FABULOUS FINDS - OKANAGAN VALLEY NOVEMBER 2011

I'm in the airport waiting for my flight home to Winnipeg. What a great trip. The boys went snowboarding at Silverstar Mountain Resort in Vernon. What is a non-snowboarding mom to do after dropping the boys off at the hill? Antiquing of course. I haven't been antiquing in the Okanagan Valley for about 7 years. I was sad to note that many of the shops I had enjoyed on my last trip are now a thing of the past. Through some diligent internet research and the help of a few friendly dealers, I'm pretty sure I saw everything there was to see Kelowna to Enderby. The 15 pounds of vintage and antique jewelry coming home in the diaper bag can attest to my diligence!

  Art Deco Silver, Marcasite, and Black Onyx Brooch

  Art Deco Silver and Marcasite Drop Dangle Earrings

  Art Deco Silver, Austrian Crystal, Simulated Emerald Ring

  Art Deco Silver, Moonstone, and Marcasite Drop Dangle Earrings

   Sherman Swarovski Crystal Aurora Borealis Brooch

    Weiss Aurora Borealis Rhinestone Brooch

   Victorian Era Black Japanned Metal & Jet Mourning Brooch

Art Deco Silver, Austrian Crystal, Cultured Pearl Drop Dangle Earrings

 Victorian Era 9K gold, seed Pearl, amethyst wreath brooch

  Unsigned Beauty Austrian Art Glass, Rhinestone Brooch

  Trifari Rhinestone Brooch & Earrings Set

  10K Gold & Coral Ladies Dinner Ring

  Early 20th c Coraline Glass Beaded Brass Filigree Brooch

   Unsigned Beauty Austrian Hematite and Crystal Rhinestone Brooch

     Italian Glass Micro Mosaic Heart Shaped Brooch

     Modernist/Art Deco Enameled Red & Black Pendant

     Patriotic 14K Gold & Seed Pearl Maple Leaf Bar Pin

   1930s Art Deco Blue Crystal Rhodium Plated Necklace

  Art Deco Silver, Austrian Crystal, Marcasite Drop Dangle Earrings

    1950s 10K Gold & Black Alaskan Diamond Ring

     Modernist "Tenn" Scandinavian Pewter Pendant and Chain

        Canadian Modernist Guy Vidal Silver/Pewter Brooch

         Coro Red & Pink Rhinestone Dangling Earrings

      Unsigned Beauty Austrian Crystal Rhinestone Necklace

     Hobe Sterling Silver 3 Dimensional Flower Bouquet Brooch

     Guilloche Enamel on Silver Heather Decorated Brooch

      Custard Chocolate Marble Bakelite Long Beaded Necklace

      Signed Sherman Swarovski Crystal Aurora Borealis Rhinestone Brooch

 Spectacular Hobe Runway Crystal,Rhinestone, Faux Pearl Demi Parure
 The crystal are all strung on chain, not string. I suspect the lavender colored crystals are                  Alexandrite. I can't wait to get these under florescent light to find out!



I highly recommend you visit:

"Blast from the Past" in downtown Vernon, right on Hwy 97. Last time I was out this way, the shop was smaller and on a side street. It's much larger now and the best way to describe it is COMPREHENSIVE!!!! It literally has every different type of collectible, displayed beautifully, and priced well. The shop owner and his wife are incredibly nice people and very easy to work with.

"Taylor's Antiques". Mark Taylor is the owner. It is located in an industrial type of strip mall (#7 - Powick Road). What a complete surprise when I walked inside. It was not at all what I expected from the exterior. Picture walking into a beautifully decorated, old world European home. Mark's exquisite taste and decorating skill is both a visual feast, warm and welcoming. Loved this shop. I was there for almost 2 hours. Antique books, furniture, artwork, jewelry, glass, porcelain. If I had brought a vehicle from the Prairies, I would have been going home with a lot more.

"Country Home Antiques" at Bretta Farm in Armstrong, BC. It was lovely to see Eva Larsson again. I'm a big fan of her imported Scandinavian textiles and hand painted Scandinavian folk art boxes. I came out of it with a gorgeous rug, a blue painted box, and another Swedish hand woven table runner (circa 1850). Eva was very bad for my profit margin when I used to set up next to her at the Gadsden's Antique Show in Calgary during stampede many years ago!

I put up a few pictures of finds. I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2.....

Why Buy Vintage this Holiday Season?

