INARCO Head Vases

The International Art Ware Corporation was too long a name and therefore most people know it by its shorter version, INARCO.  This company, which is known for its lady head vases, was established in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 60s but was later sold to NAPCO and moved to Jacksonville, Florida.  The company’s founder was Irwin Garber and it is believed that his wife served as a model for many of the head vases that the company created.

I have written about head vases before and NAPCO of course was one of the biggest producers of these; however I believe that some of the most beautiful collectible head vases were made by INARCO.  Most you will see have long eye lashes and are adorned with pearls or other accessories.  They come in the form of many different celebrities including Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.  INARCO head vases can range in price and the example pictured recently sold on eBay for $689.

The Ever Popular Pfaltzgraf Pottery

As a collector and reseller of vintage collectibles, like many others, every few weeks go to the “lists.”  The lists are what tell us what people are searching for and we hope, if they are searching for, they are buying.  As webmaster, I also check my own list, to see what searches have landed people on my website, but there are also lists on Tias and eBay that are published periodically for all to see.  One name that has seems to be on these lists for a little while now is Pfaltzgraff.

The name comes up so often probably because they have been around for more than two hundred years and have made massive amounts of product in that time.  Based in Pennsylvania this company has thousands of people who collect their pottery.  Some of their most popular patterns include the Yorktowne, Naturewood, Pistoulet and the ever popular Winterberry.  Mind you, their pottery is normally not worth thousands of dollars, but the right pieces will sell and sell briskly.

Some of the best prices realized by antiques and collectibles dealers are for the antique crocks that are highly decorated.  Prices for some of the more sought after crocks can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousands of dollars or more.   Pieces from their Winterberry collection on the other hand don’t bring in a lot of money, but they do sell.  We recently saw a serving platter go for about $50 and a set of appetizer plates for about $40.

Another Fantastic Goodwill Find

On several occasions I have walked into thrift stores and have found items that were vintage collectibles and that I thought might have some worth to someone.  My finds include a Royal Delft Bowl, Some Replogle Globes, Moon and Stars Compotes, Asian Ivory Wall Hangings and even a vintage toy Kaleidoscope.  These have all sold for a nice profit and I am always on the lookout for the next “great find.”  Unfortunately, my luck has not been as good as the lady in North Carolina this past April.

Beth Feeback is an artist who bought two large paintings at the local Goodwill.  Her intent was not to make a profit on them, but to paint over them.  You see, large blank canvases can cost quite a bit of money to an artist.  So many artist buy used paintings on canvas and then recycle the canvas by putting their own artistic creations on them.  Usually this is a very smart move because the paintings you find at thrift stores are mostly done by amateurs or recreational painters.  However, not so in this instance.

When she got home, Ms. Feeback did what I, and just about anyone else, would have done.  She “Googled” the artist’s names and to her surprise found that one of the artists was not an amateur at all, but none other than Illy Bolotowski.  To a lot of people, including Beth, the name would have probably meant nothing if she hadn’t searched it.  But as it turns out, Illy Bolotowski was a Russian born abstract painter from New York.

The painting Beth was about to paint over was titled Vertical Diamonds and it is estimated that it will bring in some $20,000 - $30,000 at auction.  In fact, the painting will be auctioned off in September.  Not a shabby find at the Goodwill Store for Beth Feeback and a nice tidy profit of probably over $20,000. 

Nostalgic Salt & Pepper Shakers

This weekend I started cataloging my new inventory of vintage collectibles that I have acquired within the past few months so that I could include them in the Outasite!!Collectibles website.  In this process I found many interesting things that I had forgotten that I had.  I found some nice vintage toys, including a 1968 Effenbee doll and a retro, mid 1970s WaltDisney Goofy Doll.  However, in one box, I found some salt and pepper shakers that brought back many memories of when I was a young kid.

As a child I remember when we all piled into my Dad’s 1963 Chevy Impala and went and visited relatives on the weekends.  As most times, when we visited, we ended up sitting and visiting in the kitchen, because that’s where all the good eats were.  At my aunt’s house, I was always intrigued by the Toaster Salt and Pepper Shakers that she had sitting on the table.  It looked just like a toaster from the 1950’s with two pieces of toast sticking out.  One slice of toast held the salt, the other, darker piece of toast held the pepper.  When the button lever on the side of the toaster was pushed down, the toast would pop up allowing you to easily grasp the salt or pepper shaker out of the toaster.  Of course it wasn’t a toy and I always got in trouble for playing with it.

