Jan and John Maggs Antiques

Conway, Massachusetts

Newsletter -- March 11, 2009

Sap buckets -- sure signs of approaching Spring!

Since last month's newsletter . . . .

Despite the fact that we suspended regular shop hours during the Winter months and, except for a handful of shows, sold only through our website, by phone or appointment, our shop sales for the first two months of 2009 were only 5% below 2008 - a minor miracle in today's economy - and leaving the heat off in the shop has saved us much more in heating oil cost. We exhibited at two shows in February, our last of this Winter. Our gross receipts for both Paul Davis's  Concord and Barn Star's Guilford show were slightly under 50% of last year, but neither was as disastrous as many had feared, and we feel that our business is holding its own. We're especially grateful to those who overcame the doom and gloom to do something nice for themselves and, vicariously, for us as well.

In last month's newsletter we noted that Marvin Getman's Greater Boston Antiques Festival left us "with little to show for the long weekend." Within minutes of the publication of the newsletter, we received this communication from Marvin. "Thank you for your honest report. Is there anything you would suggest I could do to help make the show a profitable one for you?" Once again, Marvin has demonstrated a rare degree of candor and a genuine willingness to work on behalf of dealers, underscoring his professionalism and openness. On this basis, and on the belief that by next year we may all be feeling a little better about the economy, we've decided to give the show another try.

We're very excited about our upcoming buying trip to England. Because our buying has been very conservative and reserved during the past few months, we'll shop with a healthy bank account and the most favorable exchange rate in decades. We wired funds to our London bank in January, on the day that the exchange rate reached its lowest in 32 years(!), and we know that our English dealer friends will be very pleased to see us. We expect to return with a wealth of new material, which we'll display at our Spring post-England Gala, on April 25 and 26.

Upcoming Shows

Our next show will be our Spring Post-England Gala on April 25 & 26, after which our shop will resume normal weekend hours.

Our April Newsletter will contain details on this and the first of our Summer shows.

Click here for our complete show schedule for 2009.

This Month's Featured Inventory

Smalls

Period Jewelry

Browse additional stock by clicking on any of these thumbnails.

       

This Month's Feature

If you've ever tried to use the Links to all past Newsletters link at the foot of this page to find something recalled from an earlier issue, you realize that most old newsletters are only shells of the originals. Most of the featured inventory is no longer online, and show and shop information is obsolete.

This Newsletter contains an index of all Features and Tales of the Trade which have appeared in past issues. We hope that this index will not only simplify locating things you've read in the past, but also might encourage you to revisit favorites or read one or two you missed the first time.

Just click HERE.

Tale of the Trade

Dealers are dropping shows. Promoters are cancelling undersubscribed shows.

What if dealers and promoters could work together for their common good?

Opinion: Let's give show dealers a break!

Pippin's Page

Click HERE for this month's picture.

The Back Page

Jan's dramatic arrangement of tulips at the Guilford show got more attention than either the 17th century Dutch table upon which they sat or the Hague School painting that hung behind them.

Click HERE to see what the fuss was about.

Click to visit the Jan and John Maggs Antiques website.

Links

Click for directions to our shop.

Click for links to all past issues of this Newsletter.

For additional links to businesses and places of interest, visit our Links Page.

Thanks for taking the time to read our little monthly. As always, we encourage you to e-mail any comments that might make the newsletter more useful to you. Just click the mailbox, or write to jmaggs@jmaggs.com.

And we thank you for being a customer.

John and Jan