. There is an inherent magic about certain antiquities. There are items, such as holy relics, that for some of us, possess powerful auras…..of goodness and strong faith, of course. There are items honestly, that have the kind of aura attached, that repels some of the more sensitive amongst us, from handling or opening them. A hair wreath is a good example, and it's not uncommon to find containers still full of hair, for the making of these memorials to lost family members. Sometimes you will find envelopes with locks of hair, and baby teeth. It is not uncommon at all, to find hair cut from the newly deceased, as far back as Victorian times, maintained as an intimate keepsake even in underwear drawers. I once found two silver dollars in a small box with strands of cut hair. A family member told me later that the silver dollars had been used on a dead relative, that had been placed over the eyes, as tradition, to maintain the the facial tissue integrity when rigor mortis set in. There are many Victorian era photographs of the deceased showing the coins used as such. I've also handled many crosses and name plates from coffins, pulled off as keepsakes by family, prior to burial. This is only a smattering of the macabre materials you can find in a cluttered, historic estate. Sometimes it can get a little creepy, and the packets of hair freak Suzanne out……even though she has curls from our boys from when they were young, kept in one of her family relics boxes. So what will some antique dealer say then, when years down the road, they find our stash of weird stuff……without a covering document to explain why we kept baby teeth and baby hair.
There are collectors of celebrity hair. I have heard stories of a collector, who has hair belonging to the Black Donnelly's, formerly of Lucan, Ontario, who were savagely killed by a lynch mob many decades ago. For what purpose would you want murder victims' hair? Future wealth? If an online auction carried the Donnelly's hair, authenticated, who would bid on it, and what might the winning bid amount to, after seven days of the auction run? Well folks, this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to odd collectibles. Consider the collectors who possess shrunken heads, skeletons, mummified remains, crime scene relics, funerary antiques, vintage coffins, caskets and rough boxes, including the really odd ones that had windows in the top, presumably for the deceased to see what earth looks like when packed on top. There are collectors who own famous guns that were involved in historic crimes, and clothing items from some of the most infamous murderers. Some own rope nooses from executions, and axes that took off heads……skulls without skeletons, retired wood grave-markers used for coffee-tables. I nearly purchased one several years ago, that was for sale at the annual Baysville Walk-About, here in the District of Muskoka. The neatly carved wood tombstone from Southern Ontario, had been replaced with a new marker by family, and the old one left to be sold when the estate had to be settled. The cost? Two hundred dollars. If Suzanne had been elsewhere at the time, and I'd been flush with cash, it would have been coming home to Birch Hollow. Of course, if Suzanne knew I was writing this now, she would insist I confess, once again, to having bought her a "death bed" as a mother's day present three years ago. She likes to embarrass me but truth is, I don't embarrass easily. I purchased it from a Toronto minister's estate. It is a beautiful spindle bed, circa 1870 or so, a nice piece of Canadiana. But it was used by the Minister, of the Alhambra United Church, as a bed to place the deceased for viewing, in the parlor of the manse…..for those who could not afford a more elaborate funeral. We expect there were quite a few funeral services with this wonderful spindle bed as the centre piece beneath the embalmed family member. She still tells her friends, when the subject of lackluster spouses comes up for debate, "Yea but at least your husband didn't buy you a death bed as a mother's day gift." I got a vibe of this bed and it was a good one. It hasn't levitated or gyrated even once since she's been sleeping on it, so in other words……it's just a comfortable piece in which to recline. But the others who reclined here, in its history, weren't in the position to comment on its comfortable accommodation.
I have led my life in this profession, carrying the influences that go back into my childhood. My angel experience, and my belief that it was most definitely a life message (to a soon-to-be collector of things), is imbedded deeply in my psyche, such that I don't have to switch-on sensory perception, about the odd things we encounter on our adventures….to pick up the vibes, so to speak. It's just who I am, and why I have stayed with a profession that offers such adventures as a mainstay of every work week. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, I meet many people in this hunt and gather industry, and I have been told things that would have curled my hair, if I'd actually had some left. I've had long and enlightening conversations with homeowners telling me about the hauntings they have had to contend, and I've enjoyed the company of ghost hunters, who have shared some of their experiences in old houses, churches, hospitals, government buildings and opera houses. They are articulate and proportional about their activities, and observations, and I share a few of my own with them. Maybe we are all a little whacky, and possibly there are logical explanations for everything we have experienced. But then again, maybe they are true accounts by honest, down to earth people. And maybe I really did witness an angel at my sick bed, as a child. Maybe, on reassessment, you too might be able to recall a strange occurrence in your own life…….that because of its poignancy, has stuck with you ever since. Was it the ghost of a family member that you saw sitting on the end of your bed, one night, or your grandmother who was making the rocking noise, in the chair where she once used to sit…..in life? I can't divorce myself from these unexpected experiences with the alleged paranormal, that have influenced my perception of life itself. I remain open to possibility. I love the antique trade because of this ongoing embrace of history…..of lives lived…..deaths mourned, births celebrated, accomplishments recognized, fulfillment realized, and eulogies robustly proclaimed. Ours is a profession that directly and indirectly involves all the stage of mortality and frequently, beyond. We shoulder legacies and provenance all the time. Sometimes the weight is too heavy. Sometimes it is almost weightless. But we take it as serious business, representing the deceased in our endeavors, and ensuring that provenance is passed along to the new owners, notching another generational legacy to an already storied piece, or pieces.
I have never doubted my natural, spiritual fit into the antique profession. I enjoy the sensory stimulation of each new adventure, some obviously more profound and emotional than others. Thank you for taking the time today for a little visit. I hope you will be able to come back again, to share with me, this intimate biography, of an intrepid antique dealer and collector. It's been a blast so far. I can't wait for the next adventure. I've picked up that tell tale vibe, one's coming real soon. I let you know how it pans out.
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