Lingerie Collecting: No Drawers For Your Vintage Drawers
Often when a new collector finds unworn lingerie in a box clearly not its original, they shy away from the purchase, concerned the lingerie is not authentic vintage. While there are unscrupulous sellers, finding panties in a slip box is not uncommon; on the contrary, it is quite common. Those who collect vintage lingerie -- and who do so not only bidding at online auctions, but by attending estate sales -- know that ladies used to store their delicates in boxes. Lingerie boxes, pretty satin and other fabric covered boxes to fit inside drawers or be displayed on top ...
Why I Break Sets
Every so often, to a point approaching more often than not, when I announce that I've broke some fantastically rare or even relatively common set of cards I'll receive a reply via twitter, blog comment, email wondering why I've done so. Usually the comment carries just enough flavor to let me know this is certainly the wrong thing to do. Well, I did it with baseball cards way back when and I do it with movie cards today and I'll do it with practically anything issued in set form. There's one big giant obvious reason why I choose to ...
TV or not TV-That is the Question
Pick-Let's talk some more about the antique recycling in our home. Grin-Does that mean you are finally going to clean out your clothes closet? P-No, silly. I mean our “decorating recycling”, things we have saved from a dumpster or land fill by fixing it up and putting it to a good use. How about discussing our latest find-our Big Screen TV? G-Well, that was your idea and it's no wonder you want to tell everyone about it. P-Well, as far as that goes, you have some bragging rights too. You negotiated the price and got us a super-deal. And you made the improvements! It ...
John Steinbeck on Antiques
After dwelling about how much I missed reading Steinbeck on one of my blogs I recently dusted off a favorite from the bookshelf and found myself immediately absorbed and quickly turning pages just like the old days. But when I came to an abrupt halt during the very start of Steinbeck's journey in Travels with Charley in Search of America and realized I had to share. Here's John Steinbeck's take on antiquing back in 1962, the original publication date: "I can never get used to the thousands of antique shops along the roads, all bulging with authentic and attested ...
The Name Of The Game: NFL All-Pro Football, By Ideal
A couple of years ago, my son Hunter scored a sweet purchase at a garage sale: a NFL All-Pro Football game (Ideal # 2520-5, from 1967) for $3. He helped me review the vintage National Football League board game too, which prompted an email from Larry -- and if you ever wondered why I spend so much time documenting (babbling about) collectibles online, Larry's email ought to clue you in. Larry's email tells the tale of how nostalgia and childhood memories drive us to "buy back" or collect, of how our desires can frustrate and elude us because we just ...
The Sporadic Collector: My Comic Book Collection
More than a handful of people who've known me have joked that I'd sell anything. While I don't believe that's true I will admit to looking for margin in just about everything I buy because you never know, one day you might want to move it. Shoot, I'm looking for wholesale prices on dinner even, but that doesn't mean I'll be looking to flip it later. When it comes to collecting and collectibles I'm much more cutthroat than I am in other areas of life. The years have taught me that today's collection is tomorrow's profits, a jaded ...
Discovering & Cleaning Vintage Plastic Watering Cans
I like to collect vintage items that can still be used. One of the most charming little vintage pieces I have that I use every week (kept near my kitchen sink, next to my vintage squirrel pottery planter turned sink caddy), is this lively red watering can. This particular plastic watering can is marked "EMSA, W. Germany, ges. gesch." (ges. gesch. is short for gesetzlich geschützt and means Registered patent/design/trademark in German), on the bottom. From the ESMA logo, I can guesstimate that this watering pot was made after 1971. I think it's a melamine resin, also called melamine formaldehyde or ...
DIY
Antique Brass Sad Iron Hello again, Grin here, Pick is out shopping in one of those...
Pick: That was such a fun auction we went to the other night! Lots of variety, friendly...
At Design Sponge, Haylie Waring shows us how to make sewing notions displays. Waring’s...
At a local antique mall, the Moorhead Antique Mall, I spotted another idea for salvaging...
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Home & Hearth
Often when a new collector finds unworn lingerie in a box clearly not its original,...
Pick: That was such a fun auction we went to the other night! Lots of variety, friendly...
Helga von Trollop shows off her handbag collection, including some great ideas for...
At a local antique mall, the Moorhead Antique Mall, I spotted another idea for salvaging...
