And What Do You Do?
Dear Diva Readers,
The question I am asked most frequently when people hear the name of my blog and company is “and what do you do?” I thought today it might be interesting if I explained to you what it is we actually do at The Antiques Diva & Co! You read about me jetting off to Paris, Provence, London and Florence from my home in Berlin but I don’t often explain the nitty gritty of my business!
So here goes…. At The Antiques Diva & Co we offer private, customized, fully-escorted antique shopping tours in 8 countries – France, England, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Germany. All of our tours are planned according to our client’s desired travel dates and customized according to the client’s shopping list, style and budget. We offer everything from a 1 day flea market tour to a full-on, 2 week extravaganza, sourcing antiques in multiple countries and currencies.
The core business for The Antiques Diva & Co is helping antique dealers and interior designers in America and Australia source inventory abroad. However, we also give tourists an opportunity to shop abroad during their vacation at sources usually only available direct to the trade.
In our antique shopping tours to both the public and to the trade, the common denominator is that we listen to what our clients are looking for and then take their antique shopping lists and recommend personalized itineraries that are most likely to help them find what they’re looking for.
At The Antiques Diva & Co we have long-term relationships with key antiques dealers in Europe and England. We know where to go to find the best prices on the best quality inventory – and this knowledge saves our clients both time and money. We not only translate into the local language but also negotiate on our client’s behalf.
Now, I keep saying the word “we” – that’s not the “royal we” as in how the Queen speaks of herself – but rather me and my team of trusty Diva Guides who are locally based and also lead our Antiques Diva Tours! After all I can’t be everywhere at once so I’ve found an army of divas – a battalion if you will – to soldier on, shopping on my behalf and helping clients score antiques nearly every weekend of the year all over England and Europe!
We know that buying antiques abroad can be confusing and our goal is to demystify the process for our clients – helping them build their own little black book of antique addresses overseas. And we do it Diva Style – with a shopping sack in one hand and a champagne glass in the other. For most of our clients, their buying trips abroad are not just a business trip to stock their stores but also part of their vacation time overseas and we want to make their experience as enjoyable as possible.
Because shopping abroad is only part of the equation, The Antiques Diva & Co also liaises with preferred time-tested international transporters to help get our client’s purchases back home. We fill out all the complicated customs paperwork, helping clients to safely, promptly and in the most cost effective way possible ship their inventory back home across the pond.
Et voila - that’s what we do in a nutshell here at The Antiques Diva! We would love to take you antique shopping on your next trip abroad!
Until next time,
The Antiques Diva
As both a client and friend of Toma I love antiques shopping with The Antiques Diva: not only is she knowledgeable and have sources I could never find on my own, but The Antiques Diva is FUN to shop with.
When you spend the day… or days… with a guide you want them to be nice. Fun. Personable. Entertaining. Of course I want them to know about antiques, the local customs, how to navigate a foreign city, and the local food specialties. But I also want to to enjoy my time with them, and not be waiting to escape to my hotel room.
Shopping with Toma The Antiques Diva results in some of my most unique and treasured purchases, and can also include tea in hidden hotel lobbies, champagne at the Ritz, and sausages at German flea markets. And a really fun time.
Thanks la Reine for this lovely review! I’m blushing!
Hi Toma, I love to follow you where thru your blog – cheap for me of course, on my own shedule and, very funny. So, thank you for the opportunity of traveling with you. Today, I fell in love with the beautiful chandelier behind your right shoulder in the photo of you in a flea market. Do you have this piece and the value of it? Again, thank you. – lb
LB – I love that you’re following me through the blog!! I really try to post things on the blog that readers can either do on their own or simply arm chair travel and imagine themselves doing!!
Sounds like a pretty fab job Toma….being an Antique Diva. You must be so tempted by all the beautiful antiques that you find for your clients….hope you give into those temptations ocassionally! We’ll be visiting Belgium (Antwerp and Brussels) and Berlin later this year…who knows, we may get to meet you. A bientot, Robyn.
Robyn,
Such a delight to hear from you and mamma mia you’re going to have fun in Brussels, Antwerp and Berlin!! These are totally my stomping grounds! Do email me toma(at)antiquesdiva.com – I’d love to meet!!
I can’t wait to do a tour with you and your team! Some day, some day!!
Gregory, You are always welcome on a tour!!! Think of havoc we’d wreck in Europe shopping til we dropped!
Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It in reality was a entertainment account it. Glance complicated to more brought agreeable from you! By the way, how can we keep up a correspondence?
m’am
i have athousend antique items diffrent fields and much more.
any body intrested contact by mail.i am working antique fields,antique coin
antique litrture hand written rare books,engaravings items and han made antique
paintings ect
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d
ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post
or vice-versa? My blog addresses a lot of the same topics
as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you might be interested feel free to shoot me an email.
I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!
Hi and thanks for the fantastic content. I wish significantly more webpages like this could
be found in google. All I’m coming across nowadays is lousy youtube videos and incredibly few informative posts and web sites. Seems google is only focused on the money now; such a shame.
Good respond in return of this question with real
arguments and describing the whole thing concerning that.
What’s up to all, because I am truly eager of reading this web site’s post
to be updated daily. It consists of fastidious stuff.
Tremendous issues here. I am very happy to look your post.
Thank you a lot and I’m taking a look forward to contact you. Will you please drop me a mail?