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30 Business Brainstorming Ideas – Part 1

monavida — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:39:04 +0000

Sometimes you just get stuck for ideas. Your mind is a blank. It makes it even harder to come up with the goods if your present or future business rests on your ideas. A little help and inspiration for a new article, a new product, or a completely new business wouldn’t go amiss in these circumstances.
The purpose of the ideas in this article is to get your brain thinking. The ideas may seem a bit crazy and unrealistic – almost too simple. But…. the intention is for these ideas to act as a trigger, making you say something like: “That idea’s ridiculous, but if I change it around a bit I could…” So, use one or more of these ideas as your starting point and brainstorm your way to a new opportunity.
1. Produce Christmas cards which are printed on the front with, for example, “Happy Christmas from the Smith Family”. Or, instead of the name “Smith”, pick one of the dozens of other popular surnames. Sell packs of these cards by direct mail to people listed in telephone directories.
2. Make money from renting out expensive children’s toys. The toys you rent out will include remote control models and computerised games. Use a little van to deliver the toys to customers. The van should have a toy town colour scheme, sirens and flashing lights. Call the van a toy-mobile.
3. Introduce to your region a service which mounts maps for businesses. Keep a stock of local, national and international maps. Mount these maps in a professional manner to suit the wall space available at offices. Send out leaflets about your service to office managers.
4. Bring out a regular publication for ambitious, amateur musicians. This publication might include ads from: i) employers seeking musicians; ii) retailers selling equipment, accessories and supplies; (iii) people selling used equipment. Also print interesting editorial.
5. Design and manufacture kits for making models with cocktail sticks. For example, model churches, castles, windmills, houses, etc. Buy the cocktail sticks in unpacked form in bulk from a manufacturer. Sell your kits by mail order from ads in craft magazines or distribute to model shops.
6. Produce a directory of products no longer made. This directory might include sections on toys, novelties and household goods. Design the directory for business people and inventors who want to know both what has been made before and what ideas might be revived or modified.
7. Make cotton gloves specially designed for coin collectors. The gloves prevent the acidic grease and moisture on fingers from getting on to coins. Package the gloves and sell from ads in coin collecting magazines or distribute to shops which sell collectible coins.
8. Bring out a correspondence course about how to write cookery books. The course might include information about: how to devise recipes; how to present them in written form and what makes a successful cookery book. Produce a prospectus and advertise in women’s magazine.
9. Begin a business which rents out large and expensive astronomical telescopes to householders who want to develop their interest in astronomy. Publicise your service at the local astronomy society and use local advertising to attract clients. Link up with a telescope supplier and get a 10% finder’s fee for those people who go on to buy their own telescope.
10. Set up a company which produces a compendium of strip games, for example: strip poker, strip snakes and ladders, strip lotto, strip snap and strip ludo. Sell the compendiums of games by mail order from ads in x-rated magazines.
11. Paint attractive art on rocks to make souvenir paperweights and doorstops. The art might take the form of abstract patterns, traditional pictures or tourist scenery. Call your rocks ‘designer rocks’. Add a rubber base to paperweights and a rubber edge to doorstops.
12. Create a mail order business which specialises in selling products which help people sleep. The products you sell might include: sleep inducing cassettes, special bedtime clothing, herbal pillows and how to sleep well booklets. Company names might be something like ‘Sleepwell’, ‘Sleeptight’ etc.
13. Paint on wood, stylish house numbers and names. These painted numbers and names will be an attractive alternative to the traditional names burned into sliced logs. Get your work stocked at shops which sell garden products or household goods.
14. Start a venture which promotes the art and hobby of window painting. On coloured acetate paper have outlines printed for painting pictures by numbers. These acetate sheets are stuck to one side of a window and anyone can paint a picture on the other side of the window.
15. Select one seashell which would be suitable for use as an ashtray, another for a pip tray and a third for a paper clip tray. Put these shells into a single packet and sell as a set of useful household seashell trays. Find shops to stock your packets of seashell trays.
16. Devise and produce a board game which simulates the experience of starting a mail order business. The usual problem of bringing out a board game is the difficulty of getting it stocked at shops. However, a game about mail order can be sold by mail order to business opportunity seekers.
17. Make an income from selling lucky charms door-to-door. Sell, for example: rabbits’ feet, horseshoes and four-leaf clovers. Start this enterprise by tracking down trade sources of these lucky charms.
18. Begin a business which buys and sells oil paintings. Buy new paintings from artists and old paintings from collectors and householders. Sell the paintings from: home, a roadside site, a stall at craft fairs, or hire halls for exhibiting all the paintings you have for sale.
19. Start a manufacturing business which is devoted to making doorstops. The doorstops you make might range from humble wooden wedges to the exotic and unusual. Package the doorstops in polythene bags, staple on a printed card and get them stocked at hardware or gift shops.
20. Decorate everyday objects with pressed flowers. Add an inlaid design of pressed flowers to trays, coasters, jewellery boxes, paperweights, picture frames, wall hangings, desk sets and table tops.
21. Set up a home improvement business which modifies the exterior of houses to give them a Tudor appearance. Your service will include: fitting ornamental oak beams, giving exterior walls a white covering and adding a metal grid to windows.
22. Make wooden ’strip noughts and crosses’ games (an item of clothing is taken off by the loser of a game). Drill 9 holes into a small square block and paint on a grid. Next, make 10 pegs and paint on each peg an ‘0′ or ‘X’. Put the grid and pegs into a clear bag and staple on a product name card. Sell to sex shops and mail order.
23. Bring together a range of brass ware ornaments so you can have a stall at craft fairs, antique markets and Sunday markets.
24. Publish a newsletter which has a title like ‘Ambitious Person’s Way to Wealth’ or ‘Clever People Don’t Work Hard’. The contents of your newsletter might be in a vein similar to Joe Karbo’s ‘The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches’.
25. Set up and run a school of window dressing. Organise one-day or two-day courses or seminars for established shopkeepers who want to learn more about this aspect of their business. Also provide courses for those who would like to take up a career as a window dresser. (Tip: You can run a profitable seminar on anything without knowing the first thing about the subject yourself. You merely pay a percentage of the seminar fee, say 15%, to an expert speaker.)
26. Write and publish a manual about how to make money from property. In the manual include chapters on: buying and selling land; buying properties for conversion and renovation; investing in property, etc. Use direct mail and mail order to sell copies of this manual to opportunity seekers.
27. Found and run a school of investment. Give tuition to solo students and groups about different types of investments such as shares, gilt-edged securities, unit trusts, USM, antiques, stamps, art, etc. For each area of investment prepare lesson plans and follow these closely.
28. Make a selection of children’s prayer plaques: wooden wall plaques which feature popular prayers. The prayers might be painted on, or burned into, the wood.
29. Start a craft business which uses interesting foreign coins to make jewellery. Incorporate coins into pendants, bracelets, brooches, necklaces and earrings. Alternatively, make jewellery which features reproduction coins from the ancient world.
30. Use small seashells strung together to make necklaces. Find a trade source of small seashells and either set up your own production line, or employ home workers. Sell the finished necklaces from a market stall or get them stocked at suitable retail outlets.

Nick Summers runs www.morethanarticles.com” rel=”nofollow”>More Than Articles Article Directory, a directory dedicated to offering the best of the web’s articles formatted the way you want them. Visit www.morethanarticles.com today for all your content requirements.
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How My Interest in Crystal Started in a Windmill

monavida — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:47:32 +0000

My interest in crystal was initiated by two powerhouses – two mothers-in-law. It all started when I went to England to marry my first wife. How fortunate I was to gain a wonderful and caring mother-in-law in the process. Peggy was a wonderful, gracious woman from England’s upper social level. She spoke the Queen’s English and insisted when you do certain things it must be done “properly”. That was her go-to phrase.
Peggy lived in a very old windmill that she had converted. The interior walls of the first level were lined with teak board paneling. The upper two levels were finished in plaster. The windmill was beautifully decorated with two hundred-plus year old antique furniture from France and England. Cabinets and shelves were filled with crystal, china, silver tableware and numerous small collectibles. She was an avid collector of antique furniture, plates, crystal glassware and crystal figurines.
In a kind, motherly way, she explained the importance of bringing beautiful things of value into the home and that it could be done inexpensively once you knew the true value of something. In ten days, Peggy instructed me in the ins and outs of collecting and bargain hunting with the emphasis on quality and workmanship.
I was a willing student. I must admit I was stunned by the artistic style and craftsmanship of her collector plates and crystal. I could see how all these beautiful items she loved made her feel. Her collectibles were a treasure to her because she enjoyed them so much.
She was fond of saying that “Something isn’t valuable unless it has value for you.” That was her buying philosophy and one of many that she instilled in me.
Her collection and tutelage is what sparked my interest in crystal and china. Peggy would come to America every couple of years and we all went shopping in the second-hand stores picking up odd pieces here and there. She could really find the bargains.
On one visit, she joined in the bedtime story routine with my daughter. She noticed the figurine my daughter held depicting an animal in the story. Gran was curious so I explained that the story was more enjoyable for her granddaughter when she held the figurine. My daughter had a great deal of fun putting the figurine through actions of the characters in the story or fairy tale. I told her I couldn’t find any other figurines for other stories and fairy tales I wanted to read. She said she would get them for me in England. I’d send her the name of a story or fairy tale and Gran would send a figurine
After a couple of years of enjoyable bedtime stories, my daughter had an interesting collection of figurines and my interest in crystal was expanding from glassware to figurines of all types, especially crystal animals
Peggy was a grand lady. But what she taught me has stayed with me these past forty years. After passing on, her windmill home was declared a historical treasure by England’s Historical Society and open to the public for short periods of time. I will always remember her impressive collections and the instructions she kindly gave to me.
I was a bachelor for a quite a few years and highly focused on my career working in corporate America and traveling extensively as a Management and Business Training Consultant.. Unfortunately, I got away from collecting for awhile because I was so busy.
Somewhere in all that malaise I met a wonderful woman who captured my heart. I was hired to write a book and spent six weeks in Yugoslavia doing research. Being away from her made me realize that this lovely lady was to be my life’s partner. We married and in the deal I had another charming and endearing mother-in-law. How lucky can a guy get?
My new mother-in-law, Marge, took us under her guidance and patiently encouraged us to add crystal into our home décor. We took many shopping trips together to outlet malls and craft shows picking up crystal vases, serving plates and other crystal items that would be functional and beautiful additions to our home
Like Peggy, Marge stressed the importance of quality and the confidence in buying brand names like Waterford, Lenox, Makasa and Swarovski. I know what I like, but as a man I’m not up to speed on all those home décor touches a home needs. I was totally reliant on my wife’s and mother’s-in-law feminine prowess to choose the appropriate items.
They chose well and I have always been pleased with their purchases. Marge was a great guide along the way.
My wife and I now have a nice collection of china porcelain, crystal stemware and glassware and crystal figurines. Of all our collectibles the ones that bring me the greatest pleasure are the crystal animals and crystal figurines. Perhaps it is because of those fond memories of my daughter playing with those figurines as I read the bedtime fairy tales to her.
Along the forty year path of collecting, I have managed to acquire a few crystal figurines that are quite old and no longer made. I don’t care about their resale value. I care about the artistic and craftsmanship of the pieces. Gran would be proud and Marge is pleased.

