Fine Living: Where to Find Marin's Best Antiques

"HI, PJ," said the voice on my answering machine when I was checking messages recently. "It's Mimi É Mimi Little Utley. I'm helping out at The Laurel House on Mondays and I wanted to talk to you about our upcoming Market Day. "

A voice from the past. Mimi Little Utley used to be a photographer at the IJ and had grown up here in Marin. We knew some of the same people and, after covering many of the same events, had become casual friends over the years.

I lost track of her after she retired from the IJ, so I was pleased to hear from her and to learn that she had re-surfaced at one of my favorite little consignment shops. I've always appreciated Laurel House Antiques for it's lack of commercialism. There's a genteel sensibility that suits it. Browsing there is more like being invited to a private estate sale where personal belongings are exchanged among friends for a little cash rather than a cold business transaction done in an impersonal store.

                                   "It's Marin's best-kept secret"

One room is full of tea sets and cups and tableware, another is filled with antique furniture and art and the back room has the silver trays, bowls and flatware and display cases of estate jewelry. The last room has fine linens and decorative items - painted birdcages, vintage toys and cool collectibles that would look great in any shelter magazine.

The place I like to visit first is the hallway where narrow, lit cases full of small sterling silver picture frames, cups and flower bowls flank the aisle. Paintings line almost all of the walls, and on this trip, a wonderful large oil painting of Mt. Tam by Zenaida Mott.

In addition to the main house, there's also an Asian room and a room just for large pieces of indoor and outdoor furniture.

The quality of the items sold here is so high that antique dealers regularly gather before the doors open on the days when the new items are put out to get first dibs on their favorites. "It's Marin's best-kept secret," says Mimi.

She's always found great pieces at Laurel House Antiques even before she began volunteering there. "You really have to get down and look for things," she says. "Some of the best things are hidden behind other things." Her favorite Christmas present from her parents was a set of silverplated flatware bought at the Laurel House, and she just found some Bakelite knives for her outdoor dinnerware at a good price.

So we made plans to meet there a few weeks later to catch up and look at the stock. It's always fun to go shopping with an "insider" and Mimi is a true insider. She was recruited by her mom, Winifred Little, who started volunteering there in 1987.

Interestingly, a week or so before I got the call from Mimi, I received a similar one from a mutual friend of ours. She, too, was involved in a civic organization, had accompanied her mom to various activities there when she was younger and then, like on some cosmic clock, suddenly found herself recruited by her mom to replace her. When I relayed this to Mimi, she laughed. "I know. I don't know how it happens."

Mrs. Little still takes turns occasionally with the other ladies who stage the dining tables and place settings at Laurel House with flower arrangements. Mimi's job is not quite as glamorous. "I pretty much just clean the windows and glass shelves and open the cases for customers," she says. So, while her mom and dad are living it up at The Tamalpais taking painting classes and playing tennis, Mimi's now cleaning windows. You have to love it.

Her job amps up, though, on Half-Price Day. That's when all the items in the shop that have been there six months are marked down and the consignor can either choose to take the item back or let it go for half-price. On those days, volunteers are told which color-coded stickers already on the item will be marked down and the volunteers race around with their pens slashing the prices. Right on their heels, "are the people in the know," says Mimi. They're the ones going home with some great bargains.

Last Monday, Mimi's day to work, was half-price day. Jackpot! Because Mimi not only works there, she shops there, too. "I really enjoy it, but I'm in a deficit every time I work here," she laughs. "It costs me to volunteer."

Sometimes, even savvy shoppers like Mimi are trumped by someone even savvier. It happened last Monday when items with magenta stickers were reduced. "A woman asked me to open the case and show her a pair of beautiful sterling silver candlesticks that I had been watching for several months," says Mimi. They were originally priced at $120 and were now only $60. "Under my breath, I was saying, 'God, make her put them back.' Instead she said 'I've GOT to take them.'"

Not to be disappointed again, Mimi quickly went through looking for all the magenta color codes and found a pair of crystal-and-sterling silver candlesticks marked down from $175. "They're on my mantel and I just love them," she says. "Half-price days are great but you take your chances that the item you've been watching will still be there and that the consignor hasn't taken it back or another shopper gets it first."

If half-price days are great, then the annual Market Day can be even better. That's when all the unsold items of the year are assembled along with newly donated items and are sold at really low prices for the shop's biggest fund-raiser.

"We price things really low so that people get great deals," says consignment manager Jacquie Whitfield. "The bargains are amazing, but we call it Market Day because we don't want it to be associated with a flea market or garage sale. These are quality items that have been in our stock."

Some of the best 50 to 75 items are reserved for the Silent Auction where bidding runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Everything's very hush-hush before the day of the sale but what the organizers will reveal is that an Imari Ginger Jar priced at $350 in the shop will have an opening bid of $55 and a Victorian sterling silver creamer and sugar set was $125 but will start at $15. There will also be a Victorian parlor table and a pair of blue Cloisonne lamps with a peony motif.

In the jewelry collection, there will be hundreds of rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets in 14k gold, sterling silver, some with precious or semi-precious stones and even some Victorian pieces, says Whitfield. There are also lots of beads and costume jewelry so there's bargains for every budget. Two items that have been announced are a small woman's gold Hampton pocket watch that was priced at $195 and a strand of graduated cultured pearls with a sterling clasp priced at $295. Their prices will be determined on Market Day but they'll be going at a good price.

Look for donated paperbacks starting at 25 cents and hardcovers starting at $1; prints and lithographs, Asian screens, embroidery, wooden frames, glassware, mixing bowls, cups and saucers, dinnerware, lamps, vases, linens and decorative objects.

"What's fun is that you can find some real antique treasures here," she says. "They span an era from 1880 to 1970. I got a Victorian cup last year that's so beautiful I don't use it. I know it was in the store for $38 and I got it for a dollar."

Mimi will be working - and shopping, of course - that day. I'm sure she'll be on her best behavior, but to give you an edge, here are some tips. Get there early for parking and the best selection. Shoppers start lining up at 9 a.m. Bring your own basket to carry items. A barbecued lunch will be served in a garden setting for about $5 and includes a hot dog, salad and beverage. It sells out early; so do the desserts baked by the Northgate Group's members.

IF YOU GO