Coming Soon!

If you've been watching my eBay listings, you'll have seen that I recently came into possession of a healthy number of World's Fair and Exhibition items. There's even more of it waiting in the wings. I'll be taking some of it to the booths at the Factory and Tuckahoe this week, and continuing to list World's Fair items on eBay through the end of November.

I really like World's Fairiana. My undergraduate degree was in Ancient Studies, and my area of focus was Provincial Rome, and specifically the artifacts, town planning, graffiti, literature, and other evidence of the pop culture, lifestyles, and the interests and beliefs of the people. I think we can learn a lot about people from what they used and kept and threw away. What enticed them to buy or do? What shaped the way they lived? I really enjoyed looking for those answers. The World's Fair Collectibles fill a similar interest for me. What was introduced? What drew millions of people to visit? What did they think encountering all of these new ideas and technologies and people and ideas? What did they keep? What did the Fair represent to them?

As usual, I'll be at the Factory on Wednesday afternoon this week, and then at Tuckahoe on Thursday morning. Feel free to stop by to talk about great glass, vintage toys, beautiful art, or World's Fairiana. I'm always happy to share information, provide guidance, and make deals -- or just chat. I can't promise I will have an answer, but I usually can point you in the right direction.

Squirrel 16, Julia 0, or Special Sale at Tuckahoe!

The squirrel was back Thursday night, and he felt that it'd be fun to dash through my space, sending pictures and informational signs to the floor and, and making a path along my shelves. He decided that my sunny windowsill was the most desirable windowsill in the whole place. That meant that the glass in that windowsill had to go. It's a good thing I moved the Blenko out of that windowsill Thursday morning.

It looked pretty dramatic when I got there Friday morning, but once we picked up the broken glass (and then vaccuumed), and evaluated the intact or mostly intact pieces, it wasn't so bad. 6 pieces were smashed (4 items from 1 set) , 8 were variously dinged or nicked or scratched, and and 3 survived without any damage from a fall from 3 or 5 feet (!). Everything the squirrel knocked over is now on serious sale, which means the deals on the 3 undamaged pieces are particularly good.

I'm leaving the squirrel survival sale up through next week at least, I think, even though those pieces are sitting on a particularly nice children's table and chair set (featuring bears and a storage compartment in the middle) that I just moved into the shop and should be getting oohed and ahhhed over.

Julia v. The Squirrel

When I became fully self-employed, I knew that I'd have to worry about taxes and insurance and business licenses and managing inventory across multiple venues. I never expected I'd have to develop skills around herding wildlife - and yet, there I was this morning, trying to get an errant squirrel out of the Antique Mall. He'd been there all night and was scared, and he went tearing around the place. My glass was safe, but the windowsill he'd apparently been sunning himself on down the aisle had its contents scattered around. Nothing seemed broken, thank goodness - this was impressive considering how he was leaping and jumping from surface to surface in his rush to go ... somewhere.

He dashed around and then holed himself up somewhere - and settled down to wait us out. We stopped chasing (but left the back door open), and the owner went to get a live squirrel trap. They'll put it out overnight, and hope that he takes the bait. Then he can be released into the wilds where there are lots of trees and good squirrel shelter.

As I was rearranging my booth, and chatting with the customers browsing, everyone seemed buoyed by the weather and charmed by the Squirrel situation and I think everyone's a little relieved that the results of the presidential election are clear and won't be held up in constant recounts for a month and a half. (Our local house race, however, is as tight as can be and the certification has been like watching ping pong. There's definitely going to be a recount there.)

I never did come up with a proper name for the squirrel. I tried "The Shadow" but it didn't quite fit. Then I tried "Zippy" and "Fred" and neither fit. I finally fell back on "Buddy." That, and free food sitting in the open doorway to the outside. Free food always works on humans, and honestly, squirrels just aren't that much smarter.

There's Something About Glass

I had a lovely day at Tuckahoe today. I only intended to stay for an hour or so , but the couple that runs the fabulous bottles/glass/medicine paraphanlia booth showed up, and we got to talking. They had some gorgeous early 1970s Fenton Burmese pieces - painted and signed all. We admired them for a while and I took some pictures (I'm doing a valuation for them), and then we talked about the many many many awesome things in their booth.

We're not the only glass people at the Tuckahoe Antique Mall, of course. There's a Cambridge glass specialist upstairs (who also has other early elegant glass in a lovely array), and an architectural salvage guy downstairs with really nice stained glass windows. And scattered throughout the place is a bevy of glass - I saw Fostoria American, Carnival vases, lovely Pattern glass, and some nice European pieces today scattered among the booths. And, of course, the large ruby Blenko compote is now the centerpiece of my booth.

The big news is that I took out the Porceliron Black and White Graphic Flower pattern table from Tuckahoe. It's going over to Verona some time this weekend.  (As always, you can always email me direct if you come back for something and it's gone. Sometimes it has sold, but sometimes I've either moved it to Verona, decided to put it on ebay, or just retired it from the market. There's a chance you could still get it - or something similar).

Shop Updates

I'm heading over to Tuckahoe in the morning (you can find me there most Thursday mornings) with a lot of fabulous new things, including:

• A Kodak stereoscopic camera and both a Kodak and Stereo Realist Red Button stereo viewer, all from the 1950s. Each of the viewers comes with fabulous stereo slides of food creations taken with the camera by the former head of food services at the Greenbriar
• A gorgeous red Blenko footed compote/bowl
• A fabulous piece of 50s furniture (a two tier star sofa corner table)
• A Three Little Kittens Tea Set in aluminum from the late 1940s.

