"It Belongs in a Musem"

Finding things to sell is what we do, whether you call what we do a hobby or a business.  And what we try to do is buy things at a low enough price that we can sell it for a profit.  Most of what we buy ends up in the store for sale and some (too much?) ends up in one of our own collections.  But sometimes we find something "that belongs in a museum", to take a phrase from Indiana Jones.

We are located in Anoka County so I am partial to the Anoka County Historical Society (ACHS) and am always on the lookout for items they might want for their collections.  It should pertain to Anoka County and tell a story.  For instance, I found a hat at a thrift store that I thought I could sell for a bit of a profit, but after giving it some thought I asked the ACHS if they would be interested in it.  They gave a resounding "yes".

The hat is a fireman's dress hat from the 60s or 70s with a badge identifying it as both Federal Cartridge Corp. and Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP).  Federal Cartridge is a major Anoka industry that started back in the 1920's and was the Operating Prime Contractor for TCAAP, constructed in the early 40s to make ammo for our troops in WWII.  So the hat represents an important Anoka industry with roots in early part of the 20th Century and also represents Anoka's involvement in the WWII effort.

I made no money when I donated the hat, but it "belonged in a museum".

How Do We Remember Christmas?

I was surprised a couple of days ago when I checked my calendar and saw we were already into December and that Christmas will be soon upon us!  That made me think of past Christmases when I was a kid.  Some of the memories weren't so much about Christmas, but about winter activities.

 This is a picture of my brother and me in 1951. (I'm the one in the red hat.)  We had a nice kid-size sledding hill beside the house and we used it a lot.  I remember hitting that tree a couple of times even though there was lots of room to miss it.  I don't remember why we had the wagon (at the top of the hill) out with us that day.  I'll blame my brother - he was always the one with the crazy ideas.

Many of the memories, though, are of waking up early, rushing down to the living room and finding piles of presents under the Christmas tree.  Here's a picture of my brother (at the piano) and me in 1950.  Don't we wish we still had some of those toys!!

Whenever I go through the antique store, I'll see things that bring back some of these memories.  This flying saucer sled is a good example.  We used to have an undecorated aluminum one.  Talk about uncontrollable sledding!  But other things as simple as small decorations bring back memories, too.  Here's a small ornament I found in the store that is very similar to ones I remember as a kid: pipe cleaner arms and pine cone body.

I could go on for quite a bit longer but that would be counter productive (or boring?), I think.  My purpose for this posting, other than giving myself a chance to reminisce, is to remind you that Antiques on Main is a great place to shop for unique Christmas presents ..... and perhaps be reminded of some of your early Christmases.   

 

Construction is Done and Gone

The "Main Street Makeover" is complete along our section of Main Street.  Or as most of us called it:" construction".  Anyway, whatever you want to call it, it's done!  It looks pretty good, too.  The new sidewalks are wider so its easier to avoid the skateboarders and bicyclists. 

I tried out the new middle-of-the-block crosswalk today and it wasn't too bad - only one car drove through the crosswalk while I was on it.  So here's my thoughts on this matter:  if you were one of those who used to jaywalk, you probably paid pretty close attention to the traffic.  Now with the new crossing with the strobing lights, it's probably a good idea to pay just as much attention to traffic when you cross.  At least until all the drivers figure it out. 

We have "bump-outs" at the corners now, too.  These shorten the distance for a pedestrian crossing the road, thus making it safer.  If you driving and are turning either on to or off of one of the side streets, give yourself more room to turn.  Judging from the tire marks over the curbs, a few drivers are misjudging this a bit.

But as you can see, there are no more orange cones or drums, no more barricades, and no more construction.  All that moved down to the other side of 7th Avenue.

It's The Story

I've been trying to come up with a topic for this entry to the blog and considered talking about the road construction in front of the store (still going on, but there are signs that it's nearly over) or about the next storewide sale (October 11- 14).  But instead I decided to write about an item I recently bought from another dealer at our store. It illustrates the point that it is often the story behind the item that makes the item interesting.

The item is the photograph (shown here) identified on the back as "Captain of the Norge" so I thought I would Google the Norge to see if either it or its captain was noteworthy.  "Noteworthy" was an understatement.  The S/S Norge sank in 1904 after hitting a rock in the North Atlantic.  It was the worst civilian maritime disaster until the Titanic sank 8 years later - 160 survived and 635 did not.  The captain, Captain Gundel, went down with the ship but after swimming for about 2 hours in the cold North Atlantic was found by one of the lifeboats and was saved.