1. You may have noticed they just don't build things like they used to.....
It is in the best interest of the company manufacturing something to have it fall apart or break down as soon as it possibly can. The economy is driven by consumers constantly purchasing new merchandise. If you only have to buy something once, and have it last your lifetime - in what way does this benefit the manufacturer?
When your parents or grandparents purchased a piece a furniture, it was built to last for generations. You bought well, once, and passed it on to the next generation. You could repair it, you could refinish it, you could repaint it, you could re cover it...all because it was built well and made of solid materials.
2. Vintage has a positive environmental impact
Have you ever tried to glue a laminated, "pressed wood" modern chair back together when if falls apart after 2 years of ownership? It's kind of hard to do when it's put together with staples and formed of sawdust impregnated with glue. It was never intended to last for any duration. It was intended to fall apart and not to be repaired. Where does this broken chair end up? In a landfill. How many of these broken chairs will you have to replace in a lifetime?
Buy an antique, and you only have to buy it once. By buying vintage or previously owned goods you are practicing essential environmental stewardship. When you shop vintage you are buying something that has already been manufactured and are therefore not further contributing to manufacturing processes that have a negative impact on our world.

3. Classics never go out of style

We see this over and over again. Good style and good quality are recycled into modern decor over and over and over again. Good borrowed style of a bygone era may be available in cheap, modern, mass produced decor - but it will never be a classic, an investment, or an item of quality. It can be only what it is - a cheap imitation that's going to end up in a landfill one day. Buy a quality classic and it will be the "bones" of your household decor.

4. Chances are none of your friends are going to have the same one

Buying Vintage is buying unique. The processes of time dictate that the more time that passes, the harder it is going to be to find another one like the item you have. If you buy something old you are buying something that tells people you are an individual. You have a style of of your own. That your purchasing decision was well thought out.

Whether you shop at thrift stores, garage sales, consignment shops, collectibles stores, antiques shops, or flea markets - by shopping Vintage you are doing something valuable.

Vintage Veruca Vintage Christmas Ornament Display 2010

Yes, believe it or not, it's that time of the year again. Christmas is here in 45 days.  It's Veruca's tradition to have our Christmas display ready for November the 1st every year. This year the display is spectacular. 5 trees, 2 full showcases, and ornaments in every bowl in the store that can hold them. We had the good fortune this year to purchase a very extensive collection from a long time collector.
There are wax ornaments from the 50s, figural clip on birds from Germany, every form and color of glass santa ornament, mercury glass garlands, chenille santas & candy canes, glass tear drops of every variety, pine cones, owls, clowns, churches, house, large fancy coraline balls, war time, tin / aluminum / plastic reflectors, tin candle holders, bubble lights, mini aluminum trees, feather trees, tinsel icicles, bottle brush trees, miniature glass ornaments......it goes on and on.......

                                 I've never seen one of these, it's a glass pine cone/santa combo

                                                                     green glass santa

                                                       mini aluminum trees from eaton's

                                                                       clip on birds

                                                                     wax ornaments

                                                           clip on glass nest with 2 birds


Feel like a kid in a candy store.....

Part 2 - Wonderful Estate Finds - Victorian Jewellery & Watches

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This piece was one of my favorite things purchased from this estate offering. The watch is marked inside the case "Argent Fin". It is a Napoleon III french key wind watch dating from the 1870s. Remarkably, it is still working. Especially lovely is the japanned or lacquered wooden display box. It is inlaid with brass and mother of pearl. It was made by Jean-Pierre Tahan, son of Alphonse Tahan, cabinet-maker to Emperor Napoleon III. Charmingly, the original owner, left a little note in the bottom of the box.

I love the "little touches".

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In July of this year, my husband and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in New York. Not to be missed is the Metropolitian Museum of Fine Art. There are many wonderful exhibits, but one of the rooms that really stuck with me was the one filled with Pietra Dura furniture. Pietra Dura is the name for special mosaic work, invented in Italy, using different semi-precious stones and coloured marbles set into a hard slab of stone. Pietra Dura is Italian for hard stone.

The piece pictured above is a Victorian era Pietra Dura brooch/pendant combination. The frame is hallmarked 9ct gold. I'm not sure of all of the stone, but the black may be onyx, and I recognize lapis lazuli and malachite inlays.  What a wonderful find.

I'll write some more tomorrow - such a little treasure trove :)

Wonderful Estate Finds Today - Victorian Jewellery & Watches

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I always say the best part of my job is the shopping. I had the good fortune today to purchase a fabulous little collection of Victorian Era jewelry, handbags, watches, and accessory items from an estate.

The piece pictured above is a Victorian Era Pinchbeck Mourning brooch. Pinchbeck is a type of metal alloy composed of copper and zinc invented in the 18th century as an imitation of gold. This type of jewelry is also referred to as "Hair Jewelry".  The floral decoration is composed of human hair, gold thread, and seed pearls.  Hair was used in 17th century mourning jewelry. This tradition was later revived in the 19th century for use in both mourning pieces (for the dead) and in sentimental or token of affection pieces (for the living). This piece is double sided. There is a piece of black fabric behind glass on the back. This piece is likely to be a mourning piece.

The piece below is also a piece of Victorian mourning jewelry. This is also composed of pinchbeck, with an overlay of black enamel and a plaited section of hair behind glass. The use of of black enamel indicates mourning versus sentiment/token.

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More this week.....