Lowry Mell is a retired Merchandiser and former Marketing and Business Consultant. His articles focus on new and creative ways to use and display crystal and crystal figurines. For more information, visit: http://www.CrystalSplendor.com
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Tappahannock on My Mind

monavida — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:20:49 +0000

This was me, sailing my boat and singing: Come on, Bill, let’s take them for an old country rock. / Let’s go back down on the Rappahannock, down Tappahannock way. / Whip it, Bill, while everybody rocks. The song is Bill Moore’s early blues composition “Old Country Rock,” but my rendition of it could not, alas, have been counted in any way a success, since I am incapable of carrying a tune. However, I thought maybe Moore’s ghost would be okay with it because (a) I was sailing alone and therefore not subject to mutiny, and (b) I was in fact sailing up the Rappahannock on my way to visit Tappahannock, Va. Moore, who had been a barber in Tappahannock, was also a leading bluesman of the East Coast or Piedmont variety. He recorded this song and five others of his own making for Paramount Records in Chicago in the winter of 1928. It’s a recording that is now treasured by early blues collectors. In 2005, 54 years after he died, Moore got a historical marker of his own, placed along U.S. Route 17, near where his barbershop once stood. Bill Moore is just one of a fistful of intriguing things about this small town with the quadrisyllabic name on the banks of the quadrisyllabic river. So, as I said, I was singing to myself and sailing along, holding a generally northwest course in a generally southwest breeze. I had plenty of time to sing, since Tappahannock is about 35 miles upriver from Stingray Point at the mouth of the Rappahannock. Tappahannock has been around for a longish time, not counting its many, many centuries as a Native American settlement. English-settler-wise, though, it is nearly as old as you can get. Captain John Smith slept here—at least he tried to, but was immediately given the bum’s rush by the area’s highly annoyed occupants. A few decades later, the colonists returned the favor in spades, pushing out the Indians, and the area became English, first under the appellation Hobbs His Hole, named for trader Jacob Hobbs and his anchorage. (That “His” in the middle of Hobbs His Hole is just the old-school way of making a possessive, by the way, like “the dog his dinner.”) Then the name was changed to New Plymouth and,finally, in 1705, back to the name Smith had written on his map—Tappahannock, or “town on the rise and fall of water.” Rappahannock meaning apparently “rise and fall of water.” Tapp instead of Rapp, I mused dreamily in the warm sun. Rapp, Tapp . . . hmmm.Here I am sailing and singing: When ev’ry stock you take is making money / When ev’ry heart you break / Is such a cinch, it’s funny / Careful, Sonny / Rap-tap, rap-tap . . . on wood. No, a historical marker to Cole Porter is not another interesting thing about Tappahannock. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t have hurt Tappahannock to do some rapping, tapping on wood. Like dozens of other strategically placed settlements on the Chesapeake and its tributaries, Tappahannock by the mid-18th century was a bustling center for trade, with ships stopping on their way up and down the river. But like many of the other early centers for trade, business dropped off as natural resources dwindled and overland routes developed. Pretty soon, the passage of time, like commerce, slowed to a trickle; and Tappahannock, like Rip van Winkle, pretty much dozed through the next couple of hundred years.It’s a long way to Tappahannock / It’s a long way to go . . . As the sun grew warmer and I got sleepier, it seemed to me that dozing for a few years was not altogether a bad idea. I was making some progress, though. I had passed the Corrottoman River, then the town of Urbanna, Va., then Belle Isle State Park. As I sailed on, the dozens of boats that had flocked near the mouth of the Rappahannock dropped behind me, until by the time I reached Farnham Creek I was all alone. Not much of anybody makes the trek up to Tappahannock by sail these days—not only is the distance substantial, but the channel gets narrow for tacking and the current is often stronger than the wind.Finally, the tiny inlet of Muddy Gut slipped by to port, and then Totutskey Creek to starboard. I stopped singing and sat up straight in my seat because right about Lowery Point the water on either side of me had gotten thinner than a Bryant Park model during Fashion Week. I started the engine and gave up my career as the Rappahannock’s first lady of song. I was nearly there. The U.S. Route 360 bridge, which connects the Northern Neck with the Middle Peninsula, was only about three miles ahead. Now I also began keeping a close lookout for the vestigial remnants of another of Tappahannock’s intriguing points of interest. And I found it, just outside the channel, about a mile past flashing green “29″. For 25 years, from 1924 to 1949, the most striking thing about Tappahannock was that it had a 273-foot wooden ship grounded just offshore. The ship, the Caponka, had been built in Portland, Ore., in 1918 in a world-record 49 days to help in America’s supply effort during World War I. Unfortunately for her, however, the war ended a mere seven months later. In 1920, after only 52 days of active service, she was mothballed with 500 other members of the wooden fleet on the James River. But unlike most of her sisters, who were eventually taken up the Potomac and scuttled in Mallows Bay, the Caponka was purchased and taken to Reedville, Va., where her engines were removed for use in the menhaden fleet. Then she was purchased again and taken to her new owner’s home of Tappahannock—where she ran aground about halfway between Jones Point and Hoskins Creek. It was here that she spent the rest of her inglorious career as a blot on the local landscape. But she was an interesting blot, and something of a local attraction. In fact, many residents felt that having a 273-foot wooden boat of uncertain derivation sitting offshore set their town apart from other, less-interesting towns. And when she burned in 1949—over two spectacular days, residents recall—many were sorry to lose their local landmark. A section of her charred hull still breaks the surface of the water.So much for shipwrecks and whimsy, though, it was now time to come to grips with Tappahannock’s shortcomings as a destination—no entirely satisfactory place to drop the hook. [See Cruiser's Digest.] Since the wind was still clipping along smartly, I opted for weather-friendly Hoskins Creek. After following the dredged channel inside, I edged out of the way until the lack of depth became alarming and then quickly toppled the CQR overboard. A short dinghy hop to the fishing dock, and I was ashore.Now that I had Tappahannock firmly under foot, I had a couple of hours of daylight left to play with and a choice to make. Walking up from the dock, I passed White’s Home and Auto (which carries a fair number of boating and fishing supplies), a gas station/fish store and a seafood restaurant/fish store before reaching the main highway, U.S. Route 17/360. (This took me 60 seconds. In a mild and entirely temporary attack of obsessive-compulsive behavior, I actually timed how long it took me to get from one place to another.) Here I had to choose. I could turn right and go into the historic section of town (10 minutes), visit the library (15 minutes) and then find a place for dinner (1 minutes, 3 minutes or 5 minutes), or I could turn left and enter the world of fast food, clothes shopping, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart. Of course, I turned right. No, just kidding. I turned left, but only because I needed AA batteries. Besides, I was meeting a friend the next day to take the walking tour downtown, so why spoil it? The point is not so much that in Tappahannock there is history to the right and Wal-Mart to the left, but that both are within only a few minutes’ walk—an ideal situation for boaters, who have to depend on their own 10 toes for hunting up culture as well as creature comforts.After securing the AAs and poking about the shops for a bit, I retraced my steps and headed for Lowery’s Restaurant, which has been serving food in Tappahannock for a mere 70 years, ever since Wesley and Lorelle Lowery opened a lunch counter in 1938. Lowery’s remains a family business and a local institution. It even has three separate parking lots and nearly as many parking spaces as Wal-Mart. It’s on the main highway, too—but in the cultural direction. I dined (gorged might be a more appropriate word) on crabcakes, hushpuppies and sweet tea, then retired to Hoskins Creek and a night onboard.The following morning, over coffee and fresh muffin tops at Java-Jacks Coffee House (10 minutes), my friend Kathy Hubbard and I planned our trip through. Tappahannock history, which fortunately had already been done for us at www.tappahannock.us. All we had to do was follow the map we had printed out and read the history bits aloud to the other’s annoyance. (A tour brochure is also available at the Essex County Museum on Water Lane for those who like to read silently.) The tour starts with Beale Memorial Baptist Church, which was the courthouse in 1728—though it looks suspiciously Greek Revival now—and then moves on to the customshouse, an early 19th-century building that sits on a lot once owned by prosperous merchant Archibald Ritchie. An interesting thing here is that Ritchie, who thought the Stamp Act was a jolly good idea, was the target of local independence rabble-rousers like the Lees and four brothers of George Washington, who hated the Stamp Act and thought the jolly good idea would be to tar and feather Ritchie. Apparently, they thought better of it because they never did. Ritchie’s actual house is another block up from the river on Prince Street and is now an attorney’s office. Its interior is . . . in Delaware. Specifically, it is in the Tappahannock and Essex Rooms at the Winterthur Museum near Wilmington. Don’t ask me why, though I’d guess it had something to do with piles of du Pont money. The oldest house on the tour is Scots Arms Tavern, which dates to 1680 and is now a private home. Eventually, the tour wanders down Water Lane to take in several majestic buildings at St. Margaret’s School, an Episcopal girls boarding and day school. Now, if you ask me why Tappahannock, an unprepossessing town of only 3,000 inhabitants dripping wet, has a clearly prosperous private girls school nestled comfortably in its midst, that I can tell you. It’s on account of the sunrise. How do I know that? Because I went into St. Margaret’s Hall (stop number 12 on the walking tour) to talk with the head of school, Margaret Broad. She explained that back in the 1930s the Diocese of Virginia sent a delegation to find a location for a school somewhere in the middle section of Virginia. While visiting Tappahannock, the committee saw the sun rise over the Rappahannock River and it knocked their Episcopal socks off. This is where the school will be, they decided then and there. The sunrise over the Rappahannock has been knocking the socks off generations of prospective students and their parents ever since. Broad swears this is a true story, though I did make up the part about the denominational socks. ”Come and look at this,” Broad said to me, and I followed her out of the administration building and into the dining hall, which is all rounded glass several stories tall and feels for all the world like the command bridge of the Queen Mary (or what I imagine it to be). “How would you like to eat all of your meals in front of this view?” she asked. And, looking out on the Rappahannock, with the bridge arcing about a mile over the river to the left and marsh-edged riverbank as far as you could see to the right, I felt compelled to keep a close eye on my own socks, and it wasn’t even sunrise.Broad, a lifelong sailor, admits that the Tappahannock section of the Rappahannock is tough sledding for sailors. She and her husband David have sailed and chartered all over the world, but here they have given the sport up in favor of a pontoon boat. “Having sailed all over, I can say that this is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” she said. “[The creeks] are the area’s greatest charm. You are truly alone with nature. Up the creeks, you are surrounded by reeds, with no sound but the birds, and only the sun shining down you.”The 160 students at St. Margaret’s make good use of the river, too, especially with their new three-season crew program. And each year, during River Days, students spend time at the river’s edge, learning to take water samples, to identify native species of plants and animals, and to enjoy the water resource that flows by their front door.Like many other small towns on the Bay, Tappahannock is finally turning its attention back to the river, as well. I left Hubbard to finish the tour, while I walked over to David Broad’s office on Jeannette Street, backing up to Hoskins Creek (6 minutes). Broad, a twice-transplanted Englishman who grew up in France (where he and Margaret met while she was teaching there), is now very much rooted in Tappahannock’s civic life. He was part of the group that organized the town’s big annual summer shindig: Rivahfest. Now in its sixth year, the event, which will be held June 21 this year, draws thousands of visitors and a lot of boats—largely powerboats, pontoon boats and kayaks. Increasingly, David Broad said, organizers of Rivahfest are trying to incorporate river-based events. This year, plans are in the works for a raft race, a boat show and boat rides. “We’re also looking at putting a water taxi service from the marina to the dock at St. Margaret’s.” Another of David Broad’s projects, the ongoing Main Street Program, is advocating the construction of a city pier. “We want to put Tappahannock back on the water to welcome visitors from the river,” he said. Although it’s a small town, he continued, it has a lot to offer boaters. “The whole population of Essex County is only 8,000, but we are the market place for 60,000 people from eight counties. That’s why we have such a wide variety of businesses.”I walked back to Duke Street (7 minutes) and found my friend Kathy trying to decipher a typically time-damaged headstone in the graveyard next to St. John’s Episcopal Church. “Stop!” I cried. “Enough culture, let’s shop!” And we proceeded to sample every antiques store, gift shop and gallery we could find from A to Z, and including A to Z Antiques, Nadji Nook, Mayhew’s, Queen Street Ltd., Coffman’s and a lot more—Tappahannock is for some reason (don’t know why) a veritable hotbed of antiques shops. We put the finishing touches on the whole shopping shebang at Hoskins Creek Table Co., presided over by John Vaughan, who used to just sell tables, but now makes them as well.As we emerged from that shop with yet more packages, we saw that good fortune had put us only about 60 seconds away from Riverbank Cafe and Seafood. We were so hungry we made it there in under 45. More crabcakes for me, fried clam strips (”better than Howard Johnsons”) for Kathy and a great heap of french fries for mutual plunder. We went from hungry to immobilized in minutes. I was nearly, but not quite, too full to waddle down to T n’ L BBQ (3 minutes) to put in my order with Jimmy and Linda Taylor for tomorrow’s lunch on the rivah (sorry, it’s the law to write it like that down heah). While Kathy returned to Kinsale with all our loot, I secured a heap of barbecued pork ribs to go. Yes, I know, the Coast Guard disapproves of eating ribs while steering a boat, but I figured I’d have plenty of time to wash myself and the cockpit down before I reached the mouth of the Rappahannock.Ribs in hand, I returned to the boat, where I watched the Rappahannock cruise boat Captain Thomas return to its dock on Hoskins Creek and then a tug nudge its barge up to the Perdue granary. Finally, and humming quietly to myself, I watched the sun set over busy U.S. Route 17/360 (not a sight that would have attracted many school committees, perhaps). I dove down into the icebox for a very cold bottle of ale and gloried in my discovery of Tappahannock as a boating destination—even for a sailor. In the immortal words of the Trade Winds’ surf classic: ooh, ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh, ahh . . . New York’s a lonely town / When you’re the only surfer boy around . . . ooh, ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh, ahh . . .Tappahannock’s a lovely town / When you’re the only sailor girl around . . . ooh, ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh, ahh. Fade.