Could the person in this photo be the Captain Gundel who swam for 2 hours in the north Atlantic?  As it turned out - no.  The person in the photo is Captain Christian Bernhard Knudsen who was formerly the captain of the ill fated S/S Danmark. He became captain of the S/S Norge after the Danmark sank in a storm in 1889 with no loss of life (but that's another amazing story).  Knudsen was the captain of the Norge until Captain Gundel took over in 1901. My photo was taken before 1898 when the operation of the Norge changed from the Thingvalla Line to the Scandinavian America Line.  In the photo, Captain Knudsen is wearing the badge of the Thingvalla Line.

So .... this simple photograph has two amazing stories behind it - the sinking of the S/S Danmark and the sinking of the S/S Norge.  The summary I've given above is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.  And many thanks to Borge Solem, from the Norway Heritage Community for providing me with the correct identification of the Captain in my photo.

Out of the Basement

When Ernie and Lorna retired (see earlier posts), it became possible for one of our other dealers to move from out of the basement and on to the main floor.  (I should have said "from out of our 'lower level'" since the use of the term "basement" suggests junkier stuff than on the main floor and that is not the case at all!) Maggi (AKA Dealer 80) had the highest seniority of those in the basement and is in the process of moving into Ernie and Lorna's area.  Maggi has been an antique dealer for many years (who's counting?), is a registered appraiser and conducts estate sales.

Maggi offers for sale a variety of items such as jewelry, art, furniture, primitives, glassware, and much more.  And she has some fabulous high end antiques as seen in the following images.  Come in and see what she has and while you are at it, take a look around to see what the rest of us have.

Storewide Sale Weekend

 

This Weekend - August 9-12

Once again, its our store-wide sale and regularly priced items are 15% off.  In some cases bigger discounts are available so watch for signs in each of the different dealers areas.  Dealers are bringing in lots of new stuff all the time so expect to find treasures that weren't here last time you looked.  Here are a couple of examples of some great items that have just shown up in our store:

  

Party at Billy's

As covered in the last post, Ernie and Lorna are mostly retiring from the antique business. So yesterday evening we had a dinner for them at Billy's and we all enjoyed ourselves recounting stories and generally having a very good time with food and drink.  We didn't want Lorna to ever run out of jewelry (although I think we all know that will never happen!) so we took up a collection for her ..... of our junk jewelry and presented it to her in one of her trademark makeup cases.  We then finished up with a delicious chocolate cake.

 

Ernie will continue to sell coins and Lorna will continue to sell jewelry, but on a smaller scale, so they will still have a presence in the store and a reason to come in and visit with us.

 

 

Here are some more pictures from the party:

 

 

 

 

Ernie and Lorna Retiring

Ernie and Lorna are retiring from the antique business at the end of this month.  You may or may not know them by name, but you probably know their merchandise. Lorna had all the wonderful jewelry near the checkout counter.  Ernie had coins, military stuff and other similar things.  In preparation of this, Lorna is selling her jewelry at 50% off.  There is still time to come in and take advantage of this.

They have been in Antiques on Main for 20 years ago, making them among the first dealers in the store.  They were involved in several enterprises prior to this, which included operating an ice skate shop and a metal detector shop.  They were avid treasure hunters using their metal detectors.   And before that, Ernie was a captain with the Minneapolis fire department.

I should note that they will not be retiring 100 per cent.  They will keep a case in the store where Ernie will continue to sell coins and Lorna will continue to sell jewelry (still at discount prices).

Unusual Things

You expect to find odd things in any antique store and we have our share.  The picture frame made out of a double outhouse seat is right up there at the top of the list.  In fact, if you give it some thought, a double outhouse seat is unusual enough all by itself.  But the unusual things I thought I would write about in this post are a couple of sticks of gum.

The gum is Wrigley's Doublemint ... and they look really gross! So why are they in the store at all?  Here's the story:

I bought an old gum machine that once sold Doublemint for a penny a stick.  It didn't come with a key so I took it to the local locksmith and when they opened it, they found these two sticks of gum beneath the cup that the pennies dropped into.  The copyright date on the wrappers is 1935, which is about right for the machine.  It makes me think that the machine hadn't been opened since sometime in the 1930s.  I was tempted to throw the gum away, but then figured that since they had been with the machine for 70 years or more, they may as well stay with the machine.