By Daye Salander, on August 27th, 2012%
In this business sometimes you are thrown a curve ball. Ya know, times when in looking at something it confuses you. Well, this is what happened just the other day and it had to do with vintage earrings…or were they antique?
I met up with a person that I was going to be buying some jewelry from and in the pile of jewelry were four pairs of pierced earrings. No brainer, right? Wrong.
Now granted, we were at Starbucks and it’s not like the light was really good but everything seemed to contradict itself. She they were gold and in looking at them and the pitting I thought “No, not gold”. But then I studied the post of the earring.
Continue reading Making Sense From the Confusion
By Daye Salander, on August 20th, 2012%
Cameos have a rich history as they have been around since before the birth of Christ – in other words, a long time. Just this fact alone provides a challenge in dating cameos. For the purpose of this article we will be focusing on cameos from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Traditionally the scenes portrayed either portraits of people or nature scenes. In so many ways they are snapshots in time. This fact alone can give you much information.
Continue reading Dating Antique Cameos – Snapshots In Time
By Daye Salander, on July 22nd, 2012%
The alarm invaded my sleep at 3:30 a.m. this morning, just four short hours after closing my eyes the night before. Every fiber of my being screamed to turn it off and go back to blissful sleep. That is except for one small portion of my mind that said…”PICKING!”
I’m not exactly sure the order of things or how I accomplished it all in 20 minutes but at ten till with coffee in hand, Mark and I were headed for the car. Honestly, if our destination had been more that the 15 minutes it took, I’m sure I would have been asleep behind the wheel. We arrived safe and sound and to our surprise, we were the first ones there! Continue reading The Things We Do As Antique & Collectible Pickers
By Daye Salander, on February 17th, 2012%
Antique furniture is a whole subject in and of itself. It is one that I struggle with at times and I think most people who do not specialize in furniture “guess” until they have time for research. The drawback from that, of course, is that there tends to be buying errors. In other words, buying at the wrong price point because the piece is not what you thought it was.
In trying to become better at identifying antique American Furniture, understanding what types of wood were used with particular types of furniture has helped a great deal. So, I’m going to share with you the different furniture styles and the wood that was used.
Continue reading Connecting the Dots Between Wood Type, Type of Furniture & Time Period
By Daye Salander, on November 30th, 2011%
At one time I thought the best way to preserve a book long term was to place it in a ziplock bag and put it somewhere dark. I rather figured no moisture, no mold, no nothing and therefore the book would be better preserved. Let’s just say….Wrong!
Old books need to “breathe”. When locked away without ample moisture in the air, the natural materials become brittle. Pages of the book become easily torn and the bindings begin to break down.
Continue reading Caring For Antique Books
By admin, on July 24th, 2011%
Just as technology has changed over the years, so have nails. They were not always round like we see today. In fact the type of nail used can help you in identifying the time period a piece of an antique piece of furniture or a picture frame was made. Continue reading Discovering the past through Nails
