I’m not much of a traveler. My idea of a perfect vacation involves me being alone in a quiet room. The windows are open, I’m surrounded by every art supply I could possibly want, and a nigh-endless collection of Doctor Who DVDs and Jethro Tull MP3s for atmosphere. As a result of these vacation proclivities, my travel souvenirs are limited to upstate NY paraphernalia, but my vacations are WAY cheaper than yours, buddy.

If I were to travel, Bill Bryson has already convinced me to see the US first, for all of the vast nothing and everything that it encompasses, since I happen to be a big fan of nothing. Business travel has recently placed me in such exotic locations as Atlanta and Chicago, but I’d not thought to memorialize these rare visits with a single item (aside from a plane ticket or a restaurant receipt) until a dear friend of mine asked me to bring her back a shot glass from Chicago.

PS : Chicago, and I can’t say this enough, your pizza wasn’t that great. If I wanted pizza soup, I’d have ordered a pizza and ruined it myself, and it wouldn’t have taken two and a half hours.

As someone with collecting in my blood, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of the shot glass idea sooner, though I venture that it’s because my blood also has an intense dislike for alcoholic beverages and Dr. Pepper already comes in a convenient can. Regardless, every city in every state is going to have a fair collection of touristy junk, and it’s really not going to be that hard to find. You can’t take fifteen steps in New York City without tripping over a Statuette of Liberty or the omnipresent ‘I Heart New York’ t-shirt - so there’s no doubt that every airport that you fly into (or gas station you refill at) will have a shop to memorialize their fine city in every imaginable form, from underpants to magnets to snowglobes. Of all of the options presented at these shops, shot glasses are indeed the classiest. And state underpants just imply that you’re ‘well-traveled’, in all of the wrong ways. ‘Idaho’ panties are a disservice to everyone.

Chicago’s airport had a fine selection of local shot glasses, but unfortunately, the brief layover in Atlanta did not give me enough time to properly hunt down a companion shot glass. Both airports did, however, yield the requisite local fridge magnets. Magnets, I’d like to add, are far cheaper and simpler to snag and pack away as you vault through the airport. Unfortunately, like most cheap and simple people and things, magnets are far less sexy. Unless you’re some kind of science nerdo with a fetish for vector fields and dipoles.

The origin of the shot glass has been lost to time, and even the time when shot glasses were originally used is an ambiguous thing, with some sources citing ‘the Old West’, and others citing the Prohibition Era, while others cite Italian taverns from over 200 years ago. I’d venture that your average shot glass user is concerned less with the historical origins of their drinking vessels than what’s in them, shortly before they’re more concerned with which direction is the ceiling and which direction is the floor. Shotglass.org informs us that only Utah has passed a law to regulate the size of a ‘shot’ within a shot glass to 1.5 ounces, though a ‘shot’ remains a non-standard unit of measurement.

It’s said that shot glass value rests comfortably around what the average shot glass cost is, in the $3 to $5 range. An aspiring shot glass collector should begin by collecting shot glasses of things that they like. In my case, that would be shot glasses featuring images of Drinky Crow, Star Trek insignia and Batman. As your collection becomes more serious and you want to start adding items of monetary value, scour tag sales for shot glasses that are either old (as determined by clear labeling) or unusual. Shot glasses made from nontraditional materials or decorated by antiquated techniques tend to be worth more than their plain ol’ clear glass counterparts. Shot glasses with limited runs, to promote small business instead of national sports teams, also tend to be worth a bit more. More detailed information can be obtained from Mark Pickvet’s extensive writing about shot glass collecting, as well as Shotglass.org, which includes a message board, and an ever-expanding searchable database, which has many descriptions but few images.

As far as collecting state shot glasses goes, it was nice to step outside of my own collecting tendencies and assist someone else in their own endeavours. Sure, you can order them online from countless websites, but collecting them from the location that they describe seems more genuine, and requires a healthy amount of effort. Usually I’m just hunting for a GI Joe BAT for my toy collecting friends. Shot glasses, somehow, involved far less shame.

I have been blessed with two daughters, just 18 months apart and inseparable through their childhood. They are both now ‘all growed up’ and are as much alike as “two peas in a Porche’.” These young ladies now have totally different tastes.
First, the oldest. Dee loves a lot of our antiques and collectibles. She enjoys the unusual items we place around, and in the house. She appreciates my ‘nudies’ while the younger one, Jay, avoids them like the plague. She has no desire to be in the same room with these gorgeous ladies who chose to display their attributes to all who would enjoy them.

Dee likes feathers, leopard skin and fancy ladies. Her home is decorated in an eclectic style – you never know what you’ll find when you enter a room. (Her somewhat shy father-in-law will attest to that.)

