Now what?

After the question, "What did we just do?" The next question we asked was, "Now what?"

We decided on breakfast. The Medina Diner didn't serve alcohol, plus it was 9:45 in the morning... a shame, because we both could have used a drink!

While we were in Medina we decided to stop in at our attorney's office and let him know that we would need his assistance with some paperwork. We told him we had just bought the little train depot on Liberty Street at an auction at the court house. He proceeded to tell us that was impossible, had the depot been up for auction today, he would have been there and bought it! He had been hired by a private party to buy the building when it came up for auction. That date was the 28th of September. We showed him our receipt for the check we wrote for the 10% down on the sale. He studied it carefully for a few minutes, he then said, " Oh #%&#! " To comfort him, I said "Larry, we are as shocked as you are!"

We got the keys to the Medina Train Depot on my birthday, September 14th. I spent the next week planning what to do. There were business classes available at the Medina Career Center. I thought that should be the first thing to do. I signed up. The classes started on the Tuesday of the following week. My mother-in-law, Erna, always wanted to take a business class, so she signed up with me. Wow, this was definately a different direction from nursing school.

I knew I had to make adjustments in my schedule now. I had just too much on my plate! I thought the thing to do to ease up some time would be pull out of The Heirloom Cupboard. I went to see Jane to tell her about my new shop and about my decision to move out. Of course, I wasn't telling her news she hadn't already heard. Everyone was buzzing about the train depot sale, and that Dennis and I had bought it. Before I could say anything, Jane said," Shirley, congratulations, this doesn't mean you are moving out of Heirloom now does it? I looked her straight in the face and said......Of course not!!

What can I say? I told you about that stern school teacher voice she has, it gets me everytime.

What did we just do?

It was a Tuesday...the first week in September 1994. I was working at the Heirloom Cupboard with Jack. It was a slow day. People were more concerned about school shopping for their kids, than about browsing in an antique shop. I understood, I had just bit the bullet on that one myself. Our household was growing up. This fall, we only had two left in high school, two were in college and one was working, deciding on what she wanted to do with her future.

I hadn't seen Pam for a few weeks. With her quitting the nursing job, and not being in The Heirloom Cupboard any longer, we had to find specific times for us to get together. Our schedules didn't permit it to happen very often lately.

Karen came into the shop and while putting some fresh merchadise on her shelf, she mentioned that there was going to be an auction of the old Train Depot in Medina, on Friday of next week, the 11th of September. I thought about Pam and how she had been so excited about opening a shop and ended up losing rent money on the deal.

At dinner that night I told Dennis.( By the way, have I even mentioned him yet? He is my other half... my better half...in alot of ways.) I told him about my day at the shop, and mentioned what Karen said about the little train depot going up for auction, the one Pam had rented. Nothing more was said about it.

Friday, on the 11th of September, I got rudely awakened at 8:00 in the morning by Dennis. I was going to enjoy a much needed day off and planned on sleeping in.
He said, "Get up! Get ready! Let's go see what the story is with that little train depot. Let's go to the auction! "
I had totally forgotten about it. I was surprised he remembered. But...say the word auction to me and I can be ready in no time.

We entered the west side door of the Medina Court House at 3 minutes to 9. The room was packed. I glanced around at the faces looking at Dennis and me as we walked in, and recognized some. The room was filled with quite a few antique dealers! In the corner, with her husband, was Karen. I wasn't surprised. Why wouldn't she want a chance at her own shop, she ran The Heirloom Cupboard for Jane when Jane needed her to, so she certainly would know how to run one of her own.

The bidding started exactly at 9:00. Karen was the first to bid. Dennis looked at me, leaned over and said, "Honey, just how serious are you about having your own shop?" That question made me chuckle. I had stood in the train depot one time with Pam. I had no clue what condition the building was in, and Dennis knew even less than I did about it. He had for the first time, looked it as we drove by it on the way to the court house. He hadn't even pulled into the driveway to take a better look. We couldn't take the time to, because we would have missed the auction if we had of! Then, there was the question...what did I know about opening and running an antique shop? As much as I might have dreamed about it, I knew practically nothing!

