Category Archives: Collectibles

Driving for Deco, “Freakin’ ‘Tiquen” Summer 2017

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Hi-ho, its Driving for Deco we go! Or rather went. Our 2017 freakin’ ‘tiquen adventures took us points west.  To our surprise, we found quite a bit of deco items – more than we accounted for as proved by our packed car.  We managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing, as well.

We headed off to our first stop, and an old friend. The Craft and Antique Co-Op in Painesville, Ohio.

There is a good mix of items from old to new and deep sale prices up to 50% in some booths.  Chris picked up a large 1930’s Czech Toucan Pitcher (not on sale) and an amber Farber Cambridge decanter set.

From there, another old friend, The Medina Antique Mall. We love this place and are never disappointed. We got quite a haul here. Anthony purchased a vintage overcoat, a 1936 Canadian Parker Vacumatic fountain pen, a walnut and Bakelite box and a set of Susie Cooper Wedding Band soup bowls, vegetable bowls and plates.

Needing to rest and have a quick bite, we found this interesting building. Newer, it embodied some features reminiscent of the Art Deco style.

The next day brought us across the state to Maumee, Ohio. We found a “great find” at Great Finds In Maumee. Good prices and a good mix of items in a clean, organized and well-lit store.

Stop two for the day was the Maumee Antique Mall. This is a large store with vendors of varying prices and quality. Put your walking shoes on because you’ll be here for a while. A small café is available if you need a pick-me-up and we can recommend their delicious muffins.

Markle Exit 286 Antique Mall in Markle, Indiana is a little gem we found on our 2011 Freakin’ ‘tiquen trip. A nice selection, they had fewer items of interest for us this time around. Still, we walked away with a lovely frosted glass ball vase embossed with swallows, a vintage neck tie, and a pewter ashtray we attribute to Queens Art.

The next day was the Fourth of July and our visit to Indiana Dunes National Park and the Century of Progress Homes. Being a holiday, we used this as a travel day, heading off to Racine, Wisconsin.

The antiquing in Racine was a rollercoaster of variety and prices. We did well at the local Thrift store picking up set of Chrys, made in England, desert set and a Davenport Ironstone plate (Cypress, circa 1855).

Our next adventure was a tour of the SC Johnson Administration Building.  The tour brings visitors to various buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The buildings designed in the 1930’s and 1940’s are Wright’s take on the International Style. Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures inside the buildings. Click Here for tour information.

FLW's Johnson's Wax Building, Racine, Wisconsin.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1939 S.C. Johnson Administration Building and 1950 research tower. Cherokee Red brick and clear plastic tubing.

After our tour, more antiquing. We didn’t do as well at the appropriately named School Days Mall Antiques & Speciality Shops. Located in an old school building, it held some promise with a variety of item but at premium prices. The few items of interest were marked “firm”. We walked away empty-handed.

As it was still early, we headed out to Always Remember That Antique Mall but got distracted and stopped at Benson Antique Mall. One half of two malls separated by a parking lot, Benson proved to be real gem. Anthony found three pieces (casserole, large creamer and pie plate) of Royal Rochester in the hard-to-find Modernistic pattern. Already priced to sell, they were an additional 20% off. Chris picked up an Oven-Serve casserole in the Clematis pattern. We passed on a well-priced pair of Nu-Art elephant bookends and a fair priced but well-worn cane wrapped handled Manning-Bowman cocktail shaker. Upon checkout, the vendor who sold the Royal Rochester informed us she had more of the pattern at another near-by location.

The sister store? A huge disappointment of used contemporary items and collectibles of a dubious nature.

Yet another detour brought us to Great Lake Antiques and Boutique in Antioch Illinois. As promised, the vendor had a nice selection of the Royal Rochester Modernistic. Key word is “had” as the waffle iron, large sugar, small creamer / sugar, batter bowl and another casserole came home with us. Although a significant investment, the total price for all pieces equaled to less than the current asking price for the batter bowl on popular auction site. We also picked up 6 Chase cordial cups in excellent condition for a song.

