Monday, November 09, 2009
Good day at Pilgrims Antiques.
Nice day!
Oh, I know - the word "nice" doesn't really do justice to good occasions does it?
I guess many people have done exercises at school where you had to substitute a better adjective for the word "nice".
OK then - Stimulating day! Enjoyable day! hard working day!
It has been foggy though.
It wasn't thick fog, but a cold, clammy fog.
We had hopes that it would clear - indeed for 20 minutes of our journey to Dorking the world looked wonderful. The sun burned off the fog, the sky was blue and the autumn colours looked superb.
But just a few miles from Dorking we were back in the fog once more.
We were straight into work from the start.
The moving things around sort of work.
We were working for about 3 hours.
It is amazing how fresh and interesting everything seems just by moving the same stock around.
Oh, so that's why supermarkets do it!
I had some new stock to deal with too.
Some of it has gone already to knew homes.
I had a lovely picture - pre - Raphaelite style of a beautiful maiden at prayer. It had been in the kitchen for a while and I loved it and thought about keeping it.
Now Monika will have it in her home because she loved it too.
I phoned a potential customer who is collecting 1950s glass fish and she came this afternoon and bought the 4 I had found at Ford on Saturday. I gave her a good price and she knocked me down a little further so my profit margin was small. But better to get the quick sale, so both buyer and seller were happy.
I am so pleased with both my and Bill's areas now. Why didn't I take photos?
I didn't bother because I assumed that I wouldn't be doing a Pilgrims Antiques blog this week.
Silly me!
Today one can type in "Pilgrims Antiques West Street Dorking" into Google and find my blog.
When we had finished in our shop, Bill and I took a walk down the road to Talbots - a very smart looking centre and therefore just a bit daunting.
Would it all be too fine and would prices be high?
Well, yes there were things you could pay a lot of money for, but I doubt that they were really expensive for what they were. And there were more humble things too.
It is a lovely building - on 4 floors. It is well carpeted and with open fires on two floors (gas fires with lovely leaping flames). It was good to feel warm and cherished. Pilgrims can feel a bit cold in the winter.
We didn't buy anything in Talbots, though there were things I thought were beautiful.
When we had finished we did a little Waitrose shopping and then went back to Pilgrims for our lunch - walking in to be greeted by "Mr No Short Term Memory". He seems to come browsing most Mondays now.
There were lots of other customers with all sorts of interests. There was the lady browsing for inspiration, needing a birthday present for a 90 year old aunt who has all she needs.
People are looking for presents now.
We were late away - selling some lovely wine glasses at half past five to a dealer.
If there are customers then of course we don't close on time.
Tomorrow I will write a little for the Pilgrims blog.
Perhaps it is a good week to point out that West Street has a whole host of antiques shops and I could look at other web sites.
Oh, I know - the word "nice" doesn't really do justice to good occasions does it?
I guess many people have done exercises at school where you had to substitute a better adjective for the word "nice".
OK then - Stimulating day! Enjoyable day! hard working day!
It has been foggy though.
It wasn't thick fog, but a cold, clammy fog.
We had hopes that it would clear - indeed for 20 minutes of our journey to Dorking the world looked wonderful. The sun burned off the fog, the sky was blue and the autumn colours looked superb.
But just a few miles from Dorking we were back in the fog once more.
We were straight into work from the start.
The moving things around sort of work.
We were working for about 3 hours.
It is amazing how fresh and interesting everything seems just by moving the same stock around.
Oh, so that's why supermarkets do it!
I had some new stock to deal with too.
Some of it has gone already to knew homes.
I had a lovely picture - pre - Raphaelite style of a beautiful maiden at prayer. It had been in the kitchen for a while and I loved it and thought about keeping it.
Now Monika will have it in her home because she loved it too.
I phoned a potential customer who is collecting 1950s glass fish and she came this afternoon and bought the 4 I had found at Ford on Saturday. I gave her a good price and she knocked me down a little further so my profit margin was small. But better to get the quick sale, so both buyer and seller were happy.
I am so pleased with both my and Bill's areas now. Why didn't I take photos?
I didn't bother because I assumed that I wouldn't be doing a Pilgrims Antiques blog this week.
Silly me!
Today one can type in "Pilgrims Antiques West Street Dorking" into Google and find my blog.
When we had finished in our shop, Bill and I took a walk down the road to Talbots - a very smart looking centre and therefore just a bit daunting.
Would it all be too fine and would prices be high?
Well, yes there were things you could pay a lot of money for, but I doubt that they were really expensive for what they were. And there were more humble things too.
It is a lovely building - on 4 floors. It is well carpeted and with open fires on two floors (gas fires with lovely leaping flames). It was good to feel warm and cherished. Pilgrims can feel a bit cold in the winter.
We didn't buy anything in Talbots, though there were things I thought were beautiful.
When we had finished we did a little Waitrose shopping and then went back to Pilgrims for our lunch - walking in to be greeted by "Mr No Short Term Memory". He seems to come browsing most Mondays now.
There were lots of other customers with all sorts of interests. There was the lady browsing for inspiration, needing a birthday present for a 90 year old aunt who has all she needs.
People are looking for presents now.
We were late away - selling some lovely wine glasses at half past five to a dealer.
If there are customers then of course we don't close on time.
Tomorrow I will write a little for the Pilgrims blog.
Perhaps it is a good week to point out that West Street has a whole host of antiques shops and I could look at other web sites.
