Teapots

The shape we associate with the teapot today has been the same shape for hundreds of years. Teapots all have a spout, water compartment and lid, when the water boils steam comes out the spout and many times a whistle can be heard. Teapots are made with many different types of material but I’d say porcelain and silver are probably the most collectible. There are a wide variety of companies that make teapots. You will find many of the fine china makers will offer a teapot as a matching piece to their lines of dinnerware.

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Elegant china producers often offered matching tea sets complete with teapot, cups, saucers and sugar bowl. This was very popular back in first half of the twentieth century.

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There are many import teapots and tea sets made today. When I owned the store I had a man come in one Christmas season looking for a polka dot teapot. He didn’t care if it was old or new, it is what his wife collected and he was desperate to find one.

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You will find that today’s teapots come in a variety of designs and shapes. They retain the spout, water compartment and lid but some are fat or rounded, some tall and elegant. I find lots of floral teapots, both vintage and new are very common in flea markets and antique stores, however, you might find some plain, fun and silly, or really cute teapots as well.

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One of my customers decorated her kitchen and dinning room in teapots and teacups. She was very proud of her handiwork and brought pictures to show me and I have to say it was quite impressive. She mixed in floral and plaid, beautiful and funny teapots and teacups and they encircled two rooms. They sat on a shelf that went around the entire kitchen and dinning room. She added greenery, white gloves and old doily’s for additional decorations and the rooms were absolutely beautiful!

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The few I have are in the picture and they are my Grandmother’s handy-work, she hand painted them and I of course think they are just beautiful.

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I still buy teapots and tea sets when I find them at yard sales and auctions to resell. They don’t seem to sell as well as they use to but then I find eBay has really hurt the value of most collectibles. If you are a teapot collector check out eBay for some great deals and a big variety of teapots. Just watch the shipping charges, I’ve said it before those shipping charges will destroy a good deal.

Check out my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Madison-Place-Flea-Market

Crystal Arcade Coffee Grinder

When I was a kid I can remember this coffee grinder in our kitchen. We actually had two, this Crystal Arcade Coffee Grinder which my parents would grind coffee beans in to make fresh brewed coffee and another one that had a flower in it. It was a top load and the coffee would have come out of the bottom but it was only used as a decorative piece in the kitchen.

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There is a great story behind this Crystal Arcade Coffee Grinder. My grandma on my dad’s side married a man late in life back in the 1940’s. Ed was a trash hauler, and he was probably the best scavenger ever. I have a great old rocking chair that he pulled out of the dump. My dad redid it back in the 1970’s and now it needs to be redone again but it’s a beauty, it’s definitely antique and it’s beautiful. It has a spiral frame with the rocker sitting on an upside down shaped rocker. I can remember my dad sitting in the living room reupholstering it during the rainy season when he was stuck at home.

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The pictured coffee grinder is another one of Ed’s dump finds. Back in the 1940’s people were progressing into modern times, the new electric percolators were in, this of course was old and out in the trash it went. At some point my folks inherited it, they used it daily and it is a special memory of my youth. My mom knew my feelings I had for this coffee grinder and one day she just packed it up and shipped it to me. I don’t even drink coffee but up it went in my kitchen and for years hubby ground coffee beans for his brew. Some day this trash find will once again be handed down, this time to my daughter who has a love for country decor. Imagine a dump find lasting generation after generation.

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I never got to meet Ed, he died before I was born but I would have loved to. He and I would have been great buds, I can only imagine all the great finds he came across, and I would have loved to hear the stories.

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This Crystal Arcade Coffee Grinder is missing the original cup but the rest of it is all-original. The Arcade Grinder has a wing nut that holds the handle to the cast iron base. There is a bracket below the grinder so you can hold a jar or some sort of glass cup, I use an old glass insulator. The tin lid has the embossed words "Arcade" written in cursive on top and the words “Crystal No 3” on the glass bean jar. The cast iron also has “Arcade Crystal” and the handle is wood.

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You can pick up these wall mount Crystal Arcade Coffee Grinders in good condition on eBay in the $200-$300 range. If you find one in good condition at a flea market you are likely to pay $200-$400.

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If you are buying to sell, condition can make it either valuable or a piece of junk. Look for cracks, fleabites, crazing, missing parts, original parts, original paint, is the mechanism working or nonworking. If any negative aspects apply to your coffee grinder, it will bring down the value so use good judgment in buying.

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Coffee Grinders were once a very important part of every kitchen, for those of you decorating in country or vintage kitchen gadgets a coffee grinder should be part of that decor.

