More Market Finds

This weekend turned out to be another market-filled one. We forgot that it was the Surry Hills markets this Saturday and didn't really have much time except to do a quick 10-minute run through what looked like quite a promising array of wares and treasures.

We had to go meet my sister and friend in front of the Paddington market where they and other (probably Japanese mostly) tourists are parting with lots of dollars, buying stuff where locals don't shop. When they lamented how expensive things were, I had to tell them about the OTHER options available, for instance the Surry Hill markets! As it turned out, after lunch at the Italian deli, Alimentari, we went on an art gallery foray on Glenmore Road, and I sold my sister's friend, A , a 1974 Japanese woodblock print by Haku Maki at JF's gallery (where I pretend I still work - apart from doing the actual successful sales pitch, JF let me do the invoicing and the credit card transaction) for A$750, we didn't have time to go back to SH markets, and did a quick detour into the Fringe Bar markets instead. Yes the bar turns into a market every Saturday - that says something about the entrepreneurial spirit of the bar owners, and the location is prime for tapping into the right demographics.

So I promised to take them to the Bondi Beach markets on Sunday, where things were more reasonably priced and the variety would be no less. And so, they went a little crazy, buying up prints, photos mounted on wooden blocks, dresses and other knick knacks.

After I found my own treasures - a Chinese plate which looked quite old with a potter's mark which I will have to add to my list of marks to research, and a similar-looking bowl with no mark, but with lovely crazing, I left them to carry on spending more money at the markets. I parted with my last $40 and left it to my sister as they were running out of cash with a third of the market still to cover!

Yes, we all have to do our part for the Australian economy.