I think I got catch of the day at the antique show

[grasswire]

Today I went to a quarterly antique show/sale at the exposition center in town. 1300 dealers. I was there for six hours. Observation: I honestly think there were a lot of crooks selling reproductions!! I saw four identical long strings of sleighbells on leather, in various booths. What are the chances of that? And glassware repros -- oh my. And it looks to me as if the Chinese are now turning out embroidered pillow cases that are being sold as vintage.

Of course there was a lot of good stuff too. I bought a box of mostly tintypes and some CDVs for fifty cents each. Forty of them, including a sweet-faced woman who was 74 years old at her death in 1864 named Nabby Brown. Born in 1790!

Something called to me from a booth. It was a huge old hand-made cloth-covered scrapbook on a mission oak library table. Well, just last week an old scrapbook of clippings sold on shopgoodwill.com for almost $600. I collect these things, too -- the ones with the household hints and "receipts". So I bought this one for a good price. It's just amazing. About six inches thick, and about 14x20. It is made by hand from old newspapers on which clippings were pasted. The newspapers show the location as Pittsfield MA, from 1890s to beginning of WW1. And it is cram-jammed with the most amazing clippings of historical interest as well as amusing items. Also some Victorian trade cards here and there, and many colorful items. The maker had a deep interest in lurid and sensational crimes in addition to historical events. I've just read clippings for a couple of hours and barely made a dent in the material.

I asked the provenance of the item. The dealer, from Washington state, said he bought it from an older friend who used to travel to buy antiques in Tidewater Virginia. So it went from Pittsfield to Virginia, and then to Washington state and then to me.

And something really odd. I saw in a booth a set of little fruit dishes that were nearly identical to ones that were my grandmother's and sold out of the family in the 1970s. I wondered, oh I wondered if these were my grandmother's dishes. But the patina wasn't quite right, and I didn't buy them. I might be sorry about that.

So I guess the scrapbook will eventually go on eBay when I am tired of it.

Anything happening where you are?

[eleny]

1. The scrapbook is an amazing find

The lurid articles will make it especially choice to some collectors.

It's terrific that it's remained in one piece. The aggregate tells a lot about the one who put it together - a story in itself.

[Vinca]

2. 1300 dealers and you only spent 6 hours?

I would have considered bringing an overnight bag. Your find sounds really interesting! Nothing happening here. And I mean NOTHING. It's just as well. During the last snow storm a tree fell on the Rav and it'll be 2 weeks or more before it's tag sale ready again.

[Paper Roses]

3. Years ago there were huge shows in my neck of the woods.

No More. Just Brimfield, and I'm not up to that zoo. I'd love to spend the day at a 1300 dealer show. Bet I'd find something I had to buy.

New England large shows are pretty much a thing of the past.

[grasswire]

6. well I could walk past many of the dealers without taking time..

...cuz I was not interested in glassware, furniture, or housewares for the most part.

Another interesting thing. There were only two dealers specializing in "retro" wares. Hundreds of "cottage" or "country" or "shabby" dealers, but only two retro. That was interesting 'cuz a very large portion of dwellers of this city are retro types. Double income no kids professionals.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Here's my latest treasure ....

.... an old dental cabinet, much like this one, for a mere $150. It is excellent shape and still had some goodies in the drawers. I'll use it to store my pen and watch fixing stuff and part of the collections.

[grasswire]

5. very cool

I saw some boxed Waterman pens at the show yesterday.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Any idea what vintage?

[grasswire]

8. I didn't even look at them.

I saw the boxes, and the words "Stinky the Clown" flashed through my mind. An American Picker ought to know something about them, and I don't unfortunately.

[Paper Roses]

9. You realize that you have now given Stinky nightmares.

What was in those boxes? Could be that one pen that finished a part of collection or a complete box, unopened. Every collectors dream.

Been there. Do you ever look at something, know it is a great deal, then step back with the thought:
"I know that is a great deal but what the heck would I do with it."

Do it frequently,at least when I am out in good antiquing weather. The thrill of the hunt but sometimes the find is the problem.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Chances are, they were relatively new pens if there were more than one, in an original box/case

The pens from the golden age (turn of the last century to the 1940s) are simply no longer found in the wild very much any more. Now pens from the 80s are found, if any pens are found at all.

The people who used pens are all very old or dead, meaning their things have been sold or are being kept by their heirs ..... who are getting older and dying themselves. Add to that the (now past its prime) notion that pens are a hot collectible, and the chances of finding them in the wild are further reduced.

The same is true of watches, but more of them survived, relatively speaking. Further, there are many collectible watches that are newer.

[grasswire]

12. do you think any that were being hoarded are now coming to market?

I would suspect that as the unemployment lingers, some heirlooms and collections will enter the market again.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. I can imagine that happening, but I would also think it would be, at most, a trickle.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s we used to buy up boxfuls of really great (now *very* valuable) old pens for a few bucks. My best sources were furniture dealers who threw the pens into boxes as they cleaned out estates. Every now and again, the boxes would show up at flea markets for cheap.

Then the torrent slowed to an even flow. Pens were founds in smaller lots with prices per pen rather than per box. This lasted into the 90s. Then they slowed to a trickle.

Then the prices went up. And even eBay, nowadays, has a paucity of really nice pens.

I suspect the pond is truly fished out.

[blm]

11. Nice....did you see that watch repair kit from the 20s on Pawn Stars last night?

It was so beautiful. Worth so much more than the 100.00 paid.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. I missed it. I'm sutre I'll catch it though cuz gthey repeat them a lot.