Back In The Saddle Again-Antique Hunting and Feeling Fine

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN -

ANTIQUE HUNTING AND FEELING FINE - AND MAKING SOME PRETTY GOOD FINDS OUT THERE ON THE HUSTINGS

     I'm sure most of us, are pretty relieved, to finally exit the beast, that was the winter of 2014-15. The small print advisory, printed on the bottom of our most recent hydro bill, makes note of this, when it reports amounts due, will be higher this year, because of the persistent cold weather. I didn't find the invoice amount too bad, actually, and there was no pulling of the hair, screaming, or running up the wall and across the ceiling for this householder. But then again, we are fortunate to have purchased a very well insulated home, and with a good snow-load through the coldest seasons, we are super protected from the deep freeze. We only get a few icicles and they're caused by daytime melting, and later afternoon freezing-up. The house may have some other shortfalls we complain about, but being warm and cost efficient has never been a source of aggravation or complaint.
     We have had one of those up-and-down times of family life, with the loss of our dog Bosko, early in the winter, and then Buddy the cat, before the spring arrived. Both were rescue animals, and we loved them dearly. Buddy was son Andrew's cat, and had been rescued from near certain death, from the several Hawks that were circling overhead, the day he grabbed-up the tiny orange kitten off the roadway, at the corner of our street. A lot of dissatisfied pet owners, with a litter of unwanted kittens, for example, find our area a good place to deposit what they don't want; having the mistaken belief, the kittens dumped-off will be able to fend for themselves in the woodlands above The Bog, finding lots of mice and chipmunks to consume for sustenance. Truth is, the predators in our neighborhood, from foxes, coyotes, several wolves, fishers, owls and hawks, would finish off a kitten pretty quickly, if abandoned, for example, in the early evening. Then there's the "getting run over" eventuality, which in our neighborhood, is most likely to occur above the predator-factor. We have some reckless drivers on our street, and no one is safe walking on the shoulder of a street that is, in fact, and for gosh sakes, a dead end. Buddy had been injured early in life, and a chunk of his tail was missing, possibly the result of an attack in the forest, where she had been living for upwards of a month before we were able to make the rescue. Buddy was a gentle giant of a cat, that demanded to be outdoors when the weather was suitable. He had a beautiful thick coat, and wasn't thwarted by a little snow or cold. He liked his independence from the other cats we had, but he craved human contact. He was about twelve years old when he passed, and on the heels of losing Bosko, our black and white, fuzzy eared dog, we all felt like crap on a shingle, for months, let me tell you.
     The upbeat part, was that son Robert adopted another fuzzy-eared critter, named "Muffin", a tiny, bandy legged wee beastie, also a rescue dog, and looking after her since mid January, has somewhat eased the sadness of losing pets that have been around Birch Hollow for long and long. Muffin was used for breeding purposes, and at only three years of age, had provided owners with two litters, and then was given up for adoption; on Christmas Eve, if you can believe it. She hadn't been looked after properly, and had to have medical intervention, including the removal of eight teeth that had grown in badly, and a diet to bring up her weight, which has now hit within a whisker, of twelve husky pounds. Muffin is the official "shop mascot," here at Currie's Antiques, and she has become quite a character around here, having made many friends of Robert's guitar students, and our customers, some who ask to see her up close, or for a wee cuddle. We keep her in the studio, because she will head-off uptown if the door to freedom opens. Muffin loves motoring about, something Bosko didn't care for, getting mad and biting through the seat belts to get the message across, that she preferred staying home. We've thought about getting Muffin one of those leather flight helmets, they used to wear in biplanes with some goggles, for the summer season antique buying trips. But she does like the wind from the open window blowing through her fur. Muffin is quite a character, and a loving little creature, and we can only hope, she likes living with crazy, gad-about folks like us. Although we can't forget about the loss of Buddy the cat, and Bosko the dog, we can only hope, that in spirit, the dearly departed approve the adoption, of another pet needing shelter. The only cat inmate, that doesn't currently approve of the adoption, is the black and white Tom, we call "Wee Uncle Angus." Muffin scares the heck out of it, and it's lucky we have tall cupboards in our house, where he can get out of Muffin's way using height to its general advantage. Angus, by the way, is bigger, and heavier than Muffin. Muffin is now on good terms with our other cats, Beasley, Zappa, and Chutney. Hopefully the adversaries will change their opinions one of these days.
