I might have found the motherlode?

***EDIT *** 2/12/08 This is Jennifer/Nambroth, guys. Please read this thread BEFORE sending Aetharia PM’s or emails about buying or trading these items. Since her original post we have learned that a Windstone collector that we may or may not have known here (we are not sure yet) has passed away. If you have any information please post it in the thread linked to above, or if you don’t want to share it you are welcome to PM me and I will find the best way to handle it. Thank you for your respect and sensitivity in this unsettling and sad matter.

Aetharia’s original post as follows:
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So. Antique shops. You can find some rather interesting things in them. But. When it comes to windstones, I tend to view said antique stores as places of dragon execution. Whenever I’ve stumbled across a windstone in any antique shop, they’re usually in aweful to pathetic shape.

Buttttttt. I think I stumbled across the motherlode on Saturday.

I’d discovered a small antique shop here in town that I didn’t even know existed. I’m still new to my little college town, so I try to snoop around between classes and when I have freetime. Antique shops as I said, can house some interesting stuff. So. I decided to poke around.

The lady that runs that place was very pleasant, and didn’t mind my snooping. The shop used to be an old general store I think, and there were two floors of odds and ends to go through.

Where am I going with all of this blabbing? Well. When I got to the back wall of the second floor, a familiar glint caught my attention. I looked and thought “Hey… is that an emperor dragon staring at me?” I was baffled, and looked again to fully realize there was an indeed an emperor staring at me, his head poking out of a box (with the flaps of it crammed around his head). I ran to rescue him, pulled the flaps back, and reached in to pull him out. I was even more surprised that he was a beautiful brown in color, and there was NOT one scratch on him. I’d never seen an emperor as brown as him, and I wasn’t about to put him down either.

I guess I must have made quite the “EEP!! DRAGON!!” noise or something, because the lady running the store actually came and found me. When I inquired about the dragon, she said she’d actually gotten a -bunch- of them from a family whose grandmother had passed away. Apparantly all the dragons had belonged to her, and the family just didn’t have the room for them. =/

… about the bunch of other dragons. When I asked about those, she motioned to several boxes that were stacked against the wall.

“There’s a lot of dragons in there. You’re more than welcome to look through them if you like.”

….. *twitch of utter joy*

Needless to say, I spent the next few hours going through some of the most beautiful windstone pieces I’ve ever seen. The lady who owned them must have really loved them, because they were all in wonderful condition. I’m not very familiar with all the different colors and whatnot, but some of the dragons looked to be very old.

The brownish emperor has a twin, forest green brother who’s in wonderful shape. I found several brown dragons that look to match the brownish emp. There looks to be a nearly complete emerald set, including a gorgeous old warrior. A white lap (EEEE!) with a matching mother, father and hatching empress. Two jade suns and a peacock oriental (I think he’s the lighter version). There are also several dragons who have that green color the emperor does, but I’m not totally sure if they match as a set. The colors amongst all of them seem to vary slightly from each other. Two flions, and gryphon male with very blue eyes. There’s a box entirely dedicated to flapcats, and they were packed in such a near sardine manner I didn’t try to pull them out (I was afraid I would break one of them ><). There was also a family of ki-rins with an extra male, a couple of small wizards and a spectral (who's very, very green).

There has to be about around 30 windstones in all, and I’m bringing them all home today for 350.00. The lady said she’d been thinking about auctioning them off on ebay, or she was going to take them to a mass auction. =/ I guess I got very lucky, and jumped on the price when I asked what she wanted for them. Really, I think she wanted to get rid of them.

The problem is that I simply cannot have all of these dragons in my apartment. My current brood will not be happy to share their cabinet space with so many newcomers, and their brood mommy just doesn’t have the room.

I’m going to sort through all the boxes again today after I go pick them up, and see exactly what all I have. Some of the dragons I simply didn’t recognize. So I’m not sure what all is what and who is who exactly.

The lady at the shop also offered me a box filled with broken dragons. She said she actually had dropped one box while moving them from her truck, and hadn’t even opened it to see what the damage was. I’m horrified by what I might find, but I’ll sort that out too (if I can).

Once I do sort through all these dragons, I will do my very best to get pictures up on on the forums. My camera has had it, so I have to figure out what to do about that. Maybe the fiance will snag a cheapy for me to use (if he doesn’t kill me when he sees ten boxes of windstones that will be sitting in the office when he gets home).

These windstones are going to need loving homes, and I felt it was only right to bring this to the forums first. Once I get all of them sorted out and cleaned up a bit, I’ll get pictures up for peeps to see. Maybe some of you might be interested in offering some of these pretties a place in your own broods? If any of you are, please PM me so I can start a list of sorts.