By Connie Swaim Circa How can 20 years fly by in the blink of an eye? That’s the question I’m pondering this week, which marks my 20th year with AntiqueWeek. I can still remember the 25-year-old who walked through the front door, holding the leash of a dog. Only I would have my dog with me during what turned out to be the day I would be offered a job, but I couldn’t leave the dog in the car in late August. I came here because Tom and Peggy Mayhill decided it was time to expand their antiquing trade newspaper’s reach. Since 1968, they had published an antiques trade paper. First called The Tri-State Trader, the paper was later renamed AntiqueWeek, and it mainly covered the Midwest. But in 1986, the Mayhills decided they could produce a product for the East Coast. It was a bold move. When they started Tri-State Trader, there wasn’t that much competition in the antiques newspaper trade, but when they decided to expand coverage to the East Coast, there was a lot of competition. The Mayhills advertised in AntiqueWeek that they were looking for an editor. I was married at the time and my husband decided to apply for the job of editor of the new Mid-Atlantic edition of AntiqueWeek (the term Eastern edition came later). I was literally, just along for the ride, which is why the dog was there in the first place. But, Mr. Mayhill wouldn’t let me just sit out in the car, so I was invited in, along with Hoosier, a border collie mix who we stashed in an office that was being remodeled. Hoosier barked the entire time I was in the building. I’m sure this will never make any list of things you should do on an interview, but I actually didn’t know I was getting a job. Mr. Mayhill chatted with me and learned I had a journalism degree and that my parents were antique dealers. When he offered my husband the job, he made it a package deal, and I was hired as assistant editor. Years later, I got divorced, my ex-husband became one of our best free-lance writers, I became editor of the Eastern edition and the rest, as they say, is history. I must confess to being extremely in awe of Mr. Mayhill. Here was a man who had built a newspaper empire in a very small town in the middle of Indiana and he was offering me a job that really sounded too good to be true. I had three newspaper jobs in the three years I had been out of college, when Mr. Mayhill asked me if I wanted a job, I didn’t hesitate. It is a decision I have never once regretted. Many of my college friends have changed jobs quite a few more times than I have, most of them have even changed professions. I’m sure some of them make more money than I do, as journalism isn’t one of your higher-paying industries, but in terms of job satisfaction, I can truly say, I love what I do. I still get up every morning and wonder what interesting thing I will learn. Whenever I walk by our proofreading department, I still hear the faint echoes of Hoosier’s barks, as that’s where he was that day in 1986. Today, as I write this column, Batman, the fourth dog I’ve had since I was hired, sits in his crate and watches me type. Sometimes, Rachel, our production editor, comes down to get him so he can hang out in her office. The passing of my dogs and the youth of my editorial team, are the only signs that truly let me know 20 years have passed. Three of my staff members were under the age of 10 when I first walked up the stairs to my office. The office I sit in now once held three people, something I am still amazed by. Of course, when I first came to work here, I hadn’t accumulated quite as much stuff as I have now. I think I have done more than my fair share of collecting in the last 20 years. When I came to AntiqueWeek, I collected carnival chalkware animal figures. I collected them because I liked animals and more importantly because they were inexpensive. Thank heavens I didn’t invest in carnival chalkware animals hoping to retire, because 20 years later, the market is unchanged. You can still find a kennel full of chalkware animals for under $10 After I accumulated several hundred chalkware animals, I grew tired of that collection and moved on to Monarch Foods. I was captivated by the regal lion, Reid, Murdoch & Co. used on its Monarch Foods label. I faithfully attended the Indianapolis Advertising Show each time it was held looking for something to add to my collection. I collected until I had everything I could afford and what I didn’t have was way out of my price range. Today, thanks to eBay, I can buy many Monarch items for less than what I paid 15 years ago. Then came my passion for Dr. Seuss. As with any of my collections, I jumped into this collecting area with both feet and searched high and low for fresh acquisitions. I still remember the thrill of going to the big Atlantique City show in Atlantic City, N.J., and finding a pot-metal comical looking bird with an outstretched wing that said Hankey Bird. On the back it was embossed Dr. Seuss and it was one of Seuss’ early advertising pieces that he made for a whiskey company to use as a bar display. When I grew tired of Dr. Seuss, I just packed it all up and put it in storage. I’m waiting for the market to come around again, which hopefully it will. This is why when reporters from the general media call me and ask me what people should collect as investments for the future, I always say, ’just collect what you enjoy.’ Not one of my collections has yet to return a profit, but like my job here, I enjoyed collecting each and every one of them. I feel fairly certain, that my collection of stick horses (the kinds with cloth or vinyl heads on the end of a long stick) also won’t bring huge returns, but every morning when I wake up and see the herd of horses corralled in 10-gallon stoneware churn, I can’t help but smile and keep looking for just one more. Before you read this and say, "see, eBay is the downfall of the antiques industry," I don’t believe it. While some of the items I’ve collected have seen their prices decrease due to eBay providing a market correction, I own a horse because I sold a 1912 Indianapolis 500 felt souvenir pennant on eBay and got enough to buy Cisco. I also have bought many of my most prized Parke County postcards on eBay. As a matter of fact, I just spent $4 to buy a 1930 and a 1931 commencement program from Marshall High School in Parke County. The brick building that once housed the high school is now gone, but in the 1960s and ’70s, it served as my elementary school. It is doubtful I would have ever found these programs if it wasn’t for eBay. While the Mayhills sold their publications in 2000 to dmg world media, I see them from time to time. Hopefully, they still get the chance to read the papers and see how much their Eastern edition has grown in the last 20 years. I hope I am here writing a column 20 years from now. I’m sure a different dog will be sitting beside me and by then I’ll be old enough to be the grandmother of most of the people who will be working here, but I can be certain the antiques industry will still be here and still be going strong. |