I’m pretty sure all you collectors know Wes Cowan from 13 years appraising on Antiques Roadshow and six years as a History Detective. Many of you might also know that he was raised in a household filled with Victorian antiques by a mother who liked all things “old” and that he turned his love of “old” into degrees in anthropology and archaeology; eventually teaching and then becoming Curator of Archaeology at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. But what you might not know is that Cowan has always been a collector.

As a child Cowan collected fossils, arrowheads, and china plates; as a young man in college, he collected antique photographs. In fact, if it weren’t for a passion for collecting he might never have become “Wes Cowan, Auctioneer,” let alone a regular on those TV shows. After 15 years of collecting photographs, Cowan had amassed what was, at the time, the best collection of Frank J. Haynes photographs & stereoviews — which he (somewhat painfully) sold to start his business.

When we met Cowan briefly before his Thursday night lecture, part of the Plains Art Museum’s Trash or Treasure event, it was really clear that his passion for collecting isn’t just some front to appease collectors or fans of the shows. Within the first few minutes the talk turned quickly to collecting. Not just asking us what we collect, but making an off-hand comment that he’s been kicking himself for not starting a collection of hotel door key cards earlier. It’s just the sort of comment you’d expect a traveling collector to make.

Once he began his talk, Cowan focused on the appeal of History Detectives. He said that the show “taps into our inherent interests in the history of our country and the history of our families.” His enthusiasm for collecting and understanding of collectors was clear as he talked about how objects hold stories and how collectors should think of themselves as curators. (In my notes I wrote, “It’s like Wes reads my columns!”)

When discussing History Detectives, Cowan winced and ducked from imaginary tossed tomatoes as he told us that none of the stars of the show do the research. He explained that they may suggest objects and stories they run across but it’s the producers who select the objects & then assign them to the show’s researchers. Working in pairs, researchers have six weeks to do the research. From this research, a loose script or story lay-out is created, allowing the History Detective to provide off-the-cuff narration — including the inclusion of new or changing information as it comes in. Each History Detective then has three days to be filmed telling the story, with two days of travel. (With so much travel, it’s no wonder Cowan laments not starting that hotel door key collection earlier.)

Cowan feels honored to be a part of the show, saying, “It’s a privilege to be invited into homes & stories and to go & do what others can’t.” Watching him say it, there’s no doubt of the sincerity of his words.

Antiques Roadshow production has far more of a family atmosphere among the appraisers; not just because he’s been a part of the show for twice as long but because he and the other 75 appraisers work together at each show. And boy do the appraisers work at each show. Even if each city Roadshow visits airs as multiple episodes, it all was taped in one day. That means 75 appraisers work with 7,500 people — each one bringing multiple items — all in one day. None of the appraisers are compensated in any way for participating in Roadshow — flights, food, hotel etc. is all paid for out of each appraiser’s pocket. Each appraiser does it for the fun and exposure. Or I should say for the potential exposure. For while there are 12 million viewers, there is no guarantee that any appraiser will have a taped segment. As appraisers run into great stories, they have to make a pitch about being filmed to producers. If they make a strong enough case, they may get air time; if not, they’ve paid for the trip, done an exhausting day’s work, all for naught.

Well, almost naught…

Appraisers are allowed to set their cards and literature on tables. However, they are absolutely forbidden to solicit business. This includes verbally giving out their contact information. Cowan tells the story of a lady who asked how to contact him. He replied that he couldn’t say, but mentioned where his card could be found. When she stated she was unable to read the print on his card, Cowan told the woman she would need to get her granddaughter to read the card because he was forbidden to read it to her. That’s pretty strict; but just goes to show you how ethical Roadshow is.

As for his “day job” as auctioneer, Cowan says the business has changed a lot. “Farm auctions are no longer lucrative,” he said, and, “Sotheby’s & Christie’s have proven that auctioneering is all about marketing.” And he addressed the impact of the Internet too.

Within 5-7 years, eBay and the like have quickly shown that “rare” is indeed a relative term based on dealer opinion &/or experience. Once “rarely seen” things were shown for the readily available stuff they were, and the prices for low-to-middle end antiques & collectibles dropped drastically. However, the accessibility of the Internet has assisted those searching for scarce items, likely bringing stronger auction sales for high end antiques and art. He also said the accessibility was a good thing, allowing people to find objects, connect with other collectors & collecting groups, as well as research more easily.

