Art Nouveau furniture

As I was going through the boxes of Christie's and Sotheby's auction catalogs I recently snagged, I found this great ceramic fireplace. It was listed in Christie's London sale from Nov 1999 as "Celadon green overglazed with sang de boeuf red, decorated in relief with fronds and blossoms... Designed by Emile Mueller and signed in relief..." The estimated selling price was $20,000- 29,000.
This brought to mind the old tv show where the crew took an expensive decorator designed room and brought it to life for the customer at like $4,000.
Just my luck I like the expensive stuff!

These next photos were taken at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris from the art nouveau collection. I think they would look great with the fireplace!

Here's a photo of what I can afford: a pix of my booth at the Livingston Antique Outlet in Howell Mi exit 133 from I-96 on Burkhart Rd.

BOKS BOOKS BOOKS

I really miss Borders Books! Yes I have a Barnes & Noble within 10 miles and most books I've recently purchased were thru Amazon, but Borders book store was there for me in Ann Arbor as a college student and the affection had continued. I loved their magazine selection where I could find The Magazine Antiques, Maine Antique Digest, BBC House and Antiques etc. Now my library has stopped subscribing to Mag Antiques as well as Antiques and Collectibles--so my Amazon wishlist is growing.
Two great books I recently read and want to recommend are:
The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk, a hand book for any business dealing with the public

(image from Amazon)


and Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair

(image from Amazon)

Just reading this book inspires me to look for great designer clothing and add it to the booth. The only clothing I've sold has been aprons, Hawaiian shirts, and 1 cotton 50's dress!
Too bad I sold the dress form, just have to find another great vintage one.

(image from Amazon)
Found a copy of this book at an estate sale and now have it at the booth just in time for Easter. Wouldn't a basket of these be a surprise.

Found this great dinnerware pattern at www.replacements.com

Summer is over as far as I'm concerned!

Labor Day has always been the end of summer for me. The trees start changing and dry leaves are seen on the walks. Today the weather matched the end--grey, overcast, windy and a definite chill.

Since my last post:

Busy with garage sales, estate sales and open air markets. Finally made it to Allegan market and it was a good day for buying with a ton of vendors most very reasonably priced. Finally visited Saugatuck and stopped in at the Blue Star Highway Antique mall. Good destination with well over 100 dealers and wide variety of items. I liked a lamp with a metal model of a chris craft boat, and a framed photo about mid 1900's of a marina or boat shop.

Utica Mi has a small show 3 times a year and this year in July it seemed kind of sparse.

I hit the northern part of the World's Longest garage sale staring about 10 miles outside of Hudson MI and continued down to Van Wert OH where it intersected with the Highway 30 Lincoln Highway buy-way sale. Van Wert has a gorgeous courthouse, tons of yard sales and dealers set up at the fairgrounds.

I hopped back on I-75 south to spend night at Sharonville area then picked up 127 again just across the Ohio River in Kentucky. Went as far as Harrodsburg KY. This is my 3rd WLGS trip and things have changed over the years. Many postings about the sale lament about places to stay, eat, gas etc. but I had no trouble finding a clean restroom, a fast food stop, and a motel room. Granted for the motel I went off the 127 track but I did see more motels on this northern stretch than before.

This house was about my 2nd stop along the way with 2 other sales by neighbors.

In case you were looking for food

and a drive by bargain !

Citywide garage sale weekend

Last weekend was the citywide sale and I was exhausted after 2 full days! Sold more than have sold in the booth to date so that's a good thing. Got rid of at least 10 boxes of junque. Some unsold items went to curbside immediately--milk crate of old xmas records, a sled (no one seemed to want to repurpose and paint), cast iron cobbler stand and 2 cast iron sole pieces and boxes of smalsl never able to sell items; by the next afternoon it all disappeared. Completed re- packing boxes and stored away for next year. Took a few items up to booth such as a Federal photo enlarger most likely from the 1950's as that was when my brother had a darkroom.

This year the sale was a teaching experience: I don't know how many people picked up the wooden sock darner to shake it as a marraccas--had to explain what it was and how it was used. One teen asked about how a Minolta SLR camera worked and thought it was a neat design piece! The photo enlarger caught many eyes but they had no clue what it was either. I can understand the table top clamp food grinders being an unknown but the camera was surprising. Technology is so fast one forgets that those who are 30 and younger don't know how life used to be.