By Jody Schroath, Senior Editor for Chesapeake Bay Magazine. For more great articles and photos on boating, sailing, fishing, and cruising, visit http://www.ChesapeakeBoating.net
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The Year of the Earth Rat 2008

monavida — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:45:47 +0000

YOUR FUTURE IN 2008

CHINESE EARTH RAT YEAR STARTS FEBRUARY 7, 2008.

HOW CHINESE ASTROLOGY WORKS

From the Year of the Rat through the Year of the Pig, there are twelve animal signs romping through the Asian or “Chinese” astrological system. To find your own sign, all you need to know is the year of your birth. Though there are no complicated rising signs nor intricate charts to reckon with, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. It can occur as early as mid-January or as late as mid-February. So if you were born in either of these two months, please enter your birth date on my web site http://www.suzannewhite.com for accuracy. A person born in late January of a Snake year might not be a Snake subject, but rather will be given the sign of the preceding Dragon year.

The cycle of the Chinese zodiac renews itself every dozen years. As luck would have it, 1900 was a Rat year. Since Rat is the first in the series of twelve signs and its year opened our century, we can often calculate the signs of our contemporaries with ease. The year 2000 was not so convenient. Instead of rounding out nicely to start the new century with a Rat year, 2000 was a Dragon year. The Dragon, unlike the Rat, is not the first sign of the Chinese Zodiac but the fifth. So in this new century we have to work a bit harder to calculate our Chinese sign.

Every Asian person about to make a major decision: mar¬riage, family, profession, burial, or relocation will first check to see if his sign and those of the people involved indicate that any benefit will result from the anticipated act. In many Asian countries parents still arrange marriages. If the family considers that a Horse son is not well matched to a Rat woman, the wedding will be called off.

Astrology – like various other “ologies” – is yet another way of finding out who we are and how we can be happier. Astrologers do not claim to have all the answers. As a soothsayer, I do not presume to know if you must or must not buy a pickup truck on Thursday, the twenty-ninth of July, 2021. But what I do know is that the animal symbol that rules the year of your birth has endowed you with certain basic characteristics and helped to define your funda¬mental nature.

Once you are made aware of your qualities and have accepted certain aspects of your faults, it is conceivable that you will have a better chance of making life cooperate with you. Given definite attributes to work with, you will then possess the wherewithal to fashion your own life to fit your desires and ambitions. Moreover, as you examine the qualities and faults pertaining to your friends or acquaintances, you may learn why you (and they) behave in ways hitherto incomprehensible.

WHO WILL BE RUNNING THE SHOW?

WHAT IS A RAT PERSON LIKE?

According to a Chinese legend, one day during some dynasty or other, Buddha called all 12 major animals together for a race. The Rat not only won the race, he was probably canny enough to ride on the Ox’s back to do so. Oxen tend to be slow, but they are steady and plodding. We all know from our own legend about the Tortoise and the Hare that steady plodding wins the race.

You won’t find many steady plodders

among the Rat population.

RAT YEARS

1900, 1912, 1924. 1936, 1948, 1960,

1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2052,

2044, 2056, 2068, 2080, 2092

NB- Born in January or early Feb.? Check my Chinese Sign page (http://www.suzannewhite.com) to be sure you are not among those who fall into the sign of the previous year.

Rat is the first sign of the Chinese Zodiac.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE RATS BOAST:

APPEAL SOCIABILITY

INFLUENCE INTELLECT

THRIFT CHARISMA

ON THE RAT’S UNDERBELLY CHECK FOR:

ANXIETY THIRST FOR POWER

VERBOSITY GUILE

ACQUISITIVENESS MEDDLING

“What? You tell me I’m a Rat. Yucko! Gross. No way!” I hear these protests all the time. Nobody wants to be a Rat. Apparently, they’d rather be something less revolting. Rats don’t benefit from an elegant reputation in our occidental, urbanized society.

