Joe Works

If you are one of those people who asks, “Who cares about being in an online community?” or “Why should I spend any time being an active member of WorthPoint?” then this article is for you.

On Monday, March 16, Kevin Tibbles reported a story on “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” that made it crystal clear why community is important. Joe Works, an aptly named entrepreneur in tiny Humboldt, Kan., is making a difference in his community. His business, B&W, makes trailer hitches, and business is slow. Joe’s apparently made a little money over the years, and he just couldn’t bring himself to lay off people. Instead, he’s putting them to work—at full wages—sprucing up playgrounds, pruning trees and giving some churches an exterior makeover.

As a chamber of commerce representative puts it, “If people aren’t getting paid, then they can’t buy groceries at the local grocery store. They can’t buy gas at the local gas station or eat lunch at the local restaurant.”

630 miles for a trailer hitch

I called Joe, but he was out of the office at lunch. I left him a message. I told him if I ever needed a trailer hitch, I was driving from Colorado to Kansas and buying it from B&W—and I meant it. Full disclosure—I may not ever need one, but that’s how strongly I felt about Joe and B&W. I don’t know Joe, and he doesn’t know me.

If I feel that strongly, how do you think the folks in his town feel about B&W? And what about those employees—I bet they aren’t padding their time card or taking long lunches. And what about the thousands of people who saw this story and just may want a trailer hitch this year—I’m guessing quite a few of them will remember Joe and B&W. (They may not drive to Kansas, but they just might order online.)

Joe is building community, and in building community, he’s building long-lasting customer relationships.

Building communities—online or off—one customer at a time

I think most of you will see the analogy without me explaining it. But there are always some folks who want the dotted lines connected, and that’s OK with me. So here goes—today most of us don’t live in small towns like Humboldt. We form communities in different ways. We reach out to our customers anyway we can, and for most businesses, that now includes online. But how do you develop the same type of relationships online that you do in person? That is what WorthPoint is all about for the art, antiques and collecting community.

You reach out to others who share your interests. You can comment on stories and build out your profile page, inviting your friends. You can answer questions with good, solid information. And as we build out the site, you’ll be able to do even more.

Please, let us know . . .

I’d really like to hear from you on this subject. Is community important to you and your business? What do you do to build lasting relationships with your customers online? What do you do or want to do to get exposure for your inventory?

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

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With banks closing, fraud investigations of financial entities, major companies threatened with bankruptcy and stock prices on the decline, investors are looking for safe alternatives. This week gold jumped to $967 an ounce, the highest since July 17, 2008. Collecting gold items and coins is looking more and more to be a viable investment alternative.

James Taylor, CEO and president of ANACS, American’s oldest coin-grading service, says his business is up 20-30 percent. “People are not only collecting gold, but they want to know its value. It’s not just the new collectors, but people who have been collecting for decades are sending us coins for authentication, grading and attribution,” Taylor said.

With a community of collectors around the world, we’re interested in knowing if you currently view collecting as an investment. Do you consider investing in collecting art, antiques or collectibles an alternative to the stock market? Would you share your strategy with the rest of us?

To start the conversation, we’ve gathered some of the comments from WorthPoint’s Linkedin page for Antique Investors, Sellers and Fans.

“It’s always been something my parents did, I just do it naturally. Been buying anything silver since forever. Gold too! Even if it isn’t great looking, I always figure that one day I could scrap it for more. My Dad was big into scrapping gold and silver. It was like his side hobby! Art is also a decent investment, and some paintings and lithographs cannot only go up in value, but can be passed along in the family for enjoying until there is a need to raise funds.”
Lynne

On WorthPoint’s Linkedin page for Antique Investors, Sellers and Fans

“I joined eBay in 2003, primarily to purchase underpriced, quality scrimshaw. As of this month, eBay prohibits the listing of ALL ivory, including antique scrimshawed whale teeth. I have other sources, but eBay was by far the most fun, and the easiest to monitor.

“I consider my collection to be my personal IRA (Ivory Retirement Account). Most of my scrimshaw is posted on WorthPoint.com, divided into several different collections. Descriptive and historical text is posted with each item. Will Seippel recruited me to become WorthPoint’s scrimshaw Worthologist. My WorthPoint ID is ScrimCollector.

“I believe the knowledgeable acquisition of antiques will outperform traditional stock investments. And it is a heckova lot more fun!”
Douglass Moody, sole proprietor at TradeWinds International

On WorthPoint’s Linkedin page for Antique Investors, Sellers and Fans

“I have to admit that I invest in antiques as opposed to the traditional investment vehicles. I probably average a return of at least 60% if not much more. My IRA, on the other hand, lost 67% this year.

