Designer Week
Right off the bat on Monday I was pleasantly surprised to see an auction of the last of the inventory of Vintage Cowgirl Cases. Once again, it was hours of hard work and fast fingers but I was able to win quite a few auctions including a couple of rolling suitcases, a couple of lap top bags and fringe flap bags, all in very cool colors from black and grey camo to acid wash pink to Ryobi green, as the designer's husband calls it. These are not my photos but I wanted to showcase the style and quality of these pieces. Most items have the combination of cowhide, tooled leather and regular leather. The third item is a lap top bag, once I see everything in person I will be keeping one but it will probably be the lavender. Some of the auction items have been shipped and are due to arrive in Scottsdale next week. I wish I had the luggage with me but I wanted to save as much room as possible in the car for all of the other items I wish to bring back.
Two new additions to the car will be these amazing tile top tables that I purchased from one of our Arlington Heights estate sales this weekend. There was a third table, the same size as the brown with a yellowish color tile but it sold on Saturday. Of the three, these two were my favorite colors. These tables are very rare and the tile is by the same artist as the dining table I found in Wisconsin. The tables are beautiful quality but smaller than I expected. They will fit right in with my other furniture and will be versatile, I will move them around as needed. This home featured Danish Modern and mid-century modern furniture in wonderful condition and I am happy to report that all of the pieces of importance found new homes by Sunday.
This week I decided to focus on posting some of Mother's jewelry pieces that she decided to sell since she basically only wears Native American jewelry. They are all designer pieces including this retired extra large cross by James Avery, a gorgeous carved quartz pendant by Stephen Dweck and earrings by John Hardy, Judith Ripka and Lagos, along with a pair of beautiful earrings on which I could not identify the designer. Both pairs of Judith Ripka earrings and the Lagos earrings sold within hours of posting. I received offers on this cross and the Stephen Dweck pendant but after negotiations, no deals have yet to be made.
This is the pair of earrings on which I cannot identify the designer. I thought they were Judith Ripka until I checked the hallmarks and found they were not Ripka's. The quality is just as good as the others and these earrings feature 14K yellow gold floral accents and bezel set amethyst stones, which is Mother's birthstone.
Next week the plan will be to post Mother's Native American pieces including this amazing necklace and earrings set by Navajo artist Billy Behoney. There will also be a couple of pairs of earrings and a cigar band style ring.
I also posted two Judith Ripka pieces of my own - this lovely 3-strand necklace with jade beads and floral accents and this stunning hinged cuff bracelet shown in the main photo which is totally encrusted with bezel set CZs in floral patterns.
This statement fancy link bracelet by Carolyn Pollack is new this week as well. This bracelet coordinates beautifully with two other Carolyn Pollack pieces I posted, the heavy link necklace and matching bracelet that can be joined together to form a longer necklace.
The final Southwest Style piece for this week is this gorgeous American West by Carolyn Pollack squash blossom necklace with Sleeping Beauty turquoise. This necklace is in like-new condition and the same one is currently posted on the American West website for $1,349.00. My price? $650.00!
In addition to Mother's sales, I sold a Navajo cuff bracelet which is making its way to Canada.
Friday was Kuochun's birthday and although I gave him the chance to choose any restaurant he wanted (including Chinese!) he decided upon La Zingara Trattoria in Arlington Heights. I made a reservation and noted that it was a birthday but the staff did not acknowledge it. They showed us to one of the worst tables in the house, adjacent to the door so we would have been surrounded by the customer traffic and the staff traffic. I would have said something but Kuochun did not like it and requested another table. They seated us in a separate room which is undecorated and looks like an afterthought.
The Caesar salads were tasty and the bread was the star of the show and really made the meal. I remember from years ago that their bread basket was good and that they also served very long skinny breadsticks. The breadsticks were no more but the dense fancy swirled dinner rolls were fantastic and the small squares of foccacia bread were melt in your mouth.
We have been to La Zingara for birthdays in the past and Kuochun chose it because he was in the mood for the grilled seafood and vegetable platter. He continues to be very good about avoiding fried foods. I went with the shrimp risotto with saffron broth. Kuochun's entree kicked his butt but he was able to barely finish it. I ate about 2/3 of mine and decided to save the rest (and the remainder of the bread basket!) for the next day. Kuochun did not have room for dessert which was fine because the chairs were so uncomfortable I could not wait to get up! We are meeting Sue G. for lunch next Friday and we will be sure to get dessert when we go to make it up to him. Overall, La Zingara was a mixed result but if I could I would order a bread basket to go!
Our two-weekend Schaumburg sale extravaganza was shut down early on Monday because a neighbor complained about cars parked in front of their house. I understand it was a long haul but all we needed was three more hours to complete our job. Patti had a live sale in progress but had to stop early.
Tuesday Kuochun and I took a trip to the Oak Park mansion because Kuochun was particularly interested in seeing it. I did not have the chance to walk around because I had a haircut appointment and with traffic we could not get there until 3:40. The plus side was I set up three medium size cases of sterling silver jewelry for the sale and sales were very good! Kuochun did walk around while he was waiting for me but he was disappointed by it.
I still have things set up for the pop-up sale but the plan is to take it all down by the end of next week. If you were not able to make the sale, feel free to contact us by email at info@cestlabries.com for an appointment. This will be the final go-around for the costume jewelry, beads and our handmade pieces. Since time is getting short, I am going to pack it all up and take it to Scottsdale for liquidation - I will post some items online and make some wholesale lots with the rest. I will try my hand at live sales as well.
If I am able to find a social media expert to help with promotion next year, I will consider having a pop-up sale with sterling silver jewelry the first weekend of October. If not, I think it will truly be the end of the Mount Prospect pop-up sale era. Over the years, the costume jewelry has always been the biggest draw to the pop-up sales and I am officially phasing out of it, except for offering some special pieces online.
Starting next week, I will plan to start introducing the final clearance 75% off jewelry at the estate sales. We have sales in Glenview and Cary, and then round out the month of October with a sale in Park Ridge. These photos represent the 75% off jewelry - one case with sterling silver and the other with Tibetan silver. If there is room, this jewelry will go to Cary next week.
The night owl caught the worm again overnight Wednesday into Thursday and I was able to purchase another amazing lot of vintage Native American jewelry and more while the competition was sleeping. There are also lots of non-Native sterling silver rings. I have sold many rings lately so preparing the new rings will be my first priority when they arrive next week.
The further plan for next week is to make my "Arizona pile" and see if realistically everything will fit nicely in the car without obstructing our view. There are a few display items I would like to bring because they match my color scheme there but we will see how things go. The hope is not to have to ship anything.
See you next time!