just for a laugh...

...In the years I've had a shop I have accumulated some funny stories and have heard some hilarious and unbelieveable tales...I thought I'd share some of them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A lady came up to the counter with a hodge podge of things in her hands. My son collects so many things she said.,as she put on the counter a box of old superman cards, a canning jar filled with marbles, two Hulk comic books and a railroad spike. I smiled at her and said,"Don't discourage him...I have read that it is a sign of intelligence when people collect things." An older man was off to the side of the counter looking in a case of old tools and pocket knives. He had overheard what I said, he looked over at us and exclaimed, " Then I must be darn near a genius!"


````````` Jack Davis was a dealer in my shop. I met him when he and I were dealers in the Heirloom Cupboard together. He was retired and collected and sold Heisy Glassware. Anyway! Jack had a daughter that lived in Florida. Every year he and his wife, Joyce, went down to visit her. Every year they took a detour off the interstate to stop at the same old antique shop up the side of a mountain in Virginia. Every year they would look at an old oak ice chest on the side porch ...haggle over the price, and tell the owner, we really should buy this. Maybe the next time we drive through we will. Ten years go by. The shop is still the same, the oak ice chest is still on the side porch. Eleven years now. they stop in as usual...look at the chest. Get in the van, start driving...Jack tells Joyce, when we come back through here on our way home from Florida we will swing in and get the chest! Joyce is thrilled. Two weeks later they pull into the driveway of the antique shop, almost colliding with an old pickup truck pulling out, that is how in a hurry they were. Jack and Joyce go into the shop, walk up to the counter and tell the owner, " We are done haggling we are taking the oak ice chest! The owner looks at the two of them in disbelief! Jack then peeled off 6 crisp 20 dollar bills onto the counter. Joyce stood next to him smiling from ear to ear. The old guy looks at him and said, " Did you see that old truck leaving here just now? Well....he just loaded up your ice chest! After 11 years of going to buy that oak ice chest... Jack missed out on having it by just a few minutes!


``````````` Jack Davis was a grumpy old man. He was retired from Firestone, in Akron, after a career as an engineer. He was very particular and a bit anal. He was crabby and set in his ways. He didn't care if it made sense to others, he had his ways and that was that.... and that is why I loved him.
One day I got a call at home. I had the day off because it was Thursday...and Jack worked every Thursday at the Depot.
I got many calls when Jack worked. The cash register hated him , so he said. I was forever trying to figure what he did to it to mess it up as bad as he did. My paperwork was a nightmare on Thursday's.... Oh and nothing was ever in the right place from the last Thursday when he worked. "Why do people have to constantly hide thing from me!" He used to say. So sometimes I wondered why I let him work because I was always on the phone with him. But I did because he was the best story teller ever. When the shop was slow and Jack would get bored, he would call and say ,"Shirley, do you have time for a story?" I always did. He took his time telling a story and embroidered it with many details. He was one of the smartest men I have known. His stories were an education, with a twist.. Jack style. I only wish I had written them all down.
Anyway, I am filling you in about Jack because many of the future stories in this section are about Jack ...he was hilarious and never knew it ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~

So it was Thursday...the phone rings, Jack says," This is Jack at the shop. Shirley, I might be calling the police!"
I say, "Why Jack??"
Jack says, "A very supicious character just walked in the shop... you know the kind, he has long hair in a pony tail. He rode in on a motorcycle. He has tatoos of a questionable nature on both arms. He is wearing a bandana. Oh, a surly looking person for sure. I don't trust him and I will keep my eye on him! Shirley, don't worry, when he steals something I will catch him!!" Jack hangs up.
I wait. A few minutes pass. The phone rings.... Jack says, "Shirley, this is Jack at the shop.
I say, What's happened!!"
Jack says, "I think my first call was a false alarm....I think we can trust him, I just sneezed, and this nice young man said, Bless you!
`````````

Artsy Esther...of the Heirloom.

On the first floor back before you get to the big brick archway that takes you through to the back section of the Heirloom Cupboard, was a spot that was pure class. In this section was beautiful pottery and jewelry, and vintage furs like what you saw Hollywood starlets wear in the movies. This was Esther Litton's spot.
When I said pottery, I wasn't talking about pottery like I had in my spot, your usual McCoy, Brush, Conley, or California pieces. Esther had Rookwood, Weller and Wedgwood, Royal Bayreuth, and Roseville. You know, the kind that was put in glass cabinets for fear someone might break it.