“I did very well this year on my platinum and gold. I lost my job in October and have been very well subsidized through my antiques. My collection is nearly gone, but it can be rebuilt once I have an income.

“I decided long ago that I would be better off with antiques than stocks. The best thing is that I can enjoy them and share them while I have them. No one is in the least bit interested in seeing a portfolio, but they do get a kick out of the antiques.

“The first time I had to sell things off was heartbreaking. The second time was annoying. The third time I was happy that I changed my approach and considered them as investments, which meant that I had to be more careful and knowledgeable about what I bought and at what price I bought it.”
Doug

“Yes, in the past 10 years carefully acquired fine antiques purchased at conservative prices have grossly outperformed the Dow, S&P, gold and silver markets. Of course, your average savings bank account most likely also outperformed my 401k plan (my wife calls it our 201 kaka plan).

“Many years ago as a kid working for Max Vas, the well-known Madison Ave dealer, he used to say ‘It’s always a good time to SELL antiques, or to BUY antiques . . . but it’s never the SAME time.’ I didn’t understand this back then, but after several cycles consisting of several years of hot sales (money chasing after merch) and no sales (product chasing after buyers), I am currently BUYING QUALITY antiques at REASONABLE prices for FUTURE sale.”
Steven

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Data—millions and millions of items of data—is what WorthPoint and Terapeak, a subsidiary of Advanced E-commerce Research Systems Inc., are offering WorthPoint members.

WorthPoint has signed a seven-year contract with Terapeak, the company that provides eBay users with trending data. That’s how savvy eBay sellers know how to price an item and smart buyers know what to pay for it.

Easy access in one place to the most prices

Under the new partnership, WorthPoint will be able to offer its members more historical prices than anyone in the world—more than 100 million historical prices by the end of 2009 and more than one billion items over the course of the contract.

Will Seippel, WorthPoint’s CEO, promises to make this data accessible in an easy-to-use format. And he is a man of his word! To me, accessibility means whether I am at an antiques store, a show or shopping online, I have access to this information when I need it most. I want to know whether the price I am willing to pay is reasonable and that I am not about to get fleeced.

Almost as good as shopping with an expert

In my perfect world, I’d head into an antique store with the ranks of Worthologists right behind me. If I wanted to buy a clock, I’d whisper to Mark Peer, WorthPoint’s clock expert, “What do you think, Mark? Is that a good deal?” Or if I found a Mary Alice Hadley platter, I’d want our pottery expert, Audra Blevins, with me. And if I were considering buying a Shaker rocker, I’d definitely want to confide in Fred Taylor, our American furniture Worthologist. In the real world, however, Mark, Audra and Fred live east of the Mississippi, and I live in Colorado.

Get info from computers or cell phones

With this new partnership, I can access millions of historical prices with a few keystrokes on my computer. And as WorthPoint also owns PriceMiner, I can also get this data on my iPhone or any other cell phone with Internet access. That means I can have millions of historical price records with me whenever I shop, wherever I shop. I can find out what other people have recently paid for the item I want to buy while I’m right there in the store! I can also access the collective wisdom of these buyers and experts before I make my offer.

Access to data—through WorthPoint and Terapeak’s partnership—will allow me to buy and sell as though I have an expert whispering average prices in my ear. It’s not as good as taking a squad of Worthologists with me, but it is the next best thing!

This is why data is my new best friend.

For more information, see WorthPoint Signs Partnership Agreement with eBay Research and Education Firm Terapeak. For more information about PriceMiner, click here.

I realize that I am probably not the last person on the block to do so, so if you have not yet experienced this Internet auction house, jump on board into the 21st century. iGavel is an online auction site dedicated solely to the sale of fine art, antiques and collectibles from a network of independently owned auction houses, dealers, appraisers and other professionals.

Sales are held in a traditional auction-catalog format entirely online with each lot accompanied by a number of images, clear professional descriptions, complete condition reports and starting bids that are the reserves.

Easy auction process

That’s the “for publication” definition. My impression was, and to paraphrase Lark Mason, president of iGavel, the key to the success of iGavel is to make the process simple and transparent for the customer. All items are vetted with complete professional descriptions. All items are well photographed to the extent that you can see the wormholes in 18th-century furniture or the distinguishing marks on a piece of porcelain. Condition reports are unsparingly explicit.