This afternoon, I took several wonderful things to the new booth at the Factory, notably:

• A Rainbow Glass Lucky Clover Snack Set with the pink stain and a bonus big bowl.
• Rosenthal champagne glasses
• c.1930s Tortoiseshell Vanity Set (7 items, 9 pieces)
• A vintage wooden scoop
• The rest of the Dewdrop and Star (Campbell Jones, c. 1900) bowls and serving pieces

Crazy Crazy Times

It's been a hectic week; The PC that holds my business files (and the drafts for Glass Guide entries) crashed spectacularly and I've been desperately trying to get it to cough up the files themselves. Windows just laughs at me and then coredumps the files shortly before the login screen should appear. My backups are about 3 months old, which means I'd have to sit down and do a full inventory of all my things and then follow the paper trail to enter in the sales. Needless to say, this does not fill me with happiness. I did however set up automatic backups on this machine! To quote Nelson Muntz, Ha HA.

At the same time, I've been setting up a second booth, over at the Factory Antique Mall in Verona, just off I-81 north of Staunton. If you've ever driven up or down I-81 past Exit 227, you will have seen the building in all its orange and yellow neon glory. It's a large space, full of a lot of interesting dealers and things. To find my new booth (still only 2/3 full!), head to the snack bar and turn right. I've got an awesome Liberty-style thebes seat there (not the one listed in the sidebar), a couple of R. Atkinson Foxes, Blenko, Viking, Rainbow, Northwood, Kanawha, EAPG, Vintage toys and games, several books, vintage hats and purses, and more! Stop By! (I'll probably be there myself on Wednesday afternoon).

I'm running a special sale at the booth at the Tuckahoe Antiques Mall in Nellysford - It's the Virginia Rocks sale. Look for the orange tags offering special savings on Virginia and Virginia-esque items, ranging from turn-of-the-century maps of Civil War Virginia to a lovely crystal cow (it's not Virginian, but you can see cows from my window there - so, close enough!) to a dogwood-decorated vanity set. The ephemera is particularly nice - there are good prices on Valley food labels, for example, and an awesome brochure for Grand Caverns in Grottoes from 1926.

Finally, I've listed a few things on eBay this weekend - some 1978/81 classic fashion toys from my youth, and a couple of Simpsons Environments. I'm still dithering about what I'm going to do with my Blenko #952 Epergne in Emerald. It's two pieces and delicate, so I'm loath to put it in one of my booths, even though I have locked protected areas there. Photographs, however, just don't do it justice. Even the pictures in the Eige book (the seminal early Blenko reference book) don't show off its glory.

Hello Again

Last week was a rush - I thought I wasn't going to do the Richmond show, and then at the last minute, voila! Off to the Richmond Big Flea. I really like talking to both collectors - it fascinates me to find out what compels people - and browsers. I like being able to tell someone the small collection of glass they inherited from their grandmother is Viking Epic in Persimmon or what their vintage whatchamathingit is. I also get to learn a lot - I meet people who tell me about when they worked in the canning plant that produced the applesauce for that label or in the glass factory where he probably blew the pitcher I'm holding or even the fact that their mother saved up for months to buy a set just like that.

I find myself giving out a lot of advice on books to get and websites to read, and it occurred to me that writing all of this information down and putting it out there for future reference would be useful. So: coming up, A Glass Guide of sorts, where I talk about different glass companies and artisans, what to look for, and what resources there are for you. The first entry is about the Rainbow Glass Company, and it's half written already. I should have that up in the next day or so.

At the Shenadoah Antiques Expo

My booth is in the main hall, along the back wall, to the right of the stage. Stop by and say Hi!

Preparing for the Shenandoah Antiques Expo

I don't know where the time goes, sometimes.

In addition to buying and selling fabulous antiques and collectibles, I'm an artist. I've been working like crazy to finish two projects, and it's been taking me far longer than I planned. I can't believe it's been a week since I posted here, but between getting new inventory for the shop, working in the studio, and working my way through some items I'm deaccessioning from my personal collection for sale, the time has slipped away from me.

I've also been sorting through my inventory and planning what I'm taking to the Sheandoah Antiques Expo in Fishersville, VA next weekend (October 10-12). I found an great mid-century tortoiseshell vase/candle this weekend, which I'm definitely bringing, along with a fabulous dichronic freeform bowl that is either Tiffin or Morgantown.  I'll have it IDed by the show if it kills me.   I'll post more information about the show closer to the show date.

Home Again, Home Again

We got home late last night from the Big Flea. It was a good weekend. In addition to a fabulous dinner at my favorite sushi place (Tokyo Sushi in Ashburn),  I met some really interesting collectors and picked up a couple of awesome things, to boot. My next show is the Shenandoah Antiques Expo in Fishersville on October 10-12, and then we're off to Richmond for the Big Flea the following weekend. 

I'm planning on bringing different things to each of the shows, but I'm always glad to take requests or meet you at a show with your purchase. For Fishersville, I'm thinking about bringing lots of bird prints, glass (both EAPG and West Virginia art glass), vanity sets, a charming fence in the shape of a row of cats, and local treasures - including milk bottles, a bottle (with box and insert doucmentation) of Dr. Miller's Elixir (his drugstore is now Charlottesville's semi-legendary bar, Miller's), and some Waynesboro High School football programs from the 1950s. 

Conversely, I'm planning on taking some gorgeous black metal plant stands to Richmond and a garden table, some copper planters, and some small pieces of furniture. Look for the fabulous ephemera, a smaller (but choice) selection of glass, and some lovely china.

In the short term, I'm spending tomorrow in the studio cleaning and reorganizing it, as well as trying to get my printing press to print something slightly too big. If I have time, I'll build a photo box so I can take better pictures of my fabulous treasures.  Once I have that, I'll be able to upload pictures of all sorts of wonderful things in a expeditious manner. Right now, I have to wander around this house (which was designed to be shady in summer!) looking for decent light and a non-busy background.