In today's episode, Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co and founder of The Republic of Toma, speaks with a mother-daughter team based out of Florida: Kelly and Blair McGee of Three Graces Antiques. With a legacy of antiques collecting and sourcing spanning three generations, their passion for the trade has become an inseparable part of their lives. They offer a range of unique pieces, meticulously curated over the decades, and today's episode is the epitome of what generations of antiques collecting and selling looks like. 

Kelly's parents moved to London when Kelly was in high school and started collecting, utilizing young Kelly as their "spotter". This passion soon grew into a business. Jump forward and young Kelly, now grown and recently married, finds herself, along with her husband, attracted to starting their own antiques business so they started by "throwing some things on the dining room table to see if anyone likes it." Spoiler alert: they did. For years, the couple found themselves being jet-setting gypsies, going over to England and buying glorious items that they brought back to sell at shows all across the U.S. And so, they grew and grew, and twenty years later were one of the top five dealers in English Antiques in the entire United States show circuit. 

Of course, no fairy tale is without its villain, and this is where their story transitions into a cautionary one. Recession hits, and, miraculously, Kelly and her husband recalibrate, changing up their business plan. They transition into more decorative items, and, working alongside designers, they have their most successful show ever in Palm Beach. Victory! They go to bed that night reveling in their success only to wake up the next morning to find that their sixteen foot cargo trailer full of around a million retail dollars in inventory has been stolen from the hotel parking lot in the night. 

Listen and learn as this episode features the worst of humanity, taking you through not only a major art theft adventure, including FBI encounters, insurance fraud investigations, fine antiques found in Florida canals, and tragically underinsured discoveries. But it also showcases the best of humanity with stories of clients showing incredible acts of kindness to them. Ultimately, they closed their doors and Kelly entered into a season of careers in veterinary medicine, health care, and corporate jobs for both Kelly and later, her daughter Blair. How this mother daughter duo fight to get their passion back exemplifies the definition of bravery as they begin again years later in this new venture as Three Graces Antiques. This episode holds so much wisdom and insight into the industry both past and present, the changes, the lessons both learned and learning – it offers up to you, the listener, a rare opportunity to glean from their broad range of experiences. It is not an episode to miss.  

You can learn more about Three Graces Antiques at www.threegracesantiques.com and follow their Instagram @3graces.antiques.