POOR SEASON SO FAR FOR HAND WRITTEN RECIPE PICKIN’
My wife and business partner, Suzanne, a teacher by day, collector always, reminds me that I’m always disappointed in the early goings of yard sale season. "All winter you plan out our summer adventures, and it always hinges on good and plenty," she says. "You expect, on the brink of outrightly demanding, that the flea markets, yard sales and auctions, will be tailored to your wants.....you know it doesn’t, it can’t work this way, or the entire order of the universe would be screwed up. You’ve go to be patient and realistic."
I’m not going to argue about it simply because she’s absolutely right, and she’s lived with this hard core collector for enough years now to appreciate the elation associated with good sales and great finds, and the misery of too few sales, and a miserable assortment of collectible items up for grabs. In my own defense, to get up with the birds on yard sale Saturdays, one does require a smidgeon of hope that there’ll be something for the collector, at one of a dozen sales advertised. This year however, has been one of the leanest in my thirty odd years as an antique collector / dealer. We were fortunate enough to have acquired the rights to sell off a local estate, earlier in the spring, but if we had been depending on the local Muskoka scene for inventory, we’d have been awfully disappointed.
The last major find of handwritten recipes was more than two years ago, when we happened upon a fundraising flea market, in the Town of Bracebridge. The sale was at its end, and a vendor was packing up some books to haul home. We found a box of old recipe books, stuffed with handwritten material, and the lady was so happy to find two keeners, that she made us a terrific deal for several large lots. She didn’t want to take them home again, so we were all happy campers. But as we are all too familiar, there are hiatus periods for every collector on earth....periods that just seem to defy all reason. You can go for months, picking up old cookbooks, with inserts, at just about every flea market and auction, including estate sales in particular, and win each time out. Then comes the famine after the feast. It’s been a long time since we found a good collection out on the hustings, and although I hate to report this shortfall, it is part and parcel of what makes a collector tick. If you can get past the shortfalls, and maintain many areas of collecting and business interests, you’ll be guaranteed to find something out there, if not handwritten recipe and cookbooks........maybe some neat pressed glass, old books, nice oil paintings etc.
On the cusp of another promising weekend adventure, Suzanne reminds me to look forward to the outing regardless, and enjoy the tour around our region.....just not in the G-8 zone in Huntsville......which I imagine is yard sale challenged this weekend.
As well, there’s more fledgling collector / dealers out there than ever before, proof the recession and subsequent layoffs, forced folks to seek out the ranks of the self-employed. There are many collectors turning to online auctions to fundraise, and we’ve noticed a much greater wave of competition out there......and not just from the antique shop folks we’ve know for years. I don’t mind competition and it should generate significant money for flea markets, church and community sales, and yard salers. Maybe it will inspire more folks to have them this summer.
Have fun out on the hustings. Drive safe and enjoy the beautiful summer scenery of this great province.