EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
“Hold this for a second,” Todd Stanton said as he climbed a ladder and prepared to hang a candle-lit chandelier from the 18th century from his ceiling at his store Uncommon inside the Landmark Center in Downtown Liberal.
The unique chandelier was one of hundreds of items available in his unique shop that offers antiquarian items that range from more than 2,000 years old to items made just a few years ago. And while they are uncommon, his eye for antiquities has been used by other buyers who have mostly been online, and recently Stanton was notified that his eBay store is ranked in the top 5 percent of all antique stores on the world’s most popular bidding site.
Stanton wasn’t sure about the notice when he received it.
“I thought they made a mistake,” he quipped. “It was a surprise.”
But the notice was authentic. Stanton’s eBay branch of his store had indeed made the top 5 percent of all stores in the antique category.
Stanton scans the globe through online auctions and other means to acquire the rare items found in his store, and after allowing local buyers to get first shot, he then places the items on eBay.
“It can be online for less than 24 hours to a year,” he said. “You never know what a particular buyer is looking for.”
Stanton has built a network of venues he uses to find the items he brings to the store, which range from ancient religious artifacts to clocks to artwork, musical instruments and more.
They all have to pass an initial test.
“They have to be interesting to me,” he said.
Over time, that network has allowed him to discover the rare items, but not always in the place he thought he would.
“You are often very surprised where you find things,” he said.
Once he posts an item on eBay, some buyers simply click purchase. Others ask more questions.
“It depends on the customer,” he said. “Some have very little interaction. Others ask more questions. They ask for more pictures. ‘Where did you get it?’ ‘Do you know the provenance of certain pieces?’ Most serious collectors want to know the story behind the artifact. The more you know about the story helps make the sale. The chances of passing that on to the next caretaker is better. You are never the owner, you’re the caretaker. “
Stanton is a regular guest on “High Plains News Today” where he shares some of the items in the store.
“We’ve had a lot of items on the morning show,” he said. “Just yesterday an item we had on the show six months ago, a French provincial knife chest, I shipped it to a lady on Long Island.”
But Long Island is just one of many destinations for the artifacts that have come through Liberal.
“We’ve shipped to Malaysia, Hong Kong, one item went to Shanghai, through an interim shipping hub,” Stanton said. “We ship a lot of things to Canada. You never know where they will go.”
While Stanton uses eBay to sell his wares, he almost never uses it to make a purchase himself, which is probably why his offerings are so rare on the platform.
“I may use it as a price reference,” he said. “That can be helpful.”
But Stanton opened his store as a way to expand offerings to the local market.
“I thought Liberal could use a little more culture,” he said. “What an interesting way to do it than to bring things to Liberal that aren’t found in Liberal and be able to share that with anyone who wants to walk in and take a look.”
And the items are worth conversation. From pre-Christian artifacts to some of the first radio devices, from decorated ancient Native American artifacts to art deco, the small footprint inside the Landmark Center showcases a variety of cultures that vary from those who built pyramids to those who found a home on the range. And Stanton wanted locals to get the first shot at the rare items.
“Anything that comes into the store, we try to leave it local for a while.” He said. “A lot of times it may sit here several weeks. I had one item no one gave it a second look. I put it online, and it sold in 14 minutes.”
Stanton’s unique eye for the uncommon has connected artifacts and buyers from around the world for the pieces that pass through Liberal.
Stanton has brought his world experience to the prairie, and then back to the world through eBay.
“In my former life, so to speak, I literally traveled the globe,” he said. “I love to see an artifact in its natural setting, not in a museum. You can’t always get that, so you can always bring a little of that to your home.”
That’s why some of the acquisitions never make it inside the store.
“Some items show up, and I think, ‘I can’t sell that,’” he said. “They’re at home.”
Locals still have a chance to be the first to acquire the antiquarian delights, and then they go to eBay where Stanton has created one of the top performing antique shops. But before they go digital, locals can see them first inside the Landmark Center in Downtown Liberal.
“We have parking in the rear,” he said. “Hopefully someday on Kansas Avenue.”