At my mother’s aunt’s home, an every Sunday go to church kind of woman, who could also cook up a storm, the eats were even better and the toy for me was the TV salt and pepper shaker that sat on her kitchen table.  This salt and pepper shaker looked just like a TV from the late 1950s or mid 1960’s with four long legs, and in a cubicle on top sat the salt and pepper shakers.  On the front of the TV, the channel changer knob turns to move the salt and pepper holders up so that you can easily grasp them.  It was really cool and it actually looks like a piece of dollhouse furniture, although I never played with a dollhouse or dollhouse furniture.

I am sure a lot of baby boomers like me will recall these and other salt and pepper shakers that sat on tables across America.  They came and still come in various shapes, sizes and colors and mimic everything from vintage irons to cats, dogs, cows and other animals.  I think salt and pepper shakers are nostalgic because we tend to remember the smells and sounds associated to them when we first saw them.  My aunts rice pudding with coconut and raisins; my mother’s aunt’s fried plantains and not least of all my Italian neighbor’s lasagna and ravioli cooking.  As I sat at many of these tables in my youth, I could not keep my hands off the functional yet toy looking salt and pepper shakers.

Outasite!! News

This past week we updated two of our sites, Outasite!! Antiques and Outasite!! Auctions.  Both were given fresh new looks and updated with information that we received from our clients and friends.  Although they are both still part of the NOVA-Antiques.com family, they are now hosted on their own.  This will allow search engines and people in general to find our pages quicker and easier.

Outasite!! Antiques focuses on antique shops and malls located in the Mid-Atlantic region.  The homepage carries news and information about antiques and collectibles.  The website also breaks down the antique malls, shops and stores by state in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Lastly, Outasite!! Antiques has a webpage dedicated to consignment shops.  This webpage currently has information about stores in the Washington DC, Northern Virginia metro area but we will expand it this year to include others.

The Outasite!! Auctions is a website dedicated to providing information about auctioneers and auction houses in the Mid-Atlantic region.  The homepage for this site contains information about recent record prices at the action houses.  It also contains webpages featuring antiques and collectible, estate and household auction companies by state.  In the near future, as we continue to expand our Internet presence, we will be adding a webpage on the Outasite!! Auctions website that focuses on online auctions.

A Tale of an Antique Blender

It’s mid-day oh so long ago; it is hot and steamy, the sweat rolls down your back after toiling in the garden most of the day.  You prepare to get into a cold tub of water to cool your body and soak away the days grime.  Then you stop and think a nice refreshing drink would make my day . . . and your thoughts continue; what type of libation can I concoct to cool myself off quickly?

As you ponder this, a tall condensation riddled glass full of lemonade pops into your sweating head; but you think, that is so cliché and boring. You want something more exciting and tastier, something made with fruits other than lemons and limes, and just to be naughty, perhaps a splash of rum.  The picture in your minds eye of the combination sends shivers down your spine and you begin to get excited.

Then the thought process changes and percolates; how can I blend fruits, ice and liquor perfectly together to taste just right?  If only there was a machine that would allow you to do this quickly and easily.  You could easily add fresh fruit to ice from the old cold box and blend in liquor slowly and methodically to taste.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful, you think to yourself, as you walk into the kitchen and see the old mason canning jar full of strawberries sitting on the counter.

We don’t know if that is how this antique blender came to be; but we do know that necessity is the mother of all inventions.  A strawberry daiquiri is a refreshing fruity rum drink that we all enjoy so much on a sunny and warm day surrounded by friends and family.  The ingredients however have to be perfectly blended and what better way to do it than with a machine; a machine that someone oh so long ago invented to do just that.    

Incredible Goodwill Find

As a dealer, I have on many occasions purchased things from Goodwill, Salvation Army or other thrift stores to resell either at antiques and collectibles markets or through eBay.  Some of my nicest finds include a beautiful Royal Delft bowl, countless vintage Replogle globes and various collectible glass including Fenton vases, Murano bowls and Blenko candy dishes.  On many other occasions, I may have passed up other antiques, artifacts or collectibles that I may not have quickly recognized. As reported in a recent story from Buffalo, I probably would have walked right past their exciting find.

