Rain's Thursday Art Date: Antique

It's Thursday and that means we're meeting at Rain's for her Thursday Art Date.  This week, the theme is Antique. 

All I have to do is visit my own home for antiques.

I think I like this view much better, because it shows some of the goodies I  have to put away when I get my Christmas items out.

Bleubeard never cares what the house looks like as long as he can stay away from Squiggles.

Here I've caught him on one of my dining room chairs.  He knows he's in trouble from the look on his face.

Speaking of dining room table and chairs, when my antique dealer found this table, he called me.   He said he had never seen a claw foot table like this before.  Usually the feet are around one large central column.  This one has four columns, each with a claw, as well as a small central column.   Note the beading around the table edge, too.

It took me over a year to find these four matching chairs.  They were almost as expensive as the table, because I had to pay for new caning in each of the chairs, in addition to the cost of each chair.  Many friends tried to convince me to buy mismatched chairs for an eclectic look, but I refused.  I'm glad I did.

This sideboard was a compromise.  I have always collected quarter sawn oak, but this is straight cut oak.

This was the first piece I ever purchased.  I was just out of high school and was living in an apartment.  After I bought it, I got buyer's remorse, even though it was the quarter sawn oak I knew I wanted to collect.  I paid $9.00 for it at an auction.  However, a man told me he would buy the pulls from me if I wanted to get rid of them.  Note there are 10 pulls, so my purchase didn't feel so bad after that.

This is the second piece I ever purchased.

I got it at a garage sale and had to borrow a truck and a very strong helper to get it home.  It weighs a ton and is designed in the traditional Arts and Crafts style popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright.

I have two of these Hoosier style kitchen cabinets that sit in my dining room.  They are, from what I can tell, from the 1920s.  Each is slightly different.   The one on the left holds the traditional flour bin, while the one on the right holds a pie safe.

This is looking from my kitchen to my dining and living room.  Interior design experts will tell you not to line your furniture up against a wall like I have, but I have no other way to place these pieces otherwise.  Note my phone is gone from this location now.  It now sits on my desk in the office because I no longer have the DSL connection.

I'm not sure you can call my kitchen table and chairs antiques, but I inherited them from my grandparents (who raised me).  I think they came from the 1930s or 1940s, from what information I could find on the internet.

This is my serpentine map chest.  I traded it to a friend who wanted my piano stool/bench.

This is my antique lawyer's (sometimes called Barrister) bookcase.  It holds books I plan to alter, or ones I use to find just the right phrases.  To its right is a sampling of my altered books.  Both cats love to play in them, so I'm surprised they've lasted this long.  Other items I collect include antique letter openers, scales, weights, and musical instruments.

I also have two very old view finders.  At one time I had over 100 of the special cards that you place in each to create a 3-D image, but they were lost in a move, so now I only have a few.  The egg scale is the first I've ever seen and I was lucky to find it.  And of course, anywhere you look, you will find a rocking horse or six.

A rather poor shot of my grandmother's sewing machine she sewed on till the day she died.

You might be able to read that it is a New Home and not a Singer.  I also have several very old musical instruments on this wall, too.

I really need a better photo of my grandmother's sewing machine.  She refused to allow me to buy her an electric sewing machine after she saw how frustrated I was with the one I bought myself.  I never got the tension right on it, and sold it after I owned it a few weeks.  BTW, as I noted when I first showed this photo, that is NOT dirt on the baseboard, but where I have scrubbed the paint off the wood. Now the cat tower hides it.

I decided to take a few photos of my grandmother's sewing machine.

When you open the lid, the sewing machine raises and the part showing "New Home" flips up under the machine.

I'm fairly certain this is an antique typewriter.  All I need is a new ribbon.

The legs on the table are true ball and claw. 

This is a photo of the table taken two years ago in the winter.  The ball is glass and each ball has at least one bubble in it.  The claws are brass.  They attach to the legs of my library end table, also quarter saw oak.

This is a very rare signed Bradley Hubbard slag glass, leading, brass, and cast iron electric lamp.

The reason it is so rare is because the base matches the lamp shade.  This is circa 1900 and one of my most valuable antiques.  I checked ebay and one is selling for $1200.00 and $95.00 shipping fee.  I paid $800.00 for mine in the early 1990s.  For awhile it depreciated, but I see they are now increasing in value again.  It's often been called the "poor person's Tiffany lamp."


Here are some very old photos of my guest bedroom.
I needed a new camera when I took these photos.

Here is a partial photo of my highboy.

Next to it is an antique baby carriage or pram as they are called across the pond.

There are side isinglass windows on the pram.  I found this at the curb ready for the annual neighborhood clean-up one year.  That's why I like to peruse the neighborhood the night before.  Note the night stand with its half serpentine front.

Yes, I always overdo the pillows, but that's the only place I have to show off the rocking horse pillows.

Apparently the only photo I have of my dresser shows it is a full serpentine design.  Also in the photo is an old Arts and Crafts style plant stand,

but I prefer the Victorian one I keep in my dining room. 

It serves its purpose, though, because it holds some of my altered books.  The rug is definitely an antique, because it belonged to my grandmother's great-aunt.

You can see the full serpentine front of the highboy in the reflection of the dresser mirror.

Technically not antiques, these are quite old, except the cinnamon sticks and the bell I made from a fan and silk flowers.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the antiques I have in my home.  All photos taken by me.  All vignettes created by me, although they often change, since it's easier than moving furniture.  Bleubeard was thrilled I included him in person this week.

I probably don't say it often enough, but thank you ever so much for stopping by.  I am truly grateful to you, my friends, followers, readers, and lurkers for visiting.  Please also join me at Rain's Thursday Art Date. 

Today is Day 19 of AEDM and I joined a link-up party showcasing my antiques.