Antiquing in La Crosse - Don't Do It!!!

Four days off for turkey day and I decided to spend one day driving up to La Crosse Wisconsin to check out two antique shops. This was a 2 1/2 drive both ways. All I can say is what a complete and utter waste of my time and gas. Only antique in La Crosse if you are there already - don't make any special trips. I was very disappointed as I had read a blog about how someone liked the Antique Mall in downtown La Crosse. Okay, it was three stories - but three stories and the same old crap I see at every single antique mall. Again, don't these people visit other malls. I know, perhaps I am the only crazy Wisconsinite that goes antique malling but come on - wow me, give me something new. As you all know, I love old paper - I drool over it and an giddy with glee when I find it. In La Crosse there is nothing - it is a barren wasteland for ephemera collectors. I was so desperate that in the second shop I visited I went downstairs without my glasses on and thought in the corner I saw what looked like old paper. Alas, it was only a board - yes, I know, I should always where my glasses! I felt like the shop owners should have paid me for browsing. On my way back I decided to go to the Tomah Antique Mall - I know there is a both of paper with trade cards, and at least I can look at it again.

As I was checking out have buying some neat McLaughlin XXXX Coffee small trade cards - pictured here. I was talking to a worker and telling him how crappy La Crosse was when he asked me if I had ever been to the Antique Emporium in Eau Claire. I said, no. He said the third floor is all paper. I gasped and shrieked - Why did I waste my time in La Crosse!!!!!

Next weekend folks its Eau Claire or bust - this is a three hour drive. Any one out there that has been to his antique mall and can reassure me that there is paper I would be much obliged.

Appleton, WI - Fox River Antiques

About two months ago I ventured to Appleton, Wisconsin on a Saturday. Never attempt this on a Green Bay Packer home game! Anyway, I visited the Fox Rover Antiques mall and was pleasantly surprised. I saw pleasantly surprised, because rarely now when I go to antique malls am I happy with the trip. Now that gas prices have dropped, I am more lenient, but when the word "antique" is in your name, I want to see antiques - not collectibles! Anyway, the mall is separated into two sides. To the right is a bunch of booths. A really nice booth was a rare book dealer. Lots of pretty books in glass cases that I could drool over. Word to the wise, just because it is in a glass case doesn’t mean it is valuable folks. I do find that people overlook the glass cases and I find some interesting ephemera showed in the corners or buried under items. Not sure if I ever mentioned one such find at the now closed Middleton Antiques Mall (the building is soon to house the Mustard Museum). This mall was right down the street from work and I would go in just about every week for a break from the frenzy of the law. I started look more closely into the glass cases. Upstairs in a case that was sort of tucked away down a hallway at the very bottom pushed up against the inside wall was a program for Grand Duke Alexis visit to Milwaukee back in the 1872. I was in a hurry to get back to work and the price tag said $28, so I passed it up and the next four days of busy work I could not stop thinking about it. I finally was able to spirit myself away from work and rushed over to the mall crossing my fingers the item was still there. I rushed upstairs to the case and my heart sank, I didn’t see it. Then I got on my hands and knees and sighed with relief when I saw it poking out from under a book! Yippee!! What I ended up getting was a menu for the banquet held and the invitation to the ball. I will post pictures tonight. I made a very hefty profit on ebay with this item.

Anyway, back to Appleton. Again, nice mall lots of really nice things. Still has a lot of collectibles, but has good balance with some other items. Recommend a stop over there if you are ever in that neck of the woods. I remember specifically two nice framed Hood's Sasparrilla Puzzles - several hundreds of dollars for each. There was some board games there - a few older Parker Brothers card games (talking Geo. Parker & Sons vintage - not the Pit, Rook etc that you see everywhere). Some ephemera, but not a lot.

