Month: November 2020

What are some of the different types of auctions?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn AuctionsLeave a comment

When you first dive into the world of auctions, you will quickly find that there are several different types that you will run across.  Here are a few that you will see:

Absolute auction—this means that that highest bid wins no matter what the price is.  This is one the most common types of auction that you will run across.

Silent auction—with this type of auction, bids are written on a piece of paper.  After a certain amount of time, the highest listed bidder on the piece of paper will win the item for sale.  More often than not, this type of auction is used to raise money for charity.

Minimum bid auction— with this type of auction, the lowest acceptable price for the item up for sale has been predetermined by the seller.  The predetermined price will be where the bidding starts for that item.

This is a tiny look at the different varieties of auctions that you can run across.  What types have you seen?

A little history of a Victorian red tomato server

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collect, Item highlight, Silverplate items, Tips for the beginner, Victorian era, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

During the Victorian era, you could find a serving piece for just about anything.  Olive forks? Got it.  Cake servers?  Yep, got that too.  But have you ever run across a red tomato server?

These items are great.  Tomato servers come in two different variations, one for red tomatoes and one for green.  Why in the world would you have a different one for each type of tomatoes?  Its simple really when you think about it.  The red tomato servers have the openings built in for all of the juice from the tomato to drain through the server and not onto your tablecloth.

The server for the green tomatoes does not have the openings for the fact that the green tomatoes are not as messy and don’t need the openings.  You could even use the green tomato server for fried green tomatoes.

Currently in my Etsy shop, there is a red tomato server that was made by the William Rogers Company.  Its made of silverplate and sports the LA FRANCE pattern.  You can see the piece here.

The Victorian era truly did make a ide variety of serving pieces for the table.  What items have you run across while shopping?