I jumped in with the Everard and Company sale to get a feel for what iGavel does. Here are some of my highlights of the sale.

Item 1215494, a Venetian walnut and part ebonized, carpet-upholstered armchair. The flaring upholstered back is flanked by open arms that are carved with putti and blackamoor figures centering an upholstered seat, raised on downscrolled legs joined by an X-form stretcher ending in dolphin-form feet. Stunning! The estimate was $6,000 to $8,000. The chair sold for $4,800.

Item 1215483, Portrait of a Girl in a Red Dress. The painting is attributed to U.S./UK artist Mark Fisher (1841-1923). The many images provided of this painting left nothing to doubt about its quality and importance. With an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000, the painting sold for $3,120.

Item 1215528, a superb example of Daum Nancy glassware. This 8-by-6 ½-inch vase depicts a cameo glass vase with a fall scene. Oviform with cameo decoration of trees in tones of yellow and orange along a river accented in green and yellow against a blue sky. Marked on the base, Daum Nancy and initialed FG with cross of Lorraine. The estimate was $8,000 to $12,000. It sold for $ 8,700.

– By Christopher Kent, a member of the WorthPoint board of advisers and director of evaluations for WorthPoint. He is also an antiques and collectibles generalist, fine-arts broker and president of CTK Design.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

“We were following the Clinton-Gore bus tour selling campaign buttons,” Olsen recalled, “and Clinton was famous for being late. So we could go to a rally, sell buttons, listen to his speech, sell some more buttons and still get to the next campaign stop ahead of the Clinton bus and sell more buttons before he arrived.”

The image of people lining the road with Clinton signs just to watch the campaign bus pass remains with Olsen. “We would stop and sell buttons, and you could sense the excitement,” he said. “So much about campaigns is being excited about your candidate, proudly declaring your support. . . . The young people supporting Obama today are like the young people who supported John F. Kennedy in 1960. And the best way to publicly demonstrate this is with a with a campaign button.”

Olsen was a college sophomore working in Washington, D.C., as an intern at Common Cause, the nonprofit public-interest advocacy group, when in 1990, he discovered Political Americana, a shop specializing in campaign memorabilia. Olsen was fascinated. “I was a political-science major, so I knew about politics, but not much about buttons.”

And so began Olsen’s second political education as he read, went to collector conventions, became a member of American Political Items Collectors and worked as a buyer and then as manager for Political Americana.

Modern campaign buttons introduced in 1896

The campaign button as we know it was first used in the 1896 race between William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley when a thin piece of protective celluloid was laminated over printed paper, cut into a perfect circle and crimped around a metal disk. This ushered in a golden age of colorful campaign buttons.

“Before that, there had been ferrotype and tintype lapel pins, but they were quite expensive,” Olsen said. “It was in the McKinley-Bryan race that the button became a way of spreading a candidate’s message—remember, they didn’t have radio or TV.” For more on campaign buttons, go to the Cresswell’s List site.

The American campaign button that is probably best known, Olsen said, is the 1952 “I Like Ike” button for the Republican nominee Dwight Eisenhower. “On the one hand, it really doesn’t tell you much,” Olsen said, “but on the other, it told you Eisenhower, who was seen as the general who won World War II, was very popular.”

The forces of the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson, tried to counter. “The Stevenson campaign struggled to find a slogan to match such as: ‘We Badly Need Adlai.’”

The collecting arena isn’t limited to candidate buttons. One of Olsen’s prime interests is “Get Out the Vote” material. “There are all types,” he said. “There is Labor, African American, and going back to the 1920s, there was suffragette material—which is highly sought after today.”

The biggest challenge in collecting isn’t the getting, but the knowing, Olsen said. “The stories linked to a button or a campaign are the real treasure.”

For example, Olsen has a 1970s “Get Out the Vote” flasher button, which as you turn it one way, it shows one image and as you turn it another reveals a different image. This button has three images on it: Jesse Jackson in a preacher’s collar and an Afro, a trail labeled “Freedom Train” and the words “Register and Vote.” “Jackson wasn’t running, so how did this button come to be?” Olsen asked. “I am getting tantalizing close to an answer.”

The biggest toll taken by Internet sales of buttons and memorabilia has been the loss of the tales and the history, Olsen said. “When I began collecting, you had to attend APIC shows to find a wide selection of political memorabilia.” In 1995, he attended a national APIC convention in St. Louis with more than 200 vendors. “It isn’t only that all the buttons are in one place,” Olsen said, “it’s that when you buy it, you are much more likely to learn the story of where it came from, who owned it, the provenance. That’s what we lose online.” At a recent convention, Olsen counted only 75 vendors.