But think for a moment of the clever farm rat. It is this rat: the collector, the hoarder, the deft and admirable country rat, whom Buddha honored. This rural rat is, to this day, a scrounger for food, finder of warm places to nest and a procreator par excellence. Let us then put aside our base image of the repellent city rat and concentrate on the characters of his artful country cousin.

The key adjectives I like to use to describe Rat people are: “charming, assertive, protective and relentless.” Rats go whole hog for what they are after and they never give up. You’ll never meet an unattractive Rat. They may not be classically handsome. But they ooze allure. Neither will you find a Rat person who doesn’t seek to achieve and succeed, stand out from the crowd and even assume power over others. Rats are go-getters. They are born with leadership qualities and a hefty measure of guile. For the Rat, the ends frequently justify the means.

Rat people usually appear calm and at ease in company. They’re talkative (to a fault sometimes) and make pleasant conversationalists. But take a closer look. That Rat has a rubber band in his hand which he incessantly snaps back and forth between two fingers. The Rat woman keeps wiggling the fastener on her bracelet. Rats only seem tranquil. Inside, they are like nuclear reactors: churning, bubbling, twisting and steaming. Rats seethe and sizzle. But they never—or rarely—explode.

Rats are not only stashers of food, they have a well-developed sense of economy. They know where their money goes and for which frivolities they are willing to spend lavishly. Parties and gatherings of all sorts please the Rat. In fact, any chance to communicate is seen as a joyful occasion. Rats love—no, need—to talk. If Rats have problems, they talk them through. If they are depressed, they blab it out. If they lose a lover, they can only cure themselves of heartbreak by exposing the whole gory story until the listener’s ears are red with compassion and the Rat has emptied his despondent soul. If you have a gabby Rat crony, keep your IPOD handy and pump up the volume.

If you are loved by a Rat, consider yourself lucky. Rats will fiercely defend and cheerfully spoil the people they care about. But outsiders don’t count. The Rat wants to be surrounded with those who like and admire him. He will lavish presents on them and feed them all till they burst from admiration. Loyal companionship is the Rat’s idea of contentment.

Rats are not necessarily high-minded. Nor are they artistic dreamers. But they are wily and intelligent. And they are often gifted – too clever by half. They make excellent lawyers and executives. Too, Rats dabble more than a little in politics. They crave power. Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr. and John McCain – Rats to a man. And they know how to use their brains with words. In the world’s Rat Pack, you will find all manner of highly talented writers, composers, singers, actors and actresses. Here’s a famous Rat sampling:

1912 (Water Rat Mary McCarthy, Loretta Young, Roy Rogers, Gene Kelly, John Cage, Eugene Ionesco, Laurence Durrell, Werner Von Braun, John Cheever, Perry Como, Studs Terkel, Woody Guthrie, Julia Child, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Danny Kaye. 1924 (Wood Rat) Marlon Brando, Lauren Bacall, Sarah Vaughan, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Charles Aznavour, Doris Day, Lee Marvin, Zizi Jeanmaire, Sidney Poitier. 1936 (Fire Rat) Glenda Jackson, Dennis Hopper, Keir Dullea, Yves St Laurent, Dick Cavett, Vanessa Redgrave, Albert Finney, El Cordobes, Alan Alda, Kris Kristifferson, Marion Barry, F.W. DeKlerk, , Dean Stockwell, Glenn Campbell, Roy Orbison, Bobby Darin, Dennis Hopper, Englebert Humperdinck, Tom Snyder, Bruce Dern, Chad Everett, Geena Rowlands, Oscar de la Renta, Wilt Chamberlain, Buddy Holly, David Carradine, Ismael Merchant, Lou Rawls, Shirley Bassey, Dyan Cannon, Boris Spassky. 1948 (Earth Rat) James Taylor, Olivia Newton-John, Mikhail Barishnykov, Donna Summer, Gerard Depardieu, Billy Crystal, Al Gore, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jimmy Cliff, Kathy Bates, Cat Stevens, Jeremy Irons, Mary Beth Hurt, Olivia Newton-John, Jackson Browne, Donna Karan, Kenny Loggins. 1960 (Metal Rat) Kenneth Branagh, Yannick Noah, Daryl Hannah, Sean Penn, Greta Scacchi, Meg Tilly, Ayrton Sienna, Kristin Scott Thomas, Antonio Banderas, Branford Marsalis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Nastassja Kinski, Valerie Bertinelli, Hugh Grant 1972 (Water Rat) Shaquille O’Neal, Carmen Electra, Busta Rhymes, Julie Gayet, Elizabeth Berkley, Marlon Wayans, Ben Affleck, Cameron Diaz, Geri Halliwell, Liam Gallagher, Gwyneth Paltrow, Eminem, Toni Collette, Jenny McCarthy, Alyssa Milano, Vanessa Paradis.

Rats are not infrequently found meddling in other peoples’ business. They are intensely curious and can become overly involved in the lives of friends and neighbors. They cannot be termed “busybodies” – but almost. Rats also delight in the running of committees and will gladly take over the administration of a board of directors. Rats will not usually volunteer to be on the cleanup committee. Nor are they apt to beg to decorate the church crypt for the charity bazaar. They may tell you how they want it done. But they are not about to actually DO the decorating. No. It’s power that Rats are after—power and influence and lots of praise and kudos.

Rats too are marriers. They crave security and need to be attached. They hoard money and foodstuffs in secret places so they will never be caught short of either. Show up unannounced at her place, the Rat will feed you well. But don’t try to borrow any money or expect to be treated to lavish meals at the Four Seasons or the Ritz. Rats are much more conservative than their splendid surroundings would have us believe.

THE EARTH RAT YEAR

FEBRUARY 7, 2008 TO JANUARY 25, 2009

Hang on to your hat, here comes the Rat!

2008 promises to be a whole new Rat Race. This year jump starts the Chinese twelve year cycle all over again. Prepare for twelve months of Monday mornings.

We just oinked our way through and oozed out of the prosperous Pig year. If you recall, I forecasted a year of too much plenty. I warned that the rich would get richer and the poor would do far less well. Of course I could not have predicted that women’s handbags would increase in value to the point where some ladies are carrying around ten bucks and a lipstick in a hot pink crocodile clutch bag that cost their husband’s credit card $4000. Seriously, I just consulted the Neiman Marcus online shopping catalogue and in such top stores women’s’ purses cost upwards of $1000. Some (and not just a few) cost six thousand smackers! That’s a concrete example of what I said would happen under the influence of the Fire Pig. Glut for glut’s sake. End of cycle excess. Quantity over quality. For some, it was a great year. In 2007, “Them that has” had themselves a hugely piggy Pig year.

Here’s a quote from my last year’s forecast: “People are going to have more “stuff” in the Pig year. Extravagant real estate and luxury items, jewelry and antiques, authentic old masters – everything having to do with wealth and affluence will be favored. But… this abject profusion of material possession means that anyone who is not rich or prosperous or rolling in gold bullion cubes will – by virtue of the scales being tipped too far – fare worse.”

And are not a slew more wealthy humans cluttering up golf courses and crowding shopping mall parking lots with their splendiferous gas guzzling cars? And, by contrast, are not a lot more people out of work, out of luck and nowadays even out of their homes?

Well folks, the party (and the twelve year cycle) is most decidedly over.

2008 will be an Earth Rat year. Rat years are always choppy and appeal mostly to those with a finely-developed sense of economy. But the Earth Rat year (The last one was 1948) is also chockablock with market upsets and other unspeakable bolts from the blue. NO. I can’t tell you what color, size or shape the bolts will be. Just think surprise events which jolt your synapses and give your heart goose bumps. I am not threatening earthquakes or typhoons, although we will surely see our share of those. The bolts from the blue will be more personal than that. They will take the form of accidents or mishaps due to inattention, clumsiness or pure bad luck. In an Earth Rat year, we learn (usually the hard way) that we cannot possibly anticipate what might happen next. Some might say, “Then let’s just have fun. Why worry?” Others of you will shudder and shake, fearing insecurity and mourning free lunches.

Relax! Worry is a waste of your precious time. What you worry about today will certainly not happen. And what will happen is something you might have been worrying about but didn’t even know existed. Just be more cautious than usual about wasting – both time and money.

In this coming year, the fragile quality of the world’s financial condition will become glaringly obvious. People and governments in the western world will wake up to the fact that they cannot go on spending more money than they have and get away with it. In fact, many very rich people will barely have time to preserve existing finances. Get ready to swap those $4000.00 purses for some spanking new food stamps. Flog your $50,000.00 golf cart and learn how to walk again. Give up caviar and luxury cruises in favor of hot dogs, macaroni salad and a romantic rowboat ride on the local park lake. Forego smoked salmon and learn how to fish. This coming year will be about the prudent managing of finances, cost-cutting measures and trendy cheap backpacks made in China. It will also be about power.

Something intriguing about Rat years is that at first they appear to bode only wealth and bounty. But such glittering harvests are merely the calm before the storm and hunger pangs of future shortages. Nobody will be spared. Already in February, inflation will be on the rise. People all over the world will see their buying power diminish. My advice? Open a savings account. Plant a vegetable garden. Stash gold jewelry under your mattress. Junk the gas guzzler and buy a book of train tickets. Take the kids out of private school. Teach them at home. Learn to cook cheaper cuts of meat or eat no meat at all. Take pride in wearing handsomely patched jeans and be the first on your block to remember how to darn socks. In general, in the coming Rat year, do as the British were advised after WWII, “Make do and mend”. We did it before and we can do it again. Might as well face it. Scantier days are ahead.