On Friday, before the VIP Trash or Treasure dinner, we had yet another opportunity to talk privately with both Wes Cowan and his colleague, Danica M. Farnand, a specialist in American Indian Art. We have lots more to share from those conversations, but for now we’ll leave you with the one question that every collector & watcher of History Detectives wants to know: What are their favorite resources for research?

Farnand first mentioned Google, then added that she most often uses the Burke Museum database, as well as the Smithsonian database, AskArt.com, and Peabody’s database (but added that it was a bit difficult to use). Cowan added ArtFact.com, Prices4Antiques, Ancestry.com, ABE.com, CivilWarData.com, and The Library of Congress’ American Memory Historical Collection to the list. He also said that more and more universities and museums are adding their archives online, so the resources would only be growing.

Skeptical that they were hiding something, like secret databases and clandestine meetings in private libraries off limits to the average collector, we pressed a bit. “On History Detectives you have a lot of access to archives and libraries of organizations… Do average collectors have such access?”

“In my experiences, as a collector, researcher and auctioneer, I’ve found archivists & librarians are always anxious to help,” he said.

“Even if you’re not a History Detective?” we asked.

“It’s not like a librarian’s ever going to tell a researcher to go away,” he added, laughing. Then he leaned in, grinned and conspiratorily added, “But being a History Detective doesn’t hurt!”

It’s that time of year again — the Plains Art Museum is having their second annual Trash or Treasure event.

Hubby and I attended the event last year & had such a great time we were hoping it would become an annual event. Sue Petry of the Plains Art Museum says that along with being a fund raiser for the museum the event raises awareness of collecting and celebrates it. “We had a couple of great finds: a book someone found in a closet in an old house was worth $1,500 for example. People really enjoyed learning more about the things they collected,” she said.

I know we did.

This year’s event began three weeks ago with their weekly lecture series, which are free to the public. I’m not only all about “free stuff”, but as the series focuses on collecting, well, I’m so there.

Last week, October 2nd, the session was The History & Collectibility of North Dakota Cable Pottery, with University of North Dakota Ceramics Professor Donald Miller. The session began with a viewing of UND Clay: The Cable Years, a documentary produced by the UND Television Center, covering the history and legacy of the ceramics department at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.

It’s a fascinating story involving a chemist, the first state geologist, and founding dean of the School of Mines, Earle J. Babcock, who teamed up with an artist, Margaret Kelly Cable; both of them believing that the seemingly limitless supply of North Dakota clay would be a means of economic development, allowing North Dakota to create a pottery industry to rival Ohio and other states with a large pottery industry.

Under Cable’s direction, North Dakota clays & glazes were researched, examined, tested & perfected as part of the School of Mines. Ceramics classes were open to more than UND students, family members of faculty and local citizens were also involved. Because of this, UND School of Mines pottery has many levels in artistry. You have works from the many talented instructors (such as Cable; her sister, Flora Cable Huckfield; Frieda Hammers, Margaret Pachl; and Julia Mattson), talented students such as Laura Taylor Hughes (who went on to start Rosemeade), and average, everyday, folks with not-so-much talent.

Due to the number of years the UND School of Mines was open, from 1910 to 1963, you have many influences: Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and the Arts and Crafts movement. Popular designs feature regional interest such as crocus, prairie rose, wheat, flickertail, ox cart, cowboys, buffalo, horses, & Native American images.

One of the most famous examples of regional designs is the North Dakota Products vase. In 1926, Governor Sorlie asked Cable to create a single vase depicting an amazing number of North Dakota Products: corn, wheat, flax, clover, pigs, chickens, turkeys, cows, sheep, bees, potatoes, sugar beets, lignite coal, Dakota Maid flour, a pumpkin, a flickertail, a wild rose, a lump of clay and a cream can. Cable not only met the challenge, but did so with a stunning example of sgraffito (in which the blue glaze is scratched away to reveal the white of the pottery). While there was quite a demand for replicas of the presentation vase, Cable only made four of these beauties and denied all other requests. Donald Miller brought along one of the four North Dakota Product vases (the one which had belonged to Governor Sorlie). A collector next to me told me that it would likely fetch $25,000.

There I was, inches from it.