Waukesha Wisconsin Antique Malls

This Saturday I visited Waukesha with the idea to go to the Fox Riverwalk Antique Mall. The mall's website pictures looked nice, and it has been on my list for awhile now. Once in Waukesha, of course, I did not print out any directions so I drove around aimlessly for about 10 minutes until I saw my favorite sign - the wonderful sidewalk antique mall sign with an arrow. I pulled into the parking lot and it turns out I had stumbled upon a newly opened antique mall. Great! Love it when that happens. Right off the bat, free coffee and the mayor was even there taking pictures with the owners. Overall impression was a nice mall, little bit of everything, but not over the top with post-1950s stuff - I call these Collectible Malls. Not a lot of paper at this mall unfortunately. I did however buy a reprint of Amos Dolittle's Battle of Lexington. I think the print might be by RR Donnelley, but it was trimmed so the identifying marks are gone. I will be putting the print on ebay in the next few weeks. There was one booth that had lots of postcards, tons of matchbooks, stereoviews and old photographs. Another both had a lot of nice Wisconsin books and an 1895 tax roll for a county in Wisconsin that I now can't remember. The mall just opened in August and I hope it does well!

As I was buying the print, I asked the employee where the Fox mall was. He pointed across the parking lot and said walk across the bridge and there it is. My first impression of the mall was depressing. Lots of dealers had defected to the new mall and most of the items in the mall were crap - - stuff I see over and over and over again. Do any of these dealers ever so to other malls? Most of the booths should be liquidated in garage sales. I felt like I had been the doop of a bait and switch - pretty pics on a website - not so pretty up close and personal. After a 10 min walk through of the upstairs, I noticed a sign for the lower level, what the hell, it couldn't be worse! I walked in and instantly though - "Oh, yes it could." Then I turned left and Hallelujah! I saw paper and lots of it! Yippee, this outing would not be a bust and waste of gas. I started to sift through what the dealer had, and lots and lots of goodies. A couple of pictures, I have posted below. By far the most interesting is the Great Roll from Surrey for King George the Third.

A neat woodblock folded advertisement of the goods of Nagoya Japan

A letter regarding the play King John by Shakespeare performed in 1804 in England.


All of the above are going to be put on ebay tomorrow.

One final note, had a great ebay sale two weeks ago. At the Tomah Antique Mall, I passed a basket on a chair in a booth. I looked through it, mainly postcards and greeting cards, but I did find one little gem a Blackwell's Bull Durham tobacco card - cost $2.00. I wasn't exactly sure if the card was authentic, as it was larger than the other tobacco cards I have sold. I got home, looked it up in the American Tobacco Cards - great reference - and it was a N565 Illustrated Song Card. Card ended up selling for $275.00. This is why I love ebay! Picture of it below.

WI Dells Antique Mall and Billheads

The Wisconsin Dells Antique Mall is located right off of Interstate I-94 North and the Hwy 12 exit. To your right is Kalahari Resort and to your left a ways is the antique mall. This mall mainly has loads of breweriana, some coins, books, pottery, and other items. The mall has lots of glass cases - which I like as that is where I usually find ephemera. This week I went back to the mall to see if they had some more gunpowder and firearms company billheads. I bought a few a month ago and they sold well on ebay. I was hoping that the one sheet I had left behind was still there - the one with the Du Pont Powder billhead. So, I went to the spot where I had found the other billheads and alas, the Du Pont was gone. So, I perused the dealer booths and glass cases trying to see if anything else caught my eye. I looked again at the glass case in the front that had the Pension document for a Revolutionary solider signed by Lewis Cass. I can't help myself with old paper. I walked by the book dealer booth once and then came back around because next to paper, books are the other antique I cannot stop myself from looking at. I walked into the booth and jackpot!, there were several sheets of the billheads I was looking for - no Du Pont, but EE Eaton, Hazard Powder Co and John Nazro - I have added links to these to view on my ebay auction. I brought them all up to the counter and the nice lady said she knew of one more set. She went back to get it for me and I was hoping this might be that elusive Du Pont. Sure enough that's what it was. What luck! The really neat thing about these billheads is that they were for Austin Seeley and early gunsmith in Wisconsin. The guy was obviously successful considering the amount of money he spent at all these shops in Chicago and New York. Below are some images of the billheads:





Finally, one more item about billheads, it seems scrapbookers are using these babies for projects. Here is a book I found on Amazon about using vintage ephemera for scrapbooking. I have some friends who have a scrapbook business and I am going to further investigate this phenomenon. I will also link over to their site in the next blog for you to see their stuff.

