Friday, October 15, 2010

Antique MALL Shopping Trip-Part 2---

Well, I will finish up our antique mall shopping trip today. My last post explained that I dragged my unwilling 9 year old son to the antique mall, but I have much experience in dragging unwilling children ( my own ), to antique malls over the last 20 + years...so I was up for the challenge. Here is a wide shot of many of the spaces in the antique mall, to the right is a nice thick tapestry. I will show it to you...
Sort of medieval , Renaissance style with the unicorns and lovely colors. I got closer to of course, check the price, as I stated before ...that ends up being my final qualifier for my purchases.
Yikes, 450. dollars ! That lovely heavy, piece of fabric will remain for someone who will buy it for their home. It was a reproduction tapestry, probably worth around 200.- 300 or so. This is not going home with us...
I saw this large oil painting, but I needed to lift it off the wall to check out the back. I am still trying to recover from this costochondritis ( inflammation of the cartilage in ribs and sternum ), so I am not lifting anything heavy if I can help it. VERY hard for me to ask for help, but my doctor says this takes 8 weeks or more to heal, if you are careful . Don't you hate when you can't do what you physically have had no problem doing before ? Anyway, I needed to lift this and look at the back of the canvas to show me if it was old or not. I had a suspicion it was not. Let me show you..

Obvious new painting, manufacturers try to darken the back of canvases, but this is a uniform sort of muddy color, not anything like what real back of canvases look like if they are truly vintage or antique. Then they are more tan-brown, not grey-taupe brown. Pass on this..
I will show you what an antique back of canvas looks like, so many reproduction paintings out, and you don't want a repro if you can buy original antique paintings...in my opinion. This was an OK painting, when you look closely, not very well done. The colors were pleasing to the eye, let me show you the back...
This is the color it should be, or a darker tan, the older the Art. Be careful of the faux swash of brown paint that importers are putting on the back of canvases to fool buyers. I will show you what that looks like in another entry. For now, we have to keep hunting...


Here was a jackpot find for me, a vintage potato masher...you know the ones you use to smash the potatoes before you mash them with an electric mixer. I did not want to pay 7.00 for it, but it went into our pile at the register because I need it.
I love homemade mashed potatoes.
I thought these vintage Chinese children's shoes were so cute with the hand-painted design on them. I like anything with hand-painted artwork on it, at least if it is good hand painting.
Tee-tiny little feet, and when I flipped them I could see the paint on the flip sides...which meant they were definitely hand-painted and not machine painted. I gave these to my son and he carried them to the front counter with our pile. Kids can be quite handy like that.
Antique pictorial book with cover of beautiful Victorian woman. I have many of these type of romantic books at home that I have not read, but I love the decorative covers on them.
The vintage floral in the reflection was too 1960-70's for me, and the frame of the mirror was nice but too big for shipping and not old enough for me. I look for many frames, and usually if they have a mirror inside, I discard the mirror as when I sell it they are very difficult to ship with the mirror inside.
I have seen this mirror in here for a year so , but it is still too pricey at 200. dollars for me for resale. Good price for someone looking for a nice old mirror though. Look at the detail,
Beautiful gesso overlay. Then I spy a sign out of the corner of my eye, here it is..


Love to see 50 % off signs. Let's look..
Lots of fabrics and nick-nacks...and  my associate and I open up this vintage quilt to check it out . He is still quite bored...and I am trying to keep him occupied until I take him to McDonald's for lunch later.
I wish it was older than 1970's, and the colors are typical 70's colors, but I loved the Bible verses throughout in hand stitching, and there were many signatures all in hand stitching, very charming..
Even Dear Old Dad signed this.
 I really liked all the signatures and more Bible verses. I got it for a song, can't tell you my price as I am listing this on eBay later. It did have one square damaged, but otherwise clean and in good condition. I held it in my arms for awhile, looked around the booth some more, and then looked to hand it to my associate for him to carry it up front for our pile of purchases...and this is what I find..
He has decided to lounge on all the other quilts for sale, and I was tickled to see in this picture that one of the college banners to the left ends with ' SON ", and since he is my son...it looks like the picture titled itself.
What a phoney-baloney still, such a hard life he has ...putting up with his mom at the antique mall.


I found this faux-stone , and it was ceramic and not resin... a large do-dad for my garden. It was in the 75 % off everything booth I found at at 36.00 dollars originally , I believe I paid about 10.00 for it.
Scored for my garden this time. Picked it up, handed it to my son...hesitated and asked him if he thought it was too heavy to carry up front ? He grabs it and walks off  to the front counter , acting like I ask the dumbest questions.

