Those of you who are seasoned Civil War and vintage Americana enthusiasts will likely recognize us from our old advertisement at the right. It has been around for years and is relatively unchanged, appearing in the Maine Antique Digest, the old standbys Civil War News, Civil War Courier and of course, the North South Trader’s CIVIL WAR along with our participation and advertising in their Civil War Price Guide. If you have been fortunate enough to attend the dedicated earlier through Civil War era shows of the ‘good old days’, you would have seen this ad as a placard on our tables at the Gettysburg, Fairfax, Richmond, Atlanta and Dalton, Georgia shows as well as the Ashland then Mansfield Ohio and Nashville shows to name some of the major ones. Our business philosophy is unchanged from those days. We seek out and buy what we like; appreciating our finds first and foremost for historic and aesthetic value. That, after all, is all that gives these treasures a monetary value. Add respect and fairness to this simple philosophy and you have the neatest most enjoyable way to invest in your future I can think of. It has served Janet and I and, our two sons well. Now that we are older we have throttled back on the shows and with marked reduction in availability of ‘neat stuff’, we are quite content to buy a piece when it is made available while devoting most of our efforts to offering for sale, treasures from our accumulation on our GUNSIGHTAntiques. com site and showing off some family ‘keepers’ on MaineLEGACY.com. We hope you will visit and enjoy both.
A PERSONAL NOTE
A personal note:
As we put together this display we are reminded of the special thanks due our sons Mark & Matthew who were raised in a house full of antiques. We could not have made a living or pursued our personal collecting efforts without their cooperation and support as they grew up attending antique and Civil War shows and going to shops, auctions and flea-markets all at the same time keeping up with school and their sports. Many a neat piece came our way when one of our ambitious young sons would approach a show participant with; ‘Please hold this till my Dad or Mom sees it! ‘ In those days we were known by our friends in the business as the ‘The Corporation‘. Our boys continue in there aid and support of the Hayes family collection. Thanks Guys !
