Category: Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!

Great Czechoslovakian treasures

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

Czechoslovakia did not exist until 1918 when World War I ended.  The country was formed as a reward for the help of the Czechs and the Slovaks in winning the war.  It was made up of parts of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary.  In 1993, a peaceful dissolution of the country split it into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Items such as highly decorated dinnerware and colorful artistic vases are very collectible because the country was only around for a very short time—only 75 years.

Recently at an estate sale, I discovered one of these great treasures—a light pink 1930’s Czechoslovakia tango glass vase with black trim.

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You can see this absolutely gorgeous vase in my Etsy store here.  What kinds of finds from Czechoslovakia have you found?

Vocabulary words for the furniture collector

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Furniture, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Vocabulary Words, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

There’s always some terms that you pick up along the way when you either collect a certain area or are a dealer.  Furniture is the same way, and here’s some great vocabulary words that I heard along the way:

Attached Back Pillow: This is a pillow treatment that can’t be taken off the upholstered piece.

Butler’s Table: This is an oval wooden tray on legs whose four sides are hinged to fold out flat when it is set down.

Case Piece: A piece of furniture like this provides interior space for storage.  It could be something like clothing or bedding.

Commode: Today, this means something completely different.  It used to be a low chest that had either  drawers or doors (some sort of cabinet on legs) which usually stands against a wall.

Nest-of-Tables: These are small tables that are used every once in a while and are graduated in size so that they slide beneath one another.

These are only a handful of the words that you will run across.  What words have you heard?

Better keep an eye out!

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

Whenever I am going through a flea market or even a local thrift store, I often remind myself that I need to keep my eyes peeled—you never know what you will run across.  It could be anything really, it could be any type of item that you didn’t expect.

This happened to me not too long ago when I went to a local Goodwill store.  I was walking through and saw, well…

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When I first saw it, I knew that it was a scaled down house.  It looks like someone took a lot of time to make it, but the real question was rather simple—what was it really?

After looking at it for a little bit, I had part of the roof come off of the house in my hand, kind of like what’s pictured below.  I quickly realized that this was a jewelry box.

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Talk about a fun way to store your jewelry!  So, it always pays to keep an eye peeled so you don’t miss that one-of-a-kind item.

What kinds of interesting finds have you run across when out at a flea market or antique store?

More vocabulary words for the glass collector to keep in mind

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, My Background, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Vocabulary Words, Wisdom LaneLeave a comment

When you start to collect items in a certain area like glassware, you find out that you need to know some of the terminology when you go along.  Here’s some of the words that I’ve heard over the years about glassware:

Bent (or Slumped) Glass—this is glass that has been heated up in a kiln from room temperature to a temperature high enough to cause it to soften and sag into or even over a mold. The finished product will take the shape of the mold that the glass is around.

Iridescent—this is a surface treatment when a layer of metallic oxide is bonded to the hot glass surface just after the form the glass into a sheet.  The result is a colorful one, and it also has a shimmering effect.

Seedy Glass—this is glass that has air bubbles trapped in it. This is when air or gas is injected into the molten glass prior to forming the sheet causing the bubbles.

What kind of terms have you heard or run across?

Beat the July heat with a Christmas in July sale at Wisdom Lane Antiques!

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Fashion, Fenton, Jewelry, Sale at Wisdom Lane Antiques!, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!, Wisdom Lane2 Comments

With this firecracker hot sale, you can get 10% off the purchase price of anything in my Etsy shop by using the coupon code JULYSALE10 (make sure that the coupon code is in all capital letters).  With this coupon code, you will get 10% off the purchase price of any item in my Etsy store.

Christmas is probably my favorite holiday out of all of them.  One of the reasons is that you get to wear festive jewelry, like this Christmas tree shaped pin.

Christmas Tree Pin With Multi Colored Rhinestones By ART

The 1960’s pin is by ART and can be seen in my Etsy store here.  Another item that you can wear is this terrific 1980’s dress with a peplum top.

