Month: June 2017

Furniture terms that could make you think they mean something else

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

Like pretty much every area in the vintage and collectible world, furniture has its own vocabulary.  There are even words and phrases out there that would make you think they mean something completely different.  Here’s a few of them:

Dovetail—this is a term in wood working that’s used to designate a method of joinery. This is used a lot to join corners of drawers and cabinets.  It’s a series of cuts to make a tenon or tongue that looks the shape of a dove’s tail that interlocks with alternating similar cuts piece of wood.

Vitrine—this is a French term for display or china cabinet.  This type of cabinet has large sections made out of glass so that you can show off the items stored inside.

Escutcheon—this is an ornament plate that surrounds a keyhole on a piece of furniture or a door.  These plates come in a wide variety of motifs.

This is only a tiny amount of what is out there.  What have you heard?

What are some tips to tell a first edition from a book club?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn BooksLeave a comment

For several years now, I have been picking up first edition books at just about every place that I shop.  One of the things that I look at is if the book is a book club edition or not.  I quickly learned a few tricks to tell the difference between a book club edition and even a first edition.

The first trick that I found is to look at the bottom corner of the dust jacket behind the front cover.  This is one place that they will put the phrase BOOK CLUB EDITION.

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Another thing that will happen is that if a book is a book club edition, it may be slightly smaller than the real first edition.

Another trick to use on a book club edition is to find the price of the book.  When a book club edition is made, the price of the book might not be present.  I’ve seen the price of the book by the bar code and on the dust jacket (it’s usually on the top corner of the dust jacket behind the front cover).

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These are only a few tricks to identify a book club edition book.  How do you identify a book club book?

Getting out of your comfort zone can be a good thing

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn My Background, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

When you are buying items to sell either online or in your shop, getting a little out of your comfort zone can be a good thing.

What do I exactly mean by this?  This could be considering an item when you know absolutely nothing about it.  If it’s cheap enough, you could go ahead and buy it so that you can learn something and earn a little of a profit when you sell it.

It could be anything, really.  It could be a book, a piece of Fiesta pottery, a Fenton glassware piece or even an advertising piece.

When I started to sell items, I knew absolutely nothing about clothing (except for what I found at Walmart).  After a while, I had a decent working knowledge of what brand names are out on the market.  Not only that, I now offer a wide variety of clothing from earrings and necklaces to prom dresses and even designer shoes.

So keep an eye out—you may find something today that you can learn from!  What kinds of items have you run across like this?