Month: June 2016

A few examples of the different types of advertising

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Advertising, Paper, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!2 Comments

Not too long ago, I ran across an old soap box from the 1940’s to the 1950’s and got to thinking about all the different forms of advertising that you can run across.  That box in question is for Kirk’s American Family White Flakes, and it was made by Proctor And Gamble.

soap box

The soap box can be seen in my Etsy store here.  What’s fun about that box is that it has a coupon on the box that has a value of 16 mills.  Mills were before my time, and I found out that a mill is worth one tenth of one cent (it takes 10 to make a cent, and they were used when sales tax is 1% of the price).

At that sale, I got to thinking about all the different forms of advertising, even the pieces that end up being fun (and useful) to have around.  One piece is this cast iron paperweight advertising EL RECO GAS.

EL RECO Gas Stations Figural Paperweight

The fun thing is that it actually looks like a gas station attendant.  Not only that, it still can be used today on any desk.  You can see it in my Etsy store here.

The last thing that came to mind was this small tin Prince Albert Tobacco advertising sign.

prince albert in a can!

Whenever I look at that sign, I think that it looks almost exactly like the side of the can.  You can see that sign in my Etsy sign here.

What kinds of different examples of advertising pieces have you run across?

Two simple steps to help spot a real piece of Depression glass from a fake

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, My Background, Reproductions, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!1 Comment

So you are out at an antique mall, estate sale or even an auction.  While there, you happen to run across a piece of Depression glass.  The piece that you’re looking at doesn’t have any damage on it, but how do you know that it’s the real deal?

When I’m in this situation, I usually use two simple steps to help me determine if the piece is real or fake.  The first thing that I do is to look at the color on it.  There are slight color variations on a real piece, these variations are just going to be a little darker or lighter on the piece.

On a piece of pink Depression glass, a reproduction will more likely have an orange pink hue to it (it’s really obvious).  With a piece that’s green, the reproductions that I have seen tend to go real dark.  I have seen forest green on a piece of ADAM Depression glass.  So if it’s off (especially for the pattern that’s on the piece), it’s a good idea to question it.

The second step that I use is to look at the pattern.  Even though Depression glass was given away quite a bit when it was first made, the glassware still had high quality to it.  What this means is that the pattern is easily recognizable, and there are no missing details to it.  A reproduction may be missing the veins in the leaves of a flower, or the beak on a bird is not as pointed.

A reproduction will sometimes be rushed through, and the pattern will show the crudeness.

So be aware—the fine details will help you determine if the piece of Depression glass will be real or fake.

What kinds of tricks do you use to help determine if you have a real piece of glassware?

Ever see a Victorian Red Tomato Server?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Serving sets, Silverplate items, Victorian era, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

At a local flea market, I ran across a box of spoons not too long ago.  When I started looking through them, I found quite a few utensils that really got my interest.  The Victorian Era was pretty interesting when it came to the serving pieces that were made, and one of those serving pieces was in that box I bought.

That piece is a red tomato server and is marked WM ROGERS MFG ORIGINAL ROGERS.  The server has the LA FRANCE pattern and dates to the early 1900’s.

tomato server

Here’s the kicker—there are two different types of tomato servers.  There’s one for red tomatoes and for green.

There’s a big difference to the server, and it’s that the spade on the green tomato server is not perforated. The red tomatoes can be juicy, so the perforations lets the juice drip through.  Green tomatoes are not nearly as messy so you don’t have to worry as much about spilling tomato juice on the table cloth.

spade

A modern twist on this type of server is that you could use the green tomato server to serve fried green tomatoes.  You can see the red tomato server in my Etsy store here.

What kinds of Victorian serving pieces have you run across?

Great vocabulary words for the glass collector

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Vocabulary WordsLeave a comment

Over time, you will pick up quite a few words that describe what a piece is. It could be anything really–there are times when they apply to how a piece is made or what happens to a piece over time. Here are some words that apply to the glassware field:

Chop Plate – this is a large, flat serving plate. This piece is also sometimes called a salver.  You’ll see this type of piece in both pottery and glassware.

Cane –this is a glass rod that’s used in glass making to produce effects like twisted filigree or even marbles.

Sickness – this refers to a cloudy haze that’s in glass vessels such as vases, decanters bottles, and even tumblers. This can be something as simple as hard water deposits (hard water stains can be cleaned off with a little foaming denture cleaner).

So what kind of fun words have you heard?