I replied, "Well, it might be fun..."

So, Dennis bid against Karen. A few more people jumped in to bid. The volley of bids was fast, first one then another. Two woman that were standing together looking nervous, wanted to bid, but as the bidding continued...they never did. The amount kept going higher. At each increase Dennis would lean over to me and ask, "Are you sure?' I would shake my head yes. All eyes shifted back and forth as Karen and Dennis bid. Finally, Karen stopped bidding. There was silence.
Then a business man in a grey suit, standing kind of to the side of me, looked at the clip board in his hand and raised his pen in the air. He added the next bid. Dennis again leaned over to me and asked, " How bad do you want this?" By now I had the fever. I was at an auction! We were in the thick of the bidding. I wasn't stopping now! I didn't even know if we had enough money at this point... I just hoped Dennis knew if we did! I just wanted to win the bid! Dennis raised the bid. Again and again he leaned over, asked, "keep bidding?" I would nod yes, he would bid...until finally the man in the suit stopped bidding.
We had won.
The auctioneer announced, "This property is sold." Dennis and I just stood there. All eyes were on us. We were stunned. I looked at the clock on the wall over the auctioneer's left shoulder, it read 9:08. I looked at Dennis, he looked at me and we both started laughing. In a little more than a hour from the time Dennis had woke me up that morning ... we had bought the Medina Train Depot. We whispered almost in unison to each other, "What did we just do?"

Wallace Nutting...number 2 of my favorite artists....

"I am under no illusions as to my pictures. I am not an artist, and it is most disagreeable to me to be called one. I am a clergyman with a love of the beautiful."
Wallace Nutting, 1936

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wallace Nutting is my second favorite artist. His artistry was with a camera.

My mind is always wandering down a new path. I always want to take a new way when I go some place. Years ago, the first pictures that I came across of Wallace Nutting's were just that, pictures of a path or road trailing off into a woods or along a river or creek. I felt them beckon me. I found myself wanting to hop into the picture and follow the path. I started to collect them.

His pictures also have brilliant patches of color in them...a sunrise of bright pink or sunset of deep scarlet, with vivid blue waters of a pond or stream. Just beautiful.

Wallace has aways been a favorite because of who he was. He used to stand in the church pew next to his mother, at the age of three, and preach out loud along with the minister giving the sermon. No amount of shhh-ing would hush him up. At eight he was giving sermons to his family members sitting in the parlor.
He was smart, talented, and driven. Wallace graduated from Harvard in 1883,with honors. He then moved to Maine to be a minister in a church in the middle of nowhere...much to his professors' disappointment.

Wallace loved nature and when he found time he would ride his bicycle around the countryside and take pictures. He loved old buildings and tried to educate people of their value to future generations.

He said, "America with its abundant materials every where for dwellings that might outlast the ages, will fail disgracefully unless she can learn that the monuments which are nearer than any other to feeding the heart and enshrining history, are old dwellings."

After reading that quote, my mind yelled, "So true!" My first trip to England was when I was a teenager, to learn about and see where I was born. I visited the church my parent's got married in. I took a picture of a sign in the side garden of the courtyard, it read "Watch out for Falling Bricks." The old chapel was built in the 1600's! I remember thinking, where I live they would have torn that wonderful old building down! Up with the new! In the United States the mentality is...new is always better. My eyes were opened to the many buildings that are being left to ruin, or torn down, with no value given to them for what they were, what architectural period they were built in, or what history the building represented to the community. I photograph old homesteads and barnyards and old buildings, and houses where ever I go. I feel the need to at least preserve them, even in a small way, for the memory of what once was. For his insight, and the passion that insight validated in me, I will always be grateful to Wallace Nutting.

Wallace died at his home in Framingham, MA in 1941, at age 79. Even though he was reluctant to be called an artist, he recorded America as it was. As it will never be again. He wanted people to have an appreciation for the beautiful. He labored more to develop character than monetary success. He was a remarkable man.

