Author: wisdomlaneantiques

I've been going to auctions, antique malls, flea markets, etc. since I could walk. My lifelong love of anything vintage, old, or shabby (everything really is better with age) is now my full-time job.

What are some tips for attending an estate sale?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Estate SalesLeave a comment

You have found a local estate sale nearby that you would like to go to.  The problem is is that you have never been to one before.  Here are a few tips to keep in mind while attending your first estate sale:

Ask about any unmarked items—if there is an item at the estate sale that you are interested in, feel free to ask about it.  There is a good chance that the people running the sale have not had a chance to price it, or the price tag could have just fallen off.

Check to see if there is a pick-up policy—if there is a large item at the sale that you are interested in and have no way of taking it with you that day, see if the people running the sale will allow you to come back for it either that day (or even the next).

Respect the property—there will be rooms that the people running the sale that will want you to stay out of.  They will have the door shut and marked off with either a sign or tape, so stay out and be friendly.

Have fun—there is a good chance that you might leave without buying anything.  The cool thing is that you get to meet some great people and get to see what other shoppers are interested in buying.

This is a small handful of tips for attending an estate sale.  What tips do you know of for attending estate sales?

Item Highlight: 1950’s Fenton Jack In The Pulpit Vase With JACQUELINE Pattern

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This week’s item highlight in the Wisdom Lane Antiques shop is this terrific small Fenton Jack In The Pulpit vase! It dates to the 1950’s and has the JACQUELINE pattern on it.

As you can see from the photo, the vase also sports the yellow opaline color. Even though the vase is not marked by Fenton, you can tell Fenton made it by both the pattern and the color on it.

The vase is also the perfect size for just about any table or mantle to show off your favorite flowers–it measures 7 ½ inches tall. It is also a great size across the top–it measures 4 ¾ inches across so the flowers are not strangled by the vase.

You can see this terrific vase in my Etsy shop here.

Head on over and chek it out!

Searching The World Wide Web

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn The Internet, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

With a book out on the market on just about any antiques and collectibles area that you could imagine, it would be a safe bet that you could find any item fairly fast, right?

Sometimes it does not work out that way.  The internet can be a great resource for information on the item that you are looking for like this head vase for example.

When I look for something, I start with a broad search by typing in “head vase” in the search bar.  If that does not get me what I need this is when I start typing in specifics.  If the piece has a stamp or a sticker with the makers name on it, I use that.

With you narrowing down the search, you get to the point where you can find the item you have pretty quickly.  It can even get to the point where you can find several listings of the same item as yours so you have a great price range on it.

What kinds of tricks and tips do you use when you search for an item on the internet?

What are some of the popular toys from the 1980’s?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collect, History, ToysLeave a comment

Every decade sees toys become extremely popular for a certain amount of time.  The Barbie doll started to gain popularity in the 1960’s, and the pet rock was popular in the 1970’s.  What toys were popular in the 1980’s?

1983 saw the Cabbage Patch Kids hit the toy shelves, and the rush was on to grab one anywhere that it was sold at.

When 1984 came about, The Transformers cartoon hit the airwaves.  The toys quickly followed, and they were as popular as the show was.  The race was on to find figures like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and even the evil Megatron.

Nintendo released the Gameboy in 1989, and you quickly saw people playing games like Super Mario Land and even Tetris.

This is only a handful of the toys that were popular in the 1980’s.  What do you remember playing with?

Changing to the Kennedy Half Dollar

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collectLeave a comment
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com

When John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Mint Director Eva Adams was seriously considering changing one of the bigger denominations (either the dollar, half dollar, or the quarter dollar) to feature a portrait of John F. Kennedy.  Several days later, Eva Adams called up Chief Engraver Gilroy Roberts and told him that it was authorized.

Jaqueline Kennedy had expressed that she would love to see John on the half dollar, her reason was that she did not want George Washington to be replaced on the quarter.  This was taken into consideration and was also approved.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com

There was one problem, and it was a pretty big problem.  There are laws on the books that state that United States coin designs can’t be changed for 25 years without Congressional approval.  The current half dollar design that was in circulation at the time features Ben Franklin on one side, and the Liberty Bell on the other (this design was first issued in 1948, some 16 years before the Kennedy design). 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com

The good thing is that the new half dollar design passed with overwhelming support from Congress.  The Kennedy half dollar is still being made, but not many of them are readily seen in circulation today.  What’s better is that you can find new copies either from a coin dealer that is in your area, or you can order the coins directly from the United States mint.

Since there are plenty of Kennedy of half dollars that can be bought from either the bank or reputable dealers (both in a store setting and online), you can put together a complete set of coins for not that much money.  There are even people that look for different die varieties or coins that have errors.

