Blossom

The ornamental plum blossom at the front of Tyabb Packing House Antiques flowers around August every year and lasts until early September. 

As no one can be out and about this (2020) August let's look back through 10 years of blossom at Tyabb. 

2010

In 2010 we didn't take any dedicated photos of the blossom, so we've only got a couple of photos that show the trees in flower in the background. This is incidentally the only photos in this series which shows the previous paintwork of the exterior of the Tyabb Packing House building, in 2013 it was upgraded to a new heritage colour scheme and sign work.

Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of the blossom in 2011 or 2012.

2013

2014

In 2014 we have photos late-August and early-September and you can see (click for full screen) the differences a couple of weeks makes for the blossom.

2015

One of the problems of taking a nice photo of the blossom is the variable weather in the latter part of winter. Here, 4 days difference makes the difference in colours.

2016

2017

2018

Photos from the start and end of August, and we remembered to walk around the trees and capture them from a few different angles.

10th August 2018

24th August 2018

2019

2020

Photos taken on maintenance days during the Stage 4 2020 lockdown from early to late August showing the blossom in full bloom through to when the bloom has blow away.

Sell or Valuation

We are often contacted by people wishing to wanting to sell items, and occasionally people asking if we do valuations. 

And more than occasionally people asking for valuations, but actually wishing to sell

These two terms may seem interchangeable, but they are quite different in terms of the information you wish and the process of exchange of goods for cash.

Valuation:

Valuations are for establishing how much an item is worth, this is different to selling an item.

Valuations are done for a variety of reasons including; insurance, probate, family division (divorce, separation etc), superannuation, investment.

For all of these situations there is usually the requirement of a certified written valuation. None of the dealers at Tyabb Packing House Antiques can provide this. Our dealers recommend Leonard Joel auction house.

Getting a certified valuation of goods is generally a paid service.

If you are just curious about how much an item may be worth then one of our dealers Bells Antiques can provide free verbal valuations on items.

Selling:

If you're looking to sell the items for money, this is quite simple. 

You can send photos to us via contact@tyabbpackinghouseantiques.com.au 

We'll then forward your email onto all of our dealers who might be interested, if they're interested they'll then get in contact with you. Please provide any information on your items and include a phone number as many of our dealers are “old school” and prefer to call and speak than email back.

Alternatively you can take photos, and come in and show the dealers in person, pursuing this path means you can get direct feedback in person.

Or the easiest for transportable goods is to bring the items in to show the dealers in person. They will have a look (or come out to your car and have a look) and then offer you a price. 

The price offered by dealers takes into account many different metrics, but many dealers must consider; the preparation of the items for sale, storage before they can sell the item, what else they might have in the pipeline to sell, that they may be overstocked with similar items, plus the state of the market and the interest in said items at the moment.

Other methods of selling:

Sometimes we are asked about selling on consignment or on commission selling. None of our dealers do this as it limits what they can do with the goods, be it drastically discounting them if they are not selling or storing them off-site until the market for the goods improves. Additionally many of our dealers have items off-site or are watching the market and require space for purchases that they may make in the future. Having goods on consignment restricts their ability to move swiftly or to alter their stock how they see fit. 

Simply selling your goods to a dealer is a much simpler and smoother process.

Not Cheap Not Expensive

Tyabb Packing House Antiques is not a trash and treasure market. This is not something we have ever been, even when we were at Moorooduc as the Moorooduc Antiques & Old Wares. We are not a flea market or a Sunday market.

We have experts whose experience in antiques, old wares, Art Deco, vintage, retro, jewellery, technical, printed matter, paintings and everything either side of this covers more than 500 years of experience. We have over 20 dealers, many of whom have been trading for 40+ years, even our youngest dealer has been in and around the business for over 20 years. 

All the items for sale at Tyabb Packing House Antiques has been collected, curated, provenance established, cleaned, polished and prepared for you. There is a wealth of experience and knowledge to be gained from the dealers, should you want a Yashica Lynx camera, a mahogany partner's desk, an industrial curio, or text exploring an Greek and Roman Emperors from 1670.

Occasionally online, it has been commented upon that we are not cheap. 

There are very few locations within Australia where experts in such a great many fields are collected together, with all their wares for sale, prepared for you to take home. 

Each of our dealers is running their own business, they are knowledgable and there to help. None of this knowledge is on computer, not even the books, it is all through knowledge and experience. Everything for sale has been prepared for sale using that knowledge and experience. 