Wallace Nutting also write many books, and was an authority on American homes. A section of his photographs were dedicated to the colonial home life of early Americans. He had a hard time finding the right props for those pictures. He started making pieces of furniture for that purpose. He ended up with a furniture factory making reproduction period pieces and employing over 200 people! His furniture is highly collectible today. He was a business man of great wealth. That never changed him, he remained a humble man.

Pam and I dream.....

It was summer 1994... Pam and I were getting a good rhythm down. Working our nursing jobs ...and every chance we got, we would be at an auction or off to a flea market or estate sale. "You couldn't have great sales if you didn't have great things to sell!" was our motto!

Most everything in my life was secondary to my little antique venture. As they say , I was getting the disease bad....Antique-Pox.

Pam and I were toying with the idea of our own shop. We were dreaming big. I even talked to Dick Stoskoff, who owned a building in downtown Valley City, about renting the space next to the little grocery store to put a shop in. After talking him into it, Pam and I realized the space wouldn't be big enough... but the seed now was planted in our minds...

July was my first anniversary in the Heirloom Cupboard. Pam and I spent it busy scouring flea markets searching for treasures to sell. The competition was fierce. We soon learned if you wanted to get the really cool things you had to get there before Karen did. She had an uncanny way of being every where we were, but we were always a little bit too late. She would be there before day break, flashlight in hand making her purchases before the people could get their possessions off of their trucks. She also had a network of pickers that saved things just for her. Remember I told you she was a shrewd business woman!

Another of the places Pam and I looked at to rent was a little train depot in Medina. A man named Bruce owned it and he had a section of it to rent. Pam jumped at the chance! I got the phone call from Pam and I went up to see what it was all about. It turned out to be the front section of a long narrow building. There were other businesses in the building, all with their own entrances off of a long narrow platform that ran the length of the building.

One of the businesses was Seven Sisters. They made cut out wooden pieces in the shape of buildings ... each painted with one of the buildings in Medina on them....the court house, the Medina fire station, the gazebo on the square, the Medina Train Depot ( the place we were looking at! I got oneof the wood cut outs of the Depot a few months later... it is the picture posted here with the seven sisters on the porch ), and The A. I. Root Company, to name a few. The A.I. Root Company is the business Medina was built around. It is Medina's largest company. Mr. Root founded the company to supply the world with honeybee equipment. He also was the creator of Gleaning Magazine. A monthly magazine about beekeeping. Medina is also known world wide for A.I.Root Candles. The Medina train depot was used by A.I.Root for all their shipping, way back from the early part of the century. It was situated in the long wide driveway of A.I. Root..right next to the railroad tracks.

This picture shows the Depot by the tracks and the large main building of the A.I.Root Company with the driveway running between. The rail road tracks are on the east side of the depot...the entrances to the shops in the building with the long walkway was on the west side of the building. This picture was taken in the 1970's.

The another section of the Depot was rented to a man who made intricate metal railroad cars and engines. I thought that was appropriate for him to have his shop in a depot.

The back section was rented to The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad Company. They had an office used for dispatching men and train cars from this area to Brewster where the main office was, south of Medina about 60 miles way.

When I met Pam at the Depot, my first impression was ..What a great place for an antique shop!! This will be perfect! Pam paid Bruce the rent. We started to plan.

I wasn't a partner in this venture... Pam had just quit her nursing job and wanted to do something with antiques full time. I would be a dealer in Pam's new shop. I was happy with that. She grew up knowing her Mom's antique business and I had enough on my plate with 4 teenagers at home, a son in college, my nursing job, my husband's business ( that I did all the paperwork for ) and.... my space at the Heirloom Cupboard. Adding another antique spot to fill and work 4 more days a month in the shop was really putting me on over load. I really didn't need the responsiblity of also running a shop. I was glad Pam was going to do this and I supported her 100%!

Pam and I were celebrating!! It was happening! Pam was getting her own shop! We were in a panic to find a few more dealers wanting to rent a space. We were planning road trips to large estate sales to get fresh merchandise. Time was wasting! Pam wanted to open the doors as soon as possible!



It never happened....



The Medina Train Depot was in foreclosure. Bruce rented to Pam knowing full well she would never open her shop. We went to see him and he was gone. The Depot was closed. Pam never got her money back.

those wonderful hand painted trays

Notice what a nice effect a hand-painted tray has ...used as a backdrop in a display...

