Virtual Day 7 – Horses Everywhere

It seems no matter where I go I see horses.  They follow me, and I notice the equine shape just about everywhere.

Going out to eat?  Horses!  This was a chic bar at a new trendy shopping center.  So arty!  I liked the use of the metal horse collar pieces and horseshoes in the sculpture as well as random tools and locks.

Attending a home tour?  Horses!  This was the only horse art in the place, loved its placement in the garden.

Visiting a museum?  LOTS of horse art.  I see equine sculpture and paintings in classic museum areas, but you don’t see as many in modern art sections.

Visiting an architect home and studio?  Keep your eyes open – this horse was built into the wall.

Antique stores have herds of horse figures in every nook and cranny if you look.  But don’t miss out on more unusual places like lap rugs.  As an aside, I think this could make a great meme template.  That horse and dog have seen some stuff..

And finally, horses can pass you by at an antique show if you don’t keep your eyes open.  Unfortunately not for sale, this show shopper knew how to keep out of the sun in style!

Virtual Day 6 – Out Shopping

I was going through withdrawals not antique shopping this week!  So I decided to go out and hit a few thrift stores to scratch that itch.  I stopped by an estate sale and hit gold!  Never got to the thrift stores, but filled the trunk of the car with only one stop.  This sale had great advertising, and had tons of great stuff.  Semi-organized, but still had to root through boxes – that is where the good stuff is!  I just got home and unpacked, so I have tons of work to clean, research and list this for sale, but I had to share the goods!

First up is a bunch of dollhouse furniture.  I like to buy small, easy to pack and ship stuff to resell and this fits the bill.  I will have to look it all up (and clean it up), but there looks to be some nice pieces in here.  The room dividers in the lower left are very cool, the diamond blue bathtub, yellow kitchen stuff and the light blue bathroom stuff look good.  I will likely break this up into a few lots of similar items, it will be fun to research!

Bunch of miscellaneous stuff.  The music items were a whim, I loved the note caddy shaped like a piano and picked up the other items to round out a nice lot.  The sewing patterns I took a chance on, could be good, could be duds, but I liked the artwork – especially the cool western ’70s guys!  My best finds are the two cowboys in the middle.  I believe they are Hartlands – I am not an expert, but the plastic, molding and paint jobs are key tells.  Hartland gunfighters can go for a TON of money, and they came with hats and guns (they might not go to these figures, but you can still sell accessories for collectors to complete sets), so I am hopeful.

I hear you now – “Knee highs and thigh highs?!?” – yes, these can go for quite a bit of money.  I don’t question why the buyers want them, but new in package hosiery is quite popular, and I love how easy to ship!  The mermaids and fish are all repainted and some are repaired, but they are also very popular with collectors.  I can try to get the paint off, or sell as is.  The ones with sea horses and fish are the most popular, but I can sell these all day and night as they are.  I think the mermaids are Lefton or Norcrest, which are the cats meow for collectors.

Halloween is a hugely popular holiday.  Collectors, of course, prefer older items, but even recent vintage stuff with good graphics and design is popular.  The two skeletons in the middle are pirates, and I bet they glow in the dark.  Horror VHS tapes can be worth big bucks, especially some of the more cult classic flicks.  I will always pick up these if they seem to be in good condition.  I don’t have a VHS player anymore, but if they are clean and in good shape they still command good prices.

Finally another bunch of miscellaneous.  Needlepoint kits and books, especially discontinued, are easy sellers.  I found 2 older bags from local businesses with great graphics, so those might go to the antique booth.  Vintage Christmas is hit and miss. I got the tree topper because those tend to be popular and this one was in nice condition.  The glass ornament is totally faded, but I loved the ‘Made in the US of A’ around the top.  Don’t know if I have seen that before.

Hope you enjoyed – I know I will be busy for the next few days having fun playing with my purchases.  So get out there and happy hunting!

Virtual Day 5 – Favorite Antique Shows

Fair warning – I live on the west coast so this list will skew towards my home base as these shows are easier to get to.  They are all fun, and I hope to get to some antique shows in other parts of the country as I can.

First is one of the biggest antique shows in the country – Alameda Point Antiques Faire.  Held the first Sunday of the month, they get over 800 antique dealers!  It is held at the Alameda Naval Air station on one of the former airplane runways.  It is well organized, with rows labeled and laid out with good access.  I don’t think I have ever left without buying something.  Bring drinks and snacks, it is a hike to finish the whole thing.  I get tired before the end, and only power bars help me get through.  This is one place I can say they have almost literally anything you are interested in.