     Other than pet issues this past winter, I had a raging battle with an old chomper, in the back of my mouth, that started to act-up in March, with a full, lots-of-pain toothache, in the days leading up to the Easter holiday. It was a "pounder" let me tell you, and thankfully the dentist was able to see me before on the Thursday afternoon just before the holiday. I had a pretty fair infection that had to be treated first, before it could be extracted. The back tooth had actually begun to exit on its own, almost fully removing itself from the jaw, and exposing the nerves in the process of "tipping over." The extraction, several weeks later, was over in about thirty seconds, and I was pretty relieved to see that little bugger on the tray in front when all the fuss was ended. We'd been through a lot together, that tooth and me, but our friendship turned ugly in the spring of 2015. One of us had to go! I don't think our parting was amicable, because equipment had to be used to separate us. I saluted it on the way out of the room, and it gave me a little parting throb, despite the fact I'd had extensive freezing. "Now there's a tooth with spirit," I remarked to the nurse, leading me by the arm, into the waiting room. I talked and slurred, sputtered and drooled like a boxer, having survived fifteen rounds with George Chuvalo.
     Two weeks after this, Suzanne extended me the misfortune, of the "cold from hell," and honestly, the bout reminded me of some of the worse illnesses I'd experienced in childhood. In one of those battles, at about six or seven years of age, I was so sick, I had a dream that involved an angel's heavenly intervention; to inform me, on that occasion, "it wasn't my time." She never came this time, although I begged a return visit, to assure me I was going to survive during those late night hacking sessions, when I worried I was going to turn inside-out.  I have never coughed so regularly and violently in my life. It was more like the flu than a common cold, and I thanked my dear wife for bestowing this evil thing on my old body. She also gave it to Robert and Andrew, but they didn't have it as deeply imbedded as I did. I would almost pass-out coughing, and I'd see stars where there were none. I'm on the mend now, but it has been a memorable start to the warmer season, that's for sure. Add to this, the fact we have been trying to build-up inventory for the coming May 24th weekend, the official start to the tourist season; and that I've begun a new series of retrospective articles for Suzanne's facebook page (Like Currie's Antiques), and during my free time at home, had to save two of our fallen outdoor shelters collapsed by the snow-load (and everything stored in them). It might explain why I have been tardy writing new blogs for this site. I offer my sincere apology, and hope to get back on track, unless another tooth decides to jump ship, or someone gives me industrial disease in the meantime. Yes, we always get our flu shots in the fall. It is the first serious cold I've had in a half decade. So I guess I can't complain. It's not like I get two bouts a year or anything.
     The winter season was the pits when it came to retailing, on the mainstreet of small town Ontario, yet our figures are pretty close to last year's for the same period. We just had fewer customers in the shop. They just happened to spend more. But we still want to see folks coming in to the shop, whether they buy anything or not. Just to visit, and have a chat, makes the winter season pass a little gentler and more enjoyably. We used our time to list some of our hard-to-sell inventory, needing an international market, and did pretty well for the effort. Ebay is an outlet for us, to sell items that require an international clientele, and it is an efficient way to boost the business economy, when it appears to be flat-lining. We don't sell everything we list on ebay, and we are quite satisfied, as long time sellers, if we can find good homes for twenty to forty percent of what we are listing. I have had periods where one hundred percent of what was listed, sold in that particular jag, but on the average, over weeks and months, thirty percent is quite acceptable for us, and well worth the effort of using this auction service to market unusual items. We have just this moment, sold a beautifully designed student's cap, with intricate needlework designs, worn at a German private school at around the turn of the 1900's into the new century. It was sold to a German collector and will be shipped out later today for its cross-Atlantic journey. We have vintage vinyl going in two lots to China.
     As far as main street retail, and the antique community, ours seems to be getting bigger by the month. Word has it, that another small collectable shop will be opening near us, in the weeks ahead, adding to what is becoming somewhat of a trend these days. These are business folk who subscribe to the philosophy that "if you build it, stuff-it full of old stuff, and apply price tags, they will come." Buyers. Lots of them. It's a tad delusional, to believe this, for the short term. There is the belief Gravenhurst is quickly becoming an "antique destination," which is absurd. It takes a substantial amount of time, to influence the antique-hunting marketplace, to treat your neighborhood as a "destination," for their shopping satisfaction. Truth is, it takes a lot of promotion and many dollars, to bolster this "destination-thing," and we hardly have enough antique markets to truly qualify as the best place to be, as far as shopping opportunities. And, there have been other communities, that have had multiple antique venues, and good ones, which have now seen a depletion of those types of shops. "Destination," is an interesting promotional overview, but there are a lot of components that have to be factored in, over many years, to fulfill even part of the shopping tourism strategy. I don't even find it an argument worth considering at the present time. We just have more antique and collectable shops than we did last year, and the year before, and just about the same tourism and market share, give or take a few thousand patrons. What will happen for the next five years, if the trend continues, is that the take for each shop will be reduced, or enhanced based on competition, moreso than being affected by any manifestation of "destination marketing." The benefit to those who are regular antique buyers, is that a price war will eventually break out, and sale prices will abound. If the market share stays roughly the same as it has over the past three years, possibly with a marginal increase, then it will be necessary for proprietor's to convince their patrons, they have the best deals in the region. I'm all for competition, and for fair pricing in the antique marketplace. There's a lot of room for improvement all round, so increasing competition pretty much guarantees, the bottom line will be a lot lower in the future; or there will be businesses bringing in their shingles for the last time this year.