Check out my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Madison-Place-Flea-Market

Collectible Eggs

Happy Easter! Well Happy Belated Easter!

We live in Missouri and have had some major flooding in our state. My Internet service has been out for a week and they have just fixed it today. We have been having withdrawal symptoms around here, both my hubby and myself are addicted to the Internet.

So it’s a little late in coming but here is the article I wrote for Easter.

There are many people who collect eggs, like collector spoons they are in almost every souvenir shop, flea market and department store in the United States and abroad. There are no identification and price guides that I have found for collectible eggs so anybody out there wanting to create one it’s a wide-open field.

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I had read an article in our local paper about a woman who had been collecting eggs for about 20 years. Like many of us, she started out with one, then somebody gave her one, and then she started picking them up on vacation. Then it just exploded, all her friends, relatives and acquaintances started giving them to her as gifts and the collection took on a life of it’s own.

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She loaned the collection to the Library for the week prior to Easter and made a very nice display. I took a few pictures of her impressive collection, she has some old metal ones and the Humpty Dumpty eggs are adorable. Some of the eggs were ceramic, some were pewter, some metal, some crystal, some papier-mâché, some are old toys and some are new toys, some were very expensive looking and others could have been from the dollar store.

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I had fun looking over the collection as many people in the community did. There were probably 175 eggs, it is a nice collection that started from one little egg.

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View-Master Collectibles

In 1938 partners William Gruber and Harold Graves created the View-Master. A little handheld gadget shaped like binoculars and great for viewing up close. The View-Master will transform a reel of negatives into a slide show. The early reels were educational in nature and geared toward adults. Most reels were geography related states and tourism sights and special commissioned sales. During World War II the US Military actually commissioned and purchased thousands of view-masters and millions of reels of assorted aircraft and artillery to educate the soldiers in the identification of both.

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When the company sold to GAF in 1966 change came with it. The geography and tourism were still produced but the more popular entertainment view-master reels became prevalent. Movies, Mickey Mouse, Cartoon Characters, Sports, Space, you name it if it was popular with children on television or in the theater it was on a view-master reel.

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The company sold again in 1981 and became View-Master International Group. From 1984 - 1989 they were known as View-Master Ideal Group. In 1989 the View-Master Ideal Group was sold to Tyco. In 1997 Mattel, Inc, Tyco and View-Master Ideal Group merged and is currently being produced by Fisher-Price, a Mattel owned company. It’s been around to say the least.

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View-master sold their reels in packets with information sheets on what you were viewing on the reels. In 1970 GAF discontinued the packets and went to blister packs. That is the reason so many of the later reels are found loose. Each reel is labeled with a subject, a number and a year it was published. If you have a loose one dated before 1970 it is missing its packet and information sheet.

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I have recently purchased a handful of these View-Master reels, which I have in today’s picture. Missouri & Texas are dated 1954. The Lone Ranger is dated 1956. The loose ones are 3 reels to a set but no envelopes 1970- Royal Gorge - Colorado. 1985- Transformers, 1985- Thundercats, 1985 - Princess of Power and Super Wrestlers. I have them running on eBay this week and the cartoon’s all have bids on them so I would say they are more popular.

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I noticed when bids are placed on eBay most of these reels eventually sell in the $4-$5 range, however if you have something totally unusual it always brings top dollar. The 1970’s Yacht Club Race set which sold for $73 on eBay or any of those aircraft identification reels, four sold for $67.88 on eBay just last week.

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Nowadays, they make talking View-masters, we’ve come a long way baby but the reels they are producing are the moneymaking ones of the past - mostly cartoons, popular kids television shows and movies.

Check out my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Madison-Place-Flea-Market

Fenton Vases & Compotes

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY !!!!!
When I bought the antique store I didn’t know anything about antiques, vintage items or collectibles. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as art glass as a matter of fact, we bought our flea market and antique store because it was established and we had been looking for a business to build on. It was a great learning experience but I’m getting way off track here. I only mentioned the store because one of the first collectibles I encountered was Fenton Art Glass. To say I have a fondness for it is understating the situation. I use to buy and sell it and then it got so I would just buy and keep it. It is beautiful and looks very lovely mingled in with my Grandmothers china painted items.

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Fenton Glass Company has been around since 1905, it began as a decorating shop then turned into a full-blown glass plant in 1906. Over the years Fenton has had hundreds of styles, shapes & objects. One of the most notable features that tend to identify a piece as Fenton is the ruffled and /or crimped edges and the smooth finish on the bottom of each piece. You will never find any rough spots on a piece of Fenton.

