Month: January 2018

Hey, there’s a sale going on here!

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Sale at Wisdom Lane Antiques!, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

2017 was a great year at Wisdom Lane Antiques.  So great, in fact, that I wanted to share my gratitude with my customers…in the form of a sale!

Sales don’t have to be for merchandise that’s not moving. Sales don’t have to be for items no one is willing to pay full price for.  Nope, right now at Wisdom Lane, I’m holding a “sale” on just-listed items.  Quality pieces that I’m pricing lower as a thanks for your continued support of Wisdom Lane.

You can see the full list of sale items here.

As always, thanks for shopping Wisdom Lane!

3 simple tips to remember when you sell an item online

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tips, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

You decided not to long ago to sell some of your items around the house, and some of your item have sold.  What are some simple tips that you need to keep in mind to help things go smoothly?

Tip number 1—when selling items online, make sure you have a scale to help weight items you are shipping.  You don’t have to worry about getting a scale from the post office—you can use a bathroom scale if it registers anything less than a pound (this will help with first class mail).

Tip number 2—make sure that you pack the items you sell as good as you can.  When I pack an item, I will use bubble wrap and packing peanuts to help keep the item I sold from getting broken.  You never know what might happen when the item is being shipped.

Tip number 3—If you are unable to get an item you sell to the Post Office, you can always schedule a pickup with them.  This can be very useful if the weather outside is bad or if you have to get to work (you can tell the post office to come where you work if it’s ok with your boss).

This is just 3 tips to remember when you sell an item.  What kinds of tips have you run across that help you out?

A good example of Czechoslovakian pottery

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Functional items, Pottery, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

Pottery from the Czechoslovakian area in Europe is a great area to dive into and collect.  You can find great examples starting in the $10 to $15 area, and you can also find examples that are priced much higher.

You can find a wide variety of pieces on the market—cups, saucers, figurines, pitchers, creamers, sugars and even plates are a very small slice of what you can find.

One type of Czechoslovakian pottery (also called Czech pottery, a shortened name of the region it’s from) is this terrific hat pin holder from a company called ROYAL DUX.

royal dux

It was made from 1918 to 1930’s, and it has a cream background and a red trim, and it also has an embossed flower motif with pastel colors.

Royal dux marks

The marks that are on it are the DPM mark with an acorn at the center (this stands for DUXER PORZELLAN-MANUFAKTUR), and it also has an embossed mark that reads 11259 II (these marks help date the hat pin holder from 1918 to the 1930’s).

The hatpin holder is also the perfect size to be used as a small vase (or even a bud vase).  It would also look terrific on any table or even a desk.  It would definitely be the center of attention in any room that it’s in!

The vase can be seen in my Etsy shop here.  Head on over and check it out!

Different names of furniture that you might run across

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Functional items, Furniture, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Vocabulary WordsLeave a comment

There are many different names of a certain furniture item (or a certain part of that piece of furniture) that you will run across.  There will be times that it will literally make your head spin on what the word could mean.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that furniture definitely has its own vocabulary.  This is especially true when you are dealing with items from overseas.  There are many places in Europe that have made furniture, so you will run across words that are from another language.

You never know what you may run across, and here are some of the words that you may scratch your head over:

Pietre Dure—this is decorative work that uses inlaid, semi-precious stones to depict scenes.  These scenes are geometric patterns, floral motifs, farm scenes, and many more.  More often than not, you will see this on a table top.

Lit de repos—this is a day-bed.

Gueridon—this is a small, round table. It was made to support a candlestick or even a candelabrum.  It could almost get away as being called a side table.

Gesso—this is made from a composition material, it’s often made with chalk and parchment.  It’s made in a size that is commonly applied to furniture, picture frames and even mirrors.  This is a base upon which gilding (or even silvering) was applied to.

Coquille—this is a seashell or scallop shape.  The shape will often be seen on the top of a table or chair leg.

This is just a small sample of the vocabulary words that you might hear.  What have you heard?

A little history for the Goudey Baseball cards from 1933

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collect, Paper, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

When 1919 rolled around, Enos Gordon Goudey started a chewing gum company called The Goudey Gum Company.  The company was in business until 1962, and they are known for chewing gum and the baseball cards that they produced.

The company and its gum was so popular that Enos Goudey was called “the penny gum king of America” by William Wrigley Jr. in 1933.

In 1933, the company dove into making baseball cards, and they released a 240-card set.  The set was also called BIG LEAGUE CHEWING GUM, and each pack that was sold came with a stick of gum.

After the set was released, the Goudey Company realized that they did not have a card #106 after collectors sent the company letters complaining that there was no card for that number.

In 1934, Goudey released a card #106, and it featured the retired player Napoleon Lajoie.  In order to get this card, you had to write to the company (they would send you one for a cent).

As you can tell from the photos, the cards had the name of the set at the bottom of the front and a little biography of the player on the back.

You need to be careful when you are out looking for cards for your set.  Since this is a popular set to collect, there are quite a few reprints and fakes of the cards—especially of Napoleon Lajoie, Babe Ruth (Babe was featured on 4 different cards) and even Lou Gehrig just to name a few.

There are many players that are in this set that have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, so a word of caution is to be taken when you are looking at a card.

Which cards have you run across?

Look at all of the different varieties of art glass!

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn gift ideas, Glassware1 Comment

Art glass is a great way to add some color to your home (or even just a room). Not only that, it comes in a variety of shapes and sizes for you to choose from. It could be a vase, bowl, or even something figural like a bird.

One such shape that would be great to decorate with is this terrific vase.

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The color combination great–it looks like cream being poured into coffee. Not only that, it’s pretty big (it’s 12 1/2 inches tall). With this vase as tall as it is, it would look terrific on a side table or even holding some decorative flowers. You can see this vase in my Etsy shop here.

Another great art glass piece is this great statue.

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The statue is in the shape of a squirell, and it could also double as a paperweight on your desk. You can see this terrific statue in my Etsy shop here.

Another form that you can find would be a candle holder, much like this one.

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This great candle holder is in the shape of a rabbit, and it’s perfect for any of the samller candles. It would be great just about anywhere, especially the kitchen table (it’s low enough for you to see the person across the table from you).

You can see this in my Etsy shop here.  There are times when you will run across an art glass piece that has more than one function. It’s like that with this piece of Murano art glass.

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As you can see, this Murano art glass piece could easily be a vase–and it could also be used as a planter or even a pen holder on any desk. You can see it in my Etsy shop here.

As a matter of fact, you can see all of the terrific art glass I have for sale in my Etsy shop here.  Head on over and check them out!