Jay prefers a tasteful water color or painted scene rather than deal with the ‘fantasy figures’ in these old prints. She would wrinkle her cute nose and say “butterfly wings, on a girl? That does not make any sense. And what man wears a jester’s suit anyway?”

Jay loves quality glassware! She proudly presents her lovely items in well-lit curios and prominently displays and uses her finery! She appreciates my glass items, especially anything with Waterford in its name. She hints about leaving her name taped to the bottom of a vase or cut-glass bowl. She need not worry – to Dee, these are just objects to clean. They’re OK to serve in, but if they can’t be popped in her dishwasher, who needs them.

I love ‘whimsy’ in the house and my ‘pig-butt picture’ is known far and wide. This was purchased with our granddaughter when she was about 6. I can remember that she picked it up at the yard sale and asked ‘how many pig butts are there?” We counted them and came up with 11, plus one proud farmer. I HAD to have this picture and it hangs in the back hallway, near the ‘farm-primitives.’ Dee is wild about it; even found bars of soap with pig butts on them so I could keep the theme going. Jay scoots past it on the way in the house, obviously not a favorite of hers.

Jay loves elegance! Fine china, top quality pottery and the classics. Her home is filled with beauty, almost all new, and in such good taste. Friends and family alike are impressed with the way she decorates her home.

Dee loves to shop at thrift stores and proudly boasts of great finds such as plaster cherubs and velvet paintings. She calls to tell about a funky picture she found for their unique bathroom or funny piece of yard-art. And she uses everything, many times having to get creative. She has used broken china to make a new top on a miserable-looking table. It now looks wonderful!
And jewelry-now we are really world’s apart. I like long, dangling earrings, the sparklier the better. And long ropes of crystal or rhinestones. Dee asks if I was born to gypsies, but admires them just the same. Jay love top-quality pieces. Real gold, gemstones, pearls; once again, the classics. I think my jangling unnerves her a little, but her attempts to make me more conservative have not worked.

Loving them both is easy! They are delightful ladies and I am proud of them! So, Dee wants the ‘basement stock’, and Jay wants the ‘corporate stock’, it’s just what makes my ‘small world’ go ‘round. Now, can you guess which one is which? Dee & Jay or Jay & Dee

I found this incredible glass paperweight at an estate sale a short while ago. The size, the colors, everything about it just yelled ‘buy me!’ When I took it up to the check-out counter, the lady asked if I had noticed it was signed and dated. I had turned it over as we ‘hunters’ always do, but was not familiar with the name. It read “E WEBER” and was dated”2000”, probably a special one for the millennium! It is huge, standing nearly 7” tall!

She asked if I was a paperweight collector and I instantly replied “no, I just happened to really like this one.” But she persisted. “Well, how many others did you really like and HAD TO HAVE?” I thought for a moment and said “about 15.” And she replied “Well, then you are officially a paperweight collector.” But, no, I protested, that’s not many. Then I thought about the fireplace mantle and the curio shelf. Hmmm, perhaps she was right.
So, how many of one item do you have to own to make it a ‘collection.’ My husband says ‘only three’, because that shows a commitment. I guess I would say 5 or more. But sometimes they just sneak up on you – my first one was a gift, as is often the case. But it looked rather lonely on the shelf. So I found another one as a ‘companion.’ “Oh” my daughter said – “now you are ‘into’ paperweights.” Although I protested, I had another one gifted to me. An uneven number, that won’t do. So the search continued.
A dear friend’s mother was an antique dealer for over 35 years, specializing in glass. So when we go to estate sales together, my friend points out the ‘quality items to me.’ Just in case I did not know. Well, we hit a sale last summer with a lot of glassware and I found several more. These with the foil inside are breathtaking!

I truly love the ones that have ‘millefiori’ centers. Loads of vibrant colors and very teeny-tiny. I understand that it means “1000 flowers” which is rather appropriate.

Another favorite are the iridescent ones – they have such magnificent coloring!

And how about the ribbon ones? The smaller one was a gift from hubby who supports me (or perhaps we should say that he is “an enabler.”)

While I adore the many colors of these paperweights, one of my all-time favorites is just clear glass. You may wonder why, but when you view this treasure you just might understand! I am a die-hard football fan (go Packers!) and for a special birthday my dear friend gave me this Waterford Football! Absolutely fantastic!

Another question. Is there a specific shape to paperweights? Do glass figures with heavy bases qualify? Because if that is the case, I am in WAY over my head. Somebody stop me. But no, there is an ad for an upcoming estate sale – they mentioned ‘glassware.’ Could it be??

On this past Saturday hubby and I were at a large local rummage sale, the KFGO Rummage Sale at the Red River Valley Fair Grounds. This time, we weren’t shoppers — we were sellers.

