Sarah

I first met Sarah as a customer in her St Charles shop “Sarah’s Uniques and Jim’s Mantiques” hunting for holiday treasures.

When I asked Sarah to tell me her story I began to wonder how she ever became a collector! When she was young, Sarah’s mother would drag her from antique shop to antique shop hunting for treasures, most notably green Depression glass and all Sarah remembers is that she absolutely hated it.

But something took hold in those early years and she began collecting and dreaming of opening her own antique shop even while she became a special education teacher.

Sarah had been a teacher for more than a decade when she met Jim. They quickly hit it off and decided to buy a Harley and spend the summer on the road. They happened to stop at an auction in Lewiston, WI and they had so much fun, they sold the Harley and bought a trailer to start picking and transport their treasures!

Sarah was ready for a change and Jim could sense it so he asked her a simple question “What do you WANT to do?” Sarah quickly replied, “Open my own shop”. Sarah quit her teaching job and they opened their first antique shop in St Charles.

Sarah buys what she is drawn too. She connects with her customers personally, easily sharing stories. She enjoys the connection made over the shared love of a well-loved treasure. She describes herself as an emotional collector, drawn to collecting things from her childhood like rubber toys, carnival chalk and tin sand pails. She still has the rubber squeaky kitty she slept with as a child. It is featured in this painting.

Oil on cradled wood panel