This year is not all bleak, drab and gray however. It’s a splendid year for power grubbers who gain dominion over others. Dictators will thrive in this Rat year. Hoarders of foodstuffs get a leg up. It’s also a banner year for owners of savings (and even piggy) banks. And it’s a fabulous year for people devoted to living the simple life, playing music or party games at home with their children, going on picnics, taking advantage of free museum entries and walking everywhere instead of taking the car. The inherently parsimonious Rat year is here to help us clean up our act. Join forces with Brother Rat. Dismount your cherished Hummer. Slog a bit and drudge a bit. Cut back and save. Take one paper towel instead of two at a time. If one doesn’t do the job, you can always go back for more. Wash your own car and polish it too. Quit the expensive gym and ride your bike to work. If you co-operate with the spirit of the Rat year, you can expect to enjoy a carefree twelve months. But buck the system and continue to troll the thousand dollar handbag department at Nordstrom or Harrods’s or Galeries Lafayette and your golden goose will flap its wings a few times and fall right over dead (next to the overdue credit card bills) on your snazzy $10,000 dining room table.

Children born in Rat years are luckier if their birthdays come in sum¬mer. They will not have to dig through the snow for provisions and can benefit from sultry sunshine to make the hay that they will so need to have stored away for the long, cold winter ahead.

WHAT WILL THE EARTH RAT YEAR BE LIKE

FOR EACH CHINESE SIGN?

RAT

Your year at last! 2008 begins a whole new cycle of Chinese animal signs and, as usual, you are leading the pack. Directly following the New Year, life will seem suddenly more fluid. Bumps in the road will even out for you and people you thought you could never get along with are all of a happy sudden on your side. Profit from every possible angle you can wangle. But come April watch out for a tendency to let down your guard and go slack when you should be quicker on the draw. Toward June, romance will increase in intensity and want to become engagement. Commitment beckons. Then marriage is nigh. Don’t hold off. If you feel you have found “The One”, then go ahead and tie the knot. Real estate will doubtless become a preoccupation this year. You current property/ies is/are too costly, meaning that the real estate that you own or rent and inhabit either doesn’t suit your lifestyle or work well with your commute or else it simply clashes with your taste. Find a new place to live that is appropriate not only to your needs – but to your pocketbook. Before winter sets in, lay in stores. You will be needing them around Christmas time when shortages loom. Keep in mind that, overall, your main objective this year is to carefully plot out the next dozen years of your life. Where do you want to be in twelve years? With whom will you be living? How much do you want to be earning and will you prefer the city or the country? You have twelve long years to get where you want to go with whom and for how much. Think ahead and be extra calculating. Make major long term decisions in 2008. And don’t look back. Life is too short to regret missed opportunities that are probably out of fashion anyway. Stay alert. Leap into new projects with your usual enthusiasm, but hold the reckless abandon.

Rats covet power and they often get it. Whether in relationships, in government positions or in business dealings, Rats seek dominion and go after it tooth and claw. This coming year fairly reeks of the Rat’s powerful influence. But that pungent smell doesn’t bother you Oxen too much. You were born with a keen sense of your own strength and haven’t had to struggle, as the Rat perpetually does, to gain and maintain control. In your case, control comes with the territory. Because the Rat’s drive for supremacy doesn’t threaten Ox people, you usually cruise right through Rat years without missing a beat. Beware, early this year, of developing symptoms of emotional stress. Your private life lacks satisfaction and this dearth of sexual or romantic excitement may cause you to doubt your ability to maintain relationships. My advice? Stop listening to detractors. Clamp your front hooves over your ears and refuse to hear anything negative in your regard. Remember (when you can’t sleep at night) that you are the one pulling this plow under your own steam. Listen to the force of your inner voice. That’s where your self-confidence is lurking. Way deep inside. Snatch it. Gobble it up. And go back to sleep.

Rats move quickly. You tend to advance more slowly. But for you, it’s constructive to march to the pokey cadence of your own inner drummer. This year, from the outset, you will be encouraged to accumulate wealth, nurture your crops and tend to your family’s harmony. In the Autumn, tension may threaten your professional life. It will no doubt come from a person born in a Dragon or Rabbit year. Keep your ears pricked up for signs of nasty backbiting and subterfuge in the wings at the workplace. Someone would like to see you fail. By November, if there is no improvement in the situation, take pains to actively discourage that person’s desire to do you in. Even if you must use force, this is one battle you do not want to lose. But be wise. And subtle. Strategize. Prepare. You are not one to enjoy playing games. But this time, the prize will be worth the departure from your usual bulldozer style.

TIGER

As you no doubt already know, whether in relationships, in business or government or even in stupid traffic! – the Rat seeks to dominate. For you Tigers, this peculiar Rat character trait is both un-nerving and irritating. You find Rat years tedious. You really hate it when someone who isn’t you feels like pushing his or her weight around. But do not allow tedium to get in the way of your survival instinct. Prepare to scrimp a bit and tighten your stripes. You will in any case be on the move. Wherever you go it seems you are being given options: new ways to make a living or chances to join a prestigious group or opportunities to be creative or to enhance your public image. Basic trusts can be broken in these years. You are not usually avid to be the one in control. Being the titular boss, who answers yammering phone calls and e-mails in an office all day long and waits for employees to show up at yawn-filled meetings would send you straight into a coma. But the Rat does not necessarily know this about you. You appear so strong and so sure of yourself that the terminally insecure Rat feels threatened. Hence your life in this coming year may prove to be less than delightful. The Rat could try to thwart even your most innocent of desires for self-governance, belittle your cleverest notions and may even sabotage your plans. There is also the possibility of chronic illness developing in a close friend, associate or member of your family. You will be called upon to deal with it. And you will. Another hint? Don’t be tempted to ally yourself with any Rats. The Rat not only wants power. He or she wants to be the sole owner of that power. Rats are hoarders and savers. You are the spendier, devil-may-care guy or woman who believes that money grows on trees and that so long as you keep changing forests, there will always be more ready cash hanging from the branches. Conflict between your splurging spirit and the Rat’s desire to stash will arise. Advice? Plan to travel and make changes this year. Don’t bother to try to save money. You don’t know how.

CAT/RABBIT Not the most encouraging of years for you Cat/Rabbit people. Why? Because the Rat tends to envy your settled, secure lifestyle and would not in the least mind turning it on its head. Rats love drama and excitement. Like you, they are budget-conscious. But they don’t settle down the way you do. They crave (and often create) havoc and excitement. You favor safety over histrionics and will opt for simple jaunts in the countryside instead of choosing excitement for its own sake. Of course, you are the more sagacious of the two signs. You prefer not to have to enter any fray or conflict to get what you want and always seek to avoid belligerence. Rats are forever stalking dominance and are unafraid of confrontation. I advise Cat/Rabbits not to perform any public stunts which will attract attention to them during this sharp-edged year. It’s not the moment to run for mayor of your town or even to seek the presidency of your Bridge club. Nor is the Rat year a time for you to splurge on antiques, classic vehicles or mansions in high end neighborhoods. Anxiety may prevail as well because of on and off tensions present in this coming year which will evolve mostly from dissension in some part of your private life. Either you are married and experiencing a classic “rocky” period. Or you are not married and long to be, but can’t get along with the intended for more than a week without quarreling. As you despise conflict, you flee. In your absence, she or he meets someone else. Now you are thoroughly upset, so you return on pitty pat paws to reclaim your territory. And what do you discover? A love triangle. More discord. Further controversy. And perhaps even a fight! Hang in there. Rat years are never wonderful for the Cat/Rabbit’s love life. To change the subject radically, your finances could come under some scrutiny from the tax authorities. Better to lie low and while away weekends listening to classical music, reading history books or polishing your antique clocks. Around November, you very well might enjoy a fling or two with someone charming and frankly, openly sexy. Take pains to protect your reputation for refinement and good taste. Money, this year, should not be scarce. Most Cat/Rabbits are known for their ability to see around corners in dodgy markets.

DRAGON

Here comes a bonanza year for you personally. Nobody admires your dashing self more than the canny Rat. And the feeling is often mutual. You will be awash in propositions for new projects and called upon to direct (the job you love best) everything from the village orchestra to the Neighborhood Watch. You are a rising Star in this Rat year, and what’s more, you can feel it. A rush of approval and freewheeling comes over you about mid-March and won’t leave until the end of next January. Take wise advantage of the opportunities presented to you because they are almost all excellent chances for the betterment of both your financial and personal life.

An enticing love interest appears about halfway through the year. If you are otherwise attached, beware of temptation. The person in question is most seductive and what’s more is magnetized by your charisma. If you are not hitched, go for it – give him or her the full Dragon treatment: gifts, rings, trips to exotic venues and cozy nights by the fireside. So much for the positive aspects of the Rat year. On the other side, toward the summer holidays, family members’ needs may impinge on your time. Lavish some of that precious Dragon time on those in need of your moral support. But don’t be tempted to shower them with funds. Don’t let the syrupy sentimental side of your nature take over and drive you to begin any useless squandering. Don’t make meaningless sacrifices. You have better things to do with your money in Rat years than bail people out of gambling debt or lend your new BMW to your shiftless brother-in-law who lost his license for drunk driving. You may however have to take charge of everything to do with a flailing member of your clan this year. Somebody in your immediate home life has lost his or her bearings and needs a few Dragon coaching sessions. Encourage and boost. But resist the urge to preach. It’s likely the person in question is depressed. If the condition persists, make them seek professional help.