Hand-painted trays are very collectible and are both beautiful and useful. The serving tray is a symbol of hospitality. Almost anything... sparkling crystal glasses filled with iced tea, an assortment of elegant appetizers. a selection of rich desserts – or even just finger sandwiches, all look more inviting when arranged on a serving tray lined with a paper lace doily.
I have a small collection of hand-painted metal trays that I've picked up in my wanderings over the years. None are truly antiques – most are from the 1940's through the 1960's – but each one has a certain vintage charm. Some are simple and round with a single rose painted in the center. Others are more elaborate with cut-out handles or fluted and scrolled rims.

My favorite one is the black one I have pictured here. It is from the 40's and artist signed.

These trays are often mistakenly called "tole" trays because they are painted in the folk-painting style which uses certain strokes to create the image of flowers and other objects and effects. But tole painting is a specifically French term.
Tole painting is a more disciplined style of painting...where as these trays are painted free-style.
Painted metal trays have been popular in this country since colonial times. Later they were mass produced by companies like Nashco Products in New York.
Painting on tin continues to be a popular craft.
Most of my trays are black, which is the traditional color. But I also look for other colors, particularly sage green and dark red, but one of my favorites happens to be one painted yellow with sunflowers ( I have it pictured here).
It is obvious that the vintage trays I find have been well-used because the paint is faded and scratched. I like that shabby chic look. A few, in better condition, have spent their time on display. They make a dramatic effect when hung strategically on a wall. A number of the trays in my collection are scattered throughout other rooms of my house. They make great backdrops for grouping of things on display.
Some would say that these trays aren't art pieces because they don't have the same quality as the truly rare examples of hand-painted tin that were created more than 100 years ago. That doesn't matter to me. Most of my trays were painted by amateurs, people like you and me. I admire the time and energy that went into the colorful, stylized flowers and geometric designs painted on each one. I recently bought 12 plain trays at an restaurant auction...they are oval ,black and about 14"x 10"and they are already worn from years of use. I can't wait to paint them! Oh, if we didn't have to sleep, there might be enough time in a day to get done what we want to do!
Painted metal trays had increased in value up until the mid 1990's but because of them being so readily available on E Bay and other online auctions the prices have dipped. The artist-signed ones have held their value.
We're entering the season of entertaining, a time when our homes are opened to friends and family for cookouts and picnics. It's the perfect time to bring out a pretty tray!...

Listen for the compliments!!

creations on a canvas, with a needle and yarn...

An oval framed floral needlepoint is a classic addition to any home decor
.Needlepoint pillows are one of the fun finds in an antique shop and
they add a vintage
look and pretty
visual
to a settee or chair.

This framed needlepoint piece is from the early 1900's. Needlepoint is an artform that I love. I can not believe the detail in this piece done with a needle and yarn. The shading in it amazes me. It is 32" x 24" and very pretty...my picture of it doesn't do it justice...I have it hung above my fireplace.


Needlepoint is a form of embroidery where canvas is stitched with yarn. Needlepoint stitches are actually easy to learn. This needlecraft is often referred to as "tapestry," due to its woven look. The basic supplies needed for needlepoint consist of: canvas, needlepoint/tapestry needles, yarn, and a frame to tack your canvas on to keep it taught as you do your stitches.

