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 different designing styles that you will run across?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collect, Styles, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

Through the years, there have been some designing styles that have come about that have been very popular.  Art Deco, Mid-Century Modern and even Art nouveau are some of these, but what are some of the other styles that you will find?

Egyptian Revival—this style came about in the early 1920’s when the discovery of the King Tutankhamun was found.  This style ran at the same time as the Art Deco Style, and the Egyptian Revival influenced a number of items from architecture, jewelry and even furniture (the style has an Egyptian flair to it).

Baroque—this style is highly ornate and often extravagant style of architecture, décor and even music.  The style flourished in Europe from the early 17th century to the late 18th century, and this style evolved into an even more flamboyant style called “Rococo” when the 1740’s rolled around.

Streamline Moderne—this is a late type of the Art Deco Era, and it’s sometimes called Art Moderne.  It emerged in the 1930’s and it has emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes it even has nautical elements to it.

This is only a small handful of the great styles that have come about.  What kind of style have you seen?

How do you take a photograph of an item that’s round?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Photography, Tips for the beginnerLeave a comment

When you get to selling items online, you will run across a wide variety of items that are different sizes and shapes.

Round items were always a problem when I needed to take photos of them.  I was afraid that they would start rolling around (and eventually fall and break) before I could take the photo.

Because of this, I would have to hold the item and have to take terrible photos.  That is, until I came up with a simple (and very cheap) way to help take the photo.

IMG_2104.JPG

The trick is to put a rubber washer under round item.  I know it sounds silly, but it works.  The washer helps prop up the item to keep it from rolling around, and the center of the washer is open to accommodate for the round surface.

The washer that I have set aside for photographs didn’t cost me much at all—it was a couple of bucks (the good thing about it is that I have used some of the other washers around the house).

shade

The trick works on a wide variety of items, just like the lamp shade in the picture above (you can barely see the washer at the bottom of the photo).

What kinds of tricks like this do you use to help you take photos?

Great news about the Wisdom Lane Antiques shop on Etsy!

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

Here’s some great news about the Wisdom Lane Antiques shop on Etsy!

Over the last couple of days, some of the categories that have the items for sale in my Etsy shop have changed.  Now you will have an easier time finding all of the great items up for sale.

Advertising, home decor and even a category just for Fenton have been created, and old classics like glassware and pottery are still around.

There are two new categories that you will find interesting, and the first is full of items that are on sale.  One such item is this great hand painted burmese piece from Fenton.

SONY DSC

This great piece with a sea scene can be found in the sale category here.  As a matter of fact, you can find the rest of the items in the sale category here.

The other new category that’s interesting is called TOTALLY DIFFERENT ITEMS.  This category is full of fun items that you would never expect to find in my shop.  A bride’s basket, a hat form and even a hand made art pottery tea pot with a raku style glaze can be found items in this great category here.

As a matter of fact, you can find all of the new and revamped categories in my Etsy shop here.  Head on over and check them out!

Simple things to remember to help keep the cost of shipping supplies low

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Selling tips, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

When you start to sell items on the internet, one of the things that could eat up any profits are shipping costs.  There are plenty of ways to help keep costs low, and here’s a few of them:

Grocery stores like Wal-Mart will set aside some boxes for you if you ask them to.  They will give you a wide variety of sizes so you can pack any number of items.

If you have a paper item (like an ad or even the cover of a record), you can use plastic bags from stores to help keep it from getting wet.  Make sure that you also put a piece of cardboard with it to help it from not being bent.

When you are packing an item, a good substitute for packing peanuts is newspaper.  Make sure that you use plenty of it so that the item you pack with it doesn’t move around and get damaged while being mailed.

This is just a few of them, what kinds of tips have you heard of?

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 Antiques.

You can see the full list of sale items here.

As always, thanks for shopping Wisdom Lane Antiques!

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?