About Antiques

How wonderful it is to look forward to those bountiful Thanksgiving feasts complete with turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings! A meal like that usually includes a cranberry dish of some sort. Not a real cranberry fan? Well, how about a few pieces of beautiful cranberry glass instead? Whet your appetite for collecting this gorgeous glass while learning about the extraordinary history, craftsmanship and a touch of lovely gold behind all that glimmer.
Read Collect a Crop of Cranberry Glass to find out more.

Collect a Crop of Cranberry Glass originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 20:20:57.

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I've just updated my Depression Glass Price Guide with a couple of new items and some updated values to help you identify and price your fall glass finds. One of them is the beautiful cobalt blue Moderntone cream soup bowl shown here. Did one like it recently sell on eBay for for $5.50, $55 or $550? Visit the updated price guide to find out!

How Much is a Moderntone Cream Soup Worth These Days? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 19:35:12.

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Finding ways to show appreciation on Veteran's Day takes many forms, including taking a look back at the traditions of yesteryear and the significance they had in the lives of service personnel and their families. Thinking along these lines, one of my favorite World War II topics happens to be sweetheart jewelry. When these mementos were given and received more than 60 years ago, they held special meaning. This significance lives on today through collectors of military memorabilia and vintage jewelry lovers alike. Read Let Me Call You Sweetheart to learn more.

A Veteran's Day Remembrance: Let Me Call You Sweetheart originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 10:41:14.

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I've recently updated my Pottery and Porcelain Marks Gallery to include a few more examples since that's always a popular area for research on the site. Do you recognize the mark shown here? Honestly, I didn't realize this company didn't actually produce the china bearing its mark until I did a little research.

Updated: Pottery and Porcelain Marks Guide originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 09:13:40.

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Loving vintage costume jewelry like I do, it's always a pleasure to share information on this topic with my online friends. I've just added some great new pieces to my Vintage Costume Jewelry Price Guide, including the adorable Coro birthstone Duette pictured here. Other names you might recognize like Miriam Haskell, Napier, Schreiner, and Juliana/DeLizza & Elster have new examples with values, too.

Newly Updated: Vintage Costume Jewelry Price Guide originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 19:16:31.

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My mother was absolutely nuts about primitive antiques when I was growing up back in the '70s. When I put together my new Primitive Furniture Price Guide, I couldn't help but think of all the pie safes and blanket chests that passed through the doors of her antique shop. It still makes me smile to think about her enthusiasm for what many people considered to be plain old junk, and I thank my lucky stars she passed that love of old stuff right down to me.

Remembering Primitive Antique Furniture with a New Price Guide originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 22:36:15.

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The bracket foot was used in Hepplewhite and Sheraton furniture styles, but would you know one if you saw it? Take a look at my latest Furniture Glossary entry to get a glimpse of a plain bracket foot.

What Does a Bracket Foot Look Like? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 22:00:50.

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One of my collecting friends in Florida had a great idea for Framing a Collection of wall pockets. I thought her project turned out beautifully, and it's an idea that can be used with lots of different types of antiques and collectibles. I think I'm going to try it myself with some vintage handbags I've collected over the years!

Decorating with Antiques: Framing a Collection originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 13:10:01.

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I'm really glad veggie people depicted on Vintage Halloween Postcards are fictitious, because they often look pretty mischievous. As you can see, the four little guys here are getting pretty serious with that dessert, and I doubt it was intended for them! Click through to see this latest addition to my Halloween postcard collection in more detail.

The Latest Addition to My Halloween Postcard Collection originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 19:01:42.

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After just adding 13 new items to my Halloween Collectibles Price Guide, I'm still amazed at the prices Halloween collectibles garner in the marketplace. I also think they're very cool. I'd love to add some of these pieces in to my own stash of vintage goodies, but for now I'll have to be content with window shopping. Care to join me?

More Amazing Prices for Halloween Collectibles originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 17:59:59.