Esther's jewelry was the same. She had very little costume jewelry. She had the real deal... gold brooches and real ivory cameo pins, rings with sapphires, and rubies, emeralds and diamonds. Also designer pieces by Eisenberg, Trifari, Coro, Haskell and Cartier just to name a few. She had Bakelite galore. Her specialty was Art Deco. She knew her stuff. She had to, what she was dealing in was expensive and you could loose a lot of money if you didn't know the real from the fake. Esther wore jewelry with a flair. She could sell a piece by wearing it.
Esther was the first "artsy" person I had ever met. She was from California, and worked around Hollywood. In exactly what capacity I am not sure. Her husband was a writer. They knew famous people.
Esther was probably in her mid sixties, she had sleek shiny dark hair, cut in a pageboy with bangs. She had her reader glasses on a beaded chain, expensive vintage amethyst beads. hanging like a necklace around her neck. She was the type that if she would have smoked, she would have used a cigarette holder like in the movies of the 30's. She wore expensive designer clothes that flowed when she walked and she usually wore a shawl of rich dark colors that was lavishly embellished with bead work and fringe. Not many woman can wear a shawl as well as she did. When it got in her way she would knot the ends of it together and twist it to the side, off one shoulder. It made her look like a model right out of Vogue.
How Esther ended up in Medina in a little antique shop I never knew. I do know that she owned a big Painted Victorian Lady on South Court Street and her husband had it redone inside to her specifications. It was fabulous. Some time after that, her husband passed away. This glamorous lady was a widow.
One day I was working with her and we were talking about Hollywood. One thing led to another and soon we were talking about favorite movies. She was saying she saw a movie that just delighted her and she, for the life of her, could not remember the name of it. It had Ruth Gordon in it and she was in love with a young guy. I said, "Oh no!! That was one of my favorite movies... it was Harold and Maude!" We went over the details of the movie and roared over the absurd parts. We both said in unison, " I'll just throw my wedding ring in this lake so I will always know were it is!! We were rolling. I brought her my copy of the movie... (a VHS tape back then) and gave it to her to keep. I mean how often do you find a woman like this, that you shared such a silly bond with! We were good friends after that.

Esther and I got our first cell phones together. 'We were both clueless as to what we were getting, but we knew we had to have one. That was in 1994.

One time all of us dealers were working on our spots together. Some gals started complaining about their husbands. Esther said, " Ladies, you know what bothers you the most about your husband, what gets on your absolute last nerve?" Everyone shook their heads emphatically! "Well," she said, " That is exactly what you will miss the most about him, when he dies. We were all silent for a long time. All complaining stopped.

I fell in love with a ring Esther had in her case. It was a gold ring with a square gold flat piece on top, with a diamond set right in the middle. It was different, kind of deco style, and expensive. Well, Esther knew I wanted it. She told me it was a ring from the 20's and the diamond was a rose cut. They don't cut diamonds that way anymore. I could tell it was different. The light reflected differently when it hit it. Well... Esther gave me a deal I couldn't refuse! I wore the ring for years. My daughter loved the ring also. So about the time Heather got married, I let her have the ring. My son-in-law, (who happens to be a jeweler) took my rose cut diamond out of the square setting and created a new setting for it after he melted down my wedding band. Then he put another diamond in the old square ring for Heather.

I was at a garage sale once and almost kicked over a tall vase sitting on the concrete floor. I picked it up and after looking at it I bought it for a dollar. It was different, made out of a clay that was kind of a reddish brown swirl with cream. It was not glazed and It was about 12 inches tall.
Years later, Esther was telling me about the unique pottery she collected. It was called Niloak Pottery made in Arkansas. Boy, that sounded familiar... I exclaimed ," Hey, I have a piece of that pottery! I know exactly what you are talking about!"
I brought it to the shop for her to see. She promptly offered me $150.00 for it. I said, " No! I can't have you pay me that much!!" She said," Shirley, yes you can...I'm not an idiot... it is worth $350.00! Take the money!" I did.

Esther is one of the ladies from the Heirloom Cupboard that I have not seen in years. I wonder if she went back to her glamorous life in California. I miss her.

Smutzy...what a hoot!

