than the average antique
dealer, Ms. Shaver says.
The Blatts' condo is a re-
flection of their voracious-
ness as collectors.
Furniture, dolls, cookie
jars, lamps, vases and chil-
dren's toys fill tables and
shelves. One whole wall is
dedicated to Mr. Blatt's
clock collection.
The antique shows and
Farmers Market stall pay
the bills. The Blatts do
about six shows each year
and sell at the market
every weekend, moving
new merchandise in and
out every six to eight
months.
"The shelves and show-
cases we have in the booth
are just a small sample of
the stuff we have," Mr.
Blatt says.
Despite rumblings by
Oakland County, which
earlier this year talked
about selling its majority
portion of the Farmers
Market, the Blatts are con-
fident it will stay put. The
city of Royal Oak owns 40
percent of the market.
Mrs. Blatt points out
that an association of
Farmers Market mer-
chants has gathered thou-
sands of signatures in
support of maintaining the
status quo.
"Truthfully, I'm very
Norman and Evelyn Blatt at their Farmers Market locati on
confident it will be there,"
she says. "People come from
"I'll buy merchandise only if I all over the city. It's our second
wouldn't be embarrassed to have home. We see our friends and
it in my home," she says.
customers there every Sunday.
The difference between col- It's a fun place to go, and it's a
lectibles and antiques is that the
great place to visit because
former are "trend items" that are everything is sold there."
less than 75 years old, while the
In the meantime, the Blatts,
latter must be at least 100 years who have been married for 54
old. The Blatts tend to avoid col- years, will continue to look for-
lectibles because their price and ward to the "impulse buyers"
the demand for them fluctuates, who hit the market on Satur-
unlike the antique market.
days and the antique collectors
Many of the items the Blatts browsing on Sundays.
collect are sold to their customers
"My daughter and I like to
at antique shows and at the Roy- bargain-hunt and Norm likes to
al Oak Farmers Market, where fix and repair things in his
they've had a spacious booth for downstairs workroom. The busi-
some 20 years. If, for any reason, ness has grown from there,"
the customer rejects an item that Mrs. Blatt says.
may have been specially bought
But to their customers, the
from dolls to teddy bears to for him or her, the Blatts keep it
Blatts are much more than busi-
jewelry.
— no questions asked.
nesspeople out to make a buck.
"Evelyn will ask me what I'm
"We treat people the way they
"They are preservationists of
interested in and I'll tell her once, want to be treated. We're close to
old
things and of history," says
and it's on the list. I just never our customers. In fact, many of
know what she might find," she them we consider our friends. Dr. Fred Wasserman, a cus-
tomer for 10 years. "The busi-
says.
We're not in business to pressure
Ms. Shaver collects anything them. If they want what we have ness of
that catches her eye when she to offer, great; if not, so be it," Mr. antiques is filled with dishonest
people. I trust Norm and Evelyn
leafs through a magazine or an Blatt says.
because of their knowledge of
antique trade publication.
The couple has a lay-away sys-
Mrs. Blatt is guided by a single tem for people who may be inter- merchandise and their fair pric-
principle when she's on the look- ested in an item but can't yet ing. They ask a fair price and
out for that interesting or special afford the full price. They'll take pay a fair price for items. That's
rare in this business." CI
something.
10 to 20 percent at a time, less

What's Ile

To a Novi couple, everything old under the sun.

D.J. BRADLEY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

h

idden deep in the dusty and
dimly lit attic lay a trea-
sure. With their every step,
the floor boards creaked
disapproval. Clouds of dust
swirled and dry, old newspaper
rustled. Like detectives circling
their quarry, Norman and Evelyn
Blatt knew they had something,
but how valuable would it be to
them?
For antique collectors and deal-
ers like the Blatts, not every in-
home appraisal takes them on
such a journey. Nor does it yield

a discovery of a lifetime. But it
could, and that's what they're in
business to find.
"Antiques is something we do
all the time. It's our lives," the 74-
year-old Mr. Blatt says.
Through advertisements, house
calls, word-of-mouth, garage sales
and antique shows, the Novi cou-
ple search high and low for the
perfect antique.
The Blatts keep a "want list" of
items their customers are seek-
ing. Annette Shaver, a client for
over 10 years, collects everything