A Week In The Life Of An Antiques Dealer During Lockdown - Here's What I've Been Up To

Ahoy there ship mates!  It's Monday and that can mean only one thing...  It's time for my weekly blog post!

This week I'm treating you to a little insight into my life as an antiques dealer during lockdown.  I'll tell you what I've been up to, which includes a collaboration, another attempt at reuniting a family with a lost piece of history, as well as a little snippet of the more creative side of the job.

So, if this tickles your taste buds, get that kettle on and settle in for this week's instalment...

This week I was approached by local York based creative about a collaboration on Instagram to support local independent businesses on the lead up to Christmas.  I thought it was a smashing idea, so I agreed to do a 'Giveaway', whereby you had the chance to win a £20 voucher for Source Vintage.  This ran all week, before the next local business took over the reins.  It was lovely to see so many of you getting involved.  The winner was announced yesterday and our £20 voucher has pinged it's way over to him!  So a big thank you to @nellimooney (instagram) for inviting me to collaborate and to everyone who showed their support for local business!

In other news.  After the success of reuniting a family with their mother's World War 2 air raid identity bracelet a few weeks back, I was sent another bracelet by someone who had seen the last story.  They asked if I could help reunite this one with its family.  So, of course, I agreed.

This identity bracelet, again from World War Two, was engraved with the name Grace Wilson and the address of Rock House, Silkstone Common.  So, I began doing some digging on the ancestry sites and contacted Claire Davis, who had helped find the family for the last bracelet, and asked if she could assist me.  Claire agreed, and began doing some searches of her own.

Meanwhile, I made contact with the local press in the Silkstone area in the hope that they might put something out to their readers.  Fortunately, I was contacted by 'Yorkshire Live' who agreed to feature the story.

This bracelet was slightly different to the previous one I had.  This had a series of letters and numbers engraved to the bottom of it and I had had no idea what these were for.  I assumed they might have been linked to the child's blood group...?  However, upon seeing a photo of the bracelet, Claire linked the letters to the 1939 register, which led her to find an entry, which she suspected was Grace.  However, the address was different to the bracelet and as such, she wanted to do some more digging to be sure.

Meanwhile, 'Yorkshire Live' very kindly published their article and within minutes, I began receiving emails from people with snippets of information.  However, it was Susan Holdsworth whom had gone that one step further and managed to locate one of Grace's living relatives.

So, this is what I know so far...

- Grace was born on 1^st July 1929.  In 1951 she married Sydney Wood (1924-2017) but they had no children. 

- The only sibling Grace had has proved to be very difficult to find.  Her name was Margaret and she was 3 years older than Grace.  Apart from Margaret, Grace seems to have a lack of living traceable relatives.

- It is believed that Margaret married in 1949 (registered in the same area as Grace's marriage) to someone called Pearson.  However, there is no record of any children.

- Grace’s parents were Arthur Wilson and Martha Garnett.  Arthur Wilson's mother had no further children.  Martha Garnett had brothers and sister: any offspring would be first cousins 1 x removed. 

- Grace's Husband, Sydney, had an older sister, Hilda Margaret Wood (1916-2007) whose only son, her nephew, is still alive – there are also three great nephews and six great, great nephews/nieces.

So, at this time, the closest living relative we've been able to locate is Sydney's older Sister, Hilda's, only son...  So, that would make him Grace's Nephew...

I am still determined to find Margaret and I will update you if or when there are any further developments.

As well as packing up and sending orders, I have been working on the more creative element of the job, which some of you may be unaware of.  But, behind the scenes there are always items to be photographed for websites or more creative elements for social media marketing.  And that is what I've been busy with this week.

With the purchase of a new 'light ring' and the borrowing of a super-duper professional camera, I've been putting together some creative layouts, in an attempt to try something a little fresher, and spending days photographing numerous items.

So, let me know what you think of the results...

Well that's if for this week folks! I hope you're enjoyed this little insight into my world.  As always, let me know what you get up to in the comments section below.

So, until next week, stay safe, keep buying those antiques and keep spreading that Source Vintage love!

Stephen

Owner Source Vintage

Shop from Source Vintage here