January 2010 Newsletter Welcome to another year of browsing and shopping with the ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium’ and ‘Basement Antiques’. We join in wishing you all a great year in 2010 and hope that in some way, we will be able to serve you in the months to come.     The holiday period has come and gone and as we slow down from the frantic lead up to the holidays it is time to look forward to what 2010 will bring. Clearly it will see another year of successful trading for this business, and another year of promoting the ‘green’ aspect of reusing and recycling well presented items from our collective past. Our antiques and vintage items are offered in the hope that they will grace homes as valued and useful items, appreciated for their longevity as much as their intrinsic beauty. We hope that every item we sell allows conservation of out dwindling resources, by using items with minimal carbon footprint compared to the new item alternative.     2010 will also see an increased profile for ‘Basement Antiques’ – we will be encouraging locals and visitors alike, to contact us and arrange viewing of our items – there is nothing quite so satisfying and re-assuring as being able to hold and examine items you are considering buying. For those of you unable to visit – please feel free to contact us and organize additional photography to be sent by email. Photographs on the site are by necessity quite small to allow the site to function efficiently, we are always happy to send through bigger images and different views if requested.     Another strategy to improve customer service has been to expand our secure payment options – we can now accept payment by Visa and Mastercard if preferred to cheque, cash or direct credit to our trading account. We will also be looking to continue our inclusion of useful websites in newsletters this year – this has been a very well received initiative and this newsletter will relist the sites we recommended in 2009. With over 600 items offered for sale we are continually researching the history and source of these treasures – so we often find sites that may prove just as useful to our customers.     For information on ETB Radford pottery visit - http://www.radfordcollect.com/ Or                                                                                http://www.e-radford.info/     For information on Staffordshire pottery:                       http://www.thepotteries.org      For information on Shelley China, visit:                                                                         http://www.nationalshelleychinaclub.com/     For information on Royal Albert China, visit -    http://www.royalalbertpatterns.com/     For information on Crystal and Glassware patterns visit:                                                                         http://www.discontinueddesigns.co.uk/     For information on Silver hallmarks etc visit:      http://www.925-1000.com/     For most of the above you can also visit:                       http://www.replacements.com This year we will be looking forward to sharing sites with information for researching Militaria, metalware, art and any other topic we research for the site.     Once again, our thanks for your interest and support in 2009 and our hope that this continues in 2010. We are always happy to be contacted – either by email –             antiqueemporium@antiqueemporium.co.nz or by ringing Bill on             021 2086860 – overseas callers should ring 0064 212086860 With thanks Bill McPhail for ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium’ and ‘Basement Antiques’

Welcome to the November/December newsletter. 2009 has been a busy and interesting experience - the Antique & Collectable Emporium was conceived, birthed and has moved through infancy toward a promising future. The site now has nearly 600 items for visitors to peruse and consider, and will continue to add new acquisitions as they come to hand. We have moved to more clearly defining our ‘Green' image - highlighting our vision of antiques and collectables, not only being desirable as items of beauty and interest, but also being an environmentally sound choice. Antiques and collectables are already at hand, they do not require the use of diminishing resources to create them and they do not require manufacturing processes which add to the greenhouse gases and similar undesirable emissions. Consumerism, as a movement, has seen the western world create huge landfills with our discarded past and replacing those same items with glossy new options. Without resorting to the Luddite view, we believe that many of the replacement items are inferior quality, both in the materials used and the craftsmanship. Conservation, reuse and recycle are more that modern catch cries, they are endorsements for bringing antiques and collectables back into our homes to use and enjoy. That being said, antiques and collectables will always mean more than just sound economic or environmental sense to many of us - to many of us there is beauty in the form, the style, the craftsmanship and the honest quality. Once again the website has experienced increased traffic - we have continued to grow quite steadily and it isn't unusual to see visits from 6 or 7 different countries each day. Along side our growth on the website, we continue to enjoy the challenge of seeking out pieces that customers are searching for - so far our success rate is very high, which speaks volumes about the range and quality of items that become available in this part of New Zealand. We have also been able to answer quite a few queries on technical issues such as dating items, identifying back-stamps etc. We do this as a free and willingly offered service to our customers, and we continue to seek out website addresses that we think would be interesting and useful to everyone. Basement Antiques continues to be a very well appreciated showroom, and making use of space like this sits well with our over all philosophy of conserving resources and utilising what already exists in creative ways. As yet there is no real justification for staffing the showroom full time - so all openings are by arrangement - feel free to make a time with us and be assured that we do not exert pressure to buy etc - that just hasn't been an issue to date - frankly we enjoy sharing our knowledge and our love of antiques & collectables with anyone of a like nature. We have some very interesting items being readied for listing on the website so please check the site by the end of this week - for Victorian iridescent glass, nouveau and deco items, militaria, one of the finest large Radford jugs we have ever had the pleasure to offer, books and some interesting furniture is also due in soon. On the subject of ETB Radord - try this link for some great information:                         www.radfordcollect.com/    and      http://www.e-radford.info/ both are excellent in our opinion. We hope that ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium' and ‘Basement Antiques' are currently maintaining your interest - if not then let us know - we want to relevant and interesting to all our customers. In the event that this may be the last newsletter of 2009 we would like to wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season. Thank you for your support this year and we look forward to continuing our relationship with you in 2010.