Jeanie Smutz was another dealer in Heirloom Cupboard. Jeanie's spot was upstairs by my new section. Her space was half of the upstairs and packed with the most eclectic group of things you'd ever want to see. As a dealer you kind of specialized to a degree, steering towards buying the kind of things that you liked. What you liked was what you usually researched the most so you felt comfortable selling that. Also if that is what you personally collected ... as you upgraded your collection... the things you didn't want anymore, you could sell them in your space. After a while customers were drawn to a particular space because it was where they had a feel for the dealer and their tastes were similar. That is how you got a following.
Jeanie's spot was probably the most popular in Heirloom in some ways. Her collection of antiques were wild and she had fun in displaying them. She loved anything old. She could have an African carved teak wood tribal mask hanging on the wall, and she would have it wearing a wonderful woman's Victorian hat with a huge peacock feather. She was just bizarre. You can see why every one had to go to her area to see what was new.
Jeanie was a perfect example of an antique dealer out-of- control, buy buy buy and then... where do you put the stuff?! She was in 3 shops and had a surplus of plenty of inventory, but still ...she would buy buy buy! If we were all talking and someone said they went to an auction, some one would always ask, "Was Smutzy there? Then next, "What did she buy!?" So consequently she always won the contest when everyone would get together and complain about how much stuff they had and where to put it all. Jeanie would trump us all ! She would start out with, "Don't tell Tom ( her husband... she started every conversation that way when she was talking about antiques. Poor Tom! )...but I rented another storage locker!" Of course the next obvious question was, "How many does this make Jeanie?" She would proudly say "Well...with this one, now I'm up to seven!!"
That was status! The only one that could half way come close to that was Shirley Moon, but that is yet a whole other blog !
Getting to know "Smutzy," as everyone affectionately called her, was an experience. She had an "eye" for the weird and could decorate with it and make people want her odd groupings. Now that is marketing! I have seen a couple buy a whole wall display and say they were going to take it home and put it exactly the same way on their wall. I would be thinking... Oh my...NO! People...Jeanie wasn't serious when she put that set of 50's pearls around the stuffed deer head's neck, and hung vintage beaded purses from it's antlers, and put the carved wolf head cane in it's teeth! But hey, if they think it's art, who am I to argue?
When I needed a name for my new "antique business" Smutzy was the one who named it. She walked through my spot and said, " Shirley, your spot looks like my spot, just a hodge podge of stuff!
I took that as a compliment! I became Hodge Podge Antiques.

Meet the Talented Lady...

Erna Mastney

Since I have told you about my mother-in-law.. I thought it was only fair to let you meet her. One of my favorite pictures of her is with my father-in-law Ed....so here she is.
Every occasion that a gift is given, members in our family can look forward to Erna giving each of us one of her wonderful, hand painted, porcelain treasures.

This porcelain box is one of my favorite presents. The roses here are on a cloth lined oval box, it is beautiful. Roses are the biggest challenge for painters. I can quote Erna as saying, " You can paint a thousand roses before you can create even one that resembles a rose!" Need less to say, I have yet to fire one permanently on a really nice piece of porcelain! Another example of one of Erna's gifts is a painted plate of morning glories. I am thrilled to have this plate hanging in my kitchen. Today's china painters are keeping alive a beautiful ancient art form. It requires delicate brush work and close attention to detail. A piece consists of multiple firings. After the pattern is drawn, a light coat of paint is carefully put on, leaving strategically placed highlights for where light would hit it, if the sun was to shine on it. This leaves areas that then you know would be in shadow. This is how the dimensions are put in your work. Then it is fired in a kiln. Next the second coating of paint is applied where more detail is placed... and shading, and highlights are emphasized. When you are finished, another firing is done. The third application of paint sometimes is the last, depending on what you are painting. This third step is where you put in all the strong "punch" accents to make the image "pop". This gives it the depth, and can make the difference between a mediocre piece and one that grabs your attention and draws you in, to study it further. This is a simplistic description of what china painting is. I hope it was enough to intrigue you to look closer at the old porcelain painted pieces you see in antique shops, and in stores you go in that carry modern day items of this medium.

porcelain artistry: an ancient art form

A flowered poppy pitcher I painted last year, one of my favorite flowers to paint.

