September 12th

Today is the day that we've been waiting for, for nearly 2 yrs.  Natural Born Dealers premieres on the Discovery Channel in Canada!

September 10th

I got the Joe Sofa!  Actually, my dad got it whilst I was busy with show stuff.  In any case, it's all mine.  I can't thank Roberto Navarro enough.  He knew how badly I wanted it and gave us a great deal.  If you're looking for some wonderful high end mid century pieces, you can visit his shop on King St in downtown Toronto.  

Can you tell how much I love it?

Now, I just have to find a place to put it!

September 8th

On Tuesday, the Brimfield Antique Show began it's third and final show of the season.  This large show, made up of countless smaller shows is the largest in the States and many say (including myself : ) the largest in the world.  It's truly amazing; a one stop shop for everything unique and interesting.

All winter I look forward to the 3 shows at Brimfield - May, July and September.

The only thing that can make the shows less than amazing is the weather.  When we set up in May we had a week of sunshine.   Unfortunately, this week in September wasn't quite as nice - actually it was horrible.  Rain, rain, rain.  The number of people walking around were not nearly what they would have been had the weather been great, but there was still some amazing items for sale and the best of the best items, priced right, were selling.

Industrial was the biggest theme (again) with some items that I just had to look at and say 'how on earth could someone get that here?'  Seriously, some of the stuff is Massive!  Beyond the overwhelming number of Industrial dealers, there was some other great design, from artists creating original works to antique pieces reworked, 'real' antiques, modern items and so on.

Had I not had to drive all the way to Toronto yesterday, I could have easily filled a van full...I guess I'll have to wait to May...or maybe i'll find some stuff in Toronto or on my way home.

Click HERE for nearly 100 amazing Brimfield Pics!

Here's just a sampling...

September 5th

We are on the Discovery Channel Homepage!  very exciting.

here are some other links to keep those interested in the show busy:

recent interview on Toronto CP24: http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/clip517598#clip517598

recent article on msn.ca: http://money.ca.msn.com/small-business/insight/lessons-from-the-‘pawn-stars’

recent canadian press release: http://ctvmedia.ca/discovery/

canadian press release: http://realscreen.com/2011/06/23/discovery-canada-commissions-three-new-shows/

FL ABC7 article: http://www.abc-7.com/story/14478025/2011/04/19/tv-show-filimg-at-cape-antiques-shop

CapeCoral.com article: http://www.capecoral.com/content/antique-business-bringing-national-tv-show-cape-coral-week

and, the Discovery Channel show page: http://www.discoverychannel.ca/showpage.aspx?sid=34751

For all you sneakerheads out there, in the CP24 interview, if you have a look at my feet you can see a vintage pair of OG Jordan 1s from 1985.  

And, later this week on Canada AM you'll see some 1985 Sky Jordans.  Awesome. 

Sept. 4th

This morning I sent Dad to the copy shop to make a couple thousand of these flyers (click to enlarge) to hand out at Brimfield to promote 'Born Dealers' (finally, we're able!).  I was pretty happy with my work on the flyer and then the mail main came and dropped of a box of a couple thousand of these super fancy postcards with our awesome vintage motorcycle jacket style font and on the back a whole 'Jerry and Jerry are a modern day Sanford & son' with the silly line about us having bought a civil war era cannon (which we never did do) that keeps appearing in press releases and on the DiscoveryChannel.ca website.

Anyways, now we have 2 things to hand out.

I also made some kick-ass t-shirts (1st time i've ironed in a very long time) to wear at Brimfield and at the Toronto Antique show that we're going to try and make it to on Saturday.
Hopefully, at both shows we'll be able to get some people excited and ready to watch in Canada this week and in the states just over 2 months.

September 1st

When I was in Toronto a few weeks back, as I was walking up and down King and Queen St, going into any and every shop, I saw a chair/sofa that I've dreamed about owning since I was a little kid (well before my love of modern furniture had developed).  It's called the Joe sofa and is basically a giant vintage looking baseball glove that seats 2-3 people.   the version that I saw was from the 1970s/80s in a great worn tan leather in overall pretty decent condition (not quite as this one pictured).  It was in a shop filled with high end italian and french items costing hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars.  The Joe definitely stood out from the rest of the items in the shop, and not only because of it's giant scale.  Knowing that a new Joe cost $8K+ I was expecting this chair in this shop to be in the $5000+ range, so when the owner told me that he was asking $2500 all I could think was, 'How can I get this home?'  Being that I was flying home on an 18 person plane, that wasn't an option and I knew shipping would cost hundreds if not more, so I let it go...

...and then today I called to see if it was still available, and IT IS!

How is there no one in Toronto that loves this chair as much as I do?

Hopefully, when I head up next week, we can make a deal.

August 31st

Good Monday!  I wish I was in Canada to see the promos for 'Natural Born Dealers', but i'm stuck here in Maine for another week or so.

This morning I got an email from someone that frequents our website (PasternakAntiques.blogspot.com) and has a pair of great chairs that she wants to sell, but like so many people that contact me on a daily basis they want super high, city retail.  Seriously, why on earth would anyone contact me, knowing that I'm in the business of reselling, and think that I'd consider paying more for something than I could sell it for?  Total insanity!  In any case, I did what always do, and made an offer for what I could pay.  In this case, it was less than half of what the seller wanted.  I know a lot of buyers wouldn't have bothered for one of two reasons: a) they don't want to insult a seller, and b) they don't think there's any chance that a seller would accept their offer - BUT, the simple truth is that sometimes sellers like to start super high, but they're willing to take a fraction of what they're asking (myself included on occasion) if no one bites for retail...or 80% of retail, or 60% of retail.  I just have to wait it out.  I don't mind doing that : )