What I FOUND In Florence, The Antiques Capital of Colorado

What have I found in Florence, Colorado? As many know, we recently started a blog feature—Will We Find YOU in Florence?

Florence is the antiques capital of Colorado. Recently some very brilliant people came up with a marketing plan for Florence. FIND IT IN FLORENCE. I have nothing to do with that campaign, but I do recognize brilliance when I see it.

I would like to say that I have a lightning-fast intellect and that when I heard about, FIND IT IN FLORENCE, I immediately thought of a feature: Will We Find YOU In Florence? I cannot say that. Actually it did occur to me within moments of hearing about the new marketing plan—but it was an idea brewing for over a year.

I started working in a few of Florence’s antiques shops about two years ago. And people tell stories. Stories about themselves. Stories about what the items they are buying. Stories about the feelings and memories the items they were buying or looking for invoked.

And sometimes they don’t tell the stories—but I can see there is a story there.

I didn’t have a blog when I started working in the shops and hearing these stories. I had a vague idea that if I was so fascinated by some of these stories and observations, that others might find it a bit interesting.

My only regret is that I didn’t get my camera and notepad out quite some time ago!

Here’s what I found in Florence. Interesting people. Interesting ideas. Interesting items.  Creativity, humor and so much more.

Here’s a story I missed a few months ago. Antiques shops often have a box of two of old photos, labeled: Instant Relatives.

Let me backtrack. I am not new to the antiques world. I sold online for over a decade. But I am new to the in-person antiques trade. I’ve had dealers and former shop owners (and current shop owners) tell me the market has changed radically. I can see that. Prices have dropped due to economic conditions and the online marketplaces.

But several dealers have told me the antiques trade has changed from a collectors market to a decorating market. I’ve also been told that antiques and collectibles are not that popular with most younger people—and that in a few generations all the real collectors will have passed on to the great Antiques Store In The Sky, that hardly anyone will be left to appreciate antiques.

Poppycock!

Yes, now that I am in the stores, in person, and also based on years of online selling—I do see changes. Oak furniture—down in price and popularity. Fancy dishes and clear glass—hard to sell.  Most people want sturdy dishes or admit to using paper plates. Gasp!

I know dealers who lament the fact, that things they used to take to the scrap iron yard are now in hot demand. You know, rusty wheels, rakes, pitchforks, baskets, widgets, beat-up wash basins and enamelware. Straight  Victorian?  Used to be hot, now not so much. Steampunk and industrial with neo-Victorian undertones? Hot!

Linens? Doilies? Too fussy. People buy them—but for about $1 to $3 each.

I heard all this and expected to never see anyone in an antiques store under the age of 50.

And I just wish I would have captured on my camera and this blog—all the really young people who are into antiques and collectibles. They are just into them in  different ways and using them in ways that are new and fresh.

Remember the photos marked: Instant Relatives? A 20-something couple came in, rifled through the box and picked out a photo of a man with a wild beard. I mean, this beard had more character and patina than most antiques and could have housed a family of chipmunks.

I slightly snickered as I bagged the photo purchase. Then I really looked at the customer! He had a WILD beard that could have housed a modern family of chipmunks. Then I looked at his wife. She was wearing a T-shirt that read: I’M WITH BEARDO!

Ah, the story those two (and his beard) could have told. If I would have thought to ask them about it.

But my favorite story I missed putting on this blog were two little kids. They TOTALLY debunked the idea that when a few generations die off—there will be no one left to appreciate antiques.

These kids came into a Florence antiques shop with their mother. She bought a few small items. The children looked to be about age 10 and 12. The ten-year-old had flaming red hair. His brother, I assume, was dark-haired and serious. Serious about antiques!

He brought two vintage welding torches to the counter. One was mine, so I gave him a better price on it, without him asking. The other one had no price, so I asked him to show me where he found the torch. Occasionally a tag falls off an item, or a vendor forgets to price an item. But if we can find the booth, we can usually figure it out. The boy led me to the dark recesses of the back of the shop—the place where loading dollies, boxes, tools and other things vital to running a store are stored. He had to go up a loading dock and then climb down a few dark stairs to get to the area. He found the torch there.

I gently told him that was a storage area (not open to customers) and the item was not for sale, but applauded his persistence in attempting to find a torch.

I pointed out some other torches in the store that were for sale. “I have that one. And that one,” he said.

I eventually found him another one he didn’t have. It turns out the kid just bought a bunch of welding torches on Ebay and had the beginning of a huge collection and looked for them in every corner of every antiques and junk store he could get his mother to stop at.

I can’t imagine the day the kid gets his driver’s license!

So, his brother led me to the coin section of store and I helped him with his purchase of some wheat pennies. I asked the red-haired kid if he was a coin collector. He looked at me with a smile and said he just purchased a bag of 3,000 coins in search of some valuable ones—especially those wheat pennies he loved.

The kids finally came to the counter to make their purchases. The red-haired kid told his brother,” Sheesh! You and your torch collection!”

I whispered to” Red”, “I heard a rumor that there is a customer in the store who just purchased 3,000 coins, so I’d say that person was also quite the collector also.”

Red grinned. Just because he thought torches were a strange thing to collect, he got what I was teasing him about.

Yes, this is just a bit of what I’ve found in Florence. Kids crazy for collecting. Young people using antiques for humor. Creative people using antiques for projects that spark the imagination.

And now I hope to capture the stories and people behind some of these antiques’ purchases.

And I need your help. WILL WE FIND YOU IN FLORENCE? Florence is the antiques capital of Colorado and draws people from all over the state and neighboring states—but I can’t be everywhere at once, darnit!

If you found yourself in Florence and found something interesting (it can be art, junk, antiques, a good meal or whatever) take a picture of yourself. Or have a family member or friend take a picture of you. Just make sure there is something recognizable to Florence somewhere in the picture. Take a picture of yourself and/or your posse enjoying food, wearing jewelry you purchased here… And let us know at what shop or restaurant you found yourself in Florence. You can mention the price you paid—if you wish. And even more importantly we want you to mention what feeling it invoked. Did your purchase bring back a good memory? Are you a collector? Did your grandma lose some item she had as a young person—and you found one just like it? Are you buying the item as a gift? Did you accidentally break your significant others prized do-dad and just found a replacement?

Do you work at the country’s largest flea market, yet found yourself in Florence purchasing collectibles, like Genieva Grigsby of Canton, Texas? We recently featured Genieva on--Will We Find YOU in Florence and she's pictured below.

Do you have plans to turn one of the objects you found into a world-class art project? Did you find a big rusty wheel (as did a fellow I recently talked to) and plan on building your own pottery wheel with it? Did you find the perfect antique cupboard (as a woman in Florence did recently) because your family keeps messing up your mudroom with all their shoes and jackets? Did you find a hard-to-find milk bottle from the dairy your parents owned when you were just a baby? Did you find oil can from a refinery you lived by on the East Coast that is now out of business? Yes, there are all stories from real customers that found themselves in Florence, before I had the foresight to capture their stories and histories.

We want to know about you and the story behind the purchase!

Send us your pictures and a brief story. Don’t worry—I’ll write it up for you, if you don’t want to write it yourself. There is no charge on either end for being in: Will We Find YOU In Florence? This is all for fun and to share the people behind the purchases and why and how they ended up in Florence.

Have a shop or restaurant or other business in Florence?  It’s simple, ask they people if they want to be on a blog that shares stories about people in Florence and people finding themselves in Florence. Snap a picture. Ask them a few questions—their name, the town they are from and what was so fun or special about their experience or purchase. Send it to this blog—and within a few days, or weeks—depending on my schedule, it will likely appear.