About a year ago I did a blog post on a relatively new online service called JustAJoy. It's a fascinating online service that puts you in touch with antique dealers across the country. JustAJoy is the brain child of Joy Shivar and her husband George. I tried it and I thought this was a service that is ahead of its time.
To use this website, you simply pay a small $20 annual fee and you can list up to 20 surnames of ancestors or other people you are interested in. If an antique dealer anywhere in the country posts an item for sale that has the name of your ancestor in it, you get a notification that it's been posted.
JustAJoy doesn't act as a broker and doesn't manage the sale of any item. It simply provides you with a notice that an heirloom or artifact that you might be interested in has come up for sale by an antique dealer somewhere across the country. It then provides you with contact information so you can get in touch with the seller. I've tried it and I love it. It doesn't do research for you and it won't directly find you ancestors for you but it does help you find those family artifacts, some of which you probably never knew existed. Even if someone else buys the artifact before you do, you can contact the seller for information about how to get you in touch with the buyer and learn what the artifact is and who has it.
NPR news out of Charlotte, North Carolina just did an interesting article and interview with Joy recently. With this kind of public exposure I'm sure that JustAJoy will be able to provide even more valuable connections. Go ahead and read this fascinating article. I think you will be intrigued by Joy's Shivar's JustAJoy web service and what it could do for you.
