Collections Out of Control? Oh, What to Do?

Once you start collecting seriously, you put yourself at risk for addiction. One item is not enough. You think you can easily handle three, or five or ten. Soon, everything is completely out of control and your collection is now in charge. The objects of your desire have taken over your space. You are at risk of becoming the subject of a hoarders episode. You finally realize that you have to do something about the problem, so you can get your life back and get your space back in order.

What happens when your collections get out of control?

You rent a space in an antique mall and sell it off. To wit.

On the way back from the East coast, we stopped at some antique malls, one, a big mall in Centerville, IN where we found the following evidence of collections which clearly had gotten out of control and which had to be banished to the antique mall.

First, an entire booth focusing mostly on BREAD containers.

Another booth had hundreds of rolling pins.

Found a grinder line-up in another booth. What's up with those kitchen items, anyhow?

Looks like the car collectors came to their senses early on. Only three here.

But wait, right next to the cars there’s a booth with motor oil. Lots and lots of motor oil There were three huge shelves with different brands. Full cans. I understand most collections, but I really do not get motor oil collectors.


All kidding aside,  Webb's Antique Mall, Centerville, IN, is a huge mall with booth after booth of really great stuff, lots of it. It is not far from Richmond, IN. We bought very little there though, because our car was already full from a previous stop in a small town mall earlier in the day. Here are just a couple other pieces I photographed.

For those who want to store their collections we saw this Library cabinet on legs for only $250. Very nice buy and in great condition.

On top of it was a wallpaper trimmer, of interest to me only because it was originally from Evanston, IL, my old hometown. But actually totally useless.



And for the mid-century modern collector, there was this 1950s cafe booth. Hard to say for sure whether it was original or a repro, but it looked very nice. The boomerang formica was beautiful. They were asking $695 for it.

If you ever go to Centerville, take an empty truck. And an appetite. They have great peanut butter pie.

Fleas and Owls

This morning we went to a flea market at Robert Crown Center in Evanston. This one has been around for a while, and in the early days it was sometimes fairly interesting and fun because it was like a little conglomeration of small garage sales all gathered to together in one space. But as the years went by, it slowly deteriorated until it became a venue for mostly not-very-crafty types, Avon sales reps and bulk merchandise sellers, with only a few other sellers who had something interesting to offer.

This year for the first time they held it in the Spring instead of the Fall. Thinking that this change might attract some new people, we took a chance hoping to get lucky and hook up with some good merchandise.

We got there early and the line was not that long, not a good sign. Only one regular was there. We stood behind this guy, hoping the words on his jacket would be true, but knowing that it was probably going to be a waste of time.

And, as you can guess from looking at these photos it was pretty much a disappointment.

We saw three dealers we know and picked up a couple items from one of them, in addition to a few small items from some other legitimate vintage sellers.

On the way home, we happened across another rummage sale and stopped. It, too, was mostly disappointing.

Although we did not make wise choices this weekend, it turned out to be an owl-ly day for me.

I picked up a cute owl dish made by the Couroc company of Monterey, California back in the 60s. They produced items made in black phenolic resin, which is basically just a form of black Bakelite, think of those old pot handles, hand inlaid by artisans with various items like shells woods, coins and metals. This owl is wood and metal, and is surprisingly nicely done.

 If you collect owl-ish things from the 60s it would make a great addition to a collection. It would be really handsome hanging on the wall, which would be a good place for it since it is apparently not dishwasher safe. Again, think of those old bakelite pot handles which develop a nasty matte finish after many times through the dishwasher.

The other owl I picked up is really kitchy. It’s one of those made from distressed copper coated tin, vintage, popular in the 70s. Turns out he is missing one of his eyes. So in an effort to sell him as is, I made him an eye patch and decided he’s going to have to hoot like a pirate.

“Who, who, who, matey!” AAAR.

However the day wasn’t a total loss. A book purchased for 50 cents is worth $40.00. We will likely sell that on eBay. In addition, we may also have found a really old piece of Early American hand blown glass, or so says the resident glass collecting expert in our house. Here it is below and on Flickr.
 
I’ll let you know the outcome once we do the research.

cameo appearance

On Saturday we actually got up early and went out to a couple of estate sales for the first time in a very long time. Three of them were second day of the sale. Depending on what you are looking for, you can sometimes find some good bargains especially since they will often discount prices on the second day.

While we didn't find anything spectacular, we did find several interesting items which will go in the mall or in our Etsy shop eventually.

One was this set of three Cameo cleanser holders. They are covers meant to beautify containers of bathroom or kitchen cleanser and to coordinate them with your decor.

The colors and the shape are what prompted us to buy them. Originally, I thought they were from the 50s, however, I found out that they were actually around in the late 1930s, and they are apparently Bakelite, at least according to this ad. I suppose that makes them more of Deco item, but I still think they have a bit of an Atomic look. Or, maybe it's just me getting a big 50s vibe from them. In any case, I am sure they were probably around for a number of years. These are missing the cameo, but I actually like them more this way.

One did have an original cameo cleanser insert.

 They are certainly still useable today. I'm sure there are cleanser packages which could be modified to fit nicely. I have some ideas about other possible uses as well.

On the second day of a sale you feel more relaxed and less pressured to hurry through and there's more time to spend digging through basement detritus to find the odd overlooked item. It's really easy to dismiss these common household items, but I find some of them to be interesting and curious representatives of the design sensibilities of an era, and often a real bargain.