Jade Bird

Hi Ya'll,

I know my blog is about old books and vintage paper but if you're following you know that I'm having to make my way through other items before I can get to all of my books.

I've been out antique-ing for the past three days trying to find furniture and stuff that I've come upon in this old estate. I wanted to find similar items to the one's we're selling to get an idea of the proper price of each thing. I'd love to hear from other's of you who have had to make a tough decision of whether to have an estate sale or try to sell stuff yourselves.

I didn't even know Ms. Annie who died and left this stuff to my brother but already I'm feeling emotionally attached. There's something about going through someone's lifetime accumulation of things that gives you a hint as to who they were. It's as if people who have passed on have left us clues as to who they were even if we didn't know them. All I can say is that the more I go through her things, the more I want to respect what she stood for or believed in. I think my brother is lucky to have known her and I wish I could have known her too.

I will write more about her book collection as time goes by. I'm not even in the middle of her books yet and I know I have some sets of books going on. I can't advertise them as sets until I know for sure the whole set is there. I think I will find the complete sets as I'm able to get to the crates in storage. So in the meantime, I will share parts of her story with you.

She loved everything Western. She was raised in California. She started her own glass company in California back in the day. After several years and being tired of the business and burnt out with the glass orders to fill...(very successful business) she hopped on a plane and flew to somewhere where she didn't have anyone looking for her. She ended up in Tennessee! Decided to live here!

I've come across several railroad items. No doubt she was interested in the railroad because her father was a conductor for Pacific Railways. He was born 1884 and died 1954. The reason I know is because I came across her father's death memorial certificate put out by the Pacific Railway. She told my brother years ago that when her mother and father split up, her father actually paid her mother a certain sum of money to get her. (Her mother sold her) and backed out of her life. Ms. Annie loved her father and traveled all over the world with him. He instilled in her a love of art and history. (Also a love of skeet shooting and horse racing!) But she also loved birds, wildlife in general, and cats!

In today's blog I want to show you a picture of a jade bird in her collection. It's very unusual to say the least. I've been researching this piece and I haven't found it anywhere. Ms. Annie picked things that are quite a mystery!