Welcome to our October Update.   It has again been a busy month with a concerted effort to increase the range of goods offered on the website. It looks as though we will have 100+ items added for the month and I think it reasonable to say, that the range of items is now really interesting, with 500+ items to view.   Thank you to those who provided feedback on the site, the service and the overall impression of the site, we have already begun to incorporate your feedback. Please feel free to contact us at any time to suggest improvements, advise us of problems, etc. Our recent questionnaire also gave us a chance to improve our targeting of items to meet requests from individual shoppers. This continues to be a strong element of our service and our success rate is very good. Surprisingly, given New Zealand's physical location, we seem to have a wide range of antique items from most areas of the world, indeed we recently posted off an item to Australia which began its life there, many decades ago.   Basement Antiques continues to be a unique and interesting showroom. Recognising that we all enjoy inspecting the items we are considering owning, the showroom has been an essential addition to our service. Local buyers making increasing use of the showroom and Bill enjoys the opportunity to meet and chat about the items we have researched, and antiques in general. The showroom operates on an as required basis, so appointments to view are required. We recently also had the experience of a visitor bringing in an item for identification and assessment - we are always happy to help with this process and indeed most often can do this as a free service.   Our other recent addition to our services was to include website addresses that we find useful for our research - thank you for the positive response to this and we will continue to provide information of this type as it comes to light. We will also begin recommending a few books that we have found useful, such as:    Valerie Ringer Monk's excellent book "Crown Lynn, a New Zealand Icon" published by Penguin ISBN 0-14-302063-3   Judith Miller's - one of her many excellent books             "Costume Jewellery" published by DK books ISBN 978- 1- 40531-812-9   Camila de la Bedoyere's             "Art Deco - the world's greatest art" published by Flame Tree ISBN 1- 84451-259-2     Of course we also keep adding to our collection of Millers and Carter's each year -  and recommend these as excellent resources - often available at the public library as well as bookshops. If you have a resource you would like to recommend to other, please feel free to contact us and we will endeavour to add it to our newsletters.   Kind regards Bill McPhail for ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium' and ‘Basement Antiques'

September 30th 2009   Hello all September is all but finished and spring continues to push pliant fresh tendrils toward the sun, through winters grey loam. The promise of growth is in the air and the Antique & Collectable Emporium is really matching the season with increasing growth and variety.   We now have over 400 antique, vintage and collectable items for viewing in 20 reworked categories. I hope the reorganisation hasn't impacted on anyone's bookmarks for the site - it was an exercise in part to rationalise the items we were listing as well as ensuring that the website continues to be easy and quick to navigate. Within each category I will be trying to group similar items so that browsing can be as focused as you wish. In addition I have included a short and simple survey to help us understand what your interest areas are and also what we can do to make shopping more attractive for you. Please feel free to be as honest as you can be in this survey - we will be using your feedback to modify the site.   As was said above, we have added more than 100 items this month alone, and I think it is true to say that the variety is exceptional - look for more of the same in coming months. Our specialised searches for items that have been specifically requested, continues to be a growth area. - well worth considering with Christmas approaching.   Basement Antiques has continued to blossom as a showroom and it is also a convenient collection point for some of our local customers. Feedback remains positive and with those lighter summer evenings developing, we are expecting increased demand for evening viewing hours - we are an ideal stop on the way to the beach for that evening stroll! We also can be found on Facebook under Antiques & Collectable Emporium and frequent updates appear on Twitter   Thank you to those who gave feedback on our supplying useful sites for researching your antiques and collectables - it seems like a valued service and our intent will be to keep adding sites as we locate them.   If Staffordshire Potteries and their wares are your interest the                         www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/index.htm is a very worthwhile site to visit   Crystal and glassware pattern information for the major British companies can be found at                         www.discontinueddesigns.co.uk - lots of interesting info there.     Please take a moment to fill in the short survey which follows - it will help us to meet your needs more effectively:       With thank Bill For Antique & Collectable Emporium and Basement Antiques     Short Survey prepared for ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium' - September 2009 Please copy this survey to your documents, complete, and return by email. The return of a completes survey entitles the customer to a 10% discount on their next purchase   During September I have visited the antiqueemporium.co.nz website :       1 -  3 times                                                                                      4 - 6 times                                                                                                              7 - 10 times                                                                                                   When I visit, I usually browse:       1 page                                                                                                                   2 - 5 pages                                                                                                         6 - 10 pages                                                                                                          11 + pages                                                                                                        I have this site bookmarked on;       1 page                                                                                                                     2 - 5 pages                                                                                                             More than 5 pages                                                                                            I have bought items online before       Yes                                                                                                                        No                                                                                                                    I have bought an item from ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium'       Yes                                                                                                                       No                                                                                                                    If you haven't bought any items from ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium', please tick any of the following which may apply:       Nothing in the range offered that appeals enough to me                                 Unable to be sure of condition etc                                                                          No credit card option offered                                                                                  Not sure about the business being honest and dependable                                     Other.....     I will be more inclined to buy items from ‘Antique & Collectable Emporium' when:       I see evidence that others have traded successfully for a longer time frame                 They have an item that I truly desire                                                                          They reduce their prices                                                                                                   They improve their photographs and descriptions                                                      They offer improved payment options                                                     Additional Comments                         THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS SURVEY, WE VALUE YOUR INPUT & SUPPORT

