Maine Antique Digest April 2015

76 / 229

4-B Maine Antique Digest, April 2015
- FEATURE -
the money. Johnson said the best thing about
the estate sales is that, because they’re run on
commission, “it’s a guaranteed paycheck.”
The sales are promoted with ads on
EstateSales.net and on Craigslist as well as in
the local newspaper, the Albany Times Union.
Putting up signs on a busy thoroughfare near the
sale site is one of her simplest powerful tools,
she said. “If I can put up signs that say ‘Estate
Sale’ with an arrow, the place will be buzzing
all day.”
In sum, she said, to succeed in the busi-
ness today, “You almost have to have all these
avenues.”
One avenue that she no longer uses is
the nearby group shop in which she for-
merly rented space. It’s an active shop, but it
presents a logistical problem for dealers, she
said. “Because of the Internet, you need your
stuff all in one place so you can answer peo-
ple’s questions.”
Even with varied business outlets, John-
son said the shop still accounts for the major
part of her income. “If I get a dealer in, they
may buy twenty items,” she said, “And that’s
where I sell my furniture.” On-line sales tend
to be of small, relatively inexpensive items.
It takes a lot of them to equal the cost of one
$700 cupboard sold from the shop—especially
when you figure in the time spent shipping,
e-mailing, texting, and returning phone calls
that accompanies on-line sales. The shop also
brings in local customers. “I have a lot of local
customers,” she said. “I never wanted to be a
shop where the locals said, ‘Don’t go there.
You can’t afford it.’”
She said the Internet accounts for about
25% to 30% of her sales; shows account for
about 20%. Of shows, Johnson said, “Some-
times we do well; sometimes we do poorly,”
but, she added, “Shows are a wonderful way
to network, and you can’t put a price on it.”
Besides, she said, she and her sister love doing
shows together. When they go to the Days of
the Pioneer show, she noted, “We talk shop all
the way. It takes us a day and a half to drive to
Tennessee, and we’re still talking shop when
we get there.”
Despite her substantial involvement in the
Internet, Johnson doesn’t like to buy on line.
“I’m a toucher. I like to buy in shops, and I
love to buy at shows,” she said. She’s not a fan
of buying at auction. “I don’t like the buyer’s
premium. When I go into a shop, they take ten
percent off. At auction, they add ten percent.”
Johnson grew up in the nearby town of Nas-
sau. Her parents liked antiques and her grand-
mother Marion Sanford and great-aunt Dottie
King dabbled in the business. “They ran glo-
rified yard sales,” she said, adding, “My sis-
ter and I joke—which one of us is Marion and
which is Dottie?”
Johnson’s involvement in antiques came
after her engagement to Scott, whom she had
met while they were students at New England
College in Herkimer, New Hampshire. She and
her fiancé had looked at new furniture, which
they either didn’t like or couldn’t afford. John-
son recalled, “My mother said, ‘I’ve got lots of
stuff if you want to fix it up.’ In five months of
our engagement, we worked on thirteen pieces
in my mother’s barn.” So when it came time to
have kids and stay home with them, antiques
seemed like the logical option for Johnson. (It
also means she can fit in lunch with her hus-
band, an engineer who works a few miles from
home.)
In its early stages, her shop featured the sort
of mix that you might expect in a roadside shop
in upstate New York—some country, some
oak, some primitives, some formal. When the
market slumped a decade or so ago, it had a
sharp effect on her business. “I took things on
consignment because I had no cash flow,” she
said. In recent times, her march toward prim-
itives has been inexorable. She returned what
was left of the consignment merchandise and
turned the space that had housed less primitive
objects into yet another room for her rustic
stock. When that space had housed more for-
mal objects, she said, “I noticed people were
walking into it and walking right out.”
Now her commitment to primitives is com-
plete. The “movement” is flourishing, she said,
“and it doesn’t seem to be waning.”
For information, contact Cindy Johnson,
Dater House Antiques, 567 Brunswick Rd. (Rt.
2), Troy, NY 12180, (518) 279-1990, open by
chance or appointment. Web site
houseantiques.com); e-mail
nycap.rr.com >.
Quilted skirt or petticoat in tones of brown
and plum with green and white flowers,
$235.
A small tin half-round candleholder. It’s just less
than 5" wide and is $45.
Wood and tin grater. The wood
under the grater has been hol-
lowed out so that the grated
stuff can fall through. It is $65.
A trencher. “It had a nice big chunky handle that’s gone, and it has a couple of
make-do repairs,” Johnson said. It’s $249.
Hooked rug in muted shades of rose,
brown, tan, and gray, $89. It’s 59" x 28".
Small red four-drawer chest, with early,
probably original, porcelain pulls, $450. It’s
a nice size: 36" tall x 30½" wide x 22" deep.
Awooden cooler in old red with a zinc lining and drain
hole, $239.
Two-part stepback cupboard in mustard paint.
The fact that the bottom doors are gone doesn’t
bother Johnson. She said, “I like that. You put
display pieces on the bottom and your Saran
Wrap and other stuff you don’t want to look at
on top.” She has priced it at $795.
A redware jar with floral dec-
oration in green slip on the
dark glaze. “I found it in Rhode
Island,” Johnson said. It’s $245.
Ayellow pine scrub box that John-
son said she bought in Maryland,
$110.
A chopper with
nicely wrought
ironwork
attached to a
board, $195.
Small green and black basket
with the initials “M.K.J.” and
the date “1920,” $59.