I know nothing of the sport of antiquing. I’m not sure if I have ever been in an antique shop. (insert shocked face) Are old photos a big piece of antique shops? Are there like books of them and you browse? What does a photo like one of these cost?
Well, we are saving for college, so we don’t buy antique pieces of furniture, just smaller items like a lamp or affordable framed art or an Aunt Jemima penny bank or old tools for my hubby. Some places that identify as an antique store are really just flea markets with cheap, used items, and some are all schmancy and out of our league with $800 ugly ocean oil paintings, but most of them will have everything you can think of, from comics to belts to old Life magazines (I must have 100), rotary phones, Barbie dolls, guns, knives, chandeliers, hat racks, and often, yearbooks–which is what I enjoy because most yearbook pictures don’t exist online. Old magazines and books still exist online somewhere, but the yearbooks often leave no trace, unless they have been scanned, but are usually so low res and cost money to access. Some antique stores will have a box or even just a tray with piles of loose photos. Some places charge 20 cents per pic, and some charge a few dollars. AS IF. We went to one place that had an entire filing cabinet just filled with loose sepia pics in each drawer, with no rhyme or reason.
Some places are as big as bowling alleys and take three hours to get through one side of them. And many of them have set areas with separate vendors, like if you went to a town square festival. Cowboy stuff in one section, then lava lamps and Scooby Doo lunchboxes in the next. So one cubby may be 25% everything, and the one next door has 50% off because one vendor has to move everything quickly. It can be complicated. But we’ve got coins from all over the world for our son, so it’s a neat history lesson. What I think is crazy is when they tear an ad out of a LIFE magazine and stick it in a plastic sleeve and charge $5. I see that everywhere, so they can get the most money from one magazine. It’s a massacre. I wouldn’t tear mine up like that.
Wow…I learned more about antiquing in this post than over my past gazillion years. It’s a whole ecosystem. I always thought it just those small dusty shops with carnival glass in the window. Thanks for the education, you make it sound interesting.
Wow! Kerbey!
What a wonderful, well-written, well thought out and quality comment.
Wow! Just WOW!
(I lost all my cherished photos in a fire):
My most recent ex-wife threw them on a BBQ grill right after I left her–broke my heart to lose those photos
I told her as I was leaving she could keep EVERYTHING I owned, or set it all on fire,
but I should of said, “Except my Life.”
Guess I should have made that clear exception to her.
But She always took things too literally.
No one to blame.
Except me.
I suppose.
Oh, no! All your pictures?? You must be devastated. Every photo album? Did you have anything on CD? I’ve scanned all mine into a hard drive to preserve them. Do you have some relatives that could make you some double copies of what they have? That’s just awful!
Sadly, everything is gone forever.
But here is some happy news;
I am making new memories.
(And smart enuff to digitalize all of them)
Cheers, My Good Friend.
Life goes on….
I Don't Get It 
I always feel a bit sad for the lost pictures. The owners will never be able to pass them down to the people that should see them.
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I always think that, too. 😦
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How nice to be a keeper of lost photos 🙂 LOVE that one with the woman in the big hoop! Too much dress for that chair it looks like.
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I guess we were born at the right time.
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I know nothing of the sport of antiquing. I’m not sure if I have ever been in an antique shop. (insert shocked face) Are old photos a big piece of antique shops? Are there like books of them and you browse? What does a photo like one of these cost?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, we are saving for college, so we don’t buy antique pieces of furniture, just smaller items like a lamp or affordable framed art or an Aunt Jemima penny bank or old tools for my hubby. Some places that identify as an antique store are really just flea markets with cheap, used items, and some are all schmancy and out of our league with $800 ugly ocean oil paintings, but most of them will have everything you can think of, from comics to belts to old Life magazines (I must have 100), rotary phones, Barbie dolls, guns, knives, chandeliers, hat racks, and often, yearbooks–which is what I enjoy because most yearbook pictures don’t exist online. Old magazines and books still exist online somewhere, but the yearbooks often leave no trace, unless they have been scanned, but are usually so low res and cost money to access. Some antique stores will have a box or even just a tray with piles of loose photos. Some places charge 20 cents per pic, and some charge a few dollars. AS IF. We went to one place that had an entire filing cabinet just filled with loose sepia pics in each drawer, with no rhyme or reason.
Some places are as big as bowling alleys and take three hours to get through one side of them. And many of them have set areas with separate vendors, like if you went to a town square festival. Cowboy stuff in one section, then lava lamps and Scooby Doo lunchboxes in the next. So one cubby may be 25% everything, and the one next door has 50% off because one vendor has to move everything quickly. It can be complicated. But we’ve got coins from all over the world for our son, so it’s a neat history lesson. What I think is crazy is when they tear an ad out of a LIFE magazine and stick it in a plastic sleeve and charge $5. I see that everywhere, so they can get the most money from one magazine. It’s a massacre. I wouldn’t tear mine up like that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow…I learned more about antiquing in this post than over my past gazillion years. It’s a whole ecosystem. I always thought it just those small dusty shops with carnival glass in the window. Thanks for the education, you make it sound interesting.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow! Kerbey!
What a wonderful, well-written, well thought out and quality comment.
Wow! Just WOW!
(I lost all my cherished photos in a fire):
My most recent ex-wife threw them on a BBQ grill right after I left her–broke my heart to lose those photos
I told her as I was leaving she could keep EVERYTHING I owned, or set it all on fire,
but I should of said, “Except my Life.”
Guess I should have made that clear exception to her.
But She always took things too literally.
No one to blame.
Except me.
I suppose.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, no! All your pictures?? You must be devastated. Every photo album? Did you have anything on CD? I’ve scanned all mine into a hard drive to preserve them. Do you have some relatives that could make you some double copies of what they have? That’s just awful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love your site, btw.
But I am fairly certain you have heard me say this before.
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Thank you so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadly, everything is gone forever.
But here is some happy news;
I am making new memories.
(And smart enuff to digitalize all of them)
Cheers, My Good Friend.
Life goes on….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, that is good news.
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I hope our days will be remembered well somehow, some way, in some store of the future, Kerbey.
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I’ve never been in the olden days but I’m one of the people who wish i was born back then…..
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I understand.
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😔
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