Monday, September 02, 2013
Molly.
Her name was Molly......the first customer of the day.
Molly and her mother were waiting at the door of the antiques shop when we arrived.
Mother wanted to pay for Molly's Christmas present.
Molly is a vivacious, articulate 11 year old with a passion for antiques.
If it's old - she wants it.
And she wanted the gramophone with a cabinet.
They saw it last week and reserved it
And guess what? I had to advise her not to buy it.
Oh, but she wanted it......the trouble is she wanted it to play all kinds of records and mostly her 45s and LPs.
Sorry Molly, the machine was made when the only records were 78s......the arm and the needles are just not suitable for the records which came in during the 1950s.
I got my phone and searched for Dansette record players......"This is what you ought to be looking for", I advised.
They are now 50 or 60 years old - and have a lot of character. Indeed this era of history is so very on trend just now.
We talked a lot about the music and the machines of the 1950s. Molly had never heard of a juke box.
And of course there is one tucked away in the alley way in the shop.
Steve loves all the mechanical things of the past.
He had a working juke box and sold it for about £4,000 - I forget exactly.
The one he has now will be restored....one day.
Molly was entranced...."How much is it?" she demanded.
Come on Molly - it's useless to you now.
She ambled round the shop - determined to have something. Mother had taken her to the dentist and £5 was coming her way for being a good girl; and she had other funds.
Not for her the pretty rose covered coffee cups and vases......she seems to enjoy ephemera.
Her eyes stopped on my I Spy books - 7 of them I had; all unused from the 1950s.
They are charming - I have a complete set at home.
I just wanted her to have them.
I made sure she was aware that a dealer has to make some profit to cover expenses - but I just couldn't resist selling them to her for half my marked price.
She also bought some bus tickets from another of our dealers.
I explained how, when we were children, we would add up the numbers on the ticket and if it made 21, then it was lucky.
Huh! This ticket is worse than useless (other than for riding on the bus).....only adds up to 5.
Molly took up quite a bit of my time - but what a pleasure.
There have been other customers too, of course.
Molly and her mother were waiting at the door of the antiques shop when we arrived.
Mother wanted to pay for Molly's Christmas present.
Molly is a vivacious, articulate 11 year old with a passion for antiques.
If it's old - she wants it.
And she wanted the gramophone with a cabinet.
They saw it last week and reserved it
And guess what? I had to advise her not to buy it.
Oh, but she wanted it......the trouble is she wanted it to play all kinds of records and mostly her 45s and LPs.
Sorry Molly, the machine was made when the only records were 78s......the arm and the needles are just not suitable for the records which came in during the 1950s.
I got my phone and searched for Dansette record players......"This is what you ought to be looking for", I advised.
They are now 50 or 60 years old - and have a lot of character. Indeed this era of history is so very on trend just now.
We talked a lot about the music and the machines of the 1950s. Molly had never heard of a juke box.
And of course there is one tucked away in the alley way in the shop.
Steve loves all the mechanical things of the past.
He had a working juke box and sold it for about £4,000 - I forget exactly.
The one he has now will be restored....one day.
Molly was entranced...."How much is it?" she demanded.
Come on Molly - it's useless to you now.
She ambled round the shop - determined to have something. Mother had taken her to the dentist and £5 was coming her way for being a good girl; and she had other funds.
Not for her the pretty rose covered coffee cups and vases......she seems to enjoy ephemera.
Her eyes stopped on my I Spy books - 7 of them I had; all unused from the 1950s.
They are charming - I have a complete set at home.
I just wanted her to have them.
I made sure she was aware that a dealer has to make some profit to cover expenses - but I just couldn't resist selling them to her for half my marked price.
She also bought some bus tickets from another of our dealers.
I explained how, when we were children, we would add up the numbers on the ticket and if it made 21, then it was lucky.
Huh! This ticket is worse than useless (other than for riding on the bus).....only adds up to 5.
Molly took up quite a bit of my time - but what a pleasure.
There have been other customers too, of course.
