A life of antiques
Carlene Hersey started
collecting when she was a teenager, now she’s still at it and at home in Ontario
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Monday, July 28, 2008 10:15 AM PDT
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| Larry Meyer | Argus Observer
Carlene Hersey, owner of Afternoon Tea and Antiques, stands in her store at 43 S.W. Third Ave., Ontario, which features, victorian glass, china, silver and jewelry, bought and sold. She has been in the business for 50 years. |
ONTARIO—Carlene Hersey started her career as an antique dealer before she was out of high school.
Since then, she’s never looked back.
Now, Hersey, has just opened her newest store in Ontario after moving to town about a year ago.
Hersey, though, is already known around the valley through her shop in McCall which she operated for about 20 years. She then moved to California for about two years, before coming back to the Treasure Valley, where her daughter, Kim Hersey, was already living. Kim Hersey is a teacher and youth director at a local church.
Hersey was born and raised in southern California but left the area early.
“I left there as quick as I could. My husband and I liked Oregon and planned to move here,” she said.
The couple, Hersey said, moved to the Bend area, before it became crowded, and she set up shop there.
Hersey said she was the first to teach a class on antiques at Central Oregon Community College.
However, her husband died, and because of family reasons, she decided to move farther east — first to John Day for four years and then to McCall.
“I’ve been at this right at 50 years,” Hersey said. “I started on April Fools’ Day, and I said I was the fool. I opened the first shop in 1960,” she said.
Nursing was her first choice for a career, Hersey said, but her mother did not think it was right for her and back when she was a youth there were not the scholarships available at colleges for nursing that there are now.
“This was my second choice,” she said.
There remains one key rule to purchasing antiques, she said.
“Being in the right place at the right time and with the money,” she said. However, she did have one lady who promised to contact Hersey when she was ready to sell a certain piece, and about 10 years later, she did. Hersey bought the piece which she said was quite valuable.
She does go to estate sales, but the majority of her buys are through personal contact.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” she said, and she worries that fuel prices will force her to cut back on her travels, which are done in a motor home.
“I’ve quite a library of reference materials,” Hersey said, and commented people need to learn all they can about what they are buying.
“There are a lot of reproductions. eBay is fine if you know what you are doing,” she said.
A Royal Wooster urn, dating to 1873, is one of the more interesting items she has sold, she said. She found it later being sold by another dealer and bought it back.
Hersey said beware of people who say they “know everything” about antiques or call themselves experts.
“There are always one more thing to learn. You are never going to learn it all,” she said.
There used to be trends in what antiques people were buying, she said.
“I don’t see any trends, now.” she said. The most expensive piece is the one received as a gift, because then one has add to it, she said, jokingly.
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