Dewey Like Dewey? Who Wouldn't?

Downtown Dewey, Oklahoma, where they made the most of their small-town atmosphere

Last week I visited my mother and sister in Oklahoma. My sis and I traditionally tour Dewey's modest cluster of antique shops, where the town fathers of Dewey made the most of their old-style downtown, and the result is easy on the eyes compared to the big-box-store strip-mall look of nearby Bartlesville. I counted six antique stores in Dewey, though there could be a few more. We only had time to stop at three.

At the Linger Longer mall, named after a beloved old local manmade swimming hole that was wiped out in a storm in the 1920s, there's an old fashioned marble-top soda fountain, where Pat, the owner, served up an excellent chocolate ice cream soda. That's my sister Judy about to partake. My favorite find at LL was a display of chintz and transferware, and I bemoaned the need to travel light when I saw a couple of pieces I'd have loved to take home.

I also found some old advertising tins, including one for Lacto-Dextrin, a food supplement that promised to adjust one's intestinal flora.


Next we stopped at Mimi's, another mall near the town square, where we looked for something cat-themed for Mother, an avid feline fan...

I liked the small white-painted furniture, shelving and curios in this booth.

Finally, we stopped at Bar-Dew Antique Mall on our way out of town, where I found...

...an old oak baby chair that could be converted into a stroller, a rocker or a high chair...

a wonderful oak kitchen cupboard full of drawers and bins...

...an elegant old dressing table...

...three Roseville pedestals...

...a genuine trademarked Hoosier...

...a Mission-style rocker and secretary...

...and a white-painted metal cabinet from a doctor's or dentist's office.

Bill, the owner of Bar-Dew, told me he's low on stock (though the place looked packed to me) because he's been doing well in Dewey this summer. Furniture has been moving out the door at a smart pace, and he'll soon have to start looking for more.
This old spatter-patterned porcelain wood cookstove with warming ovens stands outside JandW Antiques on Don Tyler St. in Dewey. How I'd have loved to take it home! Wouldn't it look sweet next to Bar-Dew's Hoosier?

But, of course, we don't have a huge supply of firewood here in the desert.

Railroad Trains and Pretty Porcelain

August has always been the longest month for me, probably because I've had about all the summer heat I can stand and I'm starting to long for a nip of autumn chill in the air. My friend Sue in Oregon is already enjoying fall, with 53-degree mornings, but it doesn't happen here in San Carlos until October 15, when a miraculous annual change takes place (ask anybody if you doubt me). But this August I'm traveling, making one trip to Arizona, another to Oklahoma, and so the time seems to be flying. And blogging time is dwindling, especially when I'm on the road and away from Internet access.

Google map of the Niles District of Fremont, site of the historic train depot and the famous Niles antique row and the 44th Annual Antique Faire and Flea Market

But while we swelter through the month, the last Sunday in August is a date to look forward to in Northern California. The Niles Main Street Association is getting ready for their 44th Annual Antique Faire and Flea Market on the 31st. It's a big attraction for railroad buffs who can see the historic train depot and take a train ride, and antique shoppers who want a big selection in walking distance (200 vendors at the fair, plus more than a dozen shops).


If you go to Niles, you can also see one of the biggest fine porcelain collections outside of a museum, at A Moment in Time Antiques on Niles Blvd. Arlyne Meyer and her daughter Michelle have obtained a huge collection of Meissen, RS Prussia, Limoges and Nippon in complete sets and individual pieces...everything from chocolate pots to collector plates to oyster plates to full dinner sets. More than 2000 items, adorned not only with flower, fruit and berry motifs but the more rare and valuable portrait examples, beautifully handpainted on fine, translucently thin kaolin porcelain. Ornate forms, lavished in gold, signed by the artists and dating from the 1800s. Plus graceful figurines, lady head vases and retired Hummel. While it's been a slow summer at many antique stores, Arlyne reports record sales in June and July, which indicates a lot of people are finding their way to Niles, and that owner-operated antique stores with specialties like high-end porcelain are still doing well in this goofy economy.

Photos: just a few examples of the fabulous collection of RS Prussia, Meissen, Limoges and Nippon porcelain at A Moment in Time on Niles Boulevard, Fremont, CA

The Work of That Turk

I've found and added to my bloglist a new blog on appraising, aimed at not only serious appraisers but anyone interested in learning more about evaluating art and old stuff. Appraiser Workshops had an interesting post today about a novice collector who bought two paintings for $14,000, signed by impressionist Guy Carleton Wiggins (1883-1962), and then took them be authenticated by Wiggins' son, Guy A., who denounced them as fakes. The point of the post is that you're supposed to do it the other way around: authenticate, then buy. Duh.

Apparently they were done by a notorious Turk named Ethem Tune "Adam" Ulge, who's considered "a bad artist, but he has a style," according to Wiggins, Jr. Obviously, not $14K worth of style.

Shown: "A Winter Night in New York," by the real Guy Carleton Wiggins, Rehs Gallery

Some REALLY Old Stuff at Ida Red's

Mike and Debbie Ausec, owners of Ida Red's Antiques in Aurora, OR have acquired a collection that goes beyond antiques or even antiquities, and into prehistoric: a collection of fossils from a prehistoric petrified forest in Florissant, Colorado, part of the estate of one of a close friend, Jack Baker, who died in 1995.