Seems a piece of antique pottery dating back at least a thousand years was donated and no one recognized it as such.  It was put up for auction with a price of $4.99 and received a couple of bids until someone actually recognized it for what it was; a historical Native American artifact that was taken from a burial site in Oklahoma.  Inside the vessel, a note was found that read, “found in a burial mound near Spiro Oklahoma in 1970.”  Goodwill has decided to return the vessel, which measures 7.5 inches tall, to the Caddo Indian Nation.

Collecting Vintage Radios

One of the first things that I ever sold on eBay was a vintage radio that had been sitting around the house for a long time.  I had picked it up at an auction in Buffalo and although I was not a newbie to buying and selling antique and vintage items, it was the first time that I had sold anything to anyone outside of the old neighborhood.  For a few years after that, I went into a frenzy; scouring flea markets, estate sales, yard and garage sales in search of more vintage radios and then rotary phones that I could sell on eBay.

I sold working and non-working antique and vintage radios that were made by all of the top companies including Philco, Westinghouse, Sylvania, Zenith and Emerson.  They were made from molded plastic, Bakelite and in some cases wood.  There were tube radios and transistorized models, cathedral shaped, futuristic and many clean-line modern.  I sold all types of radios to all types of people around the country, but they all had one thing in common, the love for nostalgia and the beauty of the vintage radio.

Alas, as eBay and other collectibles websites grew, the market for vintage radios, like all other vintage and antique items got flooded.  Most collectors were able to get pickier; they wanted only working radios, in good condition for the lowest possible price.  Very few wanted the non-working radios with blemishes, which could be fixed but would take time.  Additionally, the supply dried up as more and more people grew delusional with their prices; and priced themselves right out of the market.

One time I sold a Zenith 514, also known as an owl eye radio alarm clock from the mid-1950s, for $180.  Recent sales of the same radio on eBay range from $15 for a regular Bakelite model to $55 for a “rare” pink colored radio.  A green colored working radio went unsold with a price tag of $55.

This Weekends Antique & Collectibles Shows December 16, 2010

As the year dies down and we get closer to the Holidays, we have less antique and collectibles shows or flea markets to attend. Which is a shame because more people should be shopping at these markets for unique, inexpensive and long lasting gifts that cannot be found at Macy’s, Toys R Us, Walmart or any of the other retail stores. Antiques and collectibles in most cases also appreciate in value and help with our green effort by keeping things out of landfills.

So where do you go this weekend to get that gift for a special someone? There are a couple of places in the Mid Atlantic region. If you are in the Washington DC metro area, you might consider the Georgetown Flea Market or Eastern Market. Both have many dealers selling antique furniture, vintage pottery and art glass as well as linens, porcelain and china. The Georgetown Flea Market is open on Sundays in the parking lot of Hardy Middle School. Also on Sundays, the Eastern Market is held on 7th and C Streets in DC.

Other shows in the Mid Atlantic region include Renningers Antique Market in Adamstown Pennsylvania. This market is open on Sundays and averages about four hundred dealers. In Fletcher North Carolina, there is Smiley’s Flea Market which is open on Friday thru Saturday. This market and antique mall is a huge 100,000 square foot facility filled to capacity every weekend. For other antique flea markets and shows, please visit my monthly calendar.

Collectible Lenci Dolls were Madame Alexander’s Inspiration

Many of us have heard of Madame Alexander dolls, which are very collectible, but few of us realize that a lot of the inspiration for these dolls came from Elana Scavini and her creation, the Lenci doll. Scavini and her husband started their doll company as early as 1918 in Turin, Italy and became a huge success throughout the world. Although all Lenci dolls are valuable as a collectible, the ones made in the early 20’s and 30’s are the most sought after.

Lenci dolls were very well designed and constructed. Lenci dolls were made of felt and had faces that were painted with oil based paints. Usually the ears were sewn on individually and were made of double felt. What is interesting about these dolls is that they were jointed in such a way that the heads, shoulders and hips swiveled and then they were dressed very finely and elaborately dressed. The dolls also usually feature eyes that look off to the side.

Because the Lenci dolls are made of felt, condition problems may occur which will affect the bottom line of the doll as a collectible. Many of their earlier dolls whose clothing were also made of felt and sewn directly onto the doll are in the worst condition because the clothing is not removable. The Lenci-Dolls.net offers 12 Tips for Cleaning and Care of Lenci Dolls.