We finally made it to our original destination for the day, Always Remember That Antique Mall. Chris picked up a serving platter, mixing bowl and casserole in the Clematis pattern.

Our next stop was the Carousel Consignments in Janesville, Wisconsin. With a vast variety of items on closely packed shelves there is something for everybody in this two-story shop. Looking for china, glassware, clocks, vintage / contemporary picture frames and more? This is the stop to make. We purchased an etched glass deco serving tray, vintage photoplay book, and several neckties. Two more stores, one next door and the other across the street were interesting.

Further west and we came across Dakota Plains Antiques & Collectibles, in Sioux Falls. Lots to see here and extremely fair prices. Our best find was a near mint Toast-O-Lator, model J for $10. These are not particularly difficult to find but are usually $145 and up. Toast-O-Lator’s move an up-right slice of bread along a conveyor system to drop gently onto an awaiting plate at the on the other end. More often than not, the bread  gets stuck inside and soon after, flames are shooting out the ends. Ours is for show!

Two other Antique malls are nearby. One had a thrift store vibe and we picked up a very nice silhouette. The other held promise and was interesting but nothing grabbed us and prices ranged from the high-end of fair to high.

Driving through South Dakota was a challenge as we drove along the edge of a bad storm system. Looking outside the driver’s window was a solid sheet of grey. Looking through the passenger window was spectacular.

Follow us on part 2 of our 2017 Freakin’ ‘tiquen and a whirlwind of  sightseeing starting with Mount Rushmore and more antiquing adventures!

Chris & Anthony (The Freakin’ Tiquen’ Guys)

 

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy these earlier posts:

Antique stores, Barnegat through Smithville, NJ

Springing into the 2017 “Freakin’, Tiquen’” season

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35 Years of Collecting Art Deco

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May, 2017 marks the 35th year since I actively started collecting Art Deco items. Normally, I wouldn’t write a biographical post, but this is a something of a milestone. Looking back it seems I have always been collecting something and always drawn to things of the past. As a little boy I had Matchbox cars (what boy in the 1960’s didn’t).

Some Matchbox cars that I had in the 1960’s

 

But because I liked old cars better my parents started to get my the Matchbox Models of Yesteryear. Below are some of my favorites.

 

 

But the one I like the best was this one –

Packard, 1930

1930 Packard Victoria

 

At the time it was the only Model of Yesteryear of a car from the 1930’s. So, as you can tell by reading this, by six years old my interest in the time period between the World Wars had started.

 

Coins

 

As the 1970’s started, so did my coin collecting. I never had a spectacular collection, but it did help earn me my sole Boy Scout merit badge. One of the requirements for the merit badge is to compile a set of coins from the year of your birth. This is normally a pretty easy task. In 1963 the mint still produced silver coins, by 1975 they were long out of circulation. Finding these coins proved a bit of a challenge for an 11 year-old.

 

 

I stopped collecting coins soon after I earned my merit badge. But before I started on my next big obsession, a book came into my life that would consciously and unconsciously influence my collecting interests to this day. I had already started collecting 1939 New York World’s Fair memorabilia by the mid-1970’s. My interest in the fair came from all the stories my family told about attending it. And with my general interest in the 1930’s I received as a gift the book Collecting Nostalgia by John Mebane (1972, Popular Library).

 

Collecting Nostalgia, 1972.

The paperback edition of Collecting Nostalgia by John Mebane, 1972. Image from Amazon.com

Coca-Cola

This book had chapters on furniture, lamps, Mickey Mouse, World’s Fair & Buck Rogers collectibles. In 1975 this was the book that every 11 year-old boy dreamed about . . . not! But I liked it and it had a chapter on Coca-Cola. And it sparked my six year collecting quest of Coke memorabilia. I started off small, I picked up a 1944 Coca-Cola bottle at the Englishtown Auction (a very large flea market in Englishtown, NJ) for 25 cents.

 

My first Coca-Cola collectible.