One for the midwest – the Randolph Street Market in Chicago was small and mighty.  They had jamming live music, great food trucks, a good variety of antiques and collectibles (mostly well curated) and a great location.  They have an outdoors section and an indoors area with two levels in Chicago’s Plumbers Hall.  Great building and great antiques make for a fun experience.  I totally enjoyed this market, and would love to go back.

Back to the west coast – the Sacramento Antique Faire ranks in my favorite list for several reasons.  It is close to me, small enough to get through without total exhaustion, but big enough to have a good variety of dealers, and is underneath the freeway so it is shaded in the summertime!  I hit this one as often as I can, and rarely leave empty handed.  They have so many fun dealers I almost regret using this picture, but really – I have been to lots of markets and faires, and this is the first one I ran into a goat at the port-a-potties.  She was a local, and evidently liked to wander about and greet people.

Billed as the largest antique and collectibles show in the US, Brimfield is actually a collection of multiple antique shows held along one section of highway 3 times a year.  I only got to attend once, and it was amazing.  Days and days of shows – small ones, big ones, flea markets and high-end shows – it went on, and on, and on…  I highly recommend, as there is something for anyone here.  One thing I did notice was many dealers just up and moved around from show to show during the week.  You would see something interesting, then the next day find it at another field.  You still had to jump on good deals, but if you liked something that had been around the show for a bit you could usually bargain and get a good deal.  Beware – there aren’t many hotels close by, we had to stay in Connecticut to get a decent rate.

And finally, I love one of my local shows – the Hot August Nights Swap.  It is predominantly car related stuff – gas pumps, ceramic signs, car parts and so on.  What I like is that the car dealers will bring along just about anything else they think they can sell, and the non-car stuff tends to go cheaper.  Likely true with most specialty shows, I have gotten great deals on stuff here because the dealer specialized in something else and just threw boxes in the trailer to take up space.  I also love the design of early automobile advertising, so the old ephemera and signs are a treat to see preserved.

Virtual Day 4 – Jamboree

I thought I would reminisce today about a beloved model horse event – The West Coast Model Horse Collectors Jamboree.  I loved it because it felt more intimate in scale and also more inclusive than other shows and events in the hobby.  Held at a host hotel (first at the Red Lion then the hotel at the Pomona Fairplex) there was a lot to do and more air conditioning than Breyerfest!  Pardon the photos, this was before I had a digital camera so I am taking pictures from old scrapbooks.

There were all the things to do you would expect at a large event.  There was a large model horse show, spread over several days with classes for everything you could want – and this was before NAMHSA.

There was a benefit auction, and what I loved was the variety of items included.  Hartlands, Hagen Renaker, Peter Stone Horses as well as Breyers, with customs, signed artwork and many other makes and models.

It seemed everyone came to this event, and there was time and space to see it all.  I remember the year Peter Stone debuted the first ‘factory custom’ at Jamboree.  Live horses came, there was a dinner and workshops as well.  Oh, and a vendors hall, room sales, and did I mention air conditioning?

Another one of my favorite parts was the Tricked Out Pony contest.  It was a customizing contest with a twist.  Every entrant got the same blank model.  It was great to see the variety of ideas people had, and all the different places they went from the same starting point.

Expecting the unexpected makes the unexpected expected as they say.  The event was in Southern California in the fall, also known as fire season.  We could see the flames from the hotel, and everyone’s cars were covered in ash that year.  There wasn’t ever a big earthquake during the event, thank goodness!
There really hasn’t been another event like Jamboree – small enough to do what you liked but big enough to attract just about everyone.  It was a destination event that everyone could find something interesting to do.  Every medium was represented, from flat work to bronze, there were shows and seminars, food and fun.  I loved the hotel at the Fairplex, it was a real suite hotel with separate sleeping and living rooms, perfect for selling and socializing.  Oh, and did I mention just about the entire event was air conditioned?😁

Virtual Day 3 – Specialty Sellers

Going through years of old photographs, I notice that I like to take pictures of dealers who specialize or group like items.  So here is a full post of interesting collections.

I did not know old toilet tank lid collecting was a thing, but this dealer had enough to stock a whole aisle.  Granted, the store was full of old appliances and fixtures, but I’d have thought the lids would go best with their respective toilet.  I guess when you break the lid to an old specialized toilet you want a place to find a match instead of replacing the unit.  The green and yellow and pink lids here are quite hard to find nowadays, and the odd shaped white ones likewise.

