I knew there was going to be some rain this past Sunday, but I took my chances, packed up the SUV and headed to the Long Beach Swap Meet to set up my card tables and see if I could move some merchandise. I was in by 7am but didn't have any sales until 9am, at which time it started to drizzle. I only have one large patio umbrella so I tried to keep as many of the more delicate pieces underneath it or inside my two flat display cases.
I did pretty well during the next three hours, selling my Russian icon (photo below), a vintage pond boat, seven "dollar" pocket watches, a couple apothecary jars, a large penca de Balangandan, a pair of binocular glasses, sterling handled carving knife, and a bunch of general brick-a-brack that I had been hauling around for a few months.
But the big score was when another dealer came over and asked if I was interested in purchasing a civil war era tintype and an small family album full of photos from the 1880's. When it's rainy and sales are slow, sometime you do have to resort to moving merchandise sideways.
The album is full of portraits from Ohio, Illinois and Indiana; I have to do some research to see if there's anything historically interesting there. The soldier is probably post Civil war, possibly Indian Wars era, or even regional militia; in either case, I'm not an expert and will need help from a militaria expet to identify the period.