The bottle that started it all. This variation of the famous 6 ounce Coca-Cola bottle was in production from 1938 – 1951. 1944 is the molding date stamped on this bottle.

 

It wasn’t long after buying that first bottle that the collection started to build. Soon I was buying anything I could afford that had Coca-Cola on it. Cans and bottles from different countries, paper goods, pencils, pocket knives, cardboard cut outs, well you get the idea. And my family often bought items for me that were out of my 11 – 16 year old price range, such as early straight sided bottles, trays and a really nice 1930’s ice cooler, the type that would be in front of a store or gas station.

 

Westinghouse Junior Ice Chest

Westinghouse, Junior Coca-Cola ice chest. Circa late 1930’s. This is like the model I had but in much nicer condition. I sold mine over 30 years ago. I still miss it. Image from Pinterest.

By 1979 my bedroom looked like a shrine for Coca-Cola. Beside the cooler taking up a corner of the room there were shelves with bottles, cans and glasses. Covering the walls were serving trays, signs and a large, illuminated clock, that made sleeping difficult, until the florescent light burned out.

Things go better with Coke clock.

1964 “Things go better with Coke” illuminated clock. Image from Pinterest.

 

 

While I have sold most of my Coca-Cola memorabilia, I have held onto the serving trays, they always go up in value. And if I come across any trays or early straight sided bottles at a good price, I can’t resist and I buy them. Old collecting habits die hard.

As the 1970’s turned into the 1980’s and my Coca-Cola collecting started to slow, my mother grew tired of seeing my Coke “museum”. Plus my bedroom needed a decoration update. It was 1973 when my parents decided on a decor for my bedroom. With the United States Bi-centennial only three years away everything went red, white and blue and colonial drums and eagles and my bedroom was no exception.

1982 from Coca-Cola to Art Deco

Not too far from where I lived I would go to Trash or Treasure, an antique store loaded with stuff and not neatly displayed. One needed to hunt around to find the treasure, but it was there, hiding. And one day in May of 1982, my mom noticed a pair of half circle, blue mirror end tables. Many years later I noticed December 21, 1939 stamped on the bottom. Blue glass tables would be popular for all of the 1940’s. They are considered Deco, even though that era came to an end by 1941. This would be the start of my Art Deco collection. $75.00 ($190.00 in 2017 money) was the price for the tables. They were in pretty good shape, but not perfect. But my mom saw this as a way out of the Coca-Cola museum and the now very dated Bi-centennial decor. She suggested I could turn the room into a little living room where I could entertain friends and watch old movies. The idea appealed to me, so we purchased the tables and in came the Deco and out went the Coke.

The half round end table that started the collection in 1982.

One of the two half round end tables that started the collection. In August of 1982 is when I bought the reproduction airplane lamp. Photo from 2017 in my present TV room.

 

The airplane lamp is a late 1970’s reproduction that used the original mold. I became familiar with that lamp, thanks to the Collecting Nostalgia book. Another early Deco purchase was a late 1930’s lucite table lamp with original shade. The shade had condition issues so I had the frame recovered with a similar fabric in the late 1980’s.

 

My late 1930's lucite lamp.

This is another early Art Deco purchase that has always been in use since I bought it in 1982 at the long gone Route 1 Flea Market in New Brunswick, NJ. I had the frame of the original shade recovered in the late 1980’s because of the tears. Photo taken in 2017.

The original 1982 room

 

The above photos taken with Kodak 110 Pocket Instamatic do not justice to the actual color of the room. The walls were a dove gray, with a wall paper border of light gray and white in a a pseudo 1980’s Deco pattern and the window blinds in a very pale gray. I had yet to learn how colorful the Art Deco period was.

 

As a celebration of my 35th anniversary of collecting Art Deco, my friends and I went to the Cooper Hewitt Museum in Manhattan for their exhibition – The Jazz Age American Style in the 1920’s.

The Jazz Age at the Cooper Hewitt.

The Cooper Hewitt’s exhibition The Jazz Age. It runs through August 20, 2017.