Some of the most coveted pieces are called bentonite pottery. Bentonite pottery, created by painting on a slip glazes of red, brown, creme, result in monochromatic yet vibrant works, such as these by Ruth Schnell, a Grand Forks resident who began UND ceramics classes when she was 46.

Along with the usual conditions issues with pottery, there are several things to know to look for in UND pottery. Authentic pieces will bear the cobalt blue School of Mines stamp — even the most uninspired pinch-pot can fetch $50 to $100, as long as it bears the proper UND School of Mines stamp. Not all pieces are stamped thus; some have a more simple UND stamp. Artist names can be confusing; not all student records exist to cross reference, some women signed their husband’s name, and Cable herself signed her Prairie Pottery pieces with “Maggie Mud.”

Good references are University of North Dakota Pottery: The Cable Years, second edition, by Donald Miller, the heavily illustrated UND POTTERY: a History and Comparative Study of the Art Pottery, by Ken Forester, and the UND North Dakota School of Mines pottery collection website will be adding additional images and information. There’s also The North Dakota Pottery Collectors Society, which has their own “Road Show”.

Because of this Trash or Treasure lecture series event, I learned much about UND pottery. I have Andy Maus, Mark Ryan, and Rusty Freeman of the Plains Art Museum to thank for that. They are the folks who choose sessions and select lecturers. Maus says the team, “attempts to reflect the diversity and interests of our collecting community and those curious about collecting. As a regional museum, we do whatever we can to reflect the interests, talents and diversity of our community through all of our programming.”

The Trash or Treasure event continues at 7 P.M. tonight, with Discovering the Past Through Objects: Adventures of a Real-Life History Detective, a lecture by Wes Cowan. Yes, the Wes Cowan of History Detectives. He and Danica M. Farnand of Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. are the headliners at Friday night’s VIP Appraisal Dinner and Saturday’s Appraisal Fair.

That means I have three “dates” with Wes Cowan this week!

If I was nervous last year, you can only imagine how much worse it is this year… It’s not like I have any UND pottery to take along.

Intellectually, I know I shouldn’t be intimidated. But it’s Wes Cowan! The kids and I have huge crushes on him. (The kids think I’m cool and want me to get Cowan to autograph a photo or something. How nice that I can really blame it all on the kids!)

The lecture tonight is free and open to the public. And there’s still time to get tickets for Friday & Saturday’s events. As an extra bonus, those attending can watch me stammer & sound like a school girl when talking with Cowan.

So, this is it. Living in Wisconsin has its pluses, wonderful springs, warm summers, lots to do in the cities and tons of auctions and yard sales. But at this time of year, I realize it is (almost) the end of another season of searching for treasures. It was a good year for the “hunt” and both hubby and I felt it was successful. One of my favorite sales was an unexpected one. Just driving down the road and there was a sign in bright pink! Hard to read, as too many are, just an arrow and then you follow it, hoping this was not left-over from a few weekends ago. At first glance it did not look to have much to offer. A garage with a long table inside but not much on it. Some newer figurines, a few kitchen items, candles and kids’ clothes. I was ready to get back in the car and off to the grocery store. But then one of the ladies asked “did you check out back? We have a porch that is just filled.”

Well, I had not, but I did an about-face and there was another full room of offerings. I found some beautiful jewelry! Two pieces of Miriam Haskell and an unmarked bracelet in rhinestones that just dazzles. Prices were not cheap, but I recognized the possibilities and (breaking my own rule), did not even quibble over price. I then spotted a whole group magazines, most of them from the 1920s and 30s. They were only 50 cents each and I grabbed them up. Half the fun of buying is the potential – I was able to sell the Haskell pieces with a nice profit and able to keep the rhinestone bracelet for myself! The magazines will be read through for ideas and the better ones put on ebay. Those with missing pages and such will be given to the grandkids who love to cut and paste. 

So, I was even with her and relished our next encounter so I could mention it. And it was only a few days later. Once again, waiting in line for a garage door to go up. She asked how I was doing and if I had found any treasures lately. At first I demurred, then said “Oh, yeah! There was a bunch of old watch fobs I discovered – oh, I remember, that was at the sale you had been to right before me.” Her face drooped a bit. (For those of you who think I am a meany-pants, that is not the case. My earlier tales of this woman will enlighten you and you’ll agree that she deserves anything she gets.)

There are a few sales this weekend, but as the frost is on the pumpkin, they are harder to find and less fun to go to. For those of you ‘on the hunt’, you can join me at estate sales, auctions and in antique malls. Still lots of treasures out there to find.

