More ANTIQUE Mall Shopping & My Comments & Tirades:

Here is a continuation of my last posting, of a shopping trip at Sleepy Poet Antique Mall in Charlotte , N.C. One of my fav places to go and buy all sorts of antiques. Above is a grouping of vintage suitcases/luggage. People now use these to store items at their homes, instead of for travel.

Gorgeous Art Nouvea, early 1900's picture frame. I think it was 175.00, way too high for resale. PASSED on it.

Beautiful Art Nouveau vase, would have bought it but she has a major chip under the faux foliage. Passed.

I have seen this old print many times there lately, and I love it but it is too high for resale. See she is trying to choose between the man with the car and the man with the horse and buggy ?

Thanks be to God someone left this old tole chandelier in it's au naturel state. If you have missed any of my previous posts on antique shopping, I am a rabid ' hate everything painted white' gal.

OK students time for an antique lesson. see this ' old' painting ? Looks quite old, Folk Art, mid 1800's. But let's take it off the wall and let me show you something...

This is some sort of reproduction, as the canvas has been painted ( to fool the average buyer) , not aged naturally, with a swash of brown paint.



  A definite Pass, unless you want just the ' look ' of an antique , and don't care if it is actually old.

This dealer has handmade some bible verses and religious quotes, and wrote them on burlap, and then framed them in old windows.

Great pair of Art Deco bouncy lawn chairs.

Very charming handmade romantic cards for sale, these were made by Abe's wife. He is another very nice employee/dealer there who helps me with my purchases . The nicest people work at this mall. Wish my picture was clearer, she embellishes them with glitter/pictures and a pun on words.

Much better than Hallmark.

Wonderful antique portrait, I want her, but she is way too expensive for resale for me to buy. So I leave her,

but still want her.

Another great antique oil portrait painting, in massive antique gilt frame. Still a bit too high for resale, and since Maxine and wrapping large heavy paintings have torn my rotator cuff muscle( recovering here), and I am looking for smaller items to ship.... I am going to have to pass.

New heart rocks for sale, I bought one awhile back that says TRUST. One of the hardest qualities/actions I cannot achieve. Still trying, ever so minuscule.

Decorated antique dress form.

I'm old enough to remember people wearing these, I think it was 1980's.

I love anything with a heart. I used one of these one time and I have it on my keychain. Just take the pin off the back, and you have a heart to put on a keychain. My husband thinks it is completely dumb, as he crams his  keys in his pockets and he doesn't like all the ' junk' ( treasures) , I have dangling from mine. He tells me so often, I ignore him about it always.

It's MY keychain.

More ( ugly painted ) mirrors.

I should have bought this, as it is a church with a heart birdhouse, but I have no where to put it. It was only 8.50.

A steal.

Another antique art buying lesson students. Here we have what looks like an antique painting in an antique frame. But remember, FLIP it over...

New repro painting in new frame. See the color of the back of the frame, how new the finish is ? Also do not be fooled by the little plugs of wood in the stretcher corners, of the painting. Look at the angles, and see it is stapled or something, all in all, not old. And I firmly believe the sellers need to SAY SO ON THE TAGS. Nice , but NOT an antique.

Good example here, new repro dog painting on the left, and vintage ( 1970's) pastel dog painting on the right.  Also most dog paintings, which are very collectible, the ones that are old or vintage are not perfectly rendered always, and that gives them the charm they have. the new ones are so perfectly painted( a few antique ones area also), but mostly they have a individual artist's style, that is not exactly perfect.

Sort of like all of us humans.

A very nice vintage painting of Charleston, SC, that I have almost bought for myself many times. I try not to buy anything for myself, as I have too much stuff already.

Except little heart items.

I may buy this one day if I can get him to come down on the price some.

OK, ready for me being dumb as a brick story ? This little aluminum vintage icetray reminded me of it. When I was over at my parent's house one day, probably when I was about 22-23 years old, I saw my dad fill up the icetrays with hot water and put them in the freezer to make ice. I looked at him and asked him why he used hot water and he says '"Hot water freezes faster than cold." I thought that was odd, but since my dad , a college professor, a whiz at math and science and such, told me..then I believed him.

So everytime I filled up my trays I used hot water. My husband saw me one day, and goes why did you just put hot water in the trays? I tell my husband, dad told me it freezes faster, and relayed the old story to him. By happenstance, my dad and mom were eating dinner with us that night, and I called dad into my kitchen . I asked him to back me up on hot water freezing faster than cold. He looks at me like I'm nuts, and says,

"Of course it doesn't , who told you that ?"

I told him ' YOU !" and relayed the decade old story of him doing it. My dad looks at me, has a huge grin on his face, and goes, " And you BELIEVED me ?"

I stood there with both of them laughing at me, I put my hands on my hips and said,

" YES, I have been doing it for 10 years now!!!!!!!"

You see I always believed what my dad told me.

Now I knew why my ice always took so long to freeze.

DUMB as a BRICK.

There you go, another tour of Sleepy Poet in Charlotte , North Carolina. You can tell Jason, Jamey, Dexter, Jerry, Abe , and I am going blank on everyone else's name that works there, but tell them I sent you . Each and every one is great to deal with and help you with your purchases.

Until later,

Gina