Shirley's old-jewelry stand in lower Manhattan
gets her outside and keeps her young at heart.

This time of year, Shirley is to be found on Thursdays at her stand at Maiden Lane and Water Street in lower Manhattan. She’s there from around mid-April to November, selling vintage costume jewelry. Shirley lives nearby, but in November she takes off for Florida, with some reluctance. Shirley loves New York.

Many of Shirley’s customers are regulars, and the women often kiss Shirley when they arrive. Shirley has male customers, too. She helps them to select items for their wives. Her regular customers receive a note early in April inviting them to the opening of her stand.

Things have been different downtown for the last three or four years, according to Shirley. Many of her former regular customers have lost their jobs. On a recent afternoon, one of her customers, an attractive young woman, said she would come back the following week when she had some money with her. She told Shirley she had been given a buyout and was losing her job at AIG. Shirley commiserated.

Ready for business at her stand downtown,
with only vintage costume jewelry she likes.

Shirley says she makes some money at her stand on some days, and on some days not. No matter. She keeps on with her business because it gets her outside and she enjoys the conversations with her customers. Her business, she says, helps her to keep up her brain power.

She identifies with the hospital patient in a story about a doctor who tells his patient, an elderly woman, that it was to be expected that she would have various physical complaints. “You’re getting on in years,” says the doctor. “Right,” says the patient, “but in here,” pointing to her chest, “beats the heart of a 29-year-old.”

Shirley was born in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. When? “Ah,” says Shirley, pointing to her chest, “in here beats the heart of a 29-year-old.” She went to Public School 16 for eight years, and then to Eastern District High School (it no longer exists).

After high school, Shirley went to New York Community College, on Jay Street in Brooklyn, for a year and a half, and then to Baruch College, for one year. After that came work and marriage. Shirley is a widow, with one son.

Shirley chats with customers and
helps them to find what they want.

When Shirley first went looking for work, she knew little about Manhattan’s geography. In particular, she didn’t know that Fifth Avenue separates East Side addresses from West Side addresses, and went to a number near Second Avenue (East). She still remembers having to walk from there to Seventh Avenue (West).

Wrapping a package after helping
a man find something for his wife.

Shirley’s first job was as a bookkeeper for a lighting company. She worked as an accountant for two law firms, followed by a job in the human resources department of the New York branch of Dresdner Bank, a German bank that opened a New York branch after World War II.

She has been selling vintage costume jewelry for about 20 years, starting in the annex to a flea market at 26th Street in Manhattan. She gets her merchandise “all over,” at auctions and house sales, and from people who come to her. Buying isn't easy anymore, Shirley says, with silver going up from $5 to $20 dollars an ounce.

Her buying forays used to include Europe, but now she limits them to the U.S. If she doesn’t like a piece, even if it could conceivably fetch a good price, she doesn’t buy it.

She described a recent Thursday as a slow day. People had been stopping at her stand every ten minutes or so. Fridays would probably be busier, since there is a street fair nearby. Shirley used to set up her stand on Fridays, but changed to Thursdays to leave herself free on Fridays to cook a weekend’s worth of food for an ill sister.

Very old? Not so old? Real silver?
Shirley confers with her customer.

“That’s very old,” Shirley will say when a customer examines a particular piece of jewelry (that’s a good thing), or “that’s not very old” (that’s not a good thing). Or, “that’s genuine silver” (almost all the time), or, “that isn’t genuine silver,” when it isn’t. One customer bought a necklace with alternating clear and bright red Lucite ornaments. “Lucite is coming back,” Shirley pronounced.

Her son drives her and her stuff to her spot on Thursdays, and she is set up by 11 a.m. By 2:30, he is there to help her load up the car again, while Shirley gathers up her wares in plastic bags or loads it in trays in a special carrying bag. Then they go home and Shirley cooks dinner.

Going home - Shirley loads trays of jewelry into
a special packing case to be loaded in the car.

Shirley is solicitous of her customers. One young woman came by carrying takeout food. “Is that hot?” Shirley asked, looking at the food. Yes it was. “Come back later,” Shirley said, “eat it while it’s hot. I’ll be here.” Another selected a pin that Shirley found to have a nonworking catch. “That goes home with me,” Shirley said, “for repair.”

Shirley can frequently be heard saying, “I’ll give you a good price.” When she has wrapped a customer’s purchase she always says, “Thank you for your business.” Her mantra, for her customers and for herself, is “Buy what you love.”

Back to Top