In the 1960's I was a young "hot rodder" whose only interests were fast cars and pretty girls. They just seemed to go together. Then in 1966 my Dad opened a "brick and mortar" antique shop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and in 1970 he opened his second shop. I lived in Miami at the time, but almost every weekend I made the obligatory trip to visit Dad and I drove up to Ft. Lauderdale to spend a few hours at one of the shops with "the old man". Soon I realized that I liked being around the antiques and enjoyed the history that seemed to accompany each piece. I used to let my imagination run wild sometimes and imagine that an Art Deco lamp or a Tiffany vase could possibly been owned by one of the famous bad guys of that period, like Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Lucky Luciano, etc. Who knows, it could be possible.

One thing that always amazed me was that Dad had a marble sculpture, almost six feet tall, that was signed by Daniel Chester French, the sculptor that did the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C., and he ended up donating it to the Smithsonian Institute. He actually just gave it to them. He probably could have sold it for a small fortune, but instead all he got out of it was a generous tax deduction. Anyway I could go on forever, but to make a very long story short, spending those Saturdays with Dad in the antique shops somehow changed my interests from hot rods to antiques. I still like pretty women, though.
I opened my first Etsy shop, "Antiques n' Oldies", in January of 2010 to get rid of some stuff that I just didn't have room for in my home. After I sold a few things, I decided to make my Etsy store a hobby and to go about buying more stuff to sell. I soon learned that I love the hunt for things to sell, and I can't pass up an Antique, or Vintage piece if the price is right. Consequently, I ended up with such a wide variety of collectibles that there just weren't enough categories for all of it in one shop. That's how I came about my second shop. I thought it might be easier for prospective buyers if all my collectible paper goods, or ephemera, were in a separate shop, so I opened "Paper Treasure Chest".

Soon after the "Paper Treasure Chest", I opened another shop, "Guy's and Doll's Fashions", selling men's and women's clothing, accessories, and jewelry. My real problem is I like buying stuff more than I like selling it. Maybe I'm turning into a hoarder. If so, I'm a well organized hoarder. I have shelves running the length of two walls in my garage, plus I have three spare walk-in closets with shelves for shoes and plenty of room to hang clothes. This allows me to keep the house clean and neat, as it should be. Seriously though, I really need to start listing things to sell. If I list ten things a day, I might be caught up by Thanksgiving.

Following are links to my three shops:

If you need Vintage or Antique goods for the home, please visit my store, AntiquesnOldies.etsy.com

Looking for vintage or antique Books & Paper Ephemera Collectibles please visit: PaperTreasureChest.etsy.com

Want Jewelry, Clothing, Shoes, Hats, or Accessories for yourself, a friend, or a loved one: GuysandDollsFashion.etsy.com