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POSTCARD  FROM  FLORENCE  by  MIKE  WEEDON

After a summer holiday in Italy it was interesting to compare business in London and Florence. God how we all miss the Americans!
In the antiques shops we were amazed by the Italians difference in attitude to the euro, compared to the French. If you asked the price it was always in euro. They have forgotten the lira.

 

There are so many antiques shops and galleries everywhere in Florence. But in little back streets and on some of the big streets we never found a day when all were open. But slowly antiques shops would appear behind shutters like crocuses in the spring around every corner. Unfortunately for me, the vast majority had a before 1750 or after 1950 look.
True to an antique dealer on holiday, I got up at six o'clock on a Sunday morning to a place a stone's throw from the Doumo for a flea market. This was not my best move.
For the next four hours miscellaneous things came very slowly out from cardboard boxes. Maybe it was because I was the only foreign dealer there,or simply sellers' apathy. Probably it was the appeal of the nice cafes surrounding the market where I enjoyed talking to Italian dealers - really nice people! I spent more on coffee than antiques.