Vintage Collage for Scrapbooking by Jill Haglund

Another one bites the dust!

Milton Campus Antiques has closed. Not surprising I guess given the states of the economy. Any mall that was struggling before gas prices soared will probably close. High gas prices, less people out for joy rides like me. There are plenty of shops out there that do well, bigger is better and quality, quality is important. Leave the crafts for craft malls.

Finally, with the immense popularity of postcards, any mall that does not have at least one major dealer (with good postcards not the recent crap folks - think old!). Is losing out on collector money. Go with the trends and money will follow - ephemera ephemera ephemera folks that is where the market is going. Cheaper and easy to store, makes this a great starting place of all collectors. I myself love anything to do with Wall Street/Stock Exchanges, but not stock certificates. I like the weird and unique. I would give you an example of an item I am watching right now on ebay, but I don't want others to catch wind. I will put it up when the auction ends - hopefully I can get my hands on it!!!

Hixton, Wisconsin Antique Shops

I was on my way to the Tomah Antique Mall last weekend when I stopped on my way at the Oakdale Antique Mall - right off of Interstate I-94 North toward Eau Claire from Madison. I have been to th Oakdale Mall before and wasn't overly impressed. One both there has a lot of nice advertising items - spool cabinets and such. Prices are high, but the items are really nice. I did manage to snag 19 school bonds to put on ebay this week for $5.00. At the mall I picked up a leaflet shwoing some other local malls. I decided to bypass Tomah (going there today to check out some Liebig trade cards and other ephemera) to had up to Hixton, Wisconsin. Hixton is about 30 mins outside of Eau Claire. Going north take the Hixton exit, take a right into town. The first mall you get to is crap - totally bypass it unless you like crafty things or post 1970s items. Keep going along the main road until you see what is a small "main street" area. There are two shops on this road. Both are okay, recommend going in just to have a look around and to support the smaller shops. However, the cream of the crop is the Hixton Schoolhouse Antique Mall. As you can guess, it is in an old school. Store has a lot of nice antiques mixed with the newer stuff you see in every antique mall. You know that old print of the lone wolf howling - it kills me every time I see it. Throw it away people!!

Good stuff at Hixton Schoolhouse Mall - look in the the glass cases - lots of nice ephemera and old books. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of nice books this shop had. I remembered that this neck of Wisconsin, with the flour mills and lumber did have a lot of wealth long ago, and its proximity to Minneapolis probably helps too. I bought two things that are on ebay this week and ending on Monday night. Here they are below with pics and links to the ebay sale:

A WI Civil War pay warrant for Thomas Meadows - 3rd Calvary.


1787 Third Volume of History of America by William Robertson - this vol discusses Pizarro.


Anyway - Hixton is a must destination for collectors. Next weekend I may go south for once or back to my favorite ephemera dealer in Milwaukee. I will let you know!

If you know if other malls that I haven't been to yet that have lots of paper advertising or other ephemera I would love to hear from you. Let me know so I can visit!

Ugh!!! I hate antique malls when . . . .

Okay, sorry for the long hiatus. I have visited a bunch of new shops/malls across Wisconsin this summer and have a lot of posts to type. I first wanted to comment on a local antique mall that just makes me mad everytime I go there - this last time was the straw that broke the camel's back. This mall is located on the westside of Madison - I won't specifically refer to it by name.

First off, this mall is incredibly overpriced, and most of the stuff in the mall is junk - collectibles. Again, I lament that I hate it when stuff is overpriced and then to top it off piled high in booths with no care in the world to the apparent "priceless" item. This is especially the case with books.

I decided to give this place another try since it had recently acquired some of the antique dealers from the now defunct antique mall in Middleton, Wisconsin. Still overpriced as all get out. I walk to the "back room" area and there is a sign that says 40% off consigned items. Now, I assume everything back there is consigned - it is piled high and again, not being taken care of. Off in the back corner I look through a box and find 2 Civil War era phamplets. Not finding a price, I go up to the counter and ask about them. First thing out of the owner's mouth is an accusatory - "Where did you find these?" In the back I say (thinking maybe if you got off your butt and actually cleaned up in the back you would have found these little gems!). Then she says, - "These SHOULD be in a glass cabinet." Obviously, she recognized that these were nice phamplets about slavery - again, I remind you, I dug them out of a cardboard box in a back corner with crap on top of them! Then she asks me - "What do you think there worth?" Okay - this pisses me off as basically she is saying that now that someone shows interest, they must be worth something. This is where I look at her and shrug -my kettle is about to boil over. This is the second time I have brought up a book in this shop where she tries to screw me on prices because I actually showed an interest.

I walked out of there with a nasty "Glad I could find those for you!" Never ever again will I visit this shop! It grates me even more that she proudly displays a picture of herself with the Kenos! Lady, you are no Keno - get over yourself. You run a crummy overpriced antique shop!

Antiquing in Milton

Now on to the little town of Milton, Wisconsin. I spent my adolescent years here and never once visited the antique malls. Milton has two antique malls/shops, both of which I have visited. The shops are located on the campus of Milton College. Milton College was founded in 1844, but due to financial hardship it closed in 1982.

1. Goodrich Hall Antiques - this antique shop is located in Goodrich Hall on the Milton College campus. The first two floors are collectibles, some antiques and a whole room of hand made and antique jewelry. The third floor is the proprietors residence.

2. Campus Antiques Mall - definitely more like and antique mall with individual dealer booths and glass cases. I was visited about three months ago and I remember there being a large selection of postcards, circus memorabilia, typical pottery and ceramics, crafts and a hodgepodge of other collectibles. Nice place - recommend a visit. My game plan is to try to go back to this this weekend perhaps on my way back from Illinois. I'll let you know if I see any other area of collectible.

Antiquing in Stoughton Wisconsin

I mentioned in a past post about how Stoughton Wisconsin is quietly becoming a hot spot for collectors. Stoughton has three antique stores/malls, one buy and sell shop and one second hand shop.

1. Catfish River Art & Antiques
This is the most upscale of the shops. It has a large amount of furniture from more traditional to modern - in the basement. It also has some new pottery that it sells. It is located on Main Street. The last time I was there they were selling the old jurors chairs from the old Dane County Courthouse in Madison, Wisconsin. The chairs were garnering a lot of attention from shoppers. The basement had an awesome light table for sale and some nice large wooden desks.

2. Stoughton Antique Mall
This is one of my favorite local shops to visit. I don't always find anything to buy and the turn over isn't that great, but the atmosphere - it is in an old tobacco warehouse - and the employees are very friendly. Plus free coffee and cookies! The shop as a few painted pieces of furniture. The upstairs has books and other paper items. The basement also has books and other items. I couldn't really give one specific type of collectible it has - as it rolls with a little bit of everything.

3. Elsing's Second Hand Shop
The link I gave you to Elsing's has to do with it being Haunted. Quite an interesting story. I have been in it twice and have never had an feelings of unease. Shop has a hodge podge of items. Sometimes you can find nice furniture in the basement.

4. Buy and Sell Shop
Again another hodge podge of collectibles. Every now and then the shop gets in a nice piece of furniture - an old map case was one item a few months ago that I drooled over but was out of my price range. Last time I was there it had a wonderful old drafting table for sale.

5. New antique mall by owners of the old Middleton Antique Mall
I plan on trying to hunt this down in the next week or so. This weekend Wisconsin is getting it my lots of tornado weather so I will wait until that dies down. I expect it to be a lot like the old place with a few surprises.

Researching Paper Ephemera

I am going to digress a little in this post. I have been wanting to extol the wonderful research tool of the NY Times archive (my example link is a search for Standard Oil articles). On the Times website you can search past newspaper articles, not solely from the Times, but also some smaller local newspapers all the way back to 1851. For ephemera collectors this is an excellent tool to research names, places and events. I bought an old banquet menu for a banquet held in Hartford Connecticut. I was able to find an article about the actual event back in 1870. I had to pay a small fee to actually view the article, but the information it contained was invaluable. For you stock certificate (scripopoly) collectors it also is a wonderful tool to look up companies that you are having a hard time finding on the internet or in books. Not all articles require payment, many many of them are free to view.