SNAKE

Your health and well-being are in better fettle this year. All the physical ills you were suffering last year will dissipate in the salutary ambiance of the protective Rat. Nevertheless, trouble will be afoot in your financial sector. Hide that checkbook, scissor your credit cards and politely refuse the over draught privilege at the bank. Although you will start the year with a sense of plenty and even continue it in ample sufficiency, you will stumble on some unexpected cracks in the sidewalk toward the end of the year. You should begin putting money away for the future and stop the buying frenzies. Shopping may be tranquilizing for you while it’s happening. But when those hair-raising credit card bills and excessive mortgage payments start avalanching into your mailbox, it will be bye bye to serenity and hello to all night nail-biting sessions. In the professional sector, there will be no more obstacles to prevent you from making sudden huge strides. Your talents and abilities will be more in demand than you ever dreamed was possible. You could even become an overnight star or experience a giant breakthrough in an area of expertise that you hitherto imagined was closed to you. As the Pig year was less than clement for most Snake people, the Rat year will come as a grand relief. Little by little you will feel renewed and energetic. With this new dynamic, you will be able to shed many of the preconceived notions you harbored about your entourage. Too much emphasis has been put on your family situation for the past 12 months. Now it’s time to attack career goals and make them happen for you and your loved ones’ benefit. The Rat is a nervy sort and that sizzling edginess which emanates from inside the very vector of this year, can cause you to occasionally doubt the loyalty of your partner. Not to worry. You are sufficiently loved and admired. This year, make no major purchases. Invest only in what you can actually afford. Otherwise, when next year rolls around, you will be paddling against the current for twelve long, frazzled months

HORSE

Don’t expect any jolly miracles to come waddling down the trail to greet you this year. Rats and Horses are notorious enemies. Between you, there is usually an initial attraction, a brief honeymoon period and then a swift slide into bickering and eventual schism. Rats like power. You refuse to be told what to do. Get the picture? Rats need to surround themselves with people they can feel protective of, look after and give direction to. In short, Rats need to dominate their friends and family in some way or other: financially, intellectually or with pure authority for its own sake. There is nothing worse for you Horses than to feel smothered by some meddling outsider who sticks his or her nose into everything you get up to. Horses crave freedom and thrive on independence. Should you hanker to buy a new home, build an extension on the one you have or invest in a second residence on a Caribbean island, put it off till next year. Everything to do with visas and passports, building permissions and zoning permits will be fraught with delay. You execrate paperwork. Filling out forms is torture for you. You do not fancy rendering accounts to anyone whatsoever. So in this Rat year, you had better remain in the wings. Don’t attempt any great stunts or public displays of your talents. Of course you probably won’t follow my advice anymore than you would follow the Rat’s instructions. You Horses can be led to water but we cannot make you take even one tiny sip if you don’t want to. No amount of coaxing or blackmail or guilt trips will make you ingest a drop. So Horses mine, this coming Rat year will be a bit of a trudge. Low profile time. Take off to the countryside with your main squeeze and spend the time thinking about the heft deals you will pull off when the Goat year rolls around. But as you will not heed my counsel . . . as they say for good luck in the theater “Break a leg.”

GOAT

You inventive Goats are hard put to make much a of (of a) personal statement in this year. Being dictated to by a Rat doesn’t have a positive effect on you devil-may-care creatures. You are always willing to oblige when asked politely to perform. But when someone literally kicks you in the rump and orders you to get a move on, you either buck or back away in fear and loathing. You may feel misunderstood and sulky this coming year. You definitely don’t feel like painting the Mona Lisa or re-inventing pizza. Expect to have to deal with some productive pain. The beginning of the year (until mid July) will be freighted with petty miseries of an emotional nature. Fallout or remnants from a past romance or spent passion want to haunt your aura. Unfinished business. The feelings may manifest in the form of insomnia or nightmares. Or they may simply present as free-floating anxiety. My advice? 1) Build yourself an armor of spiritual awareness thought meditation, yoga or even martial arts. Your soul (not your mind) needs a boost. 2) Actively seek new romantic interests. Mix with people in groups or find them online. Attend parties and functions where you stand a chance of meeting someone new and “possible”. Do not sit on your hands and worry or lose sleep over past blunders. What is gone is gone. Better prospects are on the way come September. By that time you should have begun to emerge from all angst. Make an effort to look your best at work. You can expect to be promoted this year. All supplementary professional efforts will be rewarded. You may quietly pursue your pet creative projects at home in a protected environment where you feel safe and cared for. But stay out of the spotlight. Rat years are no time for building a reputation as the genius you often are. Hang in there and love will come trotting along in the Autumn of this year. Someone sweet and strong (a Pig if you’re lucky) will be overcome with a stunning admiration for you. This love interest will appear out of nowhere . . . a restaurant, a public beach or even on an escalator going the other direction. Don’t miss out. Say “yes” to the urge to take up with this sterling character.

MONKEY

For Monkeys in this year, it’s all systems go. After wading through a couple of challenging years, you are finally entering a gentler period. All year, you will feel understood and admired. Rats and Monkeys get on like a pair of matched socks. The Rat is an emotional sort who often has problems making decisions. Should I buy a red car or a blue one? Marry a Dragon or a Tiger? Take that new job offer or stay in my current position? How should I configure my life now that my parents are no longer around? What should I wear to the ball? By now, we all know that any time one is in the throes of a dilemma big or small, the solution is to dial-a-Monkey for assistance. Monkeys cannot solve their own problems all that readily, but they are masters at helping others to make quick, workable choices. So in a Rat year, you Monkey people will find yourselves being called upon to give advice, to sort out thorny issues or to untwist the knickers of someone whose temper has him or her in a state of advanced frenzy. You can always figure out how most gracefully to exit a dilemma. Should you have in mind to begin a huge project, build a new home, start a business, write a novel or take a trip around the world, this is the year to undertake that endeavor. Don’t keep destiny waiting. Put yourself in gear directly when the year begins in February. Make every day count toward producing something that expresses who you are. You have been waiting long enough. Take advantage of the propitious aspects surrounding you. Strike while the iron is hot. If you need to borrow money or stay with relatives in Beijing or Paris or use someone’s garage workshop to invent a better mouse trap, do not hesitate to ask. You will be given a leg up at every turn. Power grabbing is a big part of this year’s agenda. As you are the opposite of power hungry and don’t even want to risk being in the forefront, you are not in competition with the authority-hungry Rat. You might want to consider taking out a better insurance policy against theft and accidents. There is a chance that while you are building a new flying machine or sailing single-handedly around the world, a robbery, a flood or a fire might take place. Not to worry unduly. Just be sure your insurance premiums are paid up.

ROOSTER

Protect the savings you have worked so hard to store up. The Rat does not dislike you, but has little time this year to while away in your company. Cut back on extravagances. Stop thinking you can just blithely fly off any old where, spend a few days enjoying yourself in Paris or Marrakech or Bali and still be able to make those car payments. You Roosters are not very flexible and tend to crowd yourselves into a corner. If you’re working, then the job becomes the only thing you can think about or do. You obsess, overwork and can burn out very quickly. Then, of course, you feel sorry for yourself and decide that you are owed a break. But once again, instead of just lying down and reading a fat novel for a couple of days at home, you must move about. So you jet off to just the place you fancy with just the right climate and the tastiest food and the best people. Then, as soon as you are there, you start shopping up all the money you earned whilst overworking and burning out. Is this beginning to sound like a pattern?

Well, the Rat year is a good year for you Rooster people . . . but only if you break this madcap pattern of yours and espouse rest and relaxation in your own surroundings. Sit still for heaven’s sake. Welcome the opportunities that waft your way. Of course, if you are never at home, you won’t be there to receive them, will you? There are movements afoot in your career which can set certain things to rights that may have gone awry in the past. You want out of something. You have finished a portion of your existence in a job or a business or even in a relationship and you want to see that engagement come to an end. The currents in the work place are flowing in the direction you need right now. But if you keep fleeing the work place and ignoring those subtle changes, you may miss the boat. The changes may take a few months to hatch. So to distract yourself from the tedium you so fear, take breaks during the day. Go for a big walk. Get three (thee?) to the gym or to tai chi or yoga classes. Meditate. Take Pilates classes. And instead of squandering your hard-earned burnout cash on air travel and wine, put a bunch away in the bank and let it earn you some interest. The message? Slow down, kick back and thrive. Keep on racing breakneck willy nilly and you will live to rue the day.

DOG

The Rat year will be absent the idealism necessary to spur Dogs into action. You Dogs find these years superficial and tritely material. This Rat year will not be your most productive. Why? Because you are basically unlike the Rat. Dog people are more high-minded than mercenary. It’s just the opposite with Rats. Rats seek power and stash cash. Dogs like to have some power too but for entirely different reasons. And money? Not really a priority for Pooches, except as a means to an end. Dogs only go after authority and loot if it gives them the necessary clout to effect social change. The Dog presidents or leaders of the pack in any organization want

to see justice done. They rule to improve the world their way – not

just to order people about. Rats rule to rule. So in this Rat year, you

Dogs may bark as stridently as you wish, but no matter how fiercely

you yap, you won’t get much further than the bottom of your garden.

The Rat simply doesn’t give a damn for what you care about. So be extra careful not to make mistakes or cause them to be made by others. You are borderline paranoid anyway and are normally an overly cautious person. But this year circumstances may crop up that make you feel you have slipped up or blundered. This feeling certainly doesn’t help you regain lost self-confidence. But take heart. Next year will turn all of this around. Meanwhile, keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole. We learn from our mistakes. Make sure you have taken stock of those lessons. Your personal life should be carefully monitored in August. Betrayal by a family member lies in wait. As it’s a family matter, this fundamental issue is probably either about money or property (or both). It might also concern a young adult child who is threatening to leave school or home. Nip this in the bud by taking the time to talk it through and offering just alternatives. Do not despair. The Rat year is not all bad for Dogs. You may not feel that you are making much progress. But at least you are learning and maintaining the status quo. In Rat years, that’s about as much as any Dog can ask for.

