I have officially opened my new Etsy shop!

Two years ago I set up an Etsy shop. Two years later I've finally stocked my shop! Unfortunately Faded Rose Vintage had already been taken so on Etsy I am known as FadedVintageRose. I have listed some of my Roldan and Klumpe dolls

and will be adding lots of French faded treasures over the next few weeks so be sure to check back often.

FadedVintageRose

Some new finds

I have got my first stall this Thurs at the Sussex Country Brocante and I have to admit that I had a teeny tiny meltdown last week when I thought I didn't have enough stock to take.  I am also doing the Village-Vintage fair in November so I started to really panic especially as pickings had been a bit thin on the ground recently.  I was also feeling a bit daunted as it is my first fair at Wisborough Green and I will have a stand alongside many other stallholders who have been doing this a lot longer than I have.  I want to appear professional in front of my peers and that's why having the right stock is so important to me.  I want to look like I actually know what I'm doing!

To be honest with you, there is no rhyme or reason to my buying.  I literally buy what I love and hope that if I love it someone else will too!  I also think this helps you to sell the item as you are passionate about what you are offering.  This is very infectious and hopefully makes the buyer walk away happy and as enthused about their new purchase as you were.  I love putting an item with its rightful owner and one of my favourite sales was to a lady who bought an old French, early 1900s chocolate box from me.  She wanted it as a gift to her mum and she was going to add her own posh chocolates to the box.  I would have loved to have received that as a gift!  The thought that went into the gift is irreplaceable and I'm sure her mum felt very special on her birthday.

With all this weighing on my mind I went out on Sunday morning not really expecting much and still panicking that I didn't have much stock.  First impressions were a little disappointing and I expected to be done within 15 minutes.  How wrong I was!  As soon as I bought my first item, the treasures kept coming and my purse didn't stay shut all the way round the market!

My first item was this gorgeous handpainted french tole chandelier.

French Tole chandelier

Handpainted flowers on tin

The colours are all muted and faded just the way I like them and the candle covers are all wood not plastic.  A really lovely light for a country cottage.

As soon as I bought this I thought that the morning had been worth it as I was so happy with the light.  Little did I know that the vintiquing fairies were looking down on me and I was going to come away with a whole lot more including these:

Palest, softest green silk shades

Gorgeous vintage shades in the palest, softest green and cream. Quite shabby but I loved them.

1930s children's chair

British made label on chair

Original material

I found this gorgeous children's chair from the 1930s still with its original material.  It even has the original British Made stamp on it.  It is a really solid chair and I love the shape of it, really special.

1930s/40s moneybox

1930s/40s moneybox with cute graphics.

Blue and white plate

The softest leather gloves

Old chippy paint tin

Little silk shoes with mother of pearl buttons

Selection of gorgeous clothes

  The title made me laugh as did the chapter called the Strumpet vine!

 Two of my favourite finds:

1930s ceramic Pierrot figure

Vintage Ensign camera

And then finally my keeper find cos I love it so much is this gorgeous little mangle with the original decal.  It still works too!

Vintage toy mangle

British made too!

So there you have it a pretty good haul even if I do say so myself!

I don't know what I was worrying about and although I know I might not be able to find things as good as this every week, it gave me the boost I needed and now I can't wait till Thurs!

Hope to see you all at a fair soon :)

Fake or Fortune?

Have you been watching the new BBC1 programme, Fake or Fortune, Sundays with Fiona Bruce and Art Expert, Philip Mould?  If you haven't then I highly recommend you try and catch it.  The programme examines the provenance or attribution of notable artworks and due to cutting edge forensic techniques, experts are now able to establish the authenticity of pictures in ways not thought possible before.  As a result paintings by some of the great masters that were either unknown or considered fakes are being re-evaluated.  It is a fascinating programme to watch and you want to have a look in the attic to see what lost Old Masters might be languishing up there!

I don't have an attic or any old Masters unfortunately BUT I do have a picture which I bought years ago that has a question mark hanging over it.  I saw this picture on a website and loved it.

It wasn't attributed to anyone and it was described as a painting.  The style looked kind of familiar but I had no idea who had painted it, I just knew I liked the image and wasn't bothered about putting a name to it.   It was in a shop in London so Mark and I went along one weekend to have a look.  As we looked at it, it became clear that this was actually a print, an old print but none the less it wasn't the painting it had been described as.  Due to this, we got some money off and I was happy with my new picture.

Every once in a while over the years I would half heartedly try and find out who painted it until one day I was sitting down watching the tv and my picture appeared on screen!  Well, I was shocked and a little annoyed as I was still no nearer to finding out who it was by.  There was no mention of the artist, it wasn't even referred to, it was just hanging there.  I knew that it must be by someone relatively famous but it would be another few months until I found out who.  It happened whilst I was reading Homes and Antiques,  I turned a page lo and behold my picture was staring back up at me and this time there was a name!

