CLEARING THE DECKS - PLUM PICKS

  In the days when I sold decorative antiques in London, I used to keep a small glass cabinet of collectible 'trifles' and learnt a bit about many rather useless things!   I purchased them all in East Anglia at Crown Fairs where there was a most interesting dealer who taught us all a lot.  He would buy job lots from house clearances, which included byegones, old tools, personal effects and gadgets and all manner of oddities, then sort the best out,  and bring  a jumble in an old box or two along to each fair..  We dealers gathered round and as we saw each item pulled out by the dealer,  we could shout 'yes' and purchase it at his given price (not expensive at all. but not always very saleable).  In this way, as he described each item before pulling it out, we all learnt a lot about corkscrews, kitchenalia, signet rings and sealing wax stamps , candlesticks and lanterns,  needlework tools and special equipment for different trades and jobs, and all the minutiae of Victorian and Edwardian households and persons.  I tried to buy some of the most attractive but was often outbid by a quicker dealer.   When the bidding was complete, he carried the unsold back home, mixed it into the unwanted surplus and put it all back in the next chattel sale for others to appraise!  Clever!
    The best I took to London and sold quickly but the problem was always how to display these small items without losing them to collector-pinchers unable to resist small items of interest, and if they were in a locked display case, people did not bother to look at them closely and buy.   At the end of these London Fairs I was left with a small collection which I am now going to sell through my Blogsite, as it is not worth putting stuff at small prices on Ebay  so I am now listing them under the heading PLUM PICKS.  All will be plus postage, probably quite low as they are not breakable and packaging will be small.  I am not interested in any big profits, but guess that anyone finding these in my stores when I am under the old apple tree, would just ditch the lot so if they are of interest to anyone, that is good news.  Apply  by email  dbaer@onetel.com.