PIG

Rat years can be mostly fun for Pig people. Best of all, you are free of last year’s responsibilities and have begun your own new 12 year period of self-realization. This year is yours to enjoy. Let the Rat run the show. The Rat is a protector of those he loves. And he really digs Pigs. You Pigs possess a brand of personal power that the power-hungry Rat respects. You are your own person. You depend on nobody and you know what you like and go after it in life. Rats are quite similar in that way. They are go-getters and are unafraid to take the reins and drive their own existence – their way. But Rats do not own the rustic peacefulness of Pigs. Rats are more like urban dwellers than country folk. They live at a frenzied pace, are nervous and chatty and needful of admiration from others. Pigs don’t much hurry. Nor do they care who admires them. They just carry on tra la la with their conviviality and their taste for the authentic and comfortable in life. Rats also work at a frenzied speed and if things are not moving quickly enough, they can tantrum out in the twitch of a whisker. Pigs, on the other hand, handle inter personal affairs with great diplomacy, take their time about things and rarely freak out. Aside from minor health issues which tend to crop up in summer, you Pigs can be comfortable this year in the knowledge that you are protected and admired and respected. It is however incumbent upon you to perform economically (which implies putting the brakes on squanderous abandon). The Rat demands you make wise investments or none at all. Control excessive gourmandise and don’t forget to invite Rat people to all your country dinner parties. Let your Rat friends chat up the guests and take home the leftovers. That way, you Pigs can lose some weight and gain extra points with King Rat. Do much thinking about your 12 year program. After last year’s planning sessions, you ought to have some idea where the next dozen years want to take you. Be certain not to fritter away precious time hunting for treasure in posh antique shops and art galleries. Don’t take up with lazy people who want your assistance more than your affection. Don’t be distracted by idle flattery. Stay ruthlessly on your own path.

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Get Into Selling Your Collectibles Online

monavida — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:02:02 +0000

Fads come and go and fashion is always on the rise, but in the world of collectors there are certain items which remain valuable on a monetary and personal level. These collectibles range from action figures and miniature cars to porcelain plates, toy decorative dolls, and vintage cameos. They may even be worth a fortune like rare paintings, first-edition books, and trading cards.
In a way, collectibles are an extension of people’s lives. They reflect just how much a person is into a certain activity or just how much value he put into these items. Like to name suggests, collectibles require you to invest an extensive amount of your time, money, and effort into acquiring them. They do not take one or two attempts to shop and gather. You search for them at auctions and sometimes you run into them at antique shops by design or fate.
The first step to selling your collectibles online would be to get your own domain name and create your own website. Organize your site by uploading photos of your collectibles with a short but detailed description of each item. By using techniques in positioning or angling each item and in giving the right light and shade to it without airbrushing, on your own, you could create great photos that would capture interest. Pictures are meant to give a view of its authenticity to trained collector eyes, to show what condition it is in, and to generate attention to the highlights of each item.
You could also choose from many online websites and maximize on offers for free advertising and web space where you could strategically post your collectibles. You would just have to make do with some pop-ups and ads but that’s how the dynamics of the net operates.
Broaden your horizons further by finding those forums, message boards, and mailing lists where collectors and enthusiasts gather and huddle to regularly read, post, and inquire on your kind of collectibles. Search engines like Yahoo and Goggle or widely-used networks like AOL are a good place to begin.
Find out who’s simply hanging out and who’s seriously buying. The collectibles you’re willing and raring to give up could be the very items certain buyers consider rare and are on the look-out for. You could supply that demand out there in the online market.
Keep updated on what’s going on out there in the market and set competitive prices for your collectibles. When it comes to the actual negotiations, it’s you who finally decides the lowest price at which you are willing to sell your collectibles.
Lastly, come to terms with parting with your collectibles. You should have gradually done so even before the moment you actually decided to sell them. Collectibles are designed to give pleasure and direction to your life but they’re not the end-all of your existence. At one time or another, you may have to let go of bits and pieces or all of your collection to improve your finances. You could also be flowing with the current lifestyle trend towards minimalism.
On a lighter note, you may be giving up your collectibles to give way to more space in your house and new energy in your life. You are only as young as your next hobbies and interests.

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10 Facts About Collecting Barbie Dolls

monavida — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:48:07 +0000

Would you like to see thousands of Barbies priced at $1 and up? Lots of accessories, clothing doll houses and more also. See them here:http://www.collectbarbiedolls.com
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Dzi Beads – Divine Gemstone of Tibet for Personal Feng Shui

monavida — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:18:37 +0000

Over the last 20 years, increasing numbers of private stone collectors have rekindled the appreciation of Dzi gemstone. Tibetans and many around the world have known dzi as a living gemstone of lifetime divine blessing. The power (cosmic energy. natural magnetic field) of antique Dzis is the strongest. The older it is, the more easily you can feel its energy with your bare hands. The motif/design on the dzi is according to eon old explanation passed down by many generations.

Dzi beads have very fascinating and esoteric associations. It is believed to possess the power to bring wealth and good fortune, and it can protect the wearer from illness, injury and evil. This is strange but true as many, even in present, who are wearing dzi benefits from its magical powers. It can guard an individual against misfortune and bring unprecedented blessings. It is proven by testimonials from our clients that dzi have brought compassion, prosperity, health, luck, protection, healing of the heart and soul, happiness into their life.

Dzi enjoys great popularity around the world and can be worn by people from all walks of life regardless age, gender, religion, status and it is a personal feng shui enhancement natural gemstone for :

DZI KINGDOM is an established (since 2004) Dzi Gemstone collection house with 10 years of experience, history and cultivated expertise showcasing invaluable Antique Dzis of the Himalayan. Our company have expanded our horizons to being the first Dzi specialized centre in worldwide. One can find an impressive display of rare and antique collection in our showroom or website with the help of our team gemologist.

Rest assured that dzi purchased can only be found in Dzi Kingdom. The Golden Eye Dzi are antique vintage dzis with superior quality Tibetan Jadeite the highest grade ever used for dzi not since hundreds of years ago. Available ONLINE and our showroom.

http://www.dzikingdom.com

Dzi Kingdom Arts & Crafts (Co. Reg. No. 001612540-H)

S-017 Second Floor, North Court (Opps Jusco)

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Lingkaran Syed Putra

57200 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Daily 10am – 10pm

Masters in Metaphysical Science, Xuan Kong, Numerology and Feng Shui. Having 12 years experience in collecting and travelling the Himalayas for the most priced and rarest Dzi Beads – A divine gemstone from Tibet.
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Ebay Guru Skip Mcgrath Endorses Daryle Lambert’s Book

monavida — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:39:14 +0000

There is no better feeling than to be confirmed in your passion by a person you consider a giant in the field. When someone goes out of their way to recognize the effort that you have expended, that deserves a heart felt thanks.

This is what happened to us at the 31 Club yesterday, when Skip McGrath of Auction Seller’s Resource wrote a review of our book, “31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles.” Skip is unquestionably one of the most recognized people today who has the pulse of eBay in his grasp. I have admired his efforts through his Auction Seller’s Resource. He has provided others with necessary information on the highest and best use of eBay, and in doing so, has prospered the lives of many, helped employees become business owners, and enabled them to better provide for their families.

With his permission I share his book review with you:

“I discovered a great little gem of a book called 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques and Collectibles. Actually I didn’t discover the book; it discovered me when the author called me asking me to review the book. He sent me a copy (it’s a printed book –not an eBook). The book is written by Daryle Lambert, who has years of experience in the business. The book is grossly under priced considering the valuable information it contains as well as free membership in his 31Club that comes with every purchase.

Actually I have it backwards. What you do is pay a one-time membership to join the 31 Club – 31 Steps To Building Personal Wealth Step by Step with Fine Art, Antiques & Collectibles, then the book is mailed out to your for free. This is not an affiliate program (I wish it was because I enjoy making money from things I can really stand behind). I spent about 15 years in the antiques and collectible field and I can tell you this is one of the best books you will ever read about making money with art, antiques and collectibles. The book and membership is available at www.31corp.com.”

To my amazement, as soon as the review hit his newsletter and website, our computer began to register hits and orders. This is a great testimony to the strength of his position in the market place and in the confidence people have in his recommendations. The tools and information that Skip provides for professional auction sellers is almost limitless. You can find Skip at www.skipmcgrath.com.

About Daryle S. Lambert:

Daryle S. Lambert has been a collector and dealer for over 40 years. During that time, his entrepreneurial endeavours have included starting businesses in real estate, oil exploration, and financial securities.

Throughout his career, his love of collecting and dealing in antiques, collectibles, and fine art paintings has remained a constant source of enjoyment and profit. Author of “31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles,” he is also leader of the book’s

spin-off 31 Club, the only club of its kind in the industry. In addition to learning about antiques, 31 Club members learn about buying and selling profitably, and then learn to invest their profits within the industry to build lasting wealth. His daily Blog appears on the company website: www.31corp.com

Mr. Lambert is available for interviews by contacting:

Cindy Stackler Nieder.

