Hurray! It's Live!

The last couple of days have been pretty hectic here, and the results are really cool.  I just set up a shop on the website called TIAS.com, and it looks great (if I do say so myself).

The picture above is what the banner looks like, so that you know that you're in the right spot.

It has a great varity of items in it, with things from advertising to primitives.  There's no telling what will be listed there, so make sure that you check in often.

You can check out what's for sale here.

Josh Tatum Strikes!

In 1883, the United States released the 5 cent coin without one important word—CENTS.

The 5 cent piece quickly became known as the “Racketeer Nickel” because there was a group of people that gold plated the coins and passed them off as five dollar gold coins.

One of the most famous of people to gold plate the coins is a man by the name of Josh Tatum.  Josh would walk into a store and purchase an item for 5 cents.  He then would pay with the gold plated fake.  Sometimes Josh would get $4.95 in change, and sometime he wouldn’t if the clerk knew what the actual denomination of the coin really was.

He then would leave with his purchase, and the striking thing about the entire thing was the fact that Josh did not say a single word throughout the entire transaction.

Why?  It is believed that Josh was a deaf mute.

The law finally caught up to Mr. Tatum, and promptly arrested and tried him for fraud.  The charges could not stick against him because of the fact that he did not say a single word when the purchase was being made, so it was up to the clerk to decide if the coin was worth 5 cents or 5 dollars.

Some people even attribute the phrase “Just Joshing you” to this story.

Bohemian Glass

Did you know that Bohemia was once part of the country of Czechoslovakia?  It now resides in the Czech Republic?  The area has been producing glass since the 13^th century.

The glass makers in this region quickly discovered that if you mix potash with chalk it produces a clear glass that was more stable than the glass that was coming out of Italy.

When collecting or selling Bohemian glass, you need to keep a watchful eye on the quality of the piece.  The glassware is still being made today by quite a few companies.  Even in the Bohemia area, you will find lesser quality pieces that have been brought in from China and other locations.

Silver Dollar Counterfeits

When it comes to coins, you can ask 100 different collectors what they collect, and you will get 100 different answers.

One of the areas that draw a pretty good amount of people is silver dollars.

This area is really being turned onto its ear because of an influx of counterfeit coins coming in from China.

 
One tip to help with the weeding out the fake ones from the real coins is to use a magnet on the suspect coins.  Silver is a non-magnetic material, and the magnet will not stick to the coin.  The fakes more often than not will be made from a base metal, and the magnet will stick to the coin.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Man alive!  This has been one fun birthday, it wore me out!

I don't know what was more fun, the new toys or the dinner.  There was ribeye steak, vanilla ice cream and cake, peas, and rice.

And do you know what?  I went for a walk after dinner.  There was more fun than you could shake a stick at.

Turning the big Oh-9 is turning out to be more fun than ever.

Woah! That's Cool!

Curious to see what's behind the curtain?  Why, it's a Haynes Ware Creamer!

 

These suckers are really cool.  They can add a splash of color to just about anything that you use it for.  It's the perfect size to be a pencil or pen holder, or you could use it for a small vase to put in the center of your table, or the corner or your desk.

This is one of those pieces that you could use a million different ways, and it would look cool doing whatever it is.

You can still buy this piece in my Etsy shop.  Just use this link here to check it out!

What's Behind Curtain Number One?

I absolutely love these things.  I just can’t get enough of them.  But it begs one question:  What is it?

Let me give you a hint.  This item you can use to help with holding an additive for coffee (hint, hint, nudge, nudge), as a small vase, or even with holding pencils.

No, it’s not a hat!

But what is it exactly?  Stay tuned to see what the great item is!

A Century Of Progress

When the Worlds Fair came to Chicago, it was called “A Century Of Progress International Exposition”.  It was originally to run from May 27^th 1933 until November 12^th 1933, but it was such a success that the Fair was opened again on May 26^th the following year and ran until October 31^st, 1934.

There were many exhibitors at the Chicago Worlds Fair, some of the exhibitors were automobile manufactures (some of the manufactures were Cadillac, Nash, Pierce Arrow, Packard, and Lincoln).  Another exhibitor was the Union Pacific Railroad, and they introduced their first streamlined train, the M-10000.

The Chicago Worlds Fair of 1933-1934 has a vast area of souvenirs that you could collect.  There are programs, buttons, flyers, coins, badges, ash trays, photographs, tape measures (I’m not joking on the last one), banks, and the list just goes on and on.

I can find plenty of different items here in the Ozarks when it comes to collecting the Chicago Worlds Fair.  The prices are all over the place, it really depends on how rare and well preserved the piece is.