Have you picked up one of these coins lately?

Inexpensive artwork ideas to hang on any wall

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Shopping tipsLeave a comment

Looking for a new and inexpensive wall hanging for the house or apartment?  Have you ever thought about framing a piece of sheet music?

Old sheet music can be picked up cheaply at most flea markets that are near you.  A lot of the time you will find a stack for you to go through to find a potential candidate.

American illustrators have created many colorful images for music pages—historic scenes, beautiful landscapes elegant ladies and gentlemen, funny (even cartoonish) like figures.

Whatever you like can be found as an illustration.  That and a cheap frame and voila! Suddenly you have a new masterp

This is a few items that you can use as artwork.  What have you found to turn into a great wall hanging?

Photography tip: How to hold an item up to help with photos

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Not to long ago, I ran into an interesting problem when I was taking some photos of an old oil can spout.

I wanted to take a photo of the spout with it standing up, kind of like how it would be when it is on an oil can.  Then it hit me—prop it up on something.

I tried a few different ways to prop it up, but nothing really worked that well.  Then it hit me—what if I prop it up on something like a pencil or a dowel rod?

As you can see at the bottom of the spout, the tip end of the pencil is in a hole on the table while the end with the eraser is holding up the spout.  It worked great to help hold up the spout so I can take some photos to look like it is being used like in the photo below.

This would be easy to set up—you can hold the pencil or dowel rod up in a vise or even prop it up in the top of a bottle.

You can see the oil spout in my Etsy shop here.

This is one trick that can help with taking photos for the items that you are going to sell.  What are some of the tricks that you use?

There’s a coin reference book for every collector

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Books, Reference BooksLeave a comment

When you first start to collect coins, the first book that you will most likely get (or at least look at) is, “A Guide Book To United States Coins”.  After a little bit of collecting, you start to narrow down what your interests are.

Wither it be large cents, Morgan dollars, or even hard times tokens, you start to look for at least one book to help you out in your collecting endeavors.

There are many books that I have picked up over the years that are very helpful to me.  The first one is called, “Encyclopedia of Morgan And Peace Dollars,” and it was written by Leroy C. Van Allen and George Mallis.

This one covers both Morgan and Peace dollars and their die varieties, which are called VAM’s (which is a play on the two author’s last names, Van Allen and Mallis).

The next book that I picked up is called “Hard Times Tokens 1832-1844,” and the book was written by Russell Rulau.

This book gives you a really good view of what tokens were made during this time frame.  I like the fact that it’s broken down by the state, and then lists the tokens for that state.

There are plenty of both new and used books that you can pick up once you narrow down the area that you want to collect.

What kinds of books have you already found?

What happened in the year 1950?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn HistoryLeave a comment

There are times that when I try to get some info on an item that I recently bought, I run across some bits of interesting information.

Here’s a few things that I have run across for the year 1950:

January 15—The Red Wings’ rookie goalie Terry Sawchuk records his first of 115 career NHL shutouts when Detroit beat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

March 4—the movie Cinderella was released by Disney.  Based on the fairy tale of the same name, Cinderella is the 12th animated film by Disney.

October 7—The first of the collectible Peanuts comic strip was published on this date.

The fall of 1950 saw the release of the Broadcaster and Esquire electric guitars made by Fender.  These two guitars were the first mass produced electric guitars with solid bodies.

This is a very small look at what happened during the year 1950.  What have you run across?

Toys that were popular in 1960’s

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn ToysLeave a comment

Every decade has toys that are extremely popular—the 1980’s saw the Cabbage Patch craze while the 1970’s saw the Pet Rock.  Here are some of the toy’s that were popular in the 1960’s:

Anything Batman—There were so many different Batman toys on the market, and the variety would make your head spin.  There were art toys, games, costumes, model kits and even a Batman walkie-talkie.  Figures, airplanes, radios hats and a dart launcher are a small portion of some of the Batman related toys that were on display at the 1966 Toy Fair in New York City.

The G.I. Joe Doll—Hasbro debuted this doll in the mid-1960’s, and there was one for the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marines.  The word “doll” was never used by Hasbro when developing this toy, the only term that was acceptable was “action figure” since this was intended for boys.

Hot Wheels—this toy line was debuted in 1968, and it was in direct competition with Matchbox.  Matchbox had been selling toy cars for 10 years when Hot Wheels came about.  The Camaro, Firebird and even the Mustang are a few of the cars that were in the initial Hot Wheels line.

This is a small look at all of the toys that were popular in the 1960’s.  What toys do you remember that are from this decade?