One of my aunts, Molly, had a small but lovely home in a suburb of Milwaukee. She had everything appointed very nicely. You should have seen her linen closet! All the towels were color-coordinated and the neat little stacks were tied together with blue ribbons! One of my favorite pieces was a figurine on her little “baby grand” piano. It was a lady dancer, dramatically standing on her toes and with a very ‘flapperesque’ dress. I remember that she was made of a metal material, perhaps bronze, and I always admired her. She had been a wedding gift to my aunt and uncle Gene. They were married in the late 1930s. When my dear aunt passed away, it was packed away and most likely given to my uncle’s wife when he remarried. Boy, wish I had spoken up, but as a child and in that time-frame, you would never be so bold as to suggest they would give you something. It would not have been proper!

We have a room that is decorated with art deco items and it is one of my “quiet places.” (Good thing there is no computer in there or I’d never leave!) Several of my favorite pieces are the pictures by Icart, which I have mentioned in another article. They are sexy, sultry and graceful.

A table lamp that we found is also very deco and when the light is on, it has such a unique look. It is because of the blue light bulb that has paint that is worn off – it gives it almost a lightning-flash design. When this reflects on MY blue glass table (not the one mom and dad had, but quite similar), it is dazzling!

I recently found another lamp with a lovely lady with long, flowing hair. Made of plaster and in a very ‘retro’ green coloring, I was quite attracted to her. A dilemma, however, is prevailing. She has significant paint loss and I wonder if I should try to match the color and repair or fully repaint her. Or sell her and let someone else make the decision. She deserves to be loved again, after sitting in a dark basement for a lot of years. I found her there, behind a work bench and wondered if the old gent intended to re-wire her or maybe even paint her. Covered with cobwebs, I gently brought her to the check-out table, requesting a price. “Oh, that old thing?” was the response. “How about $2.00? Does that sound fair?” It sure did! Well, now that I have her I am guilty of the same poor treatment. She has been in my basement for about 4 weeks and I am still unsure of the best way to proceed. I’d better decide soon! Perhaps writing this blog will motivate me to take action, one way or the other.

Art Deco is one of the loveliest styles you can find. Whether you collect the pieces from the 1920-40s, when it was in its heyday, or buy newer items ‘in the style of’, you will certainly get rave reviews from visitors. Checking out antique stores, estate sales and auctions has worked for us. Happy hunting and enjoy!

After some early luck at the Buffalo farm house estate auction, we got hot dogs & chips and, like everyone else who hadn’t brought their own chairs or arrived by riding lawnmower, sat on (sturdy) chairs which would be up for auction later.

This is a dangerous thing. Not because of the age of the chairs, but because Derek knows I ought not be near the furniture. I have a terrible time not bidding on antique furniture because it sells for such a pittance I get ants in my pants. But we’re there now… Getting him started on a tour of all the long rows of furniture will be easy if I get him talking about it, so I point to a big I-don’t-have-a-clue-what-it-is and say, “What is that?”

With each step towards it, his intellect is further engaged and he becomes eager to explain to this city kid what every farm kid (his age & older, anyway) knows. “It’s a cider press,” he says.

What little I know of cider comes from jugs of it at the grocery store, so it’s fascinating to see how it once was made. Being mostly wooden, it’s quite impressive… And I begin to wonder what I could do with it… Dangerous thinking. Especially with curious children whose little fingers might like to play with those giant gears. So I look around to distract myself — I don’t have to look far.

Next to the antique cider press is a less attractive (to me) metal I-don’t-have-a-clue-what-it-is…

This is a cream separator — a De Laval Cream Separator, number 16, to be precise.

My city-kid-brain is beyond boggled. I’m more than a bit afraid he, a non-dairy farming farm-boy, will tell me things that I’ve managed not to learn having lived nearly 40 years in the dairy state of Wisconsin. So I point to a row of chairs and skip on ahead, leaving him to follow me. (I do have the bidding paddle, so he’s best off to know where I am at all times. *wink*)

As we stop and look at a section of not-so-well-cared for antique chairs I spot a real beauty. She’s in need of some serious work — everything from the frame to the upholstery needs help.

But just look at the lovely carved arms! I called them dragons, hubby called them lions; I said, “Dragons, lions, foo dogs — whatever. They are gorgeous.”