The day was exhausting (as was the set up the afternoon before) as we were busy from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. with those looking for deals — and re-stocking our tables. Yes, that’s right; we brought so much stuff that under the tables we had boxes with stuff we hadn’t unpacked yet. (Don’t laugh because at the end of the day only 4 of those boxes had never been opened!)

In fact, we were so busy we rarely left our booth (hence these photos are what we could see from our set-up) — we didn’t even have time to shop ourselves.

Well, that’s not completely true. Across the way, during set-up I noticed this lady had a pair of paintings which were similar to Pletan’s — and too cheaply priced (at $10 for the pair) not to grab up.

And the eldest daughter who was helping found us a copy of Frankenweenie. But that’s all we bought (honest).

I think we were so busy because we offered more than just used clothing, previously viewed videos, romance novels and the odd assortment of used household goods — we had unusual stuff. Stuff the other guys didn’t. So folks spend a lot of time in our two — yes, two — booths. Some actually thanked me for having such neat stuff ‘on display.’ (I did tell them it was available for them to buy and display at home — but not all of them did so. *wink*)

We had vintage glassware, retro toys, wonderful textiles, wooden beer crates, vintage clothing, old dolls, and antique German books mixed in with the usual discarded kids’ books, bud vases, candle holders and the out-grown bike.

In the space next to us, they had flower arrangements and lovely antique furnishings (reupholstered pieces), shown below.

But mostly the booths were filled with ‘rummage’ more than ‘collectibles.’ (This I noticed from my few dashes to the restroom.)

At every sale we’ve ever had there is at least one item we wish we could charge $1 for everytime it was picked up or discussed (cuz then we’d surely be rich!). This time was no exception.

At first the Castle of GreySkull was object numero uno for discussion. “Everybody” was telling us how recently on eBay one in the box, never opened, just sold for $600. (This story was told to me so many times I expected it to be an urban legend and the price to increase with each telling.)

But quickly, once it was removed from a box under the table, the top conversation piece became this musical decanter of a dog with a gun raised to its head which, when turned (as it oft was that day), plays “How Dry I Am.”

Derek and I kept telling people that it was the Worst Mother’s Day Gift Ever.

Just as it’s the rule that every sale has its conversation pieces, it’s equally true that these items do not sell. This is why they are conversation pieces. No one knows why the most talked about items are the ones you must pack-up again… This is just one of those rules that sellers have to accept.

Surely the $20 Castle of GreySkull was a fair price (no one offered a lower price), as was the $6 decanter (a very low price indeed). But while they didn’t sell, they did serve a purpose — they brought people over and looking. Kind of like advertising — only the price we pay is that we have to bring them back home. (Email me if your interested - Ha!)

I’d also like to point out something I didn’t notice before this sale. One of my vintage linens, a large green tablecloth, had been drycleaned and was still in it’s bag. Even though I had priced it (and I held it in my own hands again to put it on the rack), I did not notice until noon (while eating my typical vendor hot dog) that the drycleaner bag was dated 1976! Now there’s some proof that it wasn’t a new item, huh? (Once I spotted that bicentennial bag I had a good laugh and then snapped the photo — I was going to post it here and make fun of the seller, but Derek said he’d out me!)

While some would say we made good money for one day’s work, I’d have to remind them that this wasn’t just one day’s work. We not only had to set up the day before but there were the weeks of pricing items every night which lead to walking around all those boxes in the living room too. And it was an hour to pack everything that didn’t sell up, take it home where we had to tweedle it back into the basement again…

Not to mention the countless trips buying the stuff.

As I said, we won’t mention that — because we can’t complain about that part.

Just like anything else, there are trends in antiques and collectibles, and over the past few years jadeite glassware has been flying off the shelves of the local collectibles shops. Jadeite (or jadite) glassware was a popular item in American homes during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The term “jadeite” does not refer to a particular style or manufacturer, but rather to the soft green color of the glass. The term was originally used by the Jeanette glass company and soon came to be associated with all glass of that color.

The Jeannette and McKee companies made jadeite glassware that is sought today, but it is the Fire King glassware that seems to send collectors into paroxysms of joy when they find it. Jadeite manufacturers focused primarily on items for the kitchen, including measuring cups, canisters, salt and pepper shakers, juicers, tumblers, refrigerator dishes and mixing bowls, although they sometimes produced other glass items for the home, such as vases and candy dishes. These items typically sold at low end stores as inexpensive kitchenware for everyday use.

Unfortunately, the popularity of jadeite in the antiques and collectibles shops has prompted glass manufacturers to release new lines of jadeite green glassware. These reproductions tend to cause confusion among collectors, particularly novice collectors, when they wind up being resold a few years down the line. As always, education is a collector’s best defense against paying collectible prices for non-collectible items.

Follow this link to learn more about the history of Fire King and the jadeite line.

Here is a jadeite identification and price guide available at Amazon, however keep in mind that it was published in 2000 so prices may not be accurate.