The Glamorous Life of an Antique Dealer

[patesden]

As many of you know I’m not just a writer, my husband and I also own a country store which combines a full service florist with an antique business.

A lot of TV shows make antique dealing look easy and glamorous. What they don’t reveal is what happens after you pick the stuff out of barns and houses, and pay for it.

Last week, we purchased the

Comments

[bogwitch64]

That's kinda cool! Sludgey, but cool.

[patesden]

There were tons of pickled apples of different kinds: pealed and sliced in a clear sugary syrup, whole crabapples in a dark syrup, apple rings. It left me wondering if she just couldn't stand seeing apples go to waste, if she was known for yummy apple treats--or if they were the one thing no one wanted to eat so they were leftover in the cellar.

[bogwitch64]

You're right...you could get a story out of that. :) Now I want to put a cellar full of jarred apples in my book!

[patesden]

When I first saw the peeled ones, I thought they were preserved eggs and I was ready for super smell.

Hmmm . . . Who would be obsessed with pickling apples. Snow White? I don't think so :)

[anonymous]

I love those old jars. Keep my popcorn in one. But ew! 75 y.o. preserves seems unappetizing. Instead of American Picker you're American Goo Be Goner!

[patesden]

She also canned in pretty much any screw top jar she could find, including big depression era Necco candy jars--which I covet. I kept them.

[patesden]

I suspect the contents were fairly safe as the seals were very tight, but I was careful about splashing the gunk on myself and we made sure there was plenty of fresh air. I took a long hot shower afterwards.

We've run into some pretty dangerous things over the years. Arsenic is less uncommon than you might think and old elixers can have some interesting ingredients.

[patesden]

Geek away, I love it.

[mirtlemist]

I thought of you yesterday. A little local church, complete with a very old cemetery that wraps around the building, went out of business and sold/leased (not sure which) the premises to an antique store. I thought that was a truly awesome combination.

[patesden]

Sounds like an amazing locations!

We've bought out several churches, benches, statues, prayer benches, books ... and all. It made me feel sad, like a part of the communtity was dying.