As soon as I could make change my mother had me buying. I bought all kinds of glassware and pottery: Depression, Fostoria, Heisey, McCoy, Roseville and Weller.  That was for her. When I was about eight or nine years old, I started buying, fixing up and re-selling Barbie dolls. We sold at local swap meets and flea markets.  Twice a year my mom would hold a three day yard sale in our backyard that could rival any outlet mall! I always knew that I would be selling something. My mother sold a mix of antiques, collectibles and nice quality second hand “stuff” at those outdoor markets. Never having an antique store of her own she sold to those that did. Being raised in that environment only led to my passion for selling nearly ANYTHING! I started selling at those same swap meets and flea markets in the early 1980’s slowly adding outdoor antique shows such as Moss Landing, San Juan Bautista, Old Sacramento, Oakhurst and more. In the mid 80’s I rented a booth at Fulton’s Folly Antique Collective and was there until its close in 2014. By the late 80’s I had added indoor shows - Fresno’s Serendipity, San Francisco’s Cow Palace, the Tacoma Dome in Washington, the Portland Convention Center and others. It was about this time that I conducted the first of many estate sales. It began as just “helping out” a friend who needed to liquidate the contents his or her parents’ home. Word traveled quickly that we were available to do such sales and one friend would tell another, who told someone at their church, who mentioned it to a co-worker and so on. I didn’t feel the need to advertise…word of mouth kept me as busy as I had liked to be.

A new era has begun. I'm advertising in the Valley Yellow Pages, creating this website (which will be an on-going project), have a Facebook page (Basements & Beyond Estates and Antiques) and, as always, relying on personal referrals.