 

This exhibition is wonderful and has on exhibition items I’ve only seen in books or on line. If you happen to be in New York City and love Art Deco don’t miss this show.

 

Me at the Cooper Hewitt.

2017, me at 53 enjoying The Jazz Age exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum. I had to have my picture taken next to my favorite Art Deco glassware, Ruba Rombic.

 

Anthony (One half of the Freakin’, Tiquen Guys).

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Fiestaware 101: Part Five 1940 Promotional Campaign Sugar Cream and Kitchen Sets

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Sugar, Cream & Tray Set

The sugar, creamer and tray promotional set.

1940 promotional campaign sugar & cream set. Typical colors of yellow sugar and creamer on a cobalt blue figure 8 tray. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com

The 1940 promotional campaign continues with a couple of sets to brighten up the table. This set is very sought after by collectors of Fiestaware. The last new pieces designed for the Fiesta line, until the individual salad bowl of 1959, were in stores by spring of 1940. Fredrick Rhead, creator of Fiestaware died from cancer on November 5, 1942. These items proved to be his last design. Consisting of three pieces, in standard colors of yellow for the sugar and creamer and cobalt blue for the tray. The values for these pieces are: Yellow Sugar $125.00, Yellow Creamer $75.00 and the Cobalt Figure Eight Tray $95.00.

As with anything Fiestaware, there are variations. Although rare, creamers in red and figure eight trays in turquoise turn up. These colors were probably used for special orders. The values of these pieces reflect their rarity. The red creamer has a book value of $315.00 and the figure eight tray in turquoise of $375.00.

 

Promotional creamer in red.

1940 – 1943 promotional creamer in Fiesta red. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com

Turquoise figure eight promotional tray.

Promotional figure eight tray in turquoise. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com.

 

Sugar & cream set.

From the collection of the author the sugar & cream set with the red creamer.

 

The Kitchen Set

 

Promotional Kitchen set.

Promotional Kitchen Set. In the standard color combination. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com

 

With some diligence and a bit of patience one can cobble together the promotional kitchen set as it is rarely found complete. It is a combination of pieces created for other lines. The Royal Metal Manufacturing casserole, first created in 1936, came in a variety of Fiestaware and Harlequin colors. For the promotional campaign the green casserole base came with a red lid and a yellow pie plate from the Kitchen Kraft line. This matched the yellow, green and red color combination of the promotional salad set. Today expect to pay around $200.00 for the complete set or $150.00 for the casserole and another $35.00 – $50.00 for the pie plate.

 

1940 promotional Kitchen Set.

Promotional Kitchen Set, 1940 – 1943. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com

These two sets add a colorful Deco touch in any vintage kitchen. The next installment on Fiestaware will look at the final two items available in the 1940 promotional campaign.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen Guys)

 

Fiestaware 101: Part Four The Salad Set & French Casserole.

Fiestaware 101: Part Three 1939 The Juice Set.

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“Books are AWFULLY decorative, don’t you think?”

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Yes, books ARE awfully decorative. (Points to you if you can place that quote without using a search engine. Don’t worry, I’ll give you the answer later in the article.)

I don’t pretend to be a serious collector of, nor an expert about collecting books. There are plenty of wonderful and informative sites online about this subject. And books don’t need to be an ancient work to be valuable as we will see shortly.

Sure, your device can hold hundreds of books that you won’t need to dust and are easy to transport (especially on vacation). Nothing, however, beats the heft of a classic or the feel of crisp paper as you turn the page. They are equally important as paperweights, door stops, uneven table leg levelers (ok, that may be a stretch), many things your device can’t do. (Except, maybe be used as a paperweight.) And books, displayed correctly, can give the impression of being really smart.

 Let’s face it, if you were Belle in Beauty and the Beast, which would be the more impressive gift?

Or:

And now,  a brief history.

The first books were of Asian origin. Made from strips of palm leaves or strips of bark, writing was scratched into the surface. Lamp black rubbed onto the leaves or bark filled the impressions left to make them stand out. To keep the leaves flat, pieces of wood were placed on either side of the “pages”.