La Loge au Mascaron Dore

It was an advert advertising a Henri de Toulouse Lautrec exhibition and my picture was the image they had used.  Now I was excited!  Ok so the images weren't exactly the same but I didn't care.  I got on the computer and found out that Lautrec had painted the original in 1893 and it was called La Loge au Mascaron Dore, The box with the gold mask.  Armed with this information I then did.............nothing!  I was quite happy that I had found who it was by and that was the end of that.

That is until the Antiques Roadshow came to Brighton and I decided to take my picture along just to see what the experts thought.  After queuing for hours in the blazing sun, I finally got directed to the art department where I waited for another hour!  All the time I was thinking that it was going to be worth the wait, they'd tell me what an amazing find it was, I'd be filmed for the show and start crying when I hear how much its worth because I'm so shocked and happy that I have a picture worth over a million pounds etc etc etc.

Philip Mould

Rupert Maas

That didn't happen.  Philip Mould looked at it and said he wasn't sure so I had to wait for Rupert Maas to come and have a look. All this time I'm thinking that I have something really special and that more importantly I'm going to be on t.v!  Rupert Maas finally came over and.................told me that it was a Lautrec and that was about all he could tell me. He did say it was a print but wasn't sure if it was a reproduction or original and he couldn't tell me how much he thought it was worth.  He did say that I should take it to the British Museum and get the to have a look as they'd be able to take it out the frame etc etc.  With that I took my picture and its been in the living room ever since!

I will probably take it to the British museum one day and I'll let you know how I get on but for now I'm able to dream that I have a rare and one of a kind print that is worth millions!

p.s.  It took me a while to get over the fact that I wasn't going to be on t.v and become an overnight sensation.  I'm fine now and have accepted it ;)

A lovely day out!

Saturday saw the sun shining and Mark and I were up nice and early to get to The Vintage Bazaar in Hartley Wintney.  After a couple of false starts (I have a very annoying habit of having to wee about 100 times before we go on a long car journey!) we were hot footing down the motorway to get to the Victoria and Appleton Centre in time for the doors opening at 10am.  We got there in plenty of time and the journey was so easy, 1.5 hours door to door with only one toilet stop!
As we waited outside my anticipation was growing and I just wanted the doors to open.  As soon as they did, I was in!  First stop was Lizzie's stall aka The Washerwoman.  She had just been to France so her stall had a distinct French feel about it.

The Washerwoman Stall

Gorgeous 1920s hat stand

Very sweet Skittles

Wooden horse and bits and bobs

Next I moved into the hall and did a quick once round of all the stalls.  This is my normal strategy when I go to fairs.  I become very focussed and single minded as I know exactly what I'm looking for and can normally spot it at 100 paces!  Well, as I went round the hall I knew I was going to be in trouble, I wanted EVERYTHING!  The stall holders had done an amazing job and their stalls looked extremely tempting.  After I'd been round once I took my time and took in all the wonderful vintage items that were on sale.  There was a real mixture of fabrics, retro, french, shabby chic and something for everyone.  I made a beeline for Ali's stall aka Betty and Violet.  I'd met her at the Village-vintage fair in July and had coveted everything on her stall!  She has the most gorgeous, feminine textiles, handbags, ephemera and I could literally spend hours looking at it all.

Ali has organised a new event called The Vintage Christmas Boutique which will take place on Thurs 15th Nov at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire.  It sounds as though it is going to be magical, Christmas and Vintage combined, what more could you want! 

After talking to Ali for a while I went over and introduced myself to Jo aka Hesta Nesta.  We had had some email communication as I had seen a set of fabric drawers on her blog that I had desperately wanted.  It was so nice to finally put a face to the name and see her items in real life.  Her stall certainly didn't disappoint and again I could have stayed for hours!

Next up was Theo & Bernice.  I first met Debbie and her daughter, Victoria, at the Village-Vintage fair and then at the Wisborough Green fair in Aug.  Both times I bought something from them and both times I wished I'd bought more!  Debbie has a really good eye and stall is always displayed in a very enticing way.

Last but by no means least was a stall that Mark was very taken with.  It had more of a retro vintage feel and they had some great items.  I think if he could have, Mark would have bought everything.  He likes bright colours and the eclectic so All Things Vintage and Beautiful suited him perfectly!

Homes and Antiques also had a stall with a small selection of goods as well as their new magazine, Guide to Upcycling.

After all the chatting and taking photos, it was time to sit down with a cup of tea and slice of brownie from the vintage tearoom and reflect on the morning.  I had had such a lovely couple of hours mooching round the stalls, making new friends, taking photos and enjoying the friendly atmosphere, that I didn't want to leave!  Everyone was incredibly friendly and accommodating and the goods on offer were really wonderful.  I loved this fair and hope to be back as a stall holder one day.

Thank you to everyone who made the day so enjoyable! :)