Another excellent source of information is searching google books. Many of the older books are full view. I have found this source particularly good for researching companies trade cards. Usually, I use google books to piece together a nice description of the company.

Finally, one of the best historical society websites is the Wisconsin State Historical Society. The website and the society's progressive foray into online collections has won awards. Keep this site in mind too if you happen to have something from the Badger State.

The Demise of an Antique Mall

Back in January I wrote about the Middleton Antique Mall. I mentioned briefly that the mall was trying to save its lease. A greedy building owner (the mall was located in a historic barn in downtown Middleton), decided to put the building up for sale. The owner of the shop told me that the mall had never been late on rent. In fact, I learned recently that the local neighborhood association - the mall was in walking distance to many residential neighborhoods - tried to make up the difference between the old rent and new rent. The owner would have none of it. So, the antique mall was forced to close down. The mall did relocate, but not in Middleton, which now has left a great hole for antique lovers in the area. This is the second mall to shut down this year, earlier this year the Sherman Avenue Antique Mall in Madison shut its doors. Middleton's loss is Stoughton's gain. Stoughton will now have three antique malls, a haunted second hand shop and a buy and sell shop. It is setting itself up to be an antiquers haven much like Princeton, Wisconsin. With continually rising full prices, clustering shops is a smart idea. I know I have curtailed my antiquing because of gas prices. Anyway, get out there and visit your local shops - what better way to simulate your local economy!

ELKHORN FLEA MARKET

Sorry for the lapse in blogging, too many things to do. Anyway, let's catch up! This week I am going a little off the beaten path with the Elkhorn Flea Market (map of Elkhorn). I can't say enough about how much I move this market. This market strives for antiques and boy it does it well. It is held from May through September in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. It is run by N.L. Promotions. Here is the website to link to www.nlpromotionsllc.com. The market is held on the Walworth County fair grounds and it is big! I took my younger sister to it in May and she was amazed by how large it was. Mind you my sister has an adversion to old things like I have an adversion to new particle board furniture. But, there is a little bit for everyone, I soon found out she has a fondness for old Barbies - there might be a collector in there somewhere.

Any way, more on Elkhorn, lots and lots of furniture. As I told a friend, you name the color dresser you want and you will find it at Elkhorn. Prices are high and low. Booths are well seasoned dealers and regular joes selling off their great aunt's things. My favorite booth is that of a husband and wife team who are slowly liquidating her father's extension ephemera collection. I bought several old stock certificates and trade cards and all have made me good money on ebay. The paper folks also have a booth up at the Fox River Antique Mall in Appleton, Wisconsin where they told me that have the "really good stuff." I can't wait to get up there as the stuff they had in the both was very good too!

Even if your loved one or friend doesn't collect antiques, the market has an exceptional assortment of food! You name it from fried turkey legs to funnel cakes to brats and dogs, it is all at this flea market. So, if you live in the area please go to the market!

A couple of the stocks I bought at the fair are shown above.

Finally, I am going to start including a section of what "ebay trends." I spend a lot of time trolling the sold items on ebay trying to figure out what is popular in ephemera - trade cards, stocks, bonds, other advertising and other historical ephemera.

This week lets talk about stocks and bonds:
If you are new to this block of ephemera mining and European stock certificates seem to be doing the best. With the dollar being so low against foreign currency, if you sell on ebay you are crazy not to ship overseas. It is not that difficult and with paper, surprisingly inexpensive. Think about it. This week I am sending my first item to Australia. I regularly ship to the UK and mainland Europe without incident. Another thing to think about with selling stocks is the buy it now option - incredibly popular for this collectible. The big money stocks and bonds are those signed by famous businessmen, Flagler, Rockefeller (rare), and other "robber barons." Books of unissued stocks do well if they are 19th century. I am still learning the ropes with stock certificates, so I will share more about this type of ephemera as I go along. I am finding it hard to part with some of them due to my obsession with Railroad Tycoon as a young kid - probably the reason why I collect board games revolving around wall street and finance. I am planning on someday starting a blog on my collection for other collectors to use as a reference.

