I worked in Visual Merchandising for... well, many years and my favorite thing to do was "vignettes and museum cases", small glass display cases featuring merchandise. If I could have made a career out of just doing "cases" I would have but Tiffany's never called so I was left to fuel my passion at home. Throughout our home are vignettes, on the bar cart, mantle, bedside tables, bookshelves, a minimalist I am not. Tonight my wonderful friend Danny texted me...."Hi, I'm looking on your site for the ship in the bottle and the other stuff in the pic. What category are they under?" after seeing them on Instagram. I had to break it to him, the items in the photo are Not For Sale, AKA...NFS.
When I started dreaming of creating Thatcher Ellery, I wanted it to feel as though your friend with the cool beach house invited you over for the weekend. You told her you loved the needlepoint on the wall and she said... "Well, you should have it" taking it off the wall and handing it to you. Short of handing my finds to those that also appreciate treasures (this is a business after all), I want people to feel what they find on Thatcher Ellery are special and that is why it is sometimes difficult for me to part with new finds. They need to live with me and some of their treasure friends before moving on. If they get along, they may stay longer, it just depends.
In the case of the ship in the bottle, I have always wanted one and after searching all summer, there she was at a flea market, calling my name at 7:00 a.m. Ten minutes later I stumbled on the Nantucket and Woods Hole pieces. The Woods Hole sketch pulled on my heartstrings as it included Quissett Harbor, one of my favorite places where my now husband and I would drink coffee in the morning when we were dating, the place for which we named our first Golden Retriever and where we spread Quissett's ashes after he died unexpectedly. So, turning around and selling the sketch may take some time.
And then there are the finds that scream to me from across the field, "Please find someone to love me", and I know there is someone out there who will love this salt & pepper shaker set, bronze JFK plaque, sailboat ashtray just as much, or more than I love my ship in a bottle. They will add them to their own vignettes in a fresh way that feels right to them, just as this one does for me.
So Danny, please be patient, as you know our house is small and my need to do new "installs" is great...so things will need to move on to others to love them as much as I did while they stayed for a visit this summer.