I am very fortunate to have the best mother-in-law ever, and a husband that lets me travel with his mom on her many trips where she teaches and demonstrates her talent. Erna Mastney is a world renown Porcelain Artist. She started china painting in the early 1970's and has since traveled the world sharing her various techniques, and her personally designed studies. Her painted pieces are breathtaking. I have several of Erna's vases displayed in my antique shop. They are regularly mistaken for Oriental, Nippon pieces... which represents some of the most expensive, collectible, painted porcelain there is. What a compliment! But actually her style of painting is reflective more of a German, Dresden influence. She has visited the porcelain factories in Germany and seen first hand how the many artists there paint. Another strong influence in developing her own style, was Catherine Klein. A wonderful German painter that came to fame in the 1920's in Europe.

It wasn't long before I wanted to take lessons. What a privilege to be taught by such a remarkably talented person. I have been painting for a few years now. I have years of painting to get under my belt before I will consider myself a "porcelain artist." But it is a passion I share with a wonderful woman that I love dearly, and since she has the patience of Job... I might actually get good at this ancient world artform!

wild and crazy Liz

Another dealer in the Heirloom Cupboard, next to Shirley Moon's section was Liz Scala. Liz was tall and thin with wild blonde hair. She wore 50's cat's eye glasses and red lipstick. She was in her 50's and you could tell she had been very attractive in her day, still was. No one had let her know she was getting old, she walked like she was on the "runway" and dressed like a 1950's movie star. She was from the "Burg"...as in Pitts "burg" and nothing in Ohio could compare to PA. Liz was a genuine character! She talked with an accent, don't know from where... not Pittsburg at any rate! It was sort of a mix between southern belle and the Bronx...it added to her appeal. We all said that if Liz's arms were tied to her sides she wouldn't be able to talk. You had to give her plenty of room when she was telling you something because her arms would be a'swingin'! She was entertainment with a flair. I enjoyed Liz. She was the one Shirley Moon did her impressions of the most, and Liz loved it!
Liz was a shrewd business woman, had her own shop at one time in Medina and she taught me about vendor's licenses, sales tax, and keeping inventory records. I owe a lot of my success today to that wild haired, crazy lady.

History...the mystery of antiques...

Antiques aren't just objects, they are not something that should just be put on a shelf and forgotten. They represent fragments of history, and history is made up of events and people that lived those events. Everything from the past has it's own story to tell. Every antique had a life all of it's own. If you look close enough you can feel what message there is to be had. Only a few people truly get the messages. When you do make the connection... your life becomes richer and takes on new meaning. You receive a renewed sense of what life is about, and a new appreciation of the people that made the world you now live in, the place that it is.
Most old things were hand crafted by someone who took complete pride in their work. What they made was usually out of something that meant many hours of labor to obtain before they could even start on what they wanted to make. For example, to make a table or dresser, required cutting down a tree and doing the many steps to turn that wood into a board to be used to make what it was you had in mind. To weave a blanket or knit a sweater also required getting the wool in the first place. Shearing a sheep! And most people back then were raising that sheep! What a thought. Antiques represent hard work, initiative, forethought, and ingenuity. Having respect and appreciation for antiques and the people that made them can take you down a whole new path of discovery. History lessons with very interesting props.

Two of the Heirloom family....

After moving into the Heirloom Cupboard, I spent the next year concentrating on learning the antique business. I felt like I had joined a new family, and was starting a new part of my life. The Heirloom Cupboard had 12 dealers. I can't just clump them together as a group of dealers. I need to introduce them because each one of them has a story and each represents a friendship and learning experiences to me. Plus, quite frankly, each one was a character! To this day I still think of them fondly and with appreciation for their taking me under their wings and teaching me so many things that would have taken me many years to have learned on my own.
As you came in the front door of the Heirloom Cupboard, on the left was Jane Riegger's section. It was her shop and she set the standard high. Everything in her spot was a true antique. She spent the winter in Cape Coral, Florida and spent those months buying antiques from great off-the-beaten-path shops and markets. Her prices were high but the quality and uniqueness of the piece, was what make the price worth it. Where would you find another one like what she had? There lay the key to her success. I scoured her spot with a fine tooth comb reading her descriptions and memorizing prices of what things were. I ordered all the latest price guides, Judith Miller's, Kovel's... my Schroeder's became my new best friend. I'd look up all her things and soon realized she know very well what things went for. Jane was a professional and a great business woman.

