World War II in the Pacific

Waikiki Beach as seen from our dinner table

I've been unusually slow to add a new post to this blog but my excuse is that I've been out of town on business.  Truth be told, I've been in Hawaii but it was still business.  I did manage to have about 2 hours of vacation and was even able to walk in the water at Waikiki beach after a fabulous dinner overlooking the ocean.

My work in Hawaii was as part of a group doing a historical study of Ewa field (or more formally Marine Corps Air Field Ewa).  On their way to Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked Ewa field to prevent the US from initiating an air defense against the attack.  You can still see strafing damage on the runway where parked planes were shot up.  We stayed at Hickam Air Force Base which was also attacked the same time as Pearl Harbor and where you can still see damage from the attack.

Being so involved with WWII history made me think of Dad, who was wounded at Guadalcanal.  So I thought I would share a couple of "souvenirs" he brought back from the war - rare photos of civilian prisoners of the Japanese, probably somewhere in Indonesia.  The one where the soldiers are sitting with the children makes me feel pretty uneasy although there is no obvious mistreatment going on.

These photographs are not for sale, but there are plenty of other WWII related items for sale at our store.  There are other WWII photographs, a practice bomb, Navy binoculars, and many other WWII items waiting for you to discover as you explore Antiques on Main for its many treasures. 

Another Button Collection

Call us crazy, but we just bought another button collection.  We bought our first collection over a year ago and although we've sold quite a few buttons from it we still have a few hundred left.  Now we bought out another large collection giving us hundreds more.  If we collected buttons ourselves it would make more sense.  As it is, I hope our kids enjoy them when they inherit all we don't sell in our lifetime.

But I am beginning to appreciate how fun they would be to collect.  They come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes, materials, and colors.  And subject matter.

Different Sizes

Different Shapes

Cleopatra and the Asp

 My favorites are the story buttons that depict scenes from well known stories.  Most of the stories I don't know because most of these buttons were produced in the late 1800s or early 1900s.  (Cleopatra I've heard of)

One of the mysteries (at least to me) is on what kind of clothing some of these buttons were used.  Its pretty obvious how some were used, like underwear buttons, and I have not searched the internet for images of those being used.

Mastiff with a Stick

But for other buttons, its not so obvious.  For instance, on what do you wear a button of a not-so-friendly looking dog?  Or for that matter, when is the right time to wear Cleopatra and the Asp, and on what kind of clothing?  The internet is surprisingly devoid of photos of buttons on old clothing.

Come into Antiques on Main to see (even buy!) buttons and lots of other wonderful antiques.

 

Police Badges, etc.

We bought a collection of badges (police, sheriff, fire department and others) a few weeks ago and we've been going through them to catalog and price them.  I am not an expert in badges but have been learning a lot.  In most cases a badge is just a badge, but one of the badges intrigued me more than the others.  It is a 1920s Omaha Police badge with a civilian designation.  My question: under what circumstances would a civilian get an official police badge?

At first I thought the Omaha Police force was beefing up its numbers by using civilians after the 1919 race riots.  But now I think the use of civilians was something different.  Omaha organized a citizen constabulary in 1920 called “Volunteer Civilian Officers” who were primarily used for enforcing traffic regulations and providing educational programs.  I think the badges were issued to them, but I could easily be wrong.

1922 Omaha Civilian Traffic Police

Closer to home is the St. Paul Union Depot, so in honor of its recent re-opening I thought I would add this photo of an attendant’s hat badge.

We invite you to shop Antiques on Main to find these and thousands of other antiques and collectibles for sale.

Wrong About Butter Pats

Apparently I've been wrong in my understanding of how butter pats were used.  I'm talking about the little plates and not the globs of butter.  I always thought they were a throwback to Victorian times and used for fancy, formal meals.  But I was wrong.  Let me start at the beginning.

As antique dealers, we often get invited to peoples houses to buy things and this was one of those times.  The seller was downsizing and had a few things from the family farm that she no longer wanted.  The things she wanted to sell were laid out on the kitchen table. While we were deciding what we wanted to buy I was looking around and spotted a stack of flow blue butter pats.  I asked about them and she said they had belonged to her grandmother who used them on the farm and she didn't want to sell them yet.

So I had to ask - "Your grandmother had pretty fancy meals?"

"Oh no" she responded, "just your basic farm meals."

"And she used these butter pats?"

"Yes, there were a lot of boys in the family."  She went on to explain that her grandmother used the butter pats to save on the butter.  The boys usually licked their knives "clean" before taking butter and Grandmother didn't want to keep butter that had been contaminated this way.  So by giving the boys their own butter, the rest of the butter was saved.

Evolution of a Collection

I used to tell people that I didn't collect anything, but instead I accumulated stuff.  Today its the other way around - I collect certain things and accumulate little.  I was not conscious of changing how I collected my stuff and only by looking back did I realize that it had changed.  As it turns out, I was always collecting things, such as Mickey Mouse and beer steins, but my collections evolved from quantity (what I used to call accumulations) to quality.

For example, lets look at my Mickey Mouse accumulation.  It was probably around 20 years ago that I started to pick up the occasional Mickey item at garage sales and thrift stores.  Needless to say, you can find lots of Disney items at these places and pretty soon the shelf I was using to hold them was full to overflowing.  And what didn't fit on the shelf was packed away in boxes. This should have raised a warning flag that the accumulation was getting a little out of control ... but it didn't.

A small part of my Mickey Mouse accumulation.

The turning point might have been when I bought a 1930s Mickey Mouse lusterware tea set in its original box, or it might have been when I got a 1940s Donald Duck  lamp with the original shade.  But in the end, I realized that there was more enjoyment in having a few good items than there was in having hundreds of inexpensive ones.  And the "good" items don't have to be expensive.  Now I try to be more selective and buy only the earlier Disney pieces in good condition - and, of course, only if the price is right.

So now I have a few "good" items in my display cabinet (more than a couple of these bought at Antiques on Main) and  almost all of the original accumulation is packed away in boxes in my basement until can decide what to do with it.  But I had lots of fun accumulating everything and would probably do it again, so I don't criticize anyone who is in that stage of collecting.

At Antiques on Main, we have have things for collections whatever stage they are in.

Civil War Sesquicentennial

The American Civil War was taking place 150 years ago so I thought I would look through Antiques on Main to see what Civil War related items I could find for sale.  Although I did not find a lot of items, what I found were both varied and interesting.  This is what I found:

 1. A Civil War musket. This is a Wm. Mason 58 cal. musket from 1861.  It is shown with a replica kepi (cap) with original brass crossed cannons.  Also shown is a replica Civil War powder flask.

2.  A Civil War breast plate.  This would be attached to your cartridge box strap.

3. A tear bottle (or vial or catcher).  These were used during the Civil War to catch and save tears shed during the mourning of a loved one killed during the war.

4. A Civil War bayonet.  This is for a 58 cal. U.S. Musket.  It is shown with a Civil War period powder flask. 

5.  A Civil War receipt. This is a receipt for a  Sharps rifle given by Capt. William Badger to Pvt. Andrew McManus in 1865.

6. A Confederate Infantry button.  This style is called the "Fancy Script I".

7. Civil War envelopes.  Envelopes used during the Civil War, such as these, often contained a propaganda cartoon. 
 

8.  A commemorative plate.  It isn't from the time of the Civil War, but it commemorates the Battle of Gettysburg.

9.  A Civil War payroll record. This shows that these guys (clerk, wagon master, and teamsters) got paid $7.75 for the month of March, 1862!!   .

"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".