At my right I hear, “Isn’t that a pretty chair?” And soon we are chatting with a relative of the woman whose estate sale this is. First we talk chairs. She’s after a green & white antique chair, missing its caned seat (a bit of is is seen in the bottom right corner of the photo below). “I have one at home, given to me by her, with a plant in the broken seat. Chairs number two, three and four are here and I’m hoping…” she says. “Don’t bid on them, will you?” she adds hastily, wistfully. We assure her we won’t — and that we don’t have the room for all the lovely things we see here today, no matter how I wish it weren’t so.

“What will happen if it all doesn’t sell today?” I ask her. Her answer confirms my worst fears, “They’ll dump it, I guess.”

I’m sure my face conveys my horror. But there’s nothing hubby and I can do with our small home & even smaller wallets. But from here it’s easy to get hubby to stroll the big rows of antique furniture with me; it would be rude not to now.

We both admired this pretty antique hall mirror with green painted accents.

And it’s been quite some time since I’ve seen an old wooden wheeled service cart like this — complete with doily under the glass!

When Derek was taking this photo of an old ice box, a woman walking by asked, “Selling it on eBay already?” It was more of an accusation than a question. We both laughed because if we could afford to bid & win, we certainly wouldn’t have sold the old beauty. As a woman, I find such cubbyholes and storage possibilities too delightful, and the wood was just beautiful — what a wonderful, practical piece.

We hurried back to the auctioneer, so that we would be able to bid on that fourth trailer which had all the boxes of books we were interested in.

Back at the trailer area, we arrived in time to hear the auctioneer’s announcement that inside the house was an “antique ornate leather sofa” which they could not remove. It had been put into the old farm house back when the front porch was an open porch, but years later when the porch was made more functional as a walled-in addition, they had not found a way to get the old couch out of the house. “Buyer was responsible for its removal — and they could not hack a hole in the house to do so. Serious buyers should contact the staff or family to see it.” While I was dying to see it, I was not a serious buyer — not in terms of cash, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face at the buyer’s predicament either. *wink*

Now the bidding on the fourth trailer would begin.

Again, I remind you that we were up against some serious collectors and dealers here; we weren’t sure what we could hope for.

Long story short, we ended up winning a few rounds at “choice” bidding (in which you bid a rate per box, then get your choice of boxes — each times that rate). But the holy grail was when the bidding per box was at $5. The auctioneer then set the bidding to be for all the boxes which remained; at this point, that was about 1/3 of a eight foot wide by 12 foot long trailer. The auctioneer started the bidding at $25. No takers, so he lowered the start to $5.

Derek bid.

I held my breath as no one else bid… I was afraid to say anything — or even blink — for fear it would bring attention and another bidder. But going-going-gone! And we were the winners of all those boxes for just $5!

We should have — would have — taken a photo, but it was time to move all of that into the van. We had so sort books quickly (making over half a dozen boxes of Readers’ Digest Condensed books to donate on our way back into town), and pack and re-pack the boxes so that everything would fit. (Fifty plus flats of National Geographic magazines just had to be dumped loose between the seats, so that the two of us could fit inside the van too.)

While we did so we were asked the usual questions:

“What are you gonna do with all of that?”
“Do you own a book store — are you going to open a book store?”
“Do you sell online?”

(Apparently no one believes us when we say we read and love books, so the questions kept coming.)

The van was packed to capacity.

Not just the inside, but the weight. Look how low the van sat with all that weight.

By the time we were done, we were hotter than heck — but our glow wasn’t just from our sweat. We were beaming with excitement & looking forward to rummaging through our new loot. (We’ll be sure to share the details of all the books, including at least 5 different sets of antique encyclopedias, with you in the future.) It was enough to make me, temporarily, forget about not being able to stick around for the furniture sales.

If this day was a MasterCard ad, it would look something like this:

Lunch: $6
Winning bids at auction: $72
Day with hubby: Priceless

PS The $6 lunch now seems a ridiculous price to pay… I wonder what part of a trailer — or a furniture lot — we might have got for that? If we only had the room…

PPS I had a dream that night that the lady we met at the auction called me & told me that all the unsold furniture was still on the lawn — the junk man would be by to burn it and scrap it later in the week. If we wanted anything, we should come get it. I really wish I had given her my number… Just in case.

================

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants