New Inventory

The life of an antique dealer can be summed up as: “the constant rotation of stuff.”  Stuff coming in, stuff getting fixed, stuff getting painted, stuff getting sold . . . then the cycle starts all over again with more stuff coming in!

Just when I think I’m about to have a break in hauling, storing, and fixing stuff, my booth space sells out and off I am again to hunt down more inventory.

That’s just the way it is . . . but I love it 🙂

Recently my hubby has become my Craigslist searcher, scouring the ads late at night and forwarding any to me that look promising.  I am more than thankful for his help, and he has really developed a good eye for finding new pieces for my space!

Most recently, he made contact with a couple selling an antique twin brass bed, made by the Whitcomb Metallic Bedstead Company in Shelton, Connecticut.  This bed is from the 1920’s, and is so stinkin’ cool!Unfortunately, I didn’t grab a very good picture of it before taking it up to my booth space.  But you can see it tucked away back by the bread cart.  The headboard and footboard are actually the exact same size and design, so it would be possible to split it apart and use it as two twin headboards.  I sell a lot of old beds, but most of them full-size cast iron frames.  This is my first brass bed, and my first twin.  We’ll see how it sells.

While we were at the sellers house picking up the bed, I asked if they happened to have anything else they were looking to get rid of.  Turns out I was able to buy two additional pieces from her, both great finds.

One is this painted cabinet that was an old Electrola record cabinet.It has a ton  of great storage inside and lots of really cool detail  Plus, it was already painted, so I didn’t have to do any work on it!!

My favorite purchase though from the family is this stunning, antique oak barley twist desk. This piece is gorgeous and quite honestly much nicer than the pieces I usually deal in.  It’s so nice that I was really, really, really tempted to keep it for myself as my own new desk!  The wood tones though just don’t quite blend in right in my space, so it’s now up for sale.I’m betting it won’t be there for long 🙂

There are a few more pieces waiting in the wings also, like this pair of antique side chairs.Despite their delicate appearance, these chairs are quite sturdy.  The carving on them also is beautiful and I believe to be hand-done.Also in my garage is this primitive little shelf I found awhile back at a flea market.I’m a sucker for anything with beadboard, so the beadboard sides is what drew me to it.  I’m not sure if I will sell it or just keep it for display shelves in my space . . . it may get some paint too, I just don’t know yet. I’m waiting for inspiration to strike.

One more awesome find of my hubby’s this week . . . A pair of old metal rail sleds at a steal for $30 for both.  I can’t wait to bring them up to ACM when it’s time for my Christmas display.  Sleds are always a big seller, and I think these two rusty, crusty ones will do really well.

See anything you like?  Any great news finds you want to share?  I would love to hear about them!