It was lighter when I left work tonight, which made me feel better. I was also feeling happy because two of yesterday’s medallions (Sir Francis Drake and Grace Kelly) sold overnight. They are now on their way to the customer.
I then started entering more items on eBay. We set ourselves the target of having 1,000 items of stock when I started in the shop, which looked like a big jump from the 600 we then had listed. When you consider the number we’ve sold, we must have entered around 2,000 items to get to this figure.
Here are some of the bits that went on today.
Masonic Past Master’s Jewel – Heaton Lodge, Bolton, Lancashire
RAOB Jewels Lord Balcarres Lodge, Chorley, Lancashire
People collect Freemasons regalia keenly, and though there are collectors for Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (otherwise known as RAOB or Buffs) it isn’t collected quite as keenly. They are both mysteries to me, though they are popular with many people. There are other friendly societies such as the Oddfellows, Druids and Foresters, but their regalia is not so common. Many of them were set up to provide health and insurance benefits for members in the days before the welfare state.
The last bit is a locket with pictures of two Great War soldiers in it – probably brothers, or maybe father and son. It’s had quite a lot of wear and I suspect there is quite a story behind it. We bought it with a Green Howards cap badge but the vendor didn’t know anything about the history. It’s frightening how quickly families forget.
As a man who is interested in the past, it can be an interesting job.
We’re closed until the 2nd January now, but as that is my day off I have four days of leisure stretching ahead of me. I wonder what I should do to fill the time…