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The pictured Fenton Vases are from my private collection. These were bought during my antique store days. When we sold our flea Market most of my booth renters ran sales and they marked items down from 20-50% off. I bought this assortment of green Fenton Vases in one of the 50% off booths.

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The bright satin green vase is from the 1970’s, the color is lime sherbert. The lighter compotes are referred to as custard, made between 1952-1954. The other brighter green vases are from the 1990’s. Grouped together they make a great St. Patrick’s Day Display.

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Fenton is still operating today in Williamstown West Virginia. If you ever get near Williamstown be sure to stop in and take the tour. Friends of our did that one year during their vacation and they were quite impressed with it but then any art glass lover would be!

Check out my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Madison-Place-Flea-Market

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

End of Day Glass

End of Day Glass is also known as Whimsy Glass and Frigger Glass and although it's similar to it is often confused with slag glass. End of Day Glass is quite simply the remains of the glass that the glassmaker has at the end of the day mixed together to create a multicolored item. Sometimes, two, three or even several colors are mixed to make a unique one of a kind novelty item.

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End of Day Glass and Slag glass is not the same thing although many people believe that it is. Slag glass is opaque glass with a different color added giving the items a streaking effect so it is often confused as End of Day Glass. The key to identifying the two is Slag Glass is opaque and End of Day is not.

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End of Day Glass is still made by glassmakers all over the world creating whimsical items to use up leftover glass. This particular vase in the picture has a sticker on the bottom that reads Art Line - Japan, I believe it is 1970’s or 1980’s era.

Check out my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Madison-Place-Flea-Market

Fenton Baskets

The Fenton Glass Company is located in Williamtown,WV. While this is where they make beautiful and diverse pieces of art glass they also have several dealerships all over the United States. If you go to their website you can find the Fenton dealership nearest you. Fenton has also been associated with QVC and they occasionally schedule TV infomercials showing off Fenton’s newest creations.

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I have several glass baskets, five of them are Fenton baskets which I purchased through a flea market booth buy out. In the picture the lovely hobnail baskets, the light pink basket, the carnival white and the purple hat shaped basket are all Fenton Glass Baskets.

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Fenton first started making baskets in 1949. A skilled glassworker by the name of Frank O. Myers became one of Fenton’s first Basket-Handler’s. He was extremely good at it and trained many of the other glassworkers in the art of making baskets and attaching the handle.

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The process of making a basket is quite interesting, in less than half of a minute the basket handler has to attach a ribbon of molten glass to one side of the basket then twist the glass before it cools and the cooling down process is so rapid there is little time to spare. They then have to stick the twisted glass to the other side and impress each side of the handle with a handler’s mark all the while making the basket handle appear gracefully arched.

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Sometime during the 1950’s the Fenton Brothers decided that each Fenton Basket Handler should have a helper to attach the handle. These people are known as the “handle gatherer“. It is there job to judge the size of the basket and using a tool called a punty gathers the glass for the handle.

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In the 1940’s the decision was made to have each glassmaker put a mark on their basket at the base of the handles. You can view the history of the artist's marks at "http://www.blogger.com/Fenton%20Baskets". This information will not only help identify the artist it helps identify the time period in which each basket was made.

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The Fenton Art Glass Co gives tours at their plant in Williamstown, WV. You can view the process of basket making during the tour, it takes an amazing group effort to make one basket.

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Cookie Jars

Cookie Jars take up a lot of room and most collectors swear they must stop collecting them but somehow they never do. Collectors look for them in flea markets, yard sales, thrift stores and in every department store they come in contact with. If they are not looking for them the cookie jars seem to take on a life of their own and seem to jump out at them and say take me home. Like most collectors, cookie jar collectors are addicted!

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Some of the more sought after cookie jars are Black Americana, Celebrity and Character related and figural cookie jars. These cookie jars are quite popular, some valuable some not but if a collector likes the look of them they will have no problem shelling out money for them regardless of value. However, condition is very important, I will always leave a chip and damaged one behind. In most cases chips & cracks can greatly diminish the value of any collectible.

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Other popular cookie jars are advertising cookie jars such as the Planter Peanut Cookie Jar, which can be picked up quite reasonably on eBay occasionally. Cookie Jars that were used as an advertising premium are not only popular but also valuable. The Century 21 Cookie jar made in 1978 is an advertising cookie jar worth hundreds.

