Antiquing!

I've never been a huge antiquer.  I've never really seen things that I just had to have, and even when I see things I like, I have absolutely no knowledge of how to evaluate them and if the price is fair.

But.

This is Europe.  According to Eddie Izzard, it's "where the history comes from."  Antiques abound, and they are unique and they are incredibly detailed, and they are rich in history.  I have really enjoyed our antiquing experiences thus far.

We knew we needed furniture when we came to Germany.  We went shopping at some of the local furniture stores.  Hello expensive, and mostly very modern looking.  And, I'm sorry to say, ugly.  NOT impressed with the furniture we have found so far.  I didn't want to overpay for anything with a label of "antique" on it either.

We went to the Hohenfels Bazaar last weekend.  (Vilseck will have their bazaar in 2 weeks!)  This is where we bought all that cheese, but they had all kinds of vendors.  We saw lots of antique dealers.

One was an antique dealer based out of Ramstein who caters to military folks.  All of her stuff was gorgeous and astronomically expensive.
One guy hand made furniture specifically for the bazaars.  Not antique at all.  Not all of it was pretty either.  It was nice and solid though.  No mass produced stuff here.
One couple was from Holland.  (and, it has to be said, reminded me of Gold Member from the "Austin Powers" movie.  "I'm from Holland!  Isn't that weird?"  John and I have been quoting that line ever since last weekend.)  He had great stuff, but not exactly what we were looking for.
(We are looking for something with great storage to display the wedding china as well as polish pottery - so with some glass as well as some pretty detailed carving, in a darker wood.)
Another guy has a store we want to check out as well.  It's up north.  We may still go check him out.

Joe, the guy who was basically our sponsor, told us of his "antique crack dealer."  (not antique crack.  but antiques sold to service his crack like antique addiction.)  We've been meaning to meet this guy for 2 months, but Joe wanted to show us where to meet up with him.  And Joe's schedule can be tricky with 3 kids and a pregger wife.  It was all very "you have to know someone to get in" type of thing.  His dealer's name is Norbert.  He has a "showroom" (a worn old building), as well as two storage shed type areas that are filthy and crammed full of crap.  Sorry, antiques.

But we like Norbert.

It's an adventure to dig through his stash and open drawers, and crawl over things and see what he has.  I felt like I was on "American Pickers."

Except, ya know.  In Europe.

Here are my favorites.  Sorry for the crappy quality - my cell phone was all I had.  And notice all the stuff everywhere.  My goal is to show the furniture.  But all furniture has crap in it.  All of it.  All of the crap is for sale.  (but, of course, he removes the crap when he delivers to you.)

I love this buffet.  It was one of my favorites.  Unfortunately, it was already sold, just not delivered.

I loved loved loved this too.  But then we wrote it off due to it's  massive size.  When we tried to come back to look at it again, another couple snapped it up right in front of us.  Still, we saved about 800 euro by *not* buying this , gorgeous as it is.  And we kept in mind we had very little places to put it.  It is so cool, though.

Here is the owl hutch.  Another absolutely breathtaking piece.  I loved loved LOVED this one.  The carving was so detailed and gorgeous.  But again...ginormous.  AND, unlike the previous hutch, this one was only two pieces, each piece being extremely heavy.  The previous one broke down into 7 or 8 pieces, making transport easier.  We decided we would never get this one up the winding staircase to our apt, and wished we could buy it for the house in Colorado Springs...like we're ever moving there anytime soon.  Also, see that china set in the left window?  That's a complete porcelain china set in fabulous condition.  Another lady with us was eyeing it.  I think she's coming back for it.

Owl hutch, view #2.

THIS is the piece we bought.  It's so much simpler than the other pieces.  (which means it's cheaper too!)  It still has some timeless details, and will display the wedding china well.  (Did I mention the wedding china made it through the move unscathed?  EVERYTHING is in tact and beautiful!  It's a miracle!)  With this piece, we will also have plenty of room to fill it up with Polish Pottery! The key selling point, though, was it's size.  It's a nice size without being overbearingly large.  It will move more easily.  It has some dings, but overall, is in good shape.  We found very little with such good character, or at such a good price among even new furniture.  I'm excited.  We get it delivered next week!

This is the other piece we bought; a small table for our entry way.  It's not super old, but has the character, the look and the feel that I wanted.  I'm happy with it.  

And I may have found another new, addicting (expensive) hobby.  And I haven't even started on the Polish Pottery.  In fact, I think I will just go browse some patterns now....