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.