1980s KR of NY Red And White Kiss Pattern Dress Peplum Top Size 5 to 6

This cool dress has a red and white kiss pattern to it and is by KR of NY, and you can see it in my Etsy store here.

Another item to wear when it gets cold outside is this wonderful (and very warm!) faux fur coat by Tissavel.

Tissavel For Country Pacer Brown Knee Length Faux Fur Coat Or Jacket Long Sleeve 1950s

This coat was made in the 1950’s and was made for Country Pacer.  You can see it in my Etsy store here.

Another reason that I love Christmas is to find someone that perfect gift.  One gift that you can give is this terrific 1980’s black formal dress by BETSY & ADAM.

1980s BETSY and ADAM Black Beaded Crinkle Knit See Through Sheer Top Cut Out Back Detail Knee Length Size 7

It would be perfect for any formal event, or even to wear to the Prom later in the year.  You can see this great dress in my Etsy store here.

The third reason that I love Christmas is that you get to display pieces that tie into the holidays very easily.  The first item is this great mix and match pitcher and tumblers set.

Mix And Match Lemonade Set Fenton Style Jamestown Green Pitcher With Stir Stick And 8 Polka Dot Tumblers

This set has a Fenton Jamestown Green pitcher and 8 polka dot tumblers, and it can be used to serve your favorite Holiday beverage.  You can see this great set in my Etsy store here.  Another item that can be displayed in your home that ties into Christmas is this wonderful ruby red basket by Fenton.

1970s Ruby Red Fenton Hobnail Basket With Handle And Embossed Fenton Mark On Bottom

This basket has the Hobnail pattern on it, and it could be used to hold potpourri or even your favorite centerpiece on your table.  You can see this basket in my Etsy store here.

Another item that could very easily be displayed in your home at Christmas is this terrific ornament for the Christmas tree.

1982 Strawberry Shortcake A SPECIAL TREAT Christmas Tree Ornament By Americard With The Original Box

This Strawberry Shortcake ornament is dated 1982 and is titled A SPECIAL TREAT.  The great thing about it is that the ornament has the original box with it, you can store it in the box after Christmas is over.  You can see the ornament in my Etsy store here (you can see some more ornaments in my eBay store here).

So beat the July heat with some cool savings in my Etsy store.  All of these and other sizzling deals can be seen here.

What a great way to warm up to the idea of early holiday shopping!

A few examples of the different types of advertising

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Advertising, Paper, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!2 Comments

Not too long ago, I ran across an old soap box from the 1940’s to the 1950’s and got to thinking about all the different forms of advertising that you can run across.  That box in question is for Kirk’s American Family White Flakes, and it was made by Proctor And Gamble.

soap box

The soap box can be seen in my Etsy store here.  What’s fun about that box is that it has a coupon on the box that has a value of 16 mills.  Mills were before my time, and I found out that a mill is worth one tenth of one cent (it takes 10 to make a cent, and they were used when sales tax is 1% of the price).

At that sale, I got to thinking about all the different forms of advertising, even the pieces that end up being fun (and useful) to have around.  One piece is this cast iron paperweight advertising EL RECO GAS.

EL RECO Gas Stations Figural Paperweight

The fun thing is that it actually looks like a gas station attendant.  Not only that, it still can be used today on any desk.  You can see it in my Etsy store here.

The last thing that came to mind was this small tin Prince Albert Tobacco advertising sign.

prince albert in a can!

Whenever I look at that sign, I think that it looks almost exactly like the side of the can.  You can see that sign in my Etsy sign here.

What kinds of different examples of advertising pieces have you run across?

Two simple steps to help spot a real piece of Depression glass from a fake

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Glassware, My Background, Reproductions, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!1 Comment

So you are out at an antique mall, estate sale or even an auction.  While there, you happen to run across a piece of Depression glass.  The piece that you’re looking at doesn’t have any damage on it, but how do you know that it’s the real deal?

When I’m in this situation, I usually use two simple steps to help me determine if the piece is real or fake.  The first thing that I do is to look at the color on it.  There are slight color variations on a real piece, these variations are just going to be a little darker or lighter on the piece.

On a piece of pink Depression glass, a reproduction will more likely have an orange pink hue to it (it’s really obvious).  With a piece that’s green, the reproductions that I have seen tend to go real dark.  I have seen forest green on a piece of ADAM Depression glass.  So if it’s off (especially for the pattern that’s on the piece), it’s a good idea to question it.

The second step that I use is to look at the pattern.  Even though Depression glass was given away quite a bit when it was first made, the glassware still had high quality to it.  What this means is that the pattern is easily recognizable, and there are no missing details to it.  A reproduction may be missing the veins in the leaves of a flower, or the beak on a bird is not as pointed.

A reproduction will sometimes be rushed through, and the pattern will show the crudeness.

So be aware—the fine details will help you determine if the piece of Depression glass will be real or fake.

What kinds of tricks do you use to help determine if you have a real piece of glassware?

Ever see a Victorian Red Tomato Server?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Serving sets, Silverplate items, Victorian era, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

At a local flea market, I ran across a box of spoons not too long ago.  When I started looking through them, I found quite a few utensils that really got my interest.  The Victorian Era was pretty interesting when it came to the serving pieces that were made, and one of those serving pieces was in that box I bought.

That piece is a red tomato server and is marked WM ROGERS MFG ORIGINAL ROGERS.  The server has the LA FRANCE pattern and dates to the early 1900’s.

tomato server

Here’s the kicker—there are two different types of tomato servers.  There’s one for red tomatoes and for green.

There’s a big difference to the server, and it’s that the spade on the green tomato server is not perforated. The red tomatoes can be juicy, so the perforations lets the juice drip through.  Green tomatoes are not nearly as messy so you don’t have to worry as much about spilling tomato juice on the table cloth.

spade

A modern twist on this type of server is that you could use the green tomato server to serve fried green tomatoes.  You can see the red tomato server in my Etsy store here.

What kinds of Victorian serving pieces have you run across?

Great vocabulary words for the glass collector

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

Over time, you will pick up quite a few words that describe what a piece is. It could be anything really–there are times when they apply to how a piece is made or what happens to a piece over time. Here are some words that apply to the glassware field:

Chop Plate – this is a large, flat serving plate. This piece is also sometimes called a salver.  You’ll see this type of piece in both pottery and glassware.

Cane –this is a glass rod that’s used in glass making to produce effects like twisted filigree or even marbles.

Sickness – this refers to a cloudy haze that’s in glass vessels such as vases, decanters bottles, and even tumblers. This can be something as simple as hard water deposits (hard water stains can be cleaned off with a little foaming denture cleaner).

So what kind of fun words have you heard?

A variety of graniteware pieces

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Enamelware, My Background, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

Wither at an estate sale, a garage sale, or even at an auction, I run across quite a few pieces of graniteware in my neck of the woods.  There’s a pretty wide variety of pieces that I find when I’m out shopping.  It could be anything from a tea kettle to a creamer–you never know what you will run across.

When I was young, people in my area collected graniteware like crazy.  They still do, but not as much as they did when I was young.  Here lately, the prices have cooled off mainly because there is so much of it here.

Because of the fact that the prices have come down and people have lost a little interest in graniteware, some of the pieces in collections have even come up for sale.  Some of the pieces that I have run across lately really have surprised me when I ran across them.  One piece that did was this graniteware fireplace salesman’s sample.

Enamelware Graniteware Fireplace Salesmans Sample Ashtray Advertising The Cleveland Foundry Company

This even has a plaque on the front that reads, “The Cleveland Foundry Company.”  You can see it in my Etsy shop here.

Pie pans are pretty plentiful, but they are usually a solid color.  So when I ran across this brown swirl pie pan, I snatched it up pretty fast.

Brown And White Swirl Enamelware Graniteware Pie Pan Unmarked Made 1930s To 1940s

What struck me was that it’s in great condition, usually pie pans around here get knocked around pretty good.  You can see it in my Etsy shop here, and more graniteware examples here.

What’s great about graniteware is the fact that it gives a more urban area a splash of country.

What kinds of graniteware pieces have you run across?