The great thing about any Worlds Fair is that every piece that came from it is marked with the year and the name of the Fair that it came from.

Fast Facts On the First Auctions

*Some of the first auctions were held in ancient Rome.  Like in modern times, the people of ancient Rome would sell off household goods like furniture to pay off debts.  These auctions could last for months.

*When the items that were seized by the Army during the American Civil War, they would be sold by the Colonel of the Division.  That’s why you see some auctioneers carry the title of “Colonel”.

With the invention of the internet, it is now very possible to find and attend any auction that you could ever want.  This is a great way to help you find that piece to help you complete your collection.

Madrid Depression Glass And It’s Counterpart

This pattern has been around since 1932, and is still being produced today (now it is being called the Recollection Pattern made by Indiana Glass Company).  There are quite a few ways to tell if the piece you’re looking at is Madrid, or if it is part of the Recollection pattern.

In 1976, the Federal Glass company released Madrid as part of their Bicentennial line.  To help discern this from the original, there’s a “76” that has been stamped into the mold.

The Indiana Glass company released the Recollection starting in the 1980’s.  Some of the pieces that Indiana Glass has released were never produced by the Federal Glass company.  Some of the molds were put together, like the candlestick and bowl molds to produce a kind of a pedestal bowl.  If you happen to run across one of these pieces, look at where the bowl joins with the “base”.  If you see some ribbing inside what looks like a hollow area, then this is a modern piece.

The grill plate is different as well.  The original has been divided into three compartments, and the newer one has only two.

It’s amazing how much of both patterns are here in the Ozarks.  Keep an eye peeled when it comes to this pattern—you just might be paying good money for a newer piece.

Flow Blue Brush Holder

It's great to see when an antique or collectible can still be used many years after it was first produced.

Take this terrific Flow Blue brush holder.  With Flow blue being introduced sometimes in the 1820's, it became popular in America in the 1840's.  It's still popular with collectors today.

There are plenty of pieces of Flow Blue that are like this holder.  There are pitchers, bowls, plates, saucers, soup taureens, the list just goes on and on.  Tons of pieces can be still be used today.

You could find a job for this holder in the bathroom, by the artist's easel, on the dresser in your room, or even on the kitchen counter holding pens or pencils so you can take a phone message, if the need arises.  What kind of ideas could you come up with for such a versitile piece?

You can find the Flow Blue brush holder in my Etsy store here.

And The Answer Is…

Did you figure out what the lid belongs to?

I bet you’re dying to find out…

It’s a vintage Mt. Washington mustard Jar!  With the advent of refrigeration, and plastic that is cheap enough to mass-produce a bottle that can be used long enough to hold the mustard, the days where we need a glass jar like the one pictured has come and gone.

It has opened up a collectible field that can be very diverse.  The containers could be made out of pottery, glass, or even metal.  The shape is also as diverse as the material that the jar is made out of.  It could be round, square (or a combination of both), squat, bulbous, or just about anything.

The mustard jar is for sale in my Etsy store, you can go there here.  Just be sure to use coupon code STORESALE20 when you checkout.  You can even use that coupon code on anything in my Esty store from now until July 22^nd.

What’s That?

Over time, there are items that people will just stop using.  It could be for a number of reasons, like a design that might have come along that is better.   It could even be an item that helps you offer a service that we don’t even see much of anymore, like a shoe repair company.

Can you tell what the lid is to in the picture?

Stay tuned to see what the answer is, it just might surprise you.

The Enamel Sign

Enamel signs are a great collectible.  They can advertise anything from a bookstore to an eyeglass shop.  The flanged signs are more easily seen than the regular flat signs that lay flat against the wall.  With the flanged signs coming out from the wall, they are more susceptible to damage, espically on the bottom of the sign, where it could potentially be hit by items being carried or people walking by, espically on the bottom edge of the sign.

Here in the Ozarks, the flanged sign brings more money than the flat signs do (especially if it’s for a company like Western Union, Goodyear, or Wrigley’s Chewing Gum).

One of the ways to help out in figuring if the sign is a reproduction is the fading on the item.  There are quite a few ways to fake fading or even rust, but on an item that is authentic, the fading and rust is not even over the entire piece.

Great Backdrops To Use When You Photograph Your Vintage Items

Ever wonder what you could use for a backdrop when you take a photo of that vintage item?  You could use just about anything, and it will make your item look even better.

One way that helps me is to use a vintage drop leaf table with some paint that is starting to show some paint loss as a backdrop.

Another item that could help are vintage napkins with a pattern that have been applied to it.

Just about any item could be made into a great backdrop.