Today we’d like to introduce you to Karin Phillips.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Karin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 1975 I found myself at age 23 divorced with a three year old daughter, a dog, a cat and very little money. There was an estate auction next door to my apartment in Cambridge. I had $500 cash and bought two antique items. My mother’s best friend was an antiques dealer in Connecticut, so I grew up with a feel for objects. I sold my purchases for a profit to a dealer, and decided this was the path I was going to take.
In 1976 I rented a store front on Broadway in Cambridge with encouragement and mentoring from a well-known Boston antiques dealer, Paul Weiner. Paul gave me antiques on consignment to sell for him, while I continued to build up my own inventory and money. Broadway was known as Cambridge’s antiques block then with Hubley’s Auction gallery, as well as several antique shops.
In 1976 antiques dealer and auctioneer Carl Nordblom came into my shop. He was starting out as an auctioneer. We combined our skills. Carl conducted business with enthusiastic abandon. My vision and attention to detail kept us on track. We both loved antiques and the history surrounding objects. I maintained my shop until 2000, while simultaneously building up a successful auction business.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It is always a struggle to lose money, but that’s how you learn. If you lose money on an item, hopefully, you will not make the same mistake twice.
Another struggle is being constantly aware of what the trends are. Tastes change. In the 1980’s we specialized in American antiques. That market is soft now, so we had to adjust and we now sell a wide range of antiques. The biggest struggle for me personally was the arrival of the internet into the antiques business. I was an elderly person who had to learn about computers. The worse thing, however, is the loss of human, face to face, contact. During an auction there may be as many as 500 global bidders bidding live via the internet.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We conduct three or four auctions a year offering quality American, European, Asian, Latin American works of art, furniture and decorative accessories including silver, oriental carpets, jewelry, and whatever else one may fine in homes. We sell items given to us on consignment, and we also purchase outright.
We are in essence a family business. Our plan was never to get so big that we could not offer personal attention to each of our consignors. There is often a difficult emotional process involved when people are letting go of their, or their loved ones, possessions. We understand this, and the compassion we extend, I feel, is something rare these days.
Profit is necessary for survival, but it has never been our end goal, Integrity and honesty, these were the qualities my parents taught me. When the human connection is lost, we are all lost. I may not have gotten rich, but I always sleep at night.
What were you like growing up?
I was imaginative. I was curious. I have never been bored one minute in my life. I was quiet. I had little fear except that I thought sharks were under my bed. I was sensitive to other kid’s feelings, and always stood up fiercely to protect kids who were being bullied.
I was somewhat of a capitalistic child. I wrote silly plays and musicals and sold tickets. I would make little things, like seashells filled with candle wax, and sell them door to door to neighbors as good luck charms. Things were different in the 1950’s. Kids were free to be outside, by themselves, until it was suppertime. Everything changed after I graduated from the sixth grade.
Both my parents were liberal minded teachers. My much older sister and I were taught to be open minded, and radical if called for. My sister was a civil rights activist who rode one of the first Freedom Ride buses into the segregated South in 1961. In high school I was considered weird because of my political beliefs (or that I even had any), my lack of interest in the usual high school activities, I wrote poetry and loved jazz. I guess I was trying to emulate my sister, who was a certified beatnik. By the time I was thirteen, I had seen Charlies Mingus and Miles Davis at the Village Vanguard in NYC. Being a social outcast was hard, but there was so much more in the world that kept me fascinated and fulfilled that I got through it unscathed.
Contact Info:
- Address: 57 Bay State Road
Cambridge, MA 02138 - Website: www.crnautions.com
- Phone: 617-661-9582
- Email: info@crnauctions.com
Image Credit:
Karin, Grandson Ellis and Samurai
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