Holiday dealers are my favorite.  You see lots of Christmas and Easter, some Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, but to find this amount of Halloween takes dedication.  It is rapidly becoming the favorite holiday of many, and vintage stuff sells quick.  The number of blow molds, paper mâché and party hats is impressive.  Beware of storing old figural candles – they melt easily, I have seen them melted in antique stores that were not air conditioned before.

Yep, these were all for sale.  You could buy a dollhouse room complete or furnish a whole house in one fell swoop!  I am impressed by the detail in these small items, and the variety of decorations is just as cool in miniature as in full size.  Sometimes I have found the smaller items can be more expensive then their larger brethren!

Another item I didn’t think you could specialize in was mirrors.  They are heavy and fragile and difficult to pack and move.  It makes it more impressive that this dealer could bring this many mirrors to a one-day show.  Another difficulty is the glare and heat coming off these things, this was in summer and you could feel the heat as you walked past the booth.  I’d have hated to be the one to pack up – it would take lots of moving blankets and insulated gloves.

I love this booth.  Another hot item is barware, and it is really difficult to get this much glassware and bar tables together to sell.  The colors of the metal tables drew in people, and the designs on the glasses helped sell items.  We can rarely keep a good set of glasses in the booth they sell so quick, and when I walked by later this booth had cleared out a good bit of stock.

Hope you enjoyed the specialty dealers here.  Come back tomorrow and see what pictures I find next!

Virtual Day 2 – My First Breyerfest

The year – 1993.  The location – The Kentucky Horsepark.  The dates – July 30-31.  I don’t think there was much going on with the model horse hobby online in 1993; perhaps a few Usenet groups, but I hadn’t done much on the internet back then anyway.  Everything I knew about the hobby came from Just About Horses.  Buying and selling was done sight unseen from mimeographed sales lists obtained for a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope).  Breyerfest was new and exciting – there was a special run horse included in the ticket price (tickets were $40), you could shop from vendors and see the horses in person, and there was an auction of test color models!
No special runs, no tent times, no single day Stablemates, the only line was to pick up your Celebration model, and we got a full dinner with our ticket!  There weren’t many official events, but there was lots to do around the Horsepark.

There was a live show, and for some reason I decided to participate.  No prize models, no NAN cards, just flat ribbons and rosettes.  In addition the show was held on the dirt floor of the covered arena.  Didn’t have to worry much about models being knocked to the ground – just dust ‘em off and keep showing!  Yes, you see a Family Arab Stallion, a Quarter Horse Gelding and a Stock Horse Stallion in my show string.  I flew a large case of models from California to Kentucky for this…

The Celebration model was the Shire stallion Grayingham Lucky Lad.  Instead of standing in line to get his owners autograph, we stood in line to get the autograph of Peter Stone!

There was, of course, shopping to be done.  There were a few vendors on the upper concourse of the arena, but most secondhand sellers were in a medium-size tent set up in a dirt area behind the main arena.  This year the weather was clear, but in other years the tent flooded and was evacuated when there was lightning.

After a fun day of showing and shopping, event participants were treated to a full dinner!  Oh the joy of Kentucky burgoo in the Kentucky heat and sunshine.  There was a band, square dancing and hayrides!

Finally we wrapped up the official events (yes, there was shopping at the Holiday Inn North, but Breyer didn’t promote it back then, nor did they have events there) with the benefit auction.  Held outside the Steeplechase Barn on an old wagon, there was no lighting, so once the sun set people pulled up pickups and turned their headlights on.  There were over 90 lots, most test colors, but there were also books autographed by Marguerite Henry, prints signed by Wesley Dennis and vacation stays in Chincoteague.
Boy, that was a lot to do in just 2 days!  I had a ton of fun, met friends who liked model horses as much as I did, and so a tradition was born.

Virtual Day 1 – Breyerfest Online

Well, 2020 is turning out to be one year we were warned about – the old saying ‘may you live in interesting times’ has come to pass.  Breyerfest is all online this year, so we don’t have to travel to participate, but we won’t get to see friends in person and wander the halls of the CHIN to all hours.  I created a video for the online event workshops for making Mini-Whinnies keychains so I will enjoy getting feedback from people who watch on how  helpful it is.  I also got a 3 day ticket, and will be exploring the offerings from Breyer next weekend.  Since I won’t be traveling, I thought I’d blog about previous trips, fabulous finds of the past and generally chatting about antiques, horses and anything else I find interesting.

