We are almost home! We shopped the Ft. Collins flea market strip then hit the road for the beginning of two long days of driving. It was 486 miles of driving after our 5 stores of shopping. Tomorrow will be a longer drive with less shopping, but we will see what we find.
Remember to always look up. Sometimes you have to look WAY up to see stuff. I like dealers that hang strings with the price tag at the bottom to catch your attention. Since this display was broken and the car was full I chose not to ask for a price check. The price tag looked pretty faded so I wont be surprised if it is still there in the next couple of years when we pass through.
Remember to always look down. This was at the back of the second shelf from the bottom of a very full case. I admit, I likely would have passed by and not asked for the showcase to be opened if the brown Thoroughbred mare had not had that scratch over her eye. That scratch however told me volumes. This horse is solid brown so it is difficult to see without turning her over, but the scratch revealed she was a base coat chalky horse. It pays to know the details and spend the time and effort to look past the easy stuff.
I saw this several times in the past few days and am not sure I approve of the trend. Dealers were taking glass jars and filling them with inexpensive ceramic miniature figures. I don’t think someone would buy it to display this way, the jar wasn’t interesting and the pieces inside weren’t related to each other. You can’t see everything in the jar and obviously there was breakage. If you have a bunch of small cheap things to sell I think just bagging them and putting them in a basket for some inexpensive price is a much better way to go. I actually bought quite a few smalls this way, as I could see them better and pick the ones I wanted.
This was just a fun display in a booth in the mall. I loved the person that is taking random metal objects and turning them in to pumpkins, they were very cool. Dunno about the car door or the mattress frames, but the customer in line behind me bought carpet remnants and the one in front of me bought wood clamps so these stores sell a bit of everything.
Oh how I loved this booth! I spent quite a bit of time browsing all the fun stuff. The signs are very popular and I’d love to find a set of snow shoes for the booth. Well, the shopping was good but there is lots of driving yet to do!
This dealer had a sense of humor. The spider is new, but they were randomly scattered around the booth to good effect. I’d like to hang around nearby and see the effect on shoppers.
This booth was really put together very nicely. The rug is just stick on carpet squares but it draws in your attention and makes everything look better. It is a simple idea that packs a big effect.
Pro tip- if you like the art of Charlie Harper but don’t like the prices, many of the posters he did for the US Park Service are still available for reasonable prices. His art is available on smaller items like glasses and postcards, but I bought one of his posters and had it nicely framed and it makes a great addition to my collection.
This shelf made me do a double and a triple take. I normally scan past shelves of old tools and metal but the price tag caught my eye. It says this is a vintage Arabian Horse Kellogg Challenge trophy. This is misleading. The trophy inscription reads “Challenge Trophy – D. E. A. – 1953 – Mr. & Mrs. O. M. Kellogg. The famous Arabian owner was W.K. Kellogg who died in 1951. Research thoroughly before buying!
When you are in a large mall it is good to stand out in some way to catch customers attention. This dealer has a sense of humor! I did stop and browse so it worked! Only two more days to go on our trip this year…
Lots of wonderful stuff, low tin ceilings, basements and attics, even a few dogs to pet. The heat and humidity was brutal, but luckily most stores had air conditioning.
The towns were fun to photograph too. Lots of old buildings and interesting architecture. I love it when the buildings are reused, this one would be a a great option.
This was in a new business in an old building. It looks like they tore down the original wall to expose the older exterior wall of the business next door. You don’t often see ghost signs inside of buildings.
This was another fun reuse idea, puting small Christmas balls in a kerosene lantern. I’d have chosen another shade, but that’s me. I take so many of these pictures of interesting reuse ideas I will have a long and full retirement trying them all out.
This was an interesting display of small shelves and bric-a-brack. I know decor is going more for the clean, modern look but for a collector this is a more fun way to display pieces than just in shelves. I don’t know how many shelves they sell, but it drew me over to look and study for more time than just scattering them about the shop. Now it is on to Colorado!
This was my favorite art of the day. The booth had great old junk and the proprietor had such a great idea!
I stood and pondered this booth for a bit. Everything here was grey/ silver, black and white. Except the album – Culture Club ‘Color by Numbers’. Dealer commentary? Random chance? Another dealer joke?
It was a short day for mileage, but the malls were large. We got to the last one with one hour to close. For the first time in a very long time I was not able to finish a store! It didn’t help that the mall had no air conditioning and it was 97 degrees with 70% humidity, but we won’t be back for a year so I was a bit disappointed.