     Suzanne and I are antique hunters of the "scrounger class," and my hustling days go back to the side-streets of Burlington, Ontario, where I honed my craft on garbage days, when I brought home the neighbor's trash on speculation, it might one day, earn me a profit. We are not rich dealers. We don't go to auctions and drop several thousand dollars for a few choice pieces. We are instead, frugal all the time, and we buy antiques and collectables at low prices, and sell them with the same mark-up strategy, that we have used since the mid-1980's, and for me, back to the late 1970's. If we get a hundred percent mark-up on the usual fare of antique and collectable pieces, then we are like most other retailers, some who get a lot less for their investment. There are exceptions, based on book values, especially on works of art, when we can justify a larger increase, based on investment value; which we make clear to our customers via the sales stickers. Our great joy here, in the antique profession, is to watch a piece we ferreted-out, on one of our hunt and gather adventures, in the arms of a contented customer. We're not running a museum, so turnover is the name of the game. But it's still the case, we have to be good at what we do, in order to keep up a good inventory, having only spent a very few dollars, but a lot of time, building its integrity. An antique adversary of mine, once called us "bottom feeders," and "scroungers, picking up what they left behind." I will never offer an apology, for using our experience in this profession, to uncover what the others mistakenly left behind, because they didn't understand the historic value, or appreciate the very important provenance, they so quickly dismissed as being irrelevant. I am not insulted by anyone who might consider Suzanne and I as bottom-feeders, or scroungers in this very old and tradition-laden profession, that I have belonged to, for the past forty delightful years. I have never thrown money at the antique enterprise, as one might bet at the horse-track looking for a big payday. Suzanne and I, as long time business partners, have always known that our profession was a lifestyle choice, and we would always make purchases for the shop, and our customers, that appealed to us in terms of appearance, quality, style and influences, which we would also display, utilize and enjoy, in our own residence. It has been a successful strategy that we will never change, especially to suit the impatient modernists in this storied profession, who have adopted a more reckless approach to doing business.
     We had a great weekend outing, with son Robert, and we arrived home with three original paintings, vintage vinyl, and quite a nice array of bric-a-brac, otherwise known as collectable "smalls," for our general inventory. We have a few more outings planned this week, to gear up for the influx of customers expected for the holiday weekend, celebrating the birth of Queen Victoria, and of course, I'll let you know what we come up with as found-treasure. The illustration above, shows a signed record by the last Father of Confederation, Joey Smallwood, former Premier of Newfoundland. What a character he was, and esteemed leader for the province, and Canada, and here we have his voice preserved for the posterity of our national heritage.
     While we have been out scrounging the countryside all winter, and through the early going of the spring season, enthusiasm always builds for us, on the bring of the traditional tourist season. Suzanne's family, back in the mid 1960's and early 1970's, would have the Windermere Marina open on the Victoria Day weekend, and her father would be running taxi services to the cottage, via the Ditchburn, "Shirl-Evon," until late Friday night, until Sunday afternoon, when cottagers had again headed back to the city. He would spend hours transporting hydro crews back and forth across the lake and to Tobin's Island, for service restoration. The Skipper snackbar wasn't opened on the weekend of the 24th, and was instead, officially opened on the holiday weekend in July. She's still running a tourism-responsive business, all these years later, but know instead of ice cream cones and milkshakes, she's selling antiques and collectables; and her handmade aprons, from reclaimed fabrics, to her well known woolen socks, mitts and hats. Well, the much anticipated tourist season is upon us, and well, we're a little nervous, as it traditional in these parts, but when the blitz commences, we will be up to the task of serving our visitors; who love our town and all of Muskoka. Drop in for a visit, why don't you?
     See you again soon, for an antique-head update. Keep watching "Currie's Music" updates, published daily.