First up is a picture of part of our current booth at the antique store.  The store just reopened, and customers are trickling through.  We just bought a ton of great Hawaii and tiki stuff, so we gave the booth an overhaul for the summer with new merchandise.  While researching our inventory we found the skateboard at lower right is older and pretty valuable.  Made in the 1960s it is wood skateboard called a Sidewalk Surfboard.  There are collectors of just about everything, so keep your eyes open!  We would normally be running a sale to make room for our car load of purchases, but this year the shopping will all be in our storeroom.  At least our purchase prices will be better!

Going through boxes in my storeroom to price stuff for the mall and eBay  I came across this Disneyland ephemera.  I usually don’t collect paperwork since it takes time to look through and can be difficult to display properly, but I have to hang on to these two.  They are the 1995 Inside Disneyland Today main gate guide map and the Indiana Jones Adventure decoder card from ATT.  I remember how much I enjoyed this ride experience and how much fun it was to decode the Maraglyphics on the walls while waiting in line.  They have an app for that now, but I think my card will still work long after the app is out of date.

I picked this up for $1 at a yard sale recently.  Elaborate fans are a bit out of fashion nowadays, but beauty is eternal.  This is a hand-painted folding fan from the mid-19th century with original box marked Giovanni Gilardini Napoli.  There are fan collectors (surprise!)(not) and even fan museums all over the world.  There is a long history of fan making and examples in every price range.  This one has damage, but all the pieces are there, the sticks are not broken and its age and elaborate design make it a good candidate for conservation.  It will be beautiful again and wonderful to display.

I didn’t make it out to many antique stores this year, but I always appreciate the time and effort it takes to gussy up a shop.  This one makes a statement when you enter, and frightfully frivolous dragons are always a good sign.  This shop is well-attended to, and I always find a few treasures.

We did have our annual yard sale recently – there was too much stuff building up in the garage.  We moved almost all the tables outside and well away from each other.  Attendance was light, but we did sell enough to get one car back in the garage.  Visitors got good deals and we made space for more stuff!  I am sure some of the things we sold we will see at local antique shops in the future.  I attended a class years ago that said an object sold second-hand would move through an average of 5 owners before finding another long-term home.  The circle of antiques.

Finally we see one of the reasons I love antiquing. You just never know what you will find around the next corner.  I have seen many interesting things over the years, and Ferny McCheesburger here will make it into my hall of fame.  Haven’t seen anything like that at new-fashioned chain stores.  No, it didn’t come home with me, but will live on in infamy here at my blog.

Hope you enjoyed the beginning of virtual 2020 Breyerfest, I will be her having fun reliving past trips, celebrating fabulous finds and being wistful for those that got away.

Day 13, 2019, More Kansas

Wow, we did 15 antique malls yesterday, but only bought one thing.  Times are changing and it is interesting to watch the differences (and similarities) in stores over the years.

There are many nice booths of cool stuff, well-arranged.

There are still booths with shelves of smalls, mostly covered in dust.

Old stores with several stories of booths.

Lots of piles of things.

Corners with stuff grouped by theme.

And low-ceiling attics with narrow aisles between rows of furniture and decorative tchotchkes.

Hope we find more to buy today!

 

 

Day 12, 2019 – Kansas!

Kansas is one of our favorite states to antique shop and it did not let us down!

Lots of fun shops with fun and unusual stuff, well-displayed.

I have seen bottle trees, but not a bottle chandelier like this – although I think the cupid looks disapproving.

Everton needs a crazy alligator head for their home!

This was one of the nicest dinette sets I have seen, the chairs had and embossed boomerang pattern!

A sobering reminder of the reason antiques and collectibles can be rare – they can be broken!

Finally, our favorite booth – the discount room!

One more day in Kansas, hope it is as good as yesterday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 11, 2019 – Missouri, again

Today is a random day as my brain hasn’t recovered from Breyerfest.

I would have entered for this contest SO FAST!  I read a book as a kid about a girl with a horse in her garage.

This was a great rodeo print that didn’t fit in the car.

This was an amazing Hartland set with Roy Rogers and Trigger – and the hangtag!!!  Full retail plus price or he would have come home for sure.

An unusual, ornate lamp with sombrero hat shade and carnival horse in the background.

Molly Hatchett and Frank Frazetta make a great pair.

Cool splatter pottery horses.

Yes, I still have horses on the brain, the ‘normal’ blog photos will resume shortly…