September 2009   Welcome to another update on the Antique & Collectable Emporium and Basement Antiques. Spring is most certainly upon us - with the lighter mornings and longer days, there is an increasing sense of optimism in the marketplace. We are enjoying increasing attention from browsers on the net and so far it looks as if we will exceed last months visits etc by another 15 - 25%. I would like to say that this reflects the increasing range of items we are listing for sale, but that would be a guess - there really isn't a clear way of ascertaining how we are being perceived (of course it would help clarify things if you could drop us a line and let us know how we are doing from your point of view).   Sales are steadily increasing and again this month, we are having great success with sourcing items to order - these items don't make it onto the website but so far we have successfully found furniture, crystal, tools and china to order. If you are looking for a specific item let us know what it is, a guide as to what price you would like to obtain the item for, then leave the rest to us. While we can't guarantee success, so far, our feedback is all positive.   Our website has a number of statistical collection points and from those we are able to see the sort of things that bring visitors to our site. Apart from searches for individual items and general browsing, we seem to get a number of visits from people looking for information. No problem with that and in fact it has led me to start compiling a list of sites that visitors may find useful. I have three links that seem to be sought after, so as part of what will be a regular feature ...   If you want to know about hallmarks - the identifying marks which allow us to date and identify maker etc for precious metals, I suggest that you have a look at                              www.925-1000.com   For information on Shelley China, try                                     www.nationalshelleychinaclub.com -         it has always been a great source of information, in my opinion.   For information on Royal Albert China, try                                     www.royalalbertpatterns.com -         this is a stunning site which lists nearly all the Royal Albert patterns - no mean feat for such a prolific company.   Basement Antiques is looking a picture - well worth a visit if you are in town and have some time to spare. Give me a call the evening before and we will make time available for you to browse our eclectic range of antiques and collectables - with no pressure to buy - our items don't require hard sales techniques, they appeal widely and strongly. The basement is full of character and although we are only using a small part of the available area, there is plenty of room for visitors - come and see for your self! Everything on the website and a good many other items we haven't had time to list can be seen there - allow yourself a good amount of time to visit.   As always, we hope that you are keeping us bookmarked and that you make a habit of popping in to see what we have added. Additional items are being listed up to 3x a week so I hope the site is keeping you interested. Comments and suggestions are always welcome so feel free to drop us a line through the site, through our Facebook page or text me on 021 2086860.   Cheers Bill (for Antique & Collectable Emporium and Basement Antiques).

August Newsletter Is it a mark of age that this year is nearly 2/3's over, and it only feels like a few weeks since it began?  Hello all Once again thank you for your ongoing interest and support. The Antique & Collectable Emporium has made considerable headway this month - online sales are picking up, perhaps a reflection of the recession waning? Our search service, to source specific items on request for clients has been well accepted and utilised and our showroom has really taken shape. Bill has been busy ensuring that we have a good presence on the internet and this has led to a sharp increase in the amount of traffic we are seeing move through the online shop. We have secured and maintain a good exposure on the major search engines, and we have all but finalised the 'branding' of the business. It takes a number of steps to add each item to the store - photography, research and description, then loading it all up to the appropriate category on the website. We have about 275 items as of today, and more will will be added each week. There isn't an end in sight for how many items we will display - the website allocation is substantial to say the least. Basement Antiques has blossomed into a very unique display space. What must have a been a servants room, is starting to take on real character without losing the rustic and simple charm. It is well worth a visit, so once again if you are in Dunedin and have some time, contact us and arrange a visit. We really enjoy discussing antiques and vintage items and we are proud of our eclectic range of treasures, so feel free to browse without any expectation or pressure to buy!