Hello! I thought it was about time to introduce myself. I have been selling (and buying) antique pottery, especially majolica, since the year 2000, but my history with antiques goes much further back. I had my first exposure to antiques when I worked for an antique dealer as a teenager in Independence, Missouri. I rarely brought home a paycheck, almost every dime I earned went to purchase some treasure I found in the store! During my years in the antique shop I learned a great deal and narrowed my interest to antique pottery, especially majolica. I made my first purchase of majolica at an antique show where I was working with my employer when I was fifteen years old. During a lunch break, I found an affordable, albeit ugly, pitcher with a handwritten hangtag proclaiming it to be majolica at another dealer's booth and bought it. I came back to my employer beaming with pride over my find. I could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong. "How much did you pay for this?" she asked. I told her, "Fifteen dollars." She looked even more crestfallen. "This isn't majolica, sweetie." She turned the pitcher over and showed me the small "Made in Japan" stamp on the bottom. It's true--I didn't even have the presence of mind to inspect the bottom of the pitcher before buying it, and my first piece of majolica was a fake! That incident was more than thirty years ago and I'm happy to report that I did learn to inspect pieces a bit more closely.

My collection…

I began to concentrate on collecting only majolica about twenty-five years ago. At that time, I bought any and all majolica that I could find, and—of course—afford. It didn’t matter to me where it came from, what condition it was in, or what it was. If it was majolica, and the price tag didn’t send me into apoplectic shock, I bought it. Eventually I narrowed my interest to European majolica, especially Austrian and French, and I became pickier about condition, but this still proved too broad. My house was groaning under the weight of all that majolica, and my husband was starting to look a little dazed whenever he walked in the door. I had to narrow my interests even more! Now I concentrate my personal collection on French majolica from the Art Nouveau period, though I’m certainly not averse to buying a lovely piece from anywhere in the world.

About my Ebay experiences…

Like almost everyone on Ebay, I started out just buying, then one day decided to be brave and try listing a few things. It seemed like it would be easier than setting up a garage sale—AND IT WAS! I was hooked. I began listing regularly and buying specifically to sell. Ebay proved to be the perfect way to fund my private collection. I would define my collection as “revolving”. I have a number of pieces that I would never part with, while other pieces move in with me for a while, but are cycled out of the collection into my Ebay listings when I happen onto some new piece that I just can’t live without! Like you, I’m just a collector—I don’t consider myself a dealer. I don’t have the expertise or the background to call myself a dealer, no degree in fine arts, no professional experience at auction houses, galleries, or museums. I’m just a collector with very poor impulse control who can’t turn her back on a piece of majolica!

As a collector, I know what it’s like to finally receive a piece for which you’ve been waiting anxiously, open the box, and find a pile of pottery shards encased in a flimsy sheet of newspaper or one measly sheet of bubble-wrap, and a few wadded leaves of paper for “cushioning”. You’ll never receive that from me! Bad packing is my personal pet peeve. Check out some of the sad, dead majolica I’ve received in my Graveyard for Pitiful Packing below! Those are actual photos of pieces I’ve purchased. I think I’ve seen it all when it comes to poor packaging. One dealer in Germany shipped 3 majolica compotes in one cardboard box with absolutely no packing materials at all! And my personal favorite was a stunning Art Nouveau centerpiece that I had shipped from a dealer in France—it arrived in a box that was one inch shorter than the length of the centerpiece and with an old bedsheet used as “packing material”! Unfortunately it hadn’t yet occurred to me to take pictures of these abominations, so I don’t have any photos of those to show you. If you have some “pitiful packing” favorites and would like to add them to the Graveyard, e-mail them to me and we’ll give them a proper burial!

To show you just how serious I am about packing, you’ll find a series of pictures below that show exactly how I pack. These are actual photos of real items I have sold on Ebay. So far, with more than a thousand pieces sold, not a single item has ever arrived broken! Here’s what I do:

1. Handles and other projecting pieces of the item are individually wrapped in crimped paper and cavities are filled with wadded paper.
2. Item is wrapped tightly in either one or two layers of small bubble wrap, depending on the size of the item.
3. Item is wrapped again in another layer of larger bubble wrap.
4. Item is either wrapped in a heavy layer of corrugated cardboard or packed snuggly into a cardboard box just large enough to hold the item.
5. A heavy corrugated box large enough to contain the item with plenty of free space on all sides is lined with a layer of wadded paper in the bottom.
6. A generous layer of polystyrene peanuts is put on top of the paper.
7. The item is placed on top of the layer of peanuts in such a position that the item is NOT in contact with any of the walls of the outer box.
8. All free space in the outer box is filled with polystyrene peanuts, shaken gently to settle the peanuts, and topped off with more peanuts.
9. The box is sealed and sent to you!

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