There are few retail experiences where you will experience this attention to detail and knowledge in the 21st century.

We are not expensive, nor are we cheap. There are traders in Melbourne and elsewhere who can and will charge a great deal more for similar items that are for sale at Tyabb Packing House Antiques. The price they charge is also reflective of their location, skill and experience.

Most of our dealers are open to negotiation, we are not a traditional new retailer where the ticket price is set in stone. Some stock may be in our dealers' possession for a long time, or they may have new stock awaiting to go into their space, and therefore may be motivated to do a good deal to sell items. 

We are not cheap, we are not expensive either, not for the knowledge and experience that is provided, not the for items which are ready to be used, enjoyed or experienced. We are not a trash and treasure shop, we provide quality items, with the knowledge and experience to back up these items.

Power, Heating and Cooling

Tyabb Packing House is a rather unique business in many ways, unlike large shopping centres etc that are comparable in detail, though not size, there is not an infinite amount of power available. 

Simply put the Tyabb Packing House can only draw a certain amount of power, which it usually does, almost to the limit. Through experimentation and working with our electricians we have discovered exactly where that limit is.

This limit has required some creative implementation of power and heating within Tyabb Packing House over the years.

Insulation

Tyabb Packing House Antiques' building has core parts which are over 100 years old, some parts are younger, but most are in this age range. 

Example of the (still) greasy pipework.

The primary method of cooling the Tyabb Packing House when it operated as a cool store was by suction gas-powered refrigeration through cooling pipes. These cooling pipes still exist in many of the chambers now, and are still greased with grease (which we can attest is still greasy, albeit quite dirty). 

The method of insulation is wood shavings, which is why the walls are so thick in the original parts of the building. It is for this reason we take fire safety so seriously, we are fortunate to have the Tyabb CFA next door and enjoy a good relationship with them (for example they use our car park on our non-operating days for training).

Heating

When the Martlands had operated Moorooduc it had utilised wood-burning fires to heat the important spaces of that building, with electric heaters taking up the slack. 

This was something that couldn't be done at Tyabb. As a predominantly wood-constructed building with loose wood shaving insulation does not mix well with wood-burning fires.

Pot belly heater we used to use.

Fortunately Tyabb Packing House is within a commercially-zoned area and the western boundary is with Peacock Lane; where an industrially-sized gas main runs. It is mostly used by Melbourne Jam Manufacturing – locally simply known as the 'jam factory'. 

At first for a number of years gas-fuelled pot belly-style gas heaters were utilised within Tyabb Packing House Antiques. These created a small bubble of heat around them, but did not effectively heat the building as a whole.

Two of the Brivis ducted heaters we use.

Then in 2007 the Martlands decided for customer and dealer comfort to install ducted heating throughout Tyabb Packing House. 

Now 12 Brivis ducted gas heaters efficiently heat the building. Although with a 100+ year old building there will be some cold patches where the heating doesn't cover absolutely. In all practical senses though, Tyabb Packing House Antiques is kept at a stable warm temperature throughout the winter, a task that given the age and sprawling size of the building is not inconsiderate.

Cooling

As mentioned above Tyabb Packing House Antiques does not have excess power available, which means we are unable to employ air conditioners to cool the building.

No business that operates at 14 Mornington-Tyabb Road, Tyabb employs air conditioning for the purpose of cooling any of their spaces (this includes all within The Village as well).

One of the large oscillating fans used during summer.

Similar to large buildings like Bunnings we simply use fans; large fans along with smaller fans are dotted around Tyabb Packing House Antiques throughout the summer to keep the air moving and cool within the building. 

Unfortunately however, the building also holds its heat. If the temperature is above 32ºC over three consecutive days the building does not lose its heat entirely overnight, and inside takes a few days to cool down to its normal temperature.

It is surprising though how cool the interior of the building remains, mostly due to its 'old school' construction with the thick insulation and its original design as a cool store it holds its cold surprisingly well, until we reach that point where it doesn't.

Lighting

Tyabb Packing House is always looking for ways to be more efficient with our power usage. Recently from 2013-2014 all of the overhead lighting were switched from standard fluorescent lighting to LED tube lighting. While that switch over has changed the overall colour temperature of the interior of the building to a cooler colour temperature (only noticeable in the days following the switch), it has also improved our energy usage (although not to the point where air conditioning might be viable). Utilising these LED lights has meant we no longer need to purchase (and dispose of) fluorescent mercury vapour tubes, as well as improving our energy use.