The wood and palm leaves would be held together by cord or leather thongs woven through holes bored through the back. These covers would be decorated with complex design with elaborate carvings and intricate inlay work of gold and silver.

Papyrus scrolls were the next iteration but are fragile by nature. Modern bookbinding began with the change from papyrus scrolls, to books made up from separate sheets of vellum (and later paper), folded and collected into sections called leaves. The leaves were placed in correct order and held together by sewing through the center fold.

To keep the leaves flat and undamaged, they were placed between wooden boards, joined together with leather wrapped round to form the type of book that today we are all familiar with.

 Source: http://rarebookbuyer.com/

However, 2 major inventions allowed books to be produced in large quantities: Paper  invented by the Chinese around 200 years BC and movable type by German printer Johann Gutenburg in 1456.

As the number of books and demand increased in the 15th Century, the occupation of printer and binder became separate. Gold-leaf was introduced from the East into Venice. Fine delicate tools for impressing the gold designs and different color leathers for onlays and inlays on the covers became the foundation for decorating bindings.

The early 16th Century became one of the finest periods in the history of decorative bookbinding. However, the high cost of producing books made them so valuable that they were often chained to the bookshelves to prevent them being stolen.

Source: http://www.waytebinding.co.uk/pr02.htm

So yes, they ARE awfully decorative!

In 1868, David McConnell Smyth patented a sewing machine designed specifically for bookbinding. Over the next 30 years, he went on to develop machines for gluing, trimming, case-making (hard covers), and casing-in. Many of his machines are still in use.

The invention uses a double-loop stitch and “a pair of curved needles acting in opposite directions, with a looper that takes the loop from one needle and delivers it over the other needle.

Source: http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/book-boom-early-bookbinding-inventions

 

Though the perfect binding was invented in 1895, it did not become popular until 1931 when the German publisher, Albatross Books, introduced the first paperback book. Penguin Books in England adopted the format in 1935 with their popular books. In America, Pocket Books started producing popular titles in 1939 paperback versions. Soon everyone was reading paperback books.

Source: http://www.powis.com/resources/learn/binding_history.php

Dust jackets first came into use in the 1800’s and were simple, unadorned paper wrappers (see below). Their original intent was to protect books bound in leather or silk from the printing house.  They were not regarded as part of the book. Essentially, they were meant to be discarded when it reached its destination. All of that changed, once publishers realized the marketing potential afforded by dust jackets.

Decorative dust jackets caught on slowly. At first design elements of the dust jacket was a small window cut in an area on the binding where the publisher had a small picture or design sewed in. Eventually, publishers abandoned the cut-out window and simply duplicated the design on the jacket.

By the turn of the century, publishers realized that these relatively plain wrappers offered plenty of space for advertising. Synopses of the book and biographies of the author started to show up around 1910, and by 1920 illustrated dust jackets were common. Source: http://www.advantagebookbinding.com/blog/ .

Each era has a style reflective of the times. The period we refer to as Art Deco was no exception.

The 1933 Savory Cocktail book has a classic deco cover and is highly collectable.

A first edition in good condition can be hundreds of dollars without a dust jacket. With a dust jacket in serviceable condition, it is worth several thousands of dollars.

A 1983’s reprint reproduced the cover exactly as the original. It is something of a collectible in its own right and valued at $25.00 – $70.00. Not bad for a book that could be found in a bargain bin for $1.00 in the mid 1980’s.

Luckily for me, my favorite author, Agatha Christie, wrote some of her books at this time. Wonderful reproductions of her (and many other’s) dust-jackets can be purchased online. The following  pictures are a sampling of reproduction dust jackets produced and available at  https://www.dustjackets.com.

 

So, as Gloria Upson said in “Auntie Mame”, “books ARE awfully decorative…”. But please, don’t be a Gloria Upson, do read them!

 

 

Hope you enjoyed,

Chris and Anthony (The Freaking’ ‘Tiquen Guys)

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