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So here's the latest addition to the online Glassware Marks & Signatures Gallery added to the site a while back. Do you recognize it? I'll give you a hint: that's a crow, not an eagle, flying through that "A" and it doesn't have anything to do with Anheuser-Busch. Take a look at the other entries in the gallery for a marks refresher while you're learning more about this one.

Do You Recognize This Glass Mark? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 17:36:08.

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The snake foot was widely used on antique tables in the 1700s and on Colonial-revival pieces prolifically thereafter, but would you know one if you saw it? Take a look at my latest Furniture Glossary entry to get a glimpse of a snake foot.

Would You Recognize a Snake Foot? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 16:02:41.

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Old Sleepy Eye stoneware pieces, made by Weirs Pottery Company located in Monmouth, Ill., were given away as premiums in flour sacks by the Sleepy Eye Milling Company from around 1883 through 1921. Wonder what an Old Sleepy Eye bowl like this one might be worth nowadays? Take a look at my new Stoneware Price Guide to find out.

How Much is an Old Sleepy Eye Bowl Worth These Days? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 13:25:26.

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Have you ever heard of Ellen Clapsaddle? Even if you don't know her name, you probably recognize her work. This amazing artist illustrated thousands of postcards during her career, including the cute Halloween card shown here. Read The Artistry of Ellen Clapsaddle to learn more about her, her unusual name, and her sad demise.

Who was Ellen Clapsaddle? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 01:34:05.

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These Steiff "skittles" came with three wooden balls so they could be bowled over by playful children. Can you imagine throwing balls at these adorable antiques? Well, neither can I. This set probably didn't see much play when it was new either considering its excellent condition. So just how much is this wonderful set worth? Take a look at an entry in the Steiff Price Guide to find out.

What are Steiff Skittles and What are They Worth? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 23:41:03.

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With the recent economic woes and high prices being paid for scrap silver, more and more pieces are being sacrificed. In fact, I was told by a jewelry dealer over the summer he visited a foundry where heaps of beautiful reposé sterling pieces were waiting to be melted down. While I knew this was happening, knowing someone who'd witnessed the carnage made it even more real.

If you're like me, a little more interested in researching and preserving old things than melting them down for cash, take a look at my new Antique Silver Price Guide. It's worth it just to get a close look at this cool silver knight figurine.

Antique Silver Price Guide originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 22:46:33.

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I grew up in a house filled with interesting antiques. For instance, my parents once owned a very large, ornately carved antique dowry chest I was sure held the corpse of Dracula. Of all those interesting antiques, however, I can't recall one I thought was genuinely possessed with spirits, evil or otherwise.

Lots of other people beg to differ though and I love their supernatural stories, especially this time of year. Have one of those tales to tantalize us? Take a minute to share a story about your haunted antiques and macabre collectibles!

Do You Own a Haunted Antique? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 14:53:08.

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If you're like me, as much as I adore this little guy and his under bite, what you're willing to pay for a Bakelite bulldog pin is a lot less than what someone gave for this one at auction. Take a look for yourself: Bakelite Bulldog Pin Value. While not at record highs, most of the Bakelite jewelry prices seen at the auction where he found a new owner were strong in spite of our reported slow economy.

How Much Would You Pay for a Bakelite Bulldog Pin? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 01:11:22.

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I've been collecting jewelry for more than 20 years now, so there are a few related terms I consistently use without another thought. That is, until someone asks me what a so-and-so is and I realize not everyone knows of what I speak. Take cabochon as an example. If you're not familiar with this jewerly-related term, learn more about it through a glossary entry new to the site this week.

What is a Cabochon? originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 18:20:17.

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I've admitted a number of times that I'm pretty much a jewelry fiend, so any time I have an opportunity to ferret out a new jewelry topic to cover here I'm all over that task. Enamored with some photos I ran across on the Morphy Auctions site, I decided it was time to put together a Garnet Jewelry Price Guide. This is one I'll definitely be adding to as time passes, so be sure to bookmark my Online Jewelry Price Guides page.

Garnet Jewelry Price Guide originally appeared on About.com Antiques on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 17:15:22.

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