There are conflicting opinions as to the terms describing needlepoint. The differences may result from the fact that needlepoint has come down to us from various countries and in various stitches, the most common stitch is half of a cross-stitch, which is also called ‘Tent stitch’.
Needlepoint-tapestry is an often-used expression which shows the relation of needlepoint to the tapestry designs of the middle ages. This is especially true when the needlepoint is worked in an upright Gobelin stitch, which gives the effect of woven tapestry.
This early work was done on a loosely-woven material like coarse linen. Later, canvases were made specifically for the purpose. As with all forms of embroidery it is very difficult to give exact dates, and even places where the technique originated. Canvas work dates back to the sixteenth century, but reached its peak during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Needlepoint was extremely popular in Colonial America where it was used for pictures, as an upholstery fabric, and for fashion accessories. Many parlor chairs have needlepoint seats and of course needlepoint pillows are popular finds in antique shops today.
During the Victorian era, Berlin work came into popularity. It was often characterized by brilliant worsteds (which is smooth compact yarn from long wool fibers used especially for firm napless fabrics, carpeting, or knitting)and combinations of geometric and floral designs. The majority of designs were developed as hand-painted patterns on squared paper, especially made for copying on canvas as a pattern to follow. The best of these designs came from Berlin, hence the name.
It then became popular again in the late 1920's. Now in the last few years it has increased in popularity again, as the "thirty something" generation has begun to appeciate the crafts of their grandmothers, such as knitting, crocheting, embroidery, and yes, needlepoint. You can find designs and ready-to-sew packs available in many speciality shops all over the country.

one of my four favorite painters...R.Atkinson Fox

My Great Granny and Grandad Wilkes...on their farm in Shropshire, England . You can see the vines of the rambling rose bush all around the cottage door.




Back in the early decades of the 1900's, most middle class Americans adorned their walls with prints by R. (for Robert) Atkinson Fox. Later generations considered them old fashioned. Many turned up in the windows of thrift shops, or antique shops as families got rid of their grandmother's pictures to replace them with more modern looking ones. Now, the pendulum has swung back... Fox prints are eagerly collected and since the mid 1980's prices are rising...a sure sign of a hot collectable.
My collection of R. Atkinson Fox prints started when I saw a framed print of his of an English cottage, with wonderful informal gardens painted in vivid yellow and reds and blues. I had to have it!



My mom was born in Shropshire, England, on a farm, with a large cottage that had ivy, and rambling rose bushes growing all over the sides of the brick walls... only the leaded glass windows, and doors were left uncovered. It was situated on the hilly open fields by the Welsh border. When I visited the place of her birth, now, with my Uncle living there, I fell in love with the storybook image of it.
My Uncle Ron had kept up the rambling gardens of years past. My Great Granny and Grandad Wilkes were gardeners and took great pride in their flowers. Their gardens were like an English postcard. When I saw the Fox print on the wall of a consignment shop in Medina. I had to have it! He had captured my memory... of the feel of England... in a picture.

Fox was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1860, but immigrated to the United States somewhere between 1885 and 1890. A prolific painter, he worked as an artist both in Toronto and in the United States and appears to have enjoyed great commercial success during his lifetime. He worked for various publishers, including Brown and Bigelow of St. Paul, Minnesota, Edward Gross & Co. of New York, Master Art Publishers, Chicago, The Red Wing Advertising Company, and the Thomas D. Murphy Co. of Red Oak, Iowa among others.
His subjects ranged from landscapes, probably the most collectable today... to houses, gardens, portraits, Indians, ships, animals (horses, dogs, sheep, bears and foxes) and historic figures such as Washington, Lafayette, Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt. So far 400 Fox prints have been documented, with undoubtedly more to come.
Fox prints appeared on calendars and advertisements for railroads; some were done by framing companies. They showed up on postcards, puzzles, and even in the 1913 edition of the Farmers Homestead Almanac.
Fox was a talented and facile painter. He frequently painted from memory, aided by sketches, sometimes finishing a painting in a day's time. According to the research done on his work, many of his original paintings were oil on canvas.
Although many of his prints bear the signature R. Atkinson Fox, you will find many unsigned and untitled ones, due to the croppings of the print when framing it. Fox used pseudonyms as well. Perhaps he was unhappy with the way a painting turned out. Then sometimes the publisher insisted he use another name.
Fox married Anna Gaffney in 1903. They lived in New Jersey until about 1924, when he moved his family to Chicago and continued his work until his death in 1935 at the 74. Five of his eight children still survive and many of his paintings are still in their hands, as well as with private individuals.
I have heard many people say that Fox copied Maxfield Parrish,( my third favorite artist) I don't agree. Although they were artists and illustrators during the same era, they had different styles and techniques. Fox was also the more prolific painter, with more than 400 pieces already documented.

I always have my eye open to add to my collection... but now I have to pay a lot more money for one!