Collector’s Content
The Merry Punch Bowl
A deep dive into the history of the punch bowl and its staring role in merrymaking of the past. With a season of festivity ahead of us I thought it timely to delve into the history of some of our time tested entertaining principals. Let’s start with the punch bowl! You know that vessel you’ve…
Read MoreToddlers & Antiques: How To Prevent Breaks
A practical guide to prevent disaster when toddlers live with antiques. Toddlers and antiques CAN coexist quite happily without disaster! My family lives this every day. My son, James, is two and a half years old and he is allowed in every room in the house AND every room has antiques. With the exception of …
Read MoreFederal Era Food & Finery
A look at the “delicate” dinner table. Bring your best manners and learn how our founding fathers dined in high style at the start of the nation! In relating all I know of America, I surely must not omit so important a feature as the cooking. There are sundry anomalies in the mode of serving…
Read MoreOur Antiquing Roadtrip North on I81
Loading up your 76 year old mother and 19 month old toddler in an SUV and a trailer to hit the interstate antiquing sounds cuckoo, no? 9 tote boxes… 5 pieces of luggage… 4 rolls of bubble wrap… 2 ice chests… and 1 stroller later we made it through: 19+ hours of driving… 14 antique…
Read MoreThe Antique Collector’s Resource Library
You don’t have know everything about antiques and vintage curios, but you should know where to look for the answers! Whether you’ve spent years developing your knowledge base about decorative arts through formal education or you are new to the field, every collector and seller needs a group of resources to turn to when they…...
The Antique Collector’s Tool Kit
Just 4 little things are essential to help you authenticate vintage and antiques! Sometimes our senses are not adequate to determine what a curio is, its date, or what it is made of, so we need the right tools to use when examining it. I recommend keeping a tool kit with you when you go…...
An Eye for the Good Stuff
Tips to develop your eye to find quality antiques and vintage amongst the topsy-turvy hoard in thrifts, consignments, and estate sales! This can be such a frustrating maxim that experts in the antiques field throw out like confetti. As frustrating as it may be to hear when you start out collecting or selling antiques that…...
China Patterns: The Rare & Valuable
Hello Lovely Peonies. Which china patterns are rare? Which are popular? Which are overdone? And how do I know if a pattern is valuable? My e-mail has been flooded with these kind of questions lately as well as requests for plate identification help (see this post on ID and this post for determining value). I’m…
Read MoreWhat’s My Antique Dish Worth?
5 Tips to help you determine the worth of your antique or vintage dinnerware! Today, I wanted to share some of my advice on collecting and/or re-selling antique dishes and determining the value. Obviously, the first step in determining value is to identify the maker and pattern. My process for plate identification is detailed in…...
What You Should Buy at Estate Sales
25 one of a kind treasures you should hunt at estate sales according to a Grandmillennial who resells and decorates! The other day I read this inane article on Martha Stewart “10 Things You Should Never Buy at an Estate Sale.” I’m not going to link it because it deserves no special attention. The list…
Read More