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Entertainment
Antique Brass Sad Iron Hello again, Grin here, Pick is out shopping in one of those bedroom communities where the old stores that once housed the local butcher, baker and bookie, now are home to the crafts crowd, crepes kitchen and bobbles and bangles boutique. So I’m left to ponder what’s new in our antique world. Wait, is “new in our antique... [Read more of this article]
Often when a new collector finds unworn lingerie in a box clearly not its original, they shy away from the purchase, concerned the lingerie is not authentic vintage. While there are unscrupulous sellers, finding panties in a slip box is not uncommon; on the contrary, it is quite common. Those who collect vintage lingerie — and who do so not only... [Read more of this article]
It’s a fluffy cat that sits asleep in a basket and for some reason it freaks out my 14 year old nephew just as one like it used to freak me out at my Grandmother’s house. Why, I don’t know. It is not a real cat. It is even asleep, or seems to be. It is too small to be a real cat. It never moves, not one eye ever slits open as cats... [Read more of this article]
2010 has been the year Superman has smashed records with sales of Action Comics #1 being made on ComicConnect.com of $1 million in February for a copy graded 8.0 by CGC and $1.5 million just a month later for a CGC 8.5. Today I popped into a time machine and read about times when it was just $100 book, and I’m sure condition wasn’t a concern,... [Read more of this article]
Every so often, to a point approaching more often than not, when I announce that I’ve broke some fantastically rare or even relatively common set of cards I’ll receive a reply via twitter, blog comment, email wondering why I’ve done so. Usually the comment carries just enough flavor to let me know this is certainly the wrong thing... [Read more of this article]
EBay’s Comic Book Superhero Auction Event event, timed to run alongside the box office premiere of Iron Man 2 starring Robert Downey Jr., runs through Sunday May 9th, 2010. During this event several rare and collectible comic related items — many never before offered for sale on eBay — will be featured. Along with vintage comic books... [Read more of this article]
This charming antique composition baby doll has a sawdust stuffed cloth body beneath the original stripped cloth outfit. This 12 inch tall antique doll is identified by the EIH © 1911 mark on the back of the neck. One of the Horsman Can’t Break ‘Em character dolls, the head and face of this sweet antique baby doll was sculpted by Helen... [Read more of this article]
Ah yes, Playboy Magazine, I have fond memories, as if that’s a strange recollection for a man my age to have. Actually I do have old Playboy Collecting stories as around the time my Dad was collecting comic books back in the 70’s he was collecting men’s magazines as well. His collection stopped around 1980 and so it was probably... [Read more of this article]
Look at all the gorgeous old perfumes in this vintage photo of a young Elizabeth Taylor at a dressing table! Do you recognize any? Read More →
Another Blog from Anti-quips – the Collecting Couple Pick: Have you ever looked back and said “boy, I wish I had bought that!” Grin: You’d run out of ink in the cartridge before I could print out that list. P: Oh, really, that many? Give me an example. G: How about that hotel ice bucket we saw in Chicago. It was silver with the name of the... [Read more of this article]
Whether you like to collect television and movie props or just like to spot and collect them in your mind, it’s fun to notice when props are reused in other productions. Today’s example comes from television: The harem dress worn by Leslie Parrish in the Star Trek episode Who Mourns For Anonais? It appears the same ensemble was again worn... [Read more of this article]
The rocking horse I remember from when we were kids was not the typical vintage, wooden horse. Ours was plastic, set on a frame with four big springs holding it to the frame and giving it all the bounce it needed. I can remember the sound the springs made as it bounced and rocked back and forth and side to side, once you really got going. I didn’t... [Read more of this article]
Thanks Dad, thanks to all you Boomers. I knew you guys were ruining it, but heck, I was pocketing cash at the time myself, so who am I to complain. If you’ve read some of my past Inherited Values pieces you know I like to wax romantically about the purity of baseball card collecting when I was a kid, oh especially about 1979-85, and then interject... [Read more of this article]
Pick-Let’s talk some more about the antique recycling in our home. Grin-Does that mean you are finally going to clean out your clothes closet? P-No, silly. I mean our “decorating recycling”, things we have saved from a dumpster or land fill by fixing it up and putting it to a good use. How about discussing our latest find-our Big Screen TV? G-Well,... [Read more of this article]
As an online seller of vintage collectibles, I hit a lot of garage and yard sales. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. They are really the main way I find inventory, and over time I’ve developed a great system to maximize my results, and to minimize my time and effort. I thought a post about it might be helpful to those collectors out there who avoid... [Read more of this article]
Lisa Kudrow was on ABC’s The View Wednesday, promoting her new show, Who Do You Think You Are?, an adaptation of the award-winning hit BBC television documentary series of the same name. Kudrow is executive producer of the show which leads celebrities on genealogical journeys to discover the genetic answer to “who they are” —... [Read more of this article]
Seventy years ago — long before Itchy & Scratchy appeared on the Krusty the Clown Show on The Simpsons — there was Tom & Jerry. The series of animated theatrical shorts was created for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Hanna and Barbera. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera ultimately wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry... [Read more of this article]
I have a modest collection of vintage vanity items; my collection and I have even been featured in Collectors News magazine. Included in my collection are various vintage powder tins, compacts, and refills. Once you get past the pretty packaging (which I’ll admit might take some time!), you notice the names of shades of old powders… And... [Read more of this article]
I know next to nothing about hot rods, dragsters, automobilia or even cars in general, but I do recognize the value of vintage car part catalogs, like these Almquist “Equipment of Champions” catalogs, to fans and collectors of such things. And I’ll admit, looking at old hot rod custom sport bodies, kits, 3-D chrome emblems, classic... [Read more of this article]
We purchased a lot of ephemera from a dealer going out of business — and when I say “a lot,” I mean “a lot of boxes.” So many that we almost couldn’t fit boxes and the one slender child we had with us that day into the van. While we did manage to get all that belonged to us home, it took some time to be able to... [Read more of this article]
After dwelling about how much I missed reading Steinbeck on one of my blogs I recently dusted off a favorite from the bookshelf and found myself immediately absorbed and quickly turning pages just like the old days. But when I came to an abrupt halt during the very start of Steinbeck’s journey in Travels with Charley in Search of America and... [Read more of this article]
I continue to be delighted with vintage magazines, this time another article in that November 1957 issue of Good Housekeeping has me thinking how advice on buying typewriters from 1957 might be of use to the collectors of typewriters today. According to The Latest Word On Buying Typewriters, 1957 was a (at least semi) pivotal year for typewriters: If... [Read more of this article]
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