Jack Baker loved old stuff. Here he is with his Chrysler Airflow, purchased in 1936

Jack had turned his Pike Forest Fossil Beds into one of those roadside attractions so beloved of travelers in the mid-20th century. The most famous tourist to drop by was Walt Disney, who was so taken with the fossils, he bought a petrified tree trunk to display at Disneyland.

Disney's visit brought Jack his 15 minutes of fame, but also alerted the U.S. government, which appropriated the forest and turned it into the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in 1969. Jack was able to preserve his own personal collection of small fossils, and after his death Ida Red's purchased the lot. The bits and pieces of shale bear the fossilized remains of everything from a bug's eyelash to an entire fish skeleton, ferns and leaves in all their detail. Some items in the collection have been shellacked, following the custom of collectors in Jack's day, but others are just as he found them.

Fossils of a leaf and an entire fish, from Jack Baker's collection

Debbie Ausec mentioned the Florissant Fossil Beds collection yesterday when I spoke with her on the phone, and I thought for a silly moment she said "flourescent." As in, they glow in the dark? But no, that's just how the name is pronounced.

Because Mike's a mineral collector and old tool enthusiast, Ida Red's is a treasure trove of "guy stuff," with a large selection of old tools, minerals and curiosities such as the fossils.

Of historic and geological interest is Jack Baker's dismantled fireplace which was created from hand-polished, colorful pieces of fossilized wood Jack had collected on various trips through the West. Jack was so proud of the fireplace, once the showpiece of his gift shop, he had a picture postcard made of it, though the photo doesn't do it justice. Here are just a few of the pieces, now all boxed up and awaiting reassembly.

Girls' Night Out

Vintage buttons at the Cottage Jewel in Danville.
What's in your button jar? What can you do with it?

I have a stash of small found objects, bits and pieces that I haven't found a use for yet. I think now and then, "This would make a good necklace," or "Someday I'm going to use these to decorate the top of my jewelry box..." Instead of lamenting a broken china cup, I've begun to speculate how I can re-use pieces that are still beautiful with their hand-painted flowers and designs. I have jars and bowls of shells, sea glass, beads and broken baubles. I admire the frugality and ingeniousness of making something out of items others might consider useless.

Marcia Harmon, owner of the Cottage Jewel in Danville, shares my enthusiasm. In fact, she often holds workshops in her store every Thursday evening until 8pm. A sort of Girls' Night Out where people looking for ideas, tools and a few new skills gather and get creative. In June, for instance, they were introduced to bead embroidery and mosaics.

Other nights are devoted to showings of the work of local artists, such as jewelry maker Karen Rice. You can inspire yourself, adorn yourself... Or both! Sounds like more fun than Ladies' Night at the BoyToy Club, and you might have something to show for it in the morning besides a hangover.

Elegant one-of-a-kind beaded pendant by Karen Rice comes with its own display stand so it can be shown off for the unique work of art it is. See her selection at Cottage Jewel's store or website

Marcia is also the instigator of the new Heartland Danville Antiques & Art Faire, Labor Day Monday, Sept 1 at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley on Railroad Ave. Spaces are still available, she reports, and are going for the best prices around. Call for details, (925) 837-2664.

Three Bloggers from Niles

The homely pickle never looked so good as when enthroned in one of these spectacular ruby glass pickle castors, at Les Belles in Niles, CA

Fellow bloggers in the antique world are starting turn up one at a time, and I'm adding them to my bloglist. Today I hit the jackpot! Three in the same town, Fremont, California where an antique row is situated on Niles Boulevard, a historic railroad center.

This morning one of the owners of Les Belles called asking me to add her blog address to her listing in the new Collector's Guide we're working on now, and mentioned that two others in town are blogging too: My Friends and I, and Lealind's (one of the "friends" of My Friends).

A selection of pressed glass, milk glass, footed glass bowls, salt and peppers, and a pretty handpainted bowl at My Friends & I, a multi-dealer shop in Niles

Everything you need for an elegant, old-fashioned ice cream social, in Lealind's Gifts, a space at My Friends & I

Another link on each of these blogs takes you to the Niles Main Street Association, which is gearing up for their annual antique bash, the Niles Antique Faire and Flea Market, August 31.

Just to give you a taste of what these stores have to offer, I'm sharing photos from their blogs, but click on over for a better look at their selection. What a great way to preview a store, and see if your tastes coincide!

Leafing Through Online Antique Magazines

What have I done for you lately, dear Reader? Have you taken a look at the prodigious list of periodical links I've created for you?

Some of these links will take you to actual stories in the current edition or archives of certain magazines. Others withhold everything except info on how to subscribe for hardcopies. But I found one that actually gives you the entire magazine in glossy color: "Modernism Magazine." If you're a fan of Art Deco and the other movements that occurred in connection with it, throughout the US and Europe, and want to see how design today has been informed by it all, this is the magazine for you. It's free, beautifully designed and right there at the click of a link button (which says "View Online Edition"). What's not to like?

Kovels also provides page after page of up-to-date information every month, either free or at nominal cost for an upgraded subscription.

Another publication that uploads its entire content online is Cochran's Collector's Guide, accessible at the left of this home page. There you'll find 200 pages of maps, information on stores' specialties, contact info and plenty more, updated annually.

Now, if only other pubs would do the same... Maybe they'd lose a little in hardcopy sales, but they'd gain hugely in worldwide readership, and their advertisers would be very satisfied with the additional exposure. Maybe some trees would be saved, too.