More antique furniture and ceramics at Braid Antiques

These photos are to give my readers some impression of my shop and the sort of stock I have, as only a small proportion will ever get listed on my website.

I like to think it’s a homely and welcoming shop – many of my customers tell me it is.

I’m in the process of creating a short video of the shop which I’ll upload to you-tube in due course.

I have a variety of items on ebay this week, some antique ceramics and some antique jewellery.  If you would like to have a look follow this link to one item and then view the others from there   http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190584464116?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649#ht_2784wt_1344

I’ve bought more than I sold this week. I’ve had more people in the shop wanting to sell things to me than wanting to buy anything. I suppose it’s a sign of the times. I’ve had the usual offers of Old Country Roses tea-sets and EPNS items. No-one wants to buy either of these and so many people want to find a new home for what they have. Sadly Tyrone Crystal is sliding in to the same category. All I can do is advise people to hold on and wait for trends to change. Fashions come and go in the antiques business too, you know.

I was offered a part house-clearance this week. The lady of the house had been quite a collector and her descendants needed to clear the house as it had been sold. I always find this a sad part of my work, as I try to help bereaved relatives with the practicalities of sorting through a loved-one’s collection. Usually the business woman gets left behind on the doorstep and I advise them to keep the best treasures within the family and pay them too much for the remainder! (Memo to self : persuade business partner to do the valuations from now on. He’s a man).

Occasionally people ask me to sell items for them in the shop. I don’t mind as long as we agree the price. This week though I was asked to sell something I really know nothing about –  a vintage fur coat and a vintage little fur stole. All I knew was that furs appear to be out of fashion here in Northern Ireland, even if they are vintage and therefore long dead. My research among local dealers in vintage fashion has done nothing to change my initial impression! We’re a nation of animal lovers over here. I wouldn’t even display the items in the shop. I sort of wish I’d refused to take them in, but the owner is a nice lady so I’ll try to help. I suspect they’ll end up on ebay eventually. For now they’re in the cupboard under the stairs!

I re-arranged the shop this past week too. It was becoming a bit too cluttered and untidy even for me, which is saying a lot. People say they like my shop because they can see everything properly – that was in danger of no longer being the case, so drastic action was called for – in the shape of a local car-boot trader who relieves us of items we don’t really want or like, and we relieve him of a few pounds at the same time.

So the shop is tidy and organised for the start of a new month which could surely only be better than the one just gone. I’ve always found September to be one of the worst months of the year for antiques sales (the very worst being February). Presumably people have been on holiday and then got the children back to school and need another payday to recover – I know the feeling but no holiday and boys to college and university. In October organised people start thinking about the dreaded Christmas shopping,  so Braid Antiques is ready for them. We’ll be just as ready for the people like me on Christmas Eve!

As always there’s a selection of items on the website at www.braid-antiques.co.uk.

We had an interesting 3-4 weeks at Braid Antiques that were nothing to do with antiques!

A swallow made her nest literally just above our back door, under the fire-escape for the shop upstairs, a very sheltered little spot indeed. We were so afraid of frightening her away, but she and her partner grew to trust us, as did the chicks. The parent birds were just amazing in their devotion to their young, and it was a great privilige to watch them so closely. Sadly one morning we arrived to find one chick dead on the ground – maybe that was nature’s way for the nest was overcrowded with the remaining three growing babies.

About three weeks after hatching the boldest chick tried his wings successfully and a couple of days later all three were swooping around the yard, practising for the long journey with their parents. We haven’t seen them for certain in the past couple of days though there are still a few swallows in the sky. Maybe their journey has begun.

We’ll treasure the memories, and the many photos I took, and wait to see if one of them claims the nest again next spring. Hopefully they’ll tell their friends that the back of the antique shop in Broughshane is a safe and friendly place to be!