A variety of graniteware pieces

Wither at an estate sale, a garage sale, or even at an auction, I run across quite a few pieces of graniteware in my neck of the woods.  There’s a pretty wide variety of pieces that I find when I’m out shopping.  It could be anything from a tea kettle to a creamer–you never know what you will run across.

When I was young, people in my area collected graniteware like crazy.  They still do, but not as much as they did when I was young.  Here lately, the prices have cooled off mainly because there is so much of it here.

Because of the fact that the prices have come down and people have lost a little interest in graniteware, some of the pieces in collections have even come up for sale.  Some of the pieces that I have run across lately really have surprised me when I ran across them.  One piece that did was this graniteware fireplace salesman’s sample.

Enamelware Graniteware Fireplace Salesmans Sample Ashtray Advertising The Cleveland Foundry Company

This even has a plaque on the front that reads, “The Cleveland Foundry Company.”  You can see it in my Etsy shop here.

Pie pans are pretty plentiful, but they are usually a solid color.  So when I ran across this brown swirl pie pan, I snatched it up pretty fast.

Brown And White Swirl Enamelware Graniteware Pie Pan Unmarked Made 1930s To 1940s

What struck me was that it’s in great condition, usually pie pans around here get knocked around pretty good.  You can see it in my Etsy shop here, and more graniteware examples here.

What’s great about graniteware is the fact that it gives a more urban area a splash of country.

What kinds of graniteware pieces have you run across?

Memories of childhood

Summer vacation, bicycle riding, a game of baseball in the empty lot at the end of the block, and even a tall glass of Kool Aid are just some of the great memories of childhood.

Who didn’t love to down Kool Aid—whether it be a cool drink or a Popsicle that mom made from your favorite flavor?  I loved it when my mom made Kool Aid ice cubes to go along with the grape Kool Aid she made.

I recently ran across a red Kool aid pitcher and tumblers set at a recent estate sale that I attended.

Kool Aid set

This set was made in the 1980’s by Tupperware, and it has a pitcher and two glasses in the set.  There are plenty of memories that come flooding back when you see this terrific Kool Aid set that has a pitcher and matching tumblers with the face of the Kool Aid man on them.

kool aid pitcher

kool aid tumblers

You can see this terrific Kool Aid set in my Etsy shop here.  What is your favorite flavor of Kool Aid?

Great vocabulary words to remember for the antiques lover

It doesn’t take very long for you to hear some interesting words when you deal with antiques.  They could apply to just about anything, here’s some of them that I have run across.

Lavabo—this is a French word that means “wash bowl.”

Nesting tables—this is a group of tables (there’s usually three, every once in a while there’s more) that is constructed so that one fits under the other.

Tin glaze—it’s an opaque white glaze that contains tin oxide.  It has been used on faience, delftwares and even majolica pottery.

This is only a small portion of the words that I have heard over the years.  What kinds of words have you come across?

What do you do when you attend an auction?

So you have decided to go and see what goes on at an auction.  You scouted out the perfect one, and have even showed up about 30 minutes before it started.  Now what do you do?

The first thing that you need to do is to register to get a bidders number.  More often than not, the auction company will have a special area set up for just this purpose.  All that you need to is to show the auction company a valid ID and supply a phone number, and you have a biding number.  What this is for is to let the auction company know who you are and even able to contact you if something arises (like if something that you bought gets left behind).

Whenever I have attended an auction, this will only take a few minutes at most, and it doesn’t cost me anything to do so.

The next thing that you will want to do is to look at the merchandise that’s in the sale.  Getting to the auction a few minutes before it starts will help you look over the items to see what’s there and to see what kind of condition that it’s in.

Make sure that you listen to what the auctioneers say at the very beginning of the auction when they make their announcements.  This will let you know what will happen during the course of the auction and what will be sold first.

So have some fun when you go to auctions and see what’s out there!