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.