I really suppose it was all instilled in me from my dear mother. I remember her showing me things, as I was just a very young child that were important to her. She also seemed to want to find old classic collectibles, and save them for us. Once in a while she would pull out a very old book, and say, “Maybe I should see if I can sell this…” I’d always cringe, and say, “No, it’s an antique, you should hang on to it”. I really think now, she was trying to make me learn that these historical things are important. She saw something in my care and concern for vintage items, and tried to cultivate it.
I should have guessed it was her, that secretly sent me a subscription to “Christies Auction Catalog”. I thought somehow they made a mistake and sent them to me. Or, somehow I must have signed up for something, and now received the catalogs for free. They came for several years. I did pour over them, seeing amazing and valuable items in their pages. I even mentioned items I had seen to mom several times. She stayed cool, and never let on she was the provider of the subscription.
I would drag home stuff that I felt was important from thrift stores, from junk, from grandparents homes, etc. She seemed to encourage it. She would take pride in my finds. She loved old things too. She was an amazing, and smart woman. Her photo, as a little girl, is on the cover of my book “Antique Secrets”. If you click on the link, you’ll see her in the photograph in the old swing frame, sitting on the radio. – Thanks Mom!