A turkey hooked rug

Sunday we had a pleasant visit from Gina, a rug hooker we made acquaintance with long years back.  As she is an antique collector, a doll lover and a fine rug maker, we had a lot to talk about.   Here is a picture of Gina and her rug, hooked on a pattern from Country Gatherings.

We enjoy a visit from friends with similar interests to our own. Jack and I miss the company of people who used to come see us when we had our antique shop. There were always interesting people discussing American Decorative Arts of earlier times,  furniture, paint colors, fireplace iron, textiles, pewter, and on and on.. Where was it made, who made or used it, and how and when? What are the good/better/best points of this item?  How should it be restored? (Or should it be!) 
This was an endlessly fascinating study and dialog for us, a tapestry of interests so wide and varied it could never all be learned. That was what being a dealer in antiques meant to us, not the more publicised TV image of making some great find, bought for pennies and worth great sums.    Rather we concentrated on learning to see.. and to identify and evaluate what we found. Form and surface and provenance were our measures of value.   We both are grateful to have had the good fortune to live this lifestyle for a few years.  Our home is filled with reminders of all those years of adventure, very saticefying indeed!

Sun Porch a work in progress.

There are two wing chairs to watch birds from in the cooler parts of the day. A tavern table provides a nice breakfast spot for two.

Living and dining room

The atrium beyond the dining table extends the dining area nicely. I hope to do a pretty job with the little atrium garden.  The television in front of the fire place is strangely invisible to some visitors, the eye accepts a black rectangle there as a glass screen over a fireplace.  From the seating area, one can see onto the sunporch, making that view larger also.  Butterfly tables are our special pets, we have worked three into this room!  Along with a gateleg and two tavern tables as well as an unusual candle stand not shown yet.  I drew diagrams for days to get as many favorites in as possible.   The high ceilings led us to decorate up high all over. 

From the Entry Hall

The  blue cupboard is straight ahead, the kitchen is to the right of center,  and the tall case clock and sitting area are to the left.

Antiquarian's man cave

Jack is pretty well settled in now, he is storing extra stoneware in the floor in one corner, but the rest seems settled. The bonnet top desk, highboy with a shaped apron, lovely low boy and bow front chest, a corner chair and a portrait he likes because it looks like one of our daughters to him, are all favorites.   There is a computer at a desk in a deep closet, and other collections including lots of Buddy Holly records.  Jack added a shelf above a window to show some of his Boston/Charlestown pottery.   A room size oriental rug covers the floor, it used to be our living room rug.

I Can Just See This.

Dear Eydth and Jack,

I have been sitting here at my computer since I put the dogs to sleep for the night. And quickly went to my computer. It's nearly 10:00 now and I have devoured Jack's article on the rifle. I have spent most of my time until now, trying to make a response on your blog--couldn't remember my password for Google (probably made a long time ago by Clark)-but in the meantime, long story-short. I said: That I was so happy that he told me about his Bunker Hill rifle on my last visit with you both.  He has so much knowledge about antiques, their history, and etc. that I would love to see him write many articles on all of his interests. He is really terriffic!  

His article brought back so many memories for me, and I remember getting to Brimfield very early and trying to use a flashlight. It was so dark that I found my self going around areas twice because I actually got lost. And could not see a thing. The funniest thing was on Clark's and my first time there, waiting with all the dealers lined up and ready for their rush like to free land in Okla. Clark was propted against a tree watching what happened, and I got caught in the race to help the dealers unload their wagons. For the first, and last, time in my life, I found myself up in an open truck with my hand on one handle of a huge great basket, and a woman grabbing the other handle. I won! Ha! But never tried that again. Clark said that they actually shot a gun in the air to start the mayhem and let the dealers in---but I never heard it from the roaring crown gone wild. I think that was the time we found you two at the ice cream store, and I was never so glad to see anyone in my life. ! Well, I tried to get smart with a cart and got up to the fence to go in another area, one time when we ran in to John and Bea K, I had a perfect position when they opened the gate--except my cart was too wide to go through the gate--I nearly got stompted to death, until John just lifted my empty cart over my head and over the fence to the other side. Wow, antiques are dangerous. Well, I could go on and on, the the old clock has just struck 10:00 p.m. and I am dying for sleep.

But please tell me, Jack, that you will write for us again--- Love, Virginia

Redware Bowl, Trifle or Treasure

Like so many adventures on our many New England buying trips, this one began when I  met a dealer at Brimfield while examining some of his early pieces. He explained that he mostly dealt in later decorator Items from local Coastal Connecticut estates, as that was what he could find and make a profit on, but occasionally came upon older goods from the same households and had just purchased a group of redware and not had time to pack them up for the sale. His shop was on the southern coast of Connecticut. Always anxious to find a new source, we agreed to go there that afternoon. Coincidently the name of the shop was “The Source”.

We were staying in Massachusetts and would have to drive across Connecticut to get there and turn around and go back to our motel that evening, a daunting drive after a very full day, but Edyth was game so off we went. It’s always a mess getting thru or around Hartford and we were thinking maybe this was a foolish errand.

We called and the gentleman met us at his shop as planned. The shop had nice things but not our style until he showed us five pieces of redware. We are always on the lookout for nice American redware pieces for our shop or collection. I’m sure we have sold several hundred pieces of redware from our many trips up East. There was a nice turkshead mold, a small jar, and two undecorated redware dishes, plus a small footed bowl or handleless cup with bands of slip around the outside. The interior was completely covered with slip except for leaf shaped voids around the upper edge. I could hardly contain my excitement in finding such an unusual and attractive piece. I quickly agreed to purchase the group and we packed it up to head back to Massachusetts to be ready for the next day of shopping at Brimfield.

It is rare to find small delicate redware pieces that have survived a hundred and fifty or two hundred years intact. I have seen photos of a similar form from digs at early potterys, but never one decorated in this manner.    To get this design, I assume the potter must have applied the leaves before applying the slip and after the slip had completely dried, removed the leaves and then applied the slightly yellow lead glaze before firing it. The shape of the leaves reminds one of the much later Tea Leaf Ironstone, with a luster leaf design. The little bowl is 3 inches tall and 4 1/2 inches wide.

I feel it may be late 18^th or early 19^th century, possibly from coastal Connecticut or Massachusetts. Has anyone seen anything similar or have an opinion? Would love to hear from you…….Jack