Serendipity or What???

So, a couple of days ago a post for an estate sale popped up on my Facebook feed. I decided to ignore it as I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to estate sales anymore. Today that post popped up in my feed again. Just for the heck of it I decided to check it out. The sale started yesterday and runs until Sunday and is in Coldwater. I scrolled through the pictures of the items for sale and was shocked at the number of old photos that were for sale as well as an old Cabinet Card album. I thought to myself, “Well, those are probably all gone now” and decided not to go.

It kept nagging at me and I finally said to myself “Just go and see if any of them are still left (including the Cabinet Card Album) and if not you’ve been wanting to go to Hog Creek Antique Mall in Allen and you’ll be right down in that area so it won’t be a wasted trip.”

So, I hopped in my car and headed down to Coldwater and to the estate sale (FYI today everything was ½ off). There were in fact still quit a few photos left including some of the old ones as well as some old documents.

But, alas the album with a red velvet cover (I found that out when I asked about it) had been sold first thing the day before. So, I bought a bunch of the old documents and photos and headed out to Hog Creek. Upon arrival I went to my favorite booth and started going through the tons of photos she had (I bought a ton as well as an old Cabinet Card album). Funny side note: as I was sorting through a big stack of photos in a bin a guy came up to me and asked if I worked there. I told him, no. I needed to use the bathroom so I took my stuff up front and a guy that works there said he’d be out of my way in a bit so I could put my stuff down. I told him I was just going to sit the items down on the floor so I could go to the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom he asked “You’re the photo lady that comes in here once in awhile aren’t you”, to which I replied “Yes.” I gave my items to the gal at the counter so she could start ringing up my purchases while I continued to shop. The gentleman noted the Cabinet Card album I had and said “We just got another album in but she hasn’t priced it yet. I can contact her and find out how much she wants.” I walked over and there sat a Cabinet Card album with a red velvet cover on it. Surely it wasn’t the one from the estate sale…..

I proceeded to go walk around the store some more killing time for him to hear back about the price for the album. I came across a case with about 10 albums in it and told the guy that I wanted to look at them. He opened the case and I looked at each one and ended up purchasing four of them. As we walked back up to the checkout counter I asked if he ever heard back on the album. He said “No.” As we got to the counter a woman was standing at the end and he told her I was interested in the album (turns out she was the one that had brought it in) and was wondering about the price. She said she had just gotten it and paid $50 but would sell it to me for $60. She said she had not even had a chance to remove the photos from the album. I told here I wanted it and as she brought it over I asked her “Would you mind telling me where you bought that?” She said “Well, there’s an estate sale going on right now”. I didn’t even let her finish cause I knew exactly where she bought it. I told her I had been to that estate sale and had wanted to purchase that album.

Serendipity or what???

"Meant To Be"

I don’t normally go to the Flea Market and Antique Shows at Cornwell’s Turkeyville, but I decided that this weekend I would go check it out and see if I could find any photos to rescue.

As I perused the items in one of the booth’s, yesterday, this photo caught my eye. I took it up to the people running the booth and asked if they would take $15 for it (asking price was $25). They told me they would take $20 and I agreed. I told them that I was a photo rescuer and that I wasn’t interested in the frame but the picture itself. The woman told her husband that he should tell me about an item that they had at home. He proceeded to tell me that they had an old “photographer’s desk” that had an album on the outside and inside was a desk with an inkwell in it. He also told me that it wasn’t for sale. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my business cards with me and told them that. My hope being that someday they might decide to sell it and would contact me. At the end of our conversation it was agreed that he would bring it today so I could see it and I told them I would return today business card in hand. He again reiterated that it wasn’t for sale.

Mike Wright holding the "Photographer's Desk" album.

Today, I hunted down the booth again but did not see them sitting in their chairs and to be honest I had forgotten what they looked like. There was a guy there moving things around but I wasn’t sure if it was him or not. So, I walked off and checked out the remaining booths. I was almost thinking of leaving when I decided that I would go back to the booth one last time. As I approached I saw the gentleman from earlier talking to another gentleman and showing him what I knew was what he called a “photographer’s desk”. I immediately stopped. He looked at me and said “You’re the one from yesterday?” and I said “Yes!” I stood there as he opened the album up and was showing the other gentleman the contents. Every album page inside still held all the photos that originally came with the album and in the back was indeed a mini desk with an ink well, the pen for the ink well and some loose photos and real photo postcards!! I told him it was rare to find an album like that that still had all it's photos inside. The other gentleman asked what something like that would go for and he said “Well, we weren’t going to sell it but my wife and I talked last night and decided that if I was interested they would sell it to me for $350.” I told him I was definitely interested. As we went to his booth so I could pay him he said that when he and his wife were talking last night he had told her “That is the right person to sell this to.” So, it was definitely "meant to be" for me to now have this beautiful album in my possession.

The "desk" with inkwell and pen.

There are 72 Cabinet Cards in the photo pages, as well as 16 loose Cabinet Cards and six RPPCs.

Just a few of the Cabinet Cards in the album.