Next week - hopefully Fox River and other Appleton, WI antique malls.

Middleton, WI

Middleton, Wisconsin (voted best town to live in Money Mag last year) has a wonderful antique mall that I highly recommend. First, it has free coffee - again I am a sucker for having a cup of joe in my hand to browse the shop. This is an antique mall with dealer cases and areas - no cubicle like setting here. The mall has four floors of items. It has two dealers in matted prints - some really nice and decorative pieces. My favorite dealer, the book guy, cut down his stock recently - but still has some nice books. In the basement there is a great dealer with antique fishing and hunting gear and items, also in the basement there is an antique gun dealer. The mall has lots of furniture. There is a dealer on the upstairs who I spoke to the last time I was there that salvaged 2 awesome desk/counters. One is huge with drawers and the other is smaller again with drawers. He told me he got them out of an old furniture factory and he thought they were most likely hand made by the workers. These pieces were in the thousands of dollars but beautiful workmanship. Some other items are ceramics and pottery. This mall strives for pre-1950 items and they do a good job of filling it. There is some question as to its viability as the owner has the building for sale. So, if you go, go soon just in case.

Princeton, WI - I forgot to mention at Princeton that there is a booth with loads of antique buttons. I noticed buttons were a hot item in ebay selling so I thought I would mention that for you button collectors. The buttons are housed in a large library cabinet - I looked at a few when I visited Princeton - nice stuff.

This weekend I am going back to the Roscoe Antique Mall in Roscoe Illinois (just across the Wisconsin border) to look at more trade cards. This mall on the weekend has free coffee AND donuts! Love it!

Minoqua trade card

I am not sure why the picture did not post, but here it is again.

Minoqua finds / Princeton Antique Mall

I thought I would show a picture of my best Minoqua find for you trade card collectors. I will be listing this on ebay in the next few weeks. There is a version on ebay right now that has ads on the back of it (mine is blank). My card is also in much better condition.

PRINCETON, WISCONSIN

I visited the Princeton Antique Mall off of Hwy 73 this past Thursday. Their website says they open at 7:30 - but that is incorrect - hours are 10-5. So, I had to wait about 15 minutes for the store to open and it was worth the wait. The store was clean and well lit and offered fresh and free coffee! Note to all antique malls - free coffee is a definite plus! This mall offered a great booth of trade cards. I will post some picks in a few days of the cards bought.

The one thing that stuck out in my head was this awesome giant white painted wood mail sorter. I wish I had taken a picture of it with my cell phone. If I visit again and it is still there I will get one. For you painted furniture lovers - it was magnificent.

Other items were the usual sporting / hunting goods, retro kitchenware and some nice antique bottles.

The Start

Well, I am now accomplishing one of my New Year's resolutions with the start of this blog. I am an antique geek and love to travel through my local towns to check out the shops to see what they offer. While I look for things to put on ebay, I am also on the hunt for antique board games for my own collection, as well as books about Wall Street from the 19th century. What I have found during my escapes is that shops/malls have gone out of business or they were just plain craft stores. I am tired of driving an hour or two to visit a shop that looks like someone emptied their garage out. When it says antiques - I want antiques! So, I thought it would be nice to have a blog to put down my observations about local shops/malls for others to read, use and comment too. I am starting in Wisconsin, but have some contacts in other states that I might get to contribute to the blog.

Minoqua, WI - I was up visiting friends for New Years and visited 4 antique shops in Minoqua.

The Winner
The one that I liked the best was and shop across from the Paul Bunyan restaurant. A small shop but good quality items. Prices a little bit on the high side, but had some nice furniture and glass cases full of small items and paper. I purchased a few trade cards and a book for ebay.

The other three shops were similar in that they had lots of junk - i.e. crafts and items post-1970. The Mill, on Hwy 47 had loads of books, but priced too high. Nothing gets my goat then when a dealer has a book priced high and the book is smashed in a bookcase getting warped - they obviously don't value the book at all. One thing about The Mill is that part of it has no heat - it is very very cold in the winter!

Later this week - I am traveling to Princeton, WI which has several shops and will give you my thoughts later this week. Until then . . .