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Which Online Business Course Is Right For You?

monavida — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:23:44 +0000

When you want to start an online business you have to plan what you’re going to do and stick with that plan. An online business, whether part-time or full-time is a very crucial thing to consider because of the amount of hard work and dedication you have to contribute.
When choosing an online business system, you have to evaluate the opportunities and find the one that suits you the most and work on it. There are many different prospects online and many more will arrive in time to come. This is because the internet is constantly changing and you have to keep up with current trends in order to be on the same level as everyone else.
There are many different systems online by various successful internet marketers who each and every one of them has their own set of plans to succeed. Their mindset and teachings may clash with the courses taught by other internet marketers. Hell, I wouldn’t want my copywriting teachings to clash with let’s say, adsense. Thus it is very important that you evaluate these systems first, before proceeding on to one mentor and system to master and stick with it throughout your whole internet marketing career.
There are many well-known online business courses and I’m going to talk a little bit about them.
Copywriting
Considered by far as one of the most profitable businesses online, copywriting is an ultimate skill that you can learn to master in order to boost sales and profit. You can apply it to many different forms like salescopies, e-mails and newsletters. It is basically an art of direct response advertising that can boost sales by almost 63%, because of the ways and skill like advanced mind control techniques used, to make a customer buy that product. Copywriters are always needed by organizations offline to increase sales. On the internet for that matter, you can always depend on copywriting to heavily promote your own product or other people’s product as an affiliate.
Affiliate Marketing
If you do not have the means and ways to make your own products, why not promote others? There are millions of products online, whether physical or digital for you to promote and once there’s a sale, you may earn commissions from it. The greatest thing of all about affiliate marketing is that you do not have to worry about the payment mode, the shipping costs, customer services etc. An example of the places where you can find products to promote is at Clickbank.com and Amazon.com. You only need to set up a website/blog with great content, bring traffic into it, apply copywriting methods if need be, set up a link to that promotes that product, and if a customer buys the product from your link, the company would provide commissions to your affiliate account.
However, doing affiliate marketing is easier said than done. You have to learn a lot of techniques and skills that can help you get started. With an astounding mentor, you can learn how to drive traffic to your site, learn what search engine optimization is, what RSS feeds are etc. It takes around 1-2 months to properly learn and administer these techniques in order to succeed as an affiliate marketer.
Adsense
Adsense is a programme by Google in which you can generate advertising revenue. Basically, when you have set up a website/blog with great content, you may set up a small part of your site reserved for Google Ads. The great thing about this system is you do not have to worry about what kind of ads Google places in your website, as the GoogleBot will have a look at your site and see what topics or niche you’re referring to, and it will place ads that are relevant to that site. For every click a person makes on the Google ads, you will receive an estimated amount of 40 cents. To get the best out of adsense, you have to learn the optimal places to place the ads, what sizes they should be, the font, color etc in order to get the maximum click through rate.
Online Auctions
Online auction sites such as eBay or Yahoo! Auctions have made people around the world become successful entrepreneurs. The great thing about auction sites is to sell the products that people halfway around the world could rarely get. For example, a handmade antique statue of Krishna from India needed by an antique collector in the US. You can also sell products that are cheaper than other places to save cost. If you’re selling physical products, you have to learn how to take images of the product, the shipping rates, traveling time, drop shipping, terms and conditions etc. You may find certain books that help you in setting up and maintaining a successful online business on online auctions.
You may find out more about other internet business courses available and think about what you realize you should do in starting up an online business.

Jo Han Mok is a #1 bestselling author and a masterful planner in developing successful online business courses. Find out how he can make you discover the internet millionaire within! Visit his website at http://www.internetmillionairecode.com
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My Favorite Three Picks for the Best Antique and Vintage Jewelry Price Guides and Authors

monavida — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:39:43 +0000

I have been collecting Antique and Vintage Costume and Fine Jewelry for over three decades. Most of what I bought was from the Saturday and Sunday flea markets at the local drive-in theater and at a once a month massive open air antique market held in the mountains near where I grew up. I never paid much, a quarter here, a dime there and sometimes a few dollars however over the years until I really became a serious collector, I probably had no more than $500.00 in an amazing collection of over 2,500-3,000 pieces.

Over the years I have collected many types of jewelry. At first it was bracelets, then rings and when I got out of college and pursued my career as an interior designer, I found pins and earrings to be practical and suitable. In the mid-60’s to early 70’s I bought a lot of colorful and heavy “plastic” pieces and most were bracelets. I just loved the dull clunk they made when they hit against my desk… well I am sure you know where this is going… you’re right most were Bakelite. One in particular is a wonderful art deco black, red, orange, yellow and green fins clamper bracelet and it is like having a carnival on your arm. It fits great and feels sturdy andit brings me joy. It wasn’t until I received Harrice Simons-Miller 2002 third edition Official Price Guide to Costume Jewelry, that I realized the bracelet is called “Philadelphia” and has a market value of up to $5,000 making it the Holy Grail of Bakelite jewelry.

I also became quite passionate for the charm bracelets made in the 1960’s by Napier. At one point I had over 30 of them and I rarely wore them I just loved holding them. I had the colored fruit, the Asian theme, and my favorites was the marine theme with seashells and seahorses. Over the years I paid between $1.00 – $5.00 each for them and in early 2000, I sold them individually on eBay for $125.00 and up to 245.00 each. What a great return, right. Well yes but a day does not go by that I regret selling them. They gave me more happiness than the monies they brought.

As I became more sophisticated in my jewelry search I began to love all things Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg, Pennino and Boucher. All of these names seemed to come with a higher price but still affordable and all quite luxurious. Then there came Staret, McClelland-Barclay, Schreiner, Dujay, DeMario, Reja, Deja and Alfred Philippe and Alfred Spaney’s extra special pieces made for Crown Trifari. Needless to say I was smitten and would never turn back. After a while and as I was getting older, I started to understand the beauty of 19C Victorian and Art Nouveau and in particular the mourning pieces made during and after the Civil War. The Art Deco period pieces also caught my attention because of their architectural angled designs. Well enough about me…

Throughout the years it was truly guesswork as to what I should pay for a piece and then the harder part came when trying to find out how much a piece was worth. As a result I found that the public library had many jewelry price guides and I poured through them all for days on end and would pick out my next piece I was obsessing for. Through this research, I found three authors who stood out as being the best at giving the right information for just about anything you might need to know as an antique and vintage costume and fine jewelry collector or dealer.

The first is Jeanenne Bell. Jeanenne Bell has been on Antiques Roadshow as a jewelry appraiser and is one of America’s leading authorities on antique jewelry. She has written many books and the first book I bought of hers was “How to be a Jewelry Detective”. This book is filled to the brim with priceless information about the clues to solving jewelry mysteries. She gives easy to understand tips for testing materials, gem cuts, hardware and findings throughout the ages, marks and a whole lot more. I have recommended this book to literally 100’s of my buyers on eBay who may not be sure what gutta percha is, or is it ivory or bone and what is a briolette cut stone. She answers them all and she even has a small pocket size field guide to take along to the shops and flea markets.

My favorite book of hers is Collecting Victorian Jewelry which is a real treat for the eyes and is beautiful enough to be left out for others to peruse. In this book she shows an amazing range of incredible museum quality pieces of Costume and Fine jewelry. Each piece is a work of art and each has an easy to understand description and value assigned. She imparts the history associated with the Victorian era and who all of the main characters were. She enlightens the reader about this period in time that was all about romance, passion and heartache. Very good read and a very good aid to the serious period piece collector.

My next favorite author is Harrice Simons-Miller. I have two of her price guides, Costume Jewelry 2nd edition and Official Price Guide to Costume Jewelry 3rd edition. What I love about her books is that she knows her stuff as it relates to costume jewelry dating from early Art Deco up to the present. Her books are very good for identifying the major players in the costume and fashion design industries. She really clarifies what each jewelry designer’s signature look is and her photographs and descriptions will give you an edge when you are out in the field. Her values are truly representative of retail in fine antique or jewelry boutiques and give the reader the parameters as to what to spend to get your jewelry collection “fix”. She has bought from me on eBay on a couple of occasions and each piece she purchased was always a little odd and unexpected, making me think she knew of or was creating a trend which others were yet aware.

My third favorite author is Roseann Ettinger. She has a series of price guides that are not only about jewelry but other vintage collectibles with a lot of concentration on fashion and the fifties. Her jewelry price guides include her “popular” series and include “Forties and Fifties Popular Jewelry”, “Popular Jewelry of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s” and my all time favorite of hers “1840-1940 Popular Jewelry” the revised 3rd edition. Her price guide covers jewelry pieces that you actually might come across and be able to own for not a lot of money. Unlike Bell and Simons-Miller who are showing museum quality and hard to find pieces, the pieces shown in Ettingers are really quite attainable and I have actually had many of her pieces that she has described. Her photographs are quite large making it easy to see the details of the pieces and she doesn’t dwell on the glitzier side of jewelry but the real down to earth stuff that most of our mothers and grandmothers would have worn.

There are many great costume jewelry price guides out there from Nancy Schiffer, Lillian Baker, Christie Romero for Warman’s, Cheri Simonds, Ronna Lee Atkins and more, but my first three will give the beginner or even well seasoned antique and vintage costume or fine jewelry collector or dealer a well rounded wealth of knowledge and pricing guidelines.

For even more super jewelry tips and great jewelry to buy, visit Vintage Gems Emporium at www.vintagegemsemporium.com. Registration is free and easy.

About the Author: My name is Candace Daugherty and I live near Charleston, South Carolina. I am an entrepreneur and have worked as a retail design and marketing consultant with many internationally known retailers and fashion designers over the past 30 years. My true passion however is Antique and Vintage Costume and Fine Jewelry. I have collected jewelry for over 35 years and own many incredibly fabulous book pieces as shown in the many of the jewelry price guides discussed above.

Since October 1, 2008, I along with three others have founded the first of its kind, an exclusive auction boutique for antique, vintage and new costume and fine jewelry. We started Vintagel Gems Emporium at www.vintagegemsemporium.com with three philosophies in mind. The first is to be a specialty boutique in an Auction Venue just for the collector and specialist of antique and vintage costume and fine jewelry. The second is to be the lowest cost auction or fixed price venue on the internet. And the third is to put the entire Virtual Gems Emporium community first with unbelievable customer service and fair equal treatment of all trading partners.

www.vintagegemsemporium.com

My name is Candace Daugherty and I live near Charleston, South Carolina. Since Mid September -October 2008 I along with three others have founded the first of its kind, an exclusive auction boutique for antique, vintage and new costume and fine jewelry. We started Vintage Gems Emporium at www.vintagegemsemporium.com with three concepts in mind. One, a special boutique environment in an Auction Venue just for the collector and specialist of antique and vintage costume and fine jewelry. Two, to be the lowest cost auction or fixed price venue on the internet. And three to put the entire Vintage Gems Emporium community first with unbelievable customer service and fair equal treatment of all trading partners.
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