 Nice deco frame and mirror , price was Ok, but I passed on it.
Too high around 450. dollars I believe it was for resale, but beautiful, elegant mirror.
I have seen this art deco hand-painted mirror many times here, I consider it each time, but it is close to 90.00 dollars, and mirrors are very difficult to pack and ship. I am a paranoid, careful packer of the items I sell. But mirrors like this stress me out , I feel like I hold my breath until they get to the buyer...for days. It's hard enough to breathe lately, so I pass on it again. 
Trying to eliminate stress in general , but life is full of it right ?
I look to my left and see a wall of paintings...so I have to get closer.

Consider this one, but it was to high for resale and anything with wheels, windmills, water-wheels...does not sell well for me. I pass for now.
This Victorian pastel with violets or purple pansies was too high at almost 300,. for resale, but it was l lovely. Pastels sell for less than oil paintings, and I mainly sell antique oils.
Here was my pile that my son added to for me..
He slipped in a Hershey chocolate bar , amongst his hotwheels.
I looked up and laughed at the signs above the counter, look at my favorite...
Then I saw this one...
If I had this in my kitchen my husband could make a mini- fortune off me right now.
I looked over at the fresh flowers someone had placed at the front, andthe Halloween candy to try. We had a long wait to check out as only one very nice woman was working the counter, so I helped wrap my own things and paid and we headed out , down the street to a small antique store, on the corner. 


Cute, we run in.
I wanted this dragonfly for my garden but it was 75.00 !!!  too much. Pass.
Found this homemade mosaic platter for about 6.00 on sale. Grabbed it for my garden. May place it in the ground or put it on my porch with seashells from Edisto Beach in it.
Found this beautiful Deco frame with original print for a great price, I already have this listed on my eBay site. Then we scurry out, but I do make my son pose for a picture in these garden chairs, as they remind me of my grandparents' chairs we used to sit in out on the lawn. The parents and grandparents would sit in these, and drink iced tea... and then we kids would run around barefoot in the thick centipede grass and play.
Then I start to detect the ' look ' from him. Here it is...


I have bored him half to pieces look. 
So off we go, into the car for the ride back, quick stop at the drive through of McDonald's for a happy meal..and then we get home to Ms. Spoiled rotten..can you see her through my newly painted back porch here ?
My oldest son and my husband have repainted the back porch and the back of the house. Looks great. Look closely in the railings...
Yep, there she is.
Do not be fooled by that pitiful look, she is about to get some hamburger buns, and she is going back in the house to sleep all day...as usual. 

Thanks for going on my antique trip, I do this often...I will do a few more in some other shops some time.

have a nice , peaceful day,
Gina




12 comments:

  1. Gina ~ What a great little antique mall tour. You did get some deals, and I love the garden pieces for your garden.

    Your back porch looks lovely. As soon as it gets cooler, we'll be repainting our cottage, and I look forward to that.

    Maxine looks sweet waiting for you to come to her. Dogs are such wonderful creatures.

    Enjoy your new treasures.

    Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

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  2. hi gina...i am glad to see you out and about and i loved seeing your smile in the last post! i have never heard of costochondritis? i'll be googling that. please take care of yourself and don't lift anything! have a great weekend,
    erin

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  3. Gina, I enjoyed the tour and learned a lot from you today. I've never gone antique shopping but if I did I'd definitely want you along! The porch looks great too! (I know all about princesses. We have a female maltese. Enough said!) Have a great weekend!

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  4. Gina thanks for taking the time to post this tale of your adventures. :) I enjoy going antiquing but haven't had time in ages to indulge.
    I love the picture of 'the look!' he he.. he's a doll, even when his patience has run thin.

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  5. I can see that dragonfly in my garden, but you are right $75 is bit high. I would pay $50 (if my wife was not with me)

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  6. This was ANOTHER fun day with you :) Educational, too. I think it's been good for YOU, too. Right?

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  7. Loved going antiquing with you and your son. Oh I remember those days with my son. He got where he would ask me to do my errands while he was at school please. Take us on all your trips Gina....

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  8. These were fun posts Gina. You and your partner are great tour guides.

    Take care,
    Terri

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  9. Hi Gina,
    Thanks for a fun and educational trip around the antique shop. I have now learnt what to look out for in an old painting. I would have come away with the tapestry, the 'Lady of the Rubies' book and yep!....the masher!

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  10. Shopping does you good.

    I think God invented shopping on one of His better days.

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  11. I enjoyed the shopping experience with you. Love the picture with the young child. Beautiful. The garden art is perfect and what a lovely mosaic platter.

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  12. I love walking with you thru all the shops. I take forever when I'm in antique shops. I love everything you are showing. I look at the same stuff :) I know how your son feels. But what cute photos of him in that bored shopping pose. I remember when my son was younger and he would give the same looks, then McDonald's always works. Thanks for sharing and God Bless.

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I love comments , please leave one if you like. I try to respond to comments,but if I'm running behind, please know that I read each one before they are published. Thanks much, Gina