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Cookie jars originating in a smaller ceramic studio are usually more valuable. These are generally limited edition cookie jars so they are both rare and pricey. Corl’s Kiln, K. Wolfe Studio, Linda Kulhanek, Clay Works, Twin Winton and Wisecarver Originals are just a few ceramic studio names that you might come across. You might want to research and invest in them. Some of these companies are no longer in business while others are still thriving. Anytime you are lucky enough to have an identifying mark, name or label on the bottom of a cookie jar research it. It makes the job of finding the value a hundred times easier!

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Both collectors and sellers should be aware that there are many old vintage cookie jars and many reproductions that look like old vintage cookie jar so it is important to do your homework! There are many cookie jar identification and price guidebooks on the market today with information that can help identify the phony ones. Some of the cookie jars that have been reproduced are McCoy Cookie Jars, Many of the Mammy Cookie Jars, Figural Clowns, Dalmatians and Indians are heartily reproduced and Hull’s Little Red Riding Hood is another one that is quite often reproduced. There are probably many more but these are a few that I know of.

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I bought the pictured cookie jar at a yard sale for $5 and it is adorable! It has a made in Japan sticker on the bottom. I have not done any research on it to find out what the value is, it fit in nicely with my collection of ceramic girls and ladies and displays nicely. I will eventually research and sell it but for now I think it’s cute and I will keep it.

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Yard sale season is coming up within a few weeks and I really think the best place to buy vintage cookie jars is at yard sales. I’d advise both buyers and sellers to get out there early and look for those bargains, I can guarantee I will find and buy a few cookie jars over the season. Some of these will be common but I usually find at least one very valuable cookie jar in my yard sale jaunts. I hope you do too, it’s a great feeling for both resellers and collectors to get something valuable for next to nothing! Happy hunting to all of you!

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Selling Collectible Dolls

Dolls are a toy that every little girl around the world enjoys playing with. Looking back I probably owned more than a few but the only one I actually have now is my mom's doll from when she was a girl. My grandmother special ordered this doll and had her hair cut and put on the doll so the old doll has human hair. It has a cloth body, composition face, hands and feet and blinking eyes that no longer blink right. The poor old doll was never properly taken care of and I don't have the heart to get rid of it.

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While I don't have a kinship with old dolls I seem to have a fondness for doll, girl & lady figurines. Growing up all the girls in the neighborhood were the only girls in their family that was full of boys. We on the other hand had three girls and only one boy. It seemed like all the girls in the neighborhood got everything a girl might want and we got to look on enviously. I remember when the girl across the street got a birthday girl figurine, I wanted one so bad. I may have never gotten one as a child but I own three now. This is the thing about collecting dolls, most doll collectors I know are women that had a thing for dolls growing up and it has continued into their adulthood.

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While I'm not a doll collector, I owned a flea market and antique store and I always tried to have variety in the store so I did try to study them. While many doll collectors will collect one specific type of doll there are general doll collectors that will collect any type of doll. They look for quality, originality, rarity, popularity and desirability. Is the painted face done artistically? Does the face have good coloring? Is the hair or wig intact and groomed properly? Does the doll have the original clothing on? Does the doll have all the body parts? Is the condition of the body good? Is the overall look appealing? These are some of the questions that you must ask yourself when trying to price dolls.

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One of the most important parts of the dolls body is the face. Composition dolls should not have cracks, peeling, streaking or crazing. Plastic dolls should not have any streaking to them. All dolls should have a smooth finish, the condition of the doll will be one of the major factor in pricing a doll.

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It is important that dolls be original, many times heads and bodies are exchanged to make a more appealing doll and never switched back. Even though this doll looks good because the parts are not all original it will devalue the doll.

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Rarity and popularity are another two factors that play an important part in pricing dolls. While many dolls were made by the thousands there are some rare ones that only produced a limited number. Antique German and French bisque dolls have a high value and if the doll has a doll makers mark, initials or name it will increase the value tremendously.

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Rarity, popularity & desirability can take a doll to a higher pricing level. Shirley Temple Dolls, Mrs. Beasley Dolls, Early Barbie Dolls and Chatty Cathy Dolls were made popular by different media in our society. Popular television shows, movies, early commercial dolls from the 50's & 60 help make the value of these are usually quite high if the condition is good.

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Doll identification and price guides are available in both the library and book stores. Ebay is another good source to do your research before pricing a doll. When it comes to dolls consider research mandatory, some of these dolls are worth thousands of dollars.

Check out my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Madison-Place-Flea-Market