He fancies toy tractors and metal advertising signs, old ones. She deals in crocks and vintage furniture. Together, they are a match made at the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Des Moines, where they are officially known as Vendor 957.

Mark and Renee Lane were married Feb. 11 at the antique mall, amid aisles named after streets and booths filled with the kind of stuff we either treasure or just don’t throw away.

Renee Lane has been a vendor and volunteer at the Brass Armadillo since it opened in 1992. Mark Lane opened his stall in 2007. They met when Mark asked Renee for the keys to his storage unit. Love blossomed from there.

Selling and searching for antiques is the kind of thing that binds them together. Mark got his start by selling items on eBay. Renee said her interest in antiques was kindled by her grandmother.

“My grandmother always had lots of antiques around, and that inspired me to collect and ultimately sell antiques,” she said.

“It helps that we have similar interests,” Mark said after the couple returned from their honeymoon trip – a few days spent looking for antiques in Missouri.

The antique business seems to be recession-proof, he said. Still, sales volume can be erratic. He points out that Renee wouldn’t give up her day job as a pharmacy technician at Broadlawns Medical Center. Mark worked at Townsend Industries Inc. for 22 years before it closed in June 2010.

“I don’t know that the recession affected us,” Mark said. “There’s nothing in here that you really need. But there are people in here buying stuff all the time.”

A gray fedora priced at $9 might be a good buy, if it’s the right size. And someday, someone might grab a crumpled Quaker Oats carton, a history of electric guitars or a thermometer advertising Farmall tractors.

Bargains found at other antique malls or at auctions sometimes wind up on display at Vendor 957.

“You can find things that another dealer might not know the real value of,” Mark said.

He points out a Hesston rodeo buckle that he bought for $25, only to see a similar one priced at $300.

The best deal of all, of course, was the one that resulted in Vendor 957.