Angels Camp

Tell Us What You Are Hunting For

Everything here is one of one, which means the thing you want is either on the floor today or it is not. A treasure request is how you find out about it the week it arrives instead of the month after somebody else did.

What a Treasure Request Is

It is a description of one thing you are looking for, kept on a list that a person reads. When something turns up that looks like a match, we get in touch. That is the whole of it.

It is not a search, an order, or a promise. We buy what we find, and what we find is not up to us. Some requests are answered in a fortnight and some are still open a year later. Both of those are normal and we would rather say so here than let you work it out from silence.

How It Works

One
You describe it below, with a photograph if you have one.
Two
It goes on the list, and a person reads the list.
Three
When something looks like a match, we email or ring you with a photograph and a price.
Four
You say yes or no. Saying no is fine and costs nothing.

We do not hold a piece indefinitely while somebody thinks about it, because the next person through the door is looking at it too. How long we can hold something is worked out at the time, on the piece.

What to Tell Us

The more particular you are, the better this works. The things that actually help:

  • What it is, in the plainest words you have for it
  • Roughly when it is from, if you have any idea
  • The size it has to be, if it has to fit somewhere
  • How perfect it has to be, because honest wear suits some things and ruins others
  • A photograph of one like it, even a bad photograph off the internet

If all you have is "my grandmother had one and it was green", send that. It is more use than it sounds.

What It Costs

To make a request
Nothing. There is no fee and no deposit.
To say no when we find something
Nothing. A request is not an order and does not commit you to buying anything.
What a piece will cost if we find one
Whatever it is priced at when it arrives. We quote it to you before anything else happens.

Anything not written on this page has not been decided. If a question about money comes up that this section does not answer, ask, and the answer will be added here rather than agreed privately.

Make a Request

Describe it as precisely as you can. A photograph helps more than anything else you can send.

What sort of thing is it?

Only if you would rather be rung than emailed.

In one line. For example: a green enamel kitchen table, or a pair of brass candlesticks about a foot tall.

What it is, why you are after it, and how close a match has to be. If somebody in your family had one, say so; that usually tells us more than a measurement.

1940s, mid-century, Victorian, or "no idea".

Honest wear is fine, or it has to be immaculate.

If it has to fit a particular alcove, this is the field that saves everybody a journey.

Entirely optional, and it is not a commitment. It only helps us know whether to ring you about a particular piece.

Up to three photographs or PDFs, 8 MB each. A picture of the one your grandmother had beats four paragraphs describing it.

Would rather just write to us? Our address is treasurehunter@sanfranciscovintage.com