Tag: antiques
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Westward Ho! Antique & Vintage Western Americana
Whoa, Nellie, did we bring in the Western Americana to our space at Exit 55 Antiques! You might recognize the antique burlap feed and seed sacks from this post on how to clean them. (They turned out super, don’t you think?) The old horse bits and antique curry comb were more deaccessioned items from the…
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How I Spent My Afternoon: Cleaning Old Feed Sacks (A “How To” Guide!)
As noted before, “farm fresh” is often an oxymoron. Things found in barns are usually anything but fresh. Today’s example, a number of old feed sacks — burlap feed sacks, to be precise. While the graphics can be real beauties, they lie beneath layers & clumps of stuff that is not so beautiful and smells…
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Have Yourself A Kitschy Little Christmas!
We’ve been trying to keep our space at Exit 55 Antiques (Fergus Falls, MN) full of Christmas items — but they are selling so fast! Yes, the vintage reindeer are practically flying out of the shop, but we do have a pair of the vintage or retro plush reindeer stuffed with sawdust. And there are…
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A Rare Antique Folk Art Find: A Family Tree Made Of Tintypes
A few weeks ago, my husband & I attended an auction at the Cass Country Historical Society. The museum was deaccessioning hundreds of items in order to raise funds to replace the historic St. John’s Lutheran Church which had suffered too much damage from a fire. On one trailer full of guns & ammo, I…
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Making Spirit Bottles
There are many stories and legends about trapping spirits or imps in bottles, and they are especially fun to make and display at holiday time. When you see these, you may be tempted to not even clean out your fresh-from-the-dirt bottles — but remember, there may be dead mice and far worse hiding in them.…
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The End Of The Antique Season?!
Gosh, this week has flown by! I spent the week helping my folks, aka Antiquips, of No Egrets Antiques, with their latest estate sale. It was a very large estate, just full of Asian art & decor — including this set of vintage Bronzeware flatware. (Yes, flatware comes in bronze!) It was amazing how much…
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Back To School Antiques
Part of our “back to school” display at Exit 55 Antiques, featuring an antique chalkboard, an antique Fox Typewriter from The Fox Typewriter Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan (anyone else remember typing “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”?), and plenty of old school books. As always, if you have any questions, contact…
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Antique French Altar Candelabra
We just brought this Turn of The Century French gilt brass candelabra into Exit 55 Antiques on Sunday. (UPDATE: Now in our booth at F.A.R.M.) This ornate antique candelabra was made for a church altar; the sheaves of wheat & bunches of grapes are symbolic of the blessed bread & wine of the sacrament of…
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All In The Family — Of Antique Dealers!
My parents, of No Egrets Antiques, were credited on this week’s episode of American Pickers on the History Channel! Their name appeared in the credits as part of the “Archives Provided By” team of experts, which meant they had helped Mike, Frank, and the crew with some research and photographs used on the show. The…
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Educational Doll Articles
Just finished my doll articles for the Dolls By Diane newsletter. This time, I write about a large doll I literally was shocked to find — Slumped like that on the floor, I thought she was a person at first! She’s an old Martha Chase doll; but to find out more you’ll need to read…