On the right as you came in the door was Shirley Moon's area. Anyone who was in the business, knew Shirley Moon. Shirley was delightful. She was in her mid 60's then, with white, blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that always had a twinkle in them. She had a great sense of humor, and could do impressions of the people in the shop. She did them so well that you would be laughing uncontrollably. That only made her do them more. Shirley was an actress, did a lot of community theater. Her maiden name was Barnum, her relatives were of the Barnum and Bailey Circus fame. She loved theatrics and was very quick witted. Shirley was an authority on "TheVictorian Woman". She gave talks on this subject at the Institute of Chatauqua in Jamestown, New York, and Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. She lived in Berea near the college in a big Victorian home, the kind that looked like the southern plantation mansions with the long porches on the front both on the ground floor and with French doors opening out onto the porch on the second floor. Shilrey had it decorated completely with antiques and white wicker furniture. I loved visiting there. Her house was my dream home.
She also knew everything there was to know about English Tea's and High Tea. One time she called me and said get dressed up I'm taking you to Tea. She picked me up in her big black Cadillac, dressed to the 9's with a big floppy brimmed hat on with huge roses all around the rim with a big satin ribbon floating down her back. She had on white gloves that went up to her elbows. We drove all the way to Sandusky for Tea...with her talking all the way... telling stories one right after the other. I sat listening, all the while amazed how one person could have such an interesting, fun-filled, accomplished life. Sandusky was a two and a half hour drive away! You had to love Shirley Moon.
Shirley's spot reflected her personality. Light and bright, whimsical, and flowery. It was full of flowered fabric covered pillows and floral china dishes, white wicker, lace and frills. She was shabby chic... before shabby chic was the craze.

My chalk ladies....

Back in the 30's mothers and daughters painted chalk ladies as a craft. They are all different sizes, cast from a mold. I have a vast collection of them. A lot are from the same mold ...just how she has been painted makes them look so very different. Some are beautiful and perfectly painted, with intricate details of painted flowers on the bodices of the molded chalk gown, and garlands are painted in her hair. I have other ones that I love just as much because a little girl has painted her. The lips are smudged with red paint and the eyes are not quite aligned right, and usually the dresses are painted in all the same color. but they are all lovely in their own way. Every once in a great while I will find another one in my wanderings. I always have to get her, and feel happy as I squeeze her into my already crowded china cabinet shelves with the others.

the sound of music...

My victrola... a princess style from the 1920's

Milan, Ohio, is the birth place of Thomas Edison. There is a museum in this small town full of his inventions. You can tour his house where he grew up, a small white clap board house, modest and quaint, but the antiques in it are beautiful. Milan also has a few great antique shops. One which only deals in vintage phonographs and other sound equipment. It carries a slew of old 78 records too, that would take you a full day to look through. I love this place! It is called The Sights and Sounds Of Edison... Antique Shop. I recommend a visit to Milan as a great way to spend a day.

He made the right decision...

I think one of the most valued possessions anyone can own is a hand sewn quilt made by a Grandma. What can possibly be more treasured than something made from the clothes that your relatives wore, cut into pieces and tediously pieced together with needle and thread. Then lovingly quilted onto a backing to hold it together. They are works of art with a functional purpose that require many, many hours to complete.
I have a newly found friend that told me of his Mom passing away, and the family's possessions were being divided up among him and his siblings...He was given the choice between picking the many photographs of the family...or his great grandmother's crazy quilt top...A wonderful collection of vivid silk fabrics all sewn together and embroidered with fancy stitchings along the seams where the pieces were joined. The quilt never got finished for one reason or another...but it was still a wonderful masterpiece. What a hard choice to make! My friend was a young man in his mid twenties then, and surprisingly he picked the quilt. When he shared that story with me, it gave me an insight into who he really was deep inside. I had found a kindred spirit.
Things have changed since the 1970's. Now he can borrow the pictures that his sister got and scan them into his computer and have a CD made of his family's photos ... But nothing can duplicate his precious quilt. His heart had made the right choice.

(The quilt picture in this post..is not the quilt made by my friend's great grandma)

ya godda love him...

...why do we all have such a strong desire to again live a life that exists only in our past?

At times, we all search for meaning in our lives, often in vain. Perhaps the answer is not to find meaning, but to give it meaning...