At last the doors open ...

Since I spent about an hour drooling over things I can’t have at Miami Twice by the time we leave there Dietel's Antiques is open! Fred, the gentleman who runs this store comes across as a little gruff to say the least. Once when Mom visited his old shop which was very jam packed with glass and china he growled at her to watch her purse. In his defense, she does carry a large purse. ;) Since I’m a prior customer he greets me in a friendly way remembering me from my last trip, although I think I was a major annoyance on my first few visits to his stores by asking about a ton of prices and coming back 4 or 5 times before buying anything! This was because the first time I visited there were so many things I had only seen in books that my knees were weak – I swear they were shaking! The second time I still had to catch my breath, the third time I was able to find some things to research and the fourth and fifth times I finally made some purchases! During my absence he has moved into a new much larger building and also hired an assistant who followed me around the store wanting to put everything that I ooohed and aaahed over on the counter until I suspect she was told to leave me be and let me look at everything. Fred understands how I operate now, lol. I finally made my way to the back room of the store where ‘the cheap stuff’ is located. Jadite, Fostoria, Carnival glass, pink Heisey, cobalt Moderntone and vintage Fiesta – realistically, although I love to look at the front room antiques, this vintage glass is why I’m here. I ask about a few prices and Fred offers me a special price on all of the Jadite if I buy it right now, I guess he does remember me, lol! I purchase the Jadite and a stick handle Fiesta creamer and make some notes about a few other items. Fred packs up my glass and carries it out to the car where my mom, who has had enough of antique stores and is reading one of the books she bought at GW, is waiting. He tells her what a good deal he is giving me and I promise to come back later for more things.

Back at Moms house, I go online to do some research and immediately realize that I should have snapped up the Delphite blue set. I also decide on a number of other items from Dietels. I return that same day and buy 12 Fostoria American dinner plates, 4 matching lunch plates, the cobalt Moderntone creamer and sugar set, some EAPG salts, a Hazel Atlas Ritz blue shaker and the pink Heisey bowl. Now that Fred is pretty happy with me, we chat a bit and he gives me some good business advice.

The next day, Wednesday, I return to Miami Twice for the Cherry Blossom set. I was even so cheeky as to ask if she could do any better on the price – well, you never know. Really though, I was thrilled to get it for the price she had told me the first day. A quick check of GW because I’m right there and you-never-know, but there’s nothing of any interest again.

Next up: Lookie what I found in the attic!

Treasure Hunting Begins!

We arrive late Sunday evening so bright and early the next morning I’m ready to go treasure hunting! Mom, apparently forgetting that I can spend literally hours looking through the tiniest antique store decides to ignore my warnings and come with me. Monday is not the best day to visit an antique store as many are closed and my favorite is no exception. I flag down a postal cart and asked if the store’s closed on Monday and find that it should be open by noon. Yay!
There’s a Goodwill Store nearby so I decide to see if the nationwide decline of Goodwill as a place to find vintage items has effected Miami. Sadly there is a plethora of items from Target, but nothing of any interest to a vintage collector. Mom finds a couple of Romance novels so it’s not a total waste of time. A quick stop at the walk up window for some Cafe Cubano - a tiny expresso with about a quarter cup of sugar - talk about your caffine and sugar rush!

Next stop is a store called ‘Miami Twice’. That's Mom in the front with the large purse. This shop is a combination of antique, vintage, Hot Topic and a hip teen & twenty-something resale store such as Rag-O-Rama here in Columbus. Lots of eye-candy but nothing priced for resale and the owners are not open to negotiation. I’m looking at the Fiesta where there is a stick handle creamer for $48 and kicking myself for not buying one I saw at a GW years ago, when I see a Jeannette Cherry Blossom Delphite Blue child’s set! I look at the first 3 or 4 pieces and I don’t see a price so I ask - $75, hmmm. I can’t remember if that’s a good price so I decided to check online first.















Coming up next - my fav antique store