Back To Vintage
This photo represents the first vintage Native American jewelry lot I have had the chance to post since I came back from Arizona. I am not artistic in the least but I am happy with the way the photo turned out. It did not hurt to have amazing pieces to work with! This lot was very successful - everything sold except for the two cuff bracelets between the necklaces, the feather and needlepoint earrings, the cluster ring and the three turquoise rings on the left. These pieces will go to the online store, eBay and Etsy in the near future. These turquoise nugget necklaces were fabulous but I have another one coming that is the best I have ever seen. I hope to find that special buyer tonight. I have a rare potential estate sale meeting this evening but the hope is to post another lot of vintage afterwards. This necklace will be part of the lot along with other great pieces. I will see how the photo evolves to determine which pieces it will be.
This week I was able to finish posting the colorful lot of Native American jewelry online as well as many of the solid sterling silver pieces by Navajo master silversmith Daniel "Sunshine" Reeves. These pieces are more of an investment but are all artist signed and wonderful quality. They are classic and will never go out of style. This is what I like about Native American jewelry - both the vintage and the new pieces are great in their own ways. CLICK HERE to see what's new!
Switching gears, we received what we think is a bit of encouraging news - the CT scan of Mother's lungs showed some scar tissue but was otherwise clean. The findings do not diagnose why she is having breathing trouble and a lack of oxygen but it is likely that cancer can be ruled out. On tap next week are appointments with a pulmonary doctor and a cardiologist. We are anxious to hear what they have to say. The ideal situation would be for the other issues to be cleared up so Mother can have a knee replacement. Then possibly after that work on her eyes so she could potentially drive again.
A personal goal is to work exercise back into my schedule. I had worked out regularly since high school all the way up to when I started working from home. After college, I belonged to Bally Total Fitness in Deerfield at the south end of Deerbrook Mall because I worked nearby and did circuit training there as well as step aerobics. It was a great place to work out back in the day. I did some running and hated it but my former husband was on the track team in high school and therefore it was his workout of choice. Somehow I got up to running 3 miles at a time around the old neighborhood in Vernon Hills. I always enjoyed step aerobics much more and a group was started where I used to work in Evanston. At one point there were about 75 people in the class which was put on by a local YMCA instructor. I loved the upbeat music and the challenge of getting the routines down. The class dwindled in size over time and eventually our office moved to Deerfield. In Deerfield, we did Tae-Bo tapes which I also really enjoyed. I stuck it out to the end when there were only three people left. I never missed a class because it was either sit next to my crumby boss and keep working or go work out and work some more after he was gone for the day. It was an easy decision!
I always thought when I made the leap to self-employment that it would be so easy to work out when I wanted. That has not proven to be the case! I am not a morning person which is why 5:00 PM workouts after the corporate job worked so well for me. But now if I do not take time out for exercise first thing when I wake up work consumes me and I never get it done. However today I decided to pull up YouTube on my TV and start slowly with a beginner's stretching routine. I found a great one right away hosted by a lovely Australian lady in a beautiful home. The routine was a mix of stretching and stress relief. One exercise was to put the arms in an "L" shape and squeeze them together to "crush that problem!" I will definitely be checking out her other videos for stretching and walking. Baby steps!
Normally we do not conduct sales when July 4 falls on a weekend but the demand for sales has been so great that we have opened up the weekend to help four folks who have a deadline. All of the sales are in the suburbs - two north and two northwest and they all have an interesting mix of items to offer. Our Park Ridge sale is in a $2.5 million home on a prestigious street in town. The home is very spacious and the plan is to present expanded jewelry caravan offerings - all of the Tucson Gem Show finds and if time permits the sterling jewelry I found "out in the wild" in Arizona at the Mexico border. In sterling silver, there will be Native American, Mexican, Russian and Balinese pieces. Also, Tibetan silver pieces which have a bit of brass mixed in to retard tarnishing. I photographed the Tibetan statement necklaces and I am in the midst of photographing the pendant necklaces. It has been a bit of a challenge working around the rainy weather these past several days. Below are a couple of the Tibetan statement necklaces which will be up for sale. The cluster necklaces are a new design for them and I am really excited to present them! It is a great way to get the look for less, a Native American necklace like this runs in the thousands and the Tibetan versions will be in the $200 range. I purchased earrings and rings as well. The example here is labradorite and turquoise. The other necklace is turquoise, coral and lapis.
I am going to move on to getting some of this jewelry priced before it is time for my meeting so until next time!