Insightful readers make year go quickly
Happy Anni- versary. We’ve been treasure hunting together for a year now.
When my first column debuted just after Thanksgiving in 2003, I wrote that I had spent most of my life in the company of antiques and collectibles, and I was looking forward to writing about it.
Each week I looked around my house, at the things that make my home my own, for inspiration. I felt so fortunate to be able to pour a cup of coffee and talk to you about an object or experience so dear to my heart.
Often, (perhaps, too often?) I did what so many of you do: I explored the antique malls, flea markets, estate sales and thrift stores around town and felt a thrill when I discovered something that seemed meant for me alone.
And as more and more of you responded with stories of your own, I enjoyed adding your comments to my columns.
Some topics generated more mail than others. A few of my favorites were:
Charm bracelets
After writing about my “new” old charm bracelet last April, I got dozens of calls and letters. I was touched by the stories you shared about the little tokens you wore on your wrists. I received pictures and long letters detailing the sentiment behind each charm, and I included many of those letters in another column.
Later, Lillian Forster of Spokane sent a long, wonderful, letter with the history of each charm on her bracelet. Forster, who is in her 80s, had not been able to afford a bracelet as a young girl. She recalled the distraction of hearing the other girls’ bracelets jingle during her high school typing class, and how happy she was when, as an adult, she finally got the bracelet of her dreams.
“When I was about age 40, and my husband and I had gotten the auto loan and bedroom furniture loans paid for, I splurged and bought a sterling silver charm bracelet,” Forster wrote. “I began with items depicting my occupation of stenographer-secretary.”
Forster hung a miniature typewriter and candlestick telephone on her bracelet and then added other charms to commemorate special trips and occasions. It took many years, but Forster finally got the bracelet she had always wanted, and filled it with wonderful memories.
Samplers
I wrote about my collection of vintage samplers and how my oldest daughter, reading the proverbs and sayings on each one referred to it as the “wall of wisdom.”
That column led me to Jean Johnson.
Johnson, who lives in Colville, called to tell me that she had been stitching samplers for 50 years and has made gifts of many of them. Johnson loves antiques. She lived in Seattle for many years and was an avid treasure hunter.
She told me about her collection of thimbles and even sent photographs of the seven antique pump organs she has rescued and had restored. Johnson calls the organs her “true loves” and has kept them all.
Sewing machines
Last summer, when I mentioned that I had picked up an old sewing machine at a garage sale, I touched off a firestorm of mail and questions. I shared the story of my great-grandmother and her old treadle machine, and many of you responded with your own memories.
Through my online “Treasure Hunting” column, I got mail from all over the country asking for information and resources about vintage sewing machines.
When a reader wrote to say she was looking for a working treadle sewing machine to use in her home in Alaska, another reader came through and a deal was struck.
Butter churn
Using an old Dazey churn brought me closer to many others who remembered the taste of homemade butter. You wrote, and called, to tell me your memories of a beloved grandmother or other relative who had shown you how to take sweet cream and with a little time and a little work, turn it into butter.
Dusting, daydreams, feathering the nest
And even when I didn’t write about finding new treasures, but instead talked about how to care for what we’ve already collected, I learned that I’m in good company. I discovered that many of you, just like me, daydream while dusting, and love to spend a quiet moment looking at pretty magazines clipping photos and articles, or browsing through a book.
A column on the pleasure of puttering around the house brought responses that let me know I’m not the only woman out there who takes comfort from her home.
In the months that followed, through phone calls, letters and e-mails, more and more of you introduced yourselves to me. You shared the stories behind your favorite treasures, and I learned about the things you collect. Always, in each letter or phone call, you were warm and friendly. And I was richer for it.
I hear from some of you faithfully with each column, and I look forward to it.
Many of you stop and speak at antique shops and flea markets, and, as it always is when collectors get together, you share your own stories and memories. After each encounter, I come away with a new appreciation for what other people hold dear.
You’ve invited me to speak to your groups and organizations, and laughed along with me when I dredge up old stories and adventures.
Some of you, like Jamie Baker of Wallace, Idaho, made me laugh out loud.
Jamie sent a letter “confessing” to being in the final stages of “junkers’ illness.”
“I feel the need to write to you, if only to admit to someone I don’t know, that I have a problem. I’m a junker,” Baker wrote.
He went on to describe a lifetime as keeper of his parent’s collections, and as a dedicated collector in his own right.
Baker has even collected and restored homes. Finally, he and his wife transformed an old service station into an antique store, ice cream parlor and espresso stand, called the “Red Light Garage.”
“Thanks for the ear,” Baker wrote, “Now back to organizing so I can find a place for the next collection.”
It’s been a wonderful year.
I’ve found more than antiques and collectibles; I’ve discovered a new community. The way I see it, I’ve not only had fun writing, researching and searching for beautiful things, I’ve built a precious collection of new friends.
There is an old saying; “He who finds a friend finds a treasure.”
I feel like a very wealthy woman.