People were looking for: lawnmowers, fishing lures, hunting items, the canopy, jewelry and any hidden sterling or gold items.

I was tempted by a neighbor who just put out their trash and sale rejects to pick up some frames,

but I controlled the impulse and will hold off to an auction on Friday.

I-80 road trip

Got back this week from a road warrior road trip across I-80 to Cheyenne Wyoming. Along the way we made more stops at antiques malls etc than for food! Des Moines: Brass Armadillo--as expected from this chain a ton of booths and showcases. Prices were decent and found a few sale items.

Platte Valley Antique Mall just off the interstate at exit 420 was the best stop! Lots of interesting booths,several sales and we took home a personal treasure. Good prices on Wyandotte Toy trucks and some other interesting trucks.

Exit 405 about Lincoln NE area for the Aarvark A.M. easy access from interstate. This had to have been a Brass Armadillo in the past. Prices higher and sales in individual booths were by taking a sales ticket for each item you wish to buy. No sales "ticket" no discount at register.

A dissapointment was the Sherwood Antique Mall in Princeton Illinois, might be nice for wine tasting but overall quality was down--yes there were a few good booths but the rest weren't worth a stop.

In Cheyenne one place was closed on a Saturday after 10AM and the other down the road we couldn't find the address listed in the phone book.

The Ogalla Antique Mall is exit 126 then SOUTH not north into town as mapquest and google showed. Found it on the return from a roadside billboard. Small size, high prices but some interesting items. I really miss the profusion of billboards we saw as kids. Now just field upon field, the boards did breakup the monotony and gave hope for what is down the road.

Walnut Iowa, the antique capitol of Iowa--Well for a town/village/city? of less than 1000 I suppose so. They tout 15 stores unfortunately most were closed on a Sunday in March! We visited 3--one was large and the lower level disorganized, prices reasonable; the second was out of this world prices--one sale would make a great week elsewhere, large selection of jugs and crocks.

the 3rd store was just right--nice selection pretty reasonable pricing and had the NASCAR race on radio.

Definitely worth a stop if you have the time while whizzing along the highway.

Great resource found

As I was searching my library's catalog I had to go to the statewide catalog and there I found a book I wanted but it was listed as an electronic resource--what was this? I found it was part of the Hathi Trust digital library collection (also partnered with Google) of digitized books etc. Found the book I wanted and was able to create a login and setup my "collections". For old books about antique categories I found several with full view of text and pictures. WOW! I don't need to buy these just return to collection whenever I want. Also found some titles for those doing genealogy and found a few books published by relatives.

This chaise was a quick seller at full price--I was at booth the day the buyer came to pickup and assisted to load it into his SUV! I knew it would fit because I carted it in mine.

Booth had a great December, January OK--but the snowstorms don't help with visitors/purchasers.

2 months of Retirement

Can't believe 2 months out of the rat race and I'm still trying to learn to relax. Of course I've been on the road to the market at Elkhorn WI, the Blue Water Yard Sale Trail, Springfield OH Sept extravaganza and TriState Market in Indiana.
For 2010 the spring extravaganza at Springfield was better that the fall. Blue Water was reduced in size and road construction didn't help. Elkhorn was forecast for 30% chance of afternoon thunderstorms--It rained for almost 3 straight hours in the morning so the majority of dealers were wrapped up!
TriState was small but good variety and some dealers were exceptionally reasonable--of course overcast and temp in low 50's after a full day's rain on Saturday made the browsing unpleasant especially for the dealers.
I did get some "good" stock and hit several new to me antique malls.
I happened upon Volo IL --prices so-so, interesting setup with park, retail bldgs and museum. I visited Miami Valley Antique Mall just off 275 near I-75 north of Cincinnati--lots of great small booths with pricing at all levels. Heart of Ohio off I-70 just near Springfield was an experience--lots of floor help and multi sales stations, also a snack bar!
Now I have to inventory, price, wrap and pack stuff to get my house into shape for Thanksgiving dinner in NOV. Yes it will take me that long. Just keeping the kitchen table clear is on going battle. I managed to get pantry door painted and all but 1 kitchen cupboard repainted with new knobs etc.
Have to keep busy so I don't regret retiring early.