That’s why Olsen has become part of the Worthologist team. “There is nothing I’d like better than for someone to contact me through WorthPoint and say ‘Hey, my grandfather had these old political buttons, what can we learn about them?’”

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

The custom of decorating a tree can be traced to 16th-century Germany when a small fir would be adorned with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers in the community guild house. By the 19th century, the tree-trimming custom had moved inside homes throughout northern Europe and Russia, and families festooned the trees with their own collections of ornaments made of glass, ceramics, metal and wood.

Baubles are the most common collectible decoration—a hollow sphere coated with a thin metallic layer and then painted or dyed in bright colors so they would glitter in candlelight.

The original and most collectible baubles were made in Lauscha, a town in central Germany that accepted Protestant artisans fleeing persecution. According to many accounts, a glassblower named Hans Greiner created glass representations of nuts, apples and candy because he was unable to afford the real treats for his tree. The inside of the original baubles were made reflective with mercury and lead, to be replaced later with silver nitrate and sugar water.

The ornament craft spread among artisans in central Germany. Perhaps the biggest boost for the ornament trade came from Queen Victoria’s tree. She had nine children with her German-born husband, Albert, and the royal tradition of elaborate Christmas decorations grew with her family. London periodicals ran illustrations of Victoria’s spectacular tree festooned with both clear glass and Lauscha ornaments, and their popularity spread.

Firms and home-based foundries that were churning out basic glass for vials, thermometers and other instruments added frilly ornaments to their production lines. In the 1880s, the tradition crossed the Atlantic when American retailer F.W. Woolworth introduced German glass ornaments to American shoppers. The best surviving ornaments of the 19th century command $500 or more today.

Lisa J. Monse, online proprietor of The Velveteen Rabbit, offers a fine example of early 20th-century German Santa Claus ornaments. It has no known reproductions, and its paint and silvering are not chipped.

For decoration, artisans moved from hand painting to using mouth-operated airbrushes to achieve more delicate effects. They spread gelatin adhesive and then sprinkled gold, silver, glass dust or tiny glass beads called “Venetian Dew.” To achieve a shimmering effect of snow, the ornaments were dunked into a solution of gelatin and starch.

In addition to glass ornaments, whimsical ornaments were of pressed tin, wax and painted cardboard. They came in angels and other traditional Christmas styles, but also miniatures such as tiny watering cans and rabbits in baskets.

In the late 19th century, figurine ornaments became popular. Among the hundreds of characters were Santa Claus, elves, angels, Biblical characters such as the Three Kings, snowmen and fairy-tale characters. More elaborate collectible figurines will be decorated with miniature costumes and beards while animal ornaments may be trimmed with feathers.

Today, tin examples in fine condition with bright paint can fetch $400 apiece.

An interesting category in ornament collecting is the Christmas pickle. It was traditional for German families to hide this iridescent ornament deep in the tree’s branches. The most observant child would find the pickle ornament and receive an extra gift—along with good luck for the next year. Today, a rare glass-pickle ornament from the turn of the 20th century may command more than $1,000.

Germany’s handcrafted ornament industry failed after World War I, and new ornaments were mass-produced—first in the United States and then in Eastern Europe and Asia.

By 1940, the Corning Glass Co. was making about 300,000 ornaments a day (compared with the perhaps 600 for a skilled German glassblower) and sending them to other companies for decoration—especially Shiny Brite. The first Shiny Brite ornaments were lacquered by machine on the outside and then decorated by hand, but even that process became automated.

Shiny Brite ornaments measured up to 1.75 inches in diameter. Unlike folk ornaments, these collectibles are kitschy rather than natural in appearance. A 12-pack of plain and striped bulbs in good condition can be found for $60-70.

Seems Like Old Times in Haverford, Pa., has a selection of Shiny Brites.

More intricate ornaments from the 1930s-1950s run $20 apiece. Among the popular examples are frosted yellow bells, glossy red pine cones and pink-and-turquoise striped orbs with snowflake indents.

Ornaments created during the baby boomer years were marked by the injection molding, which allowed for merchandising—think of the Coke bottle—that was previously unavailable to traditional glass-ornament blowers, as well as decoration with rhinestones to add a little extra holiday glitter.

Advances in graphics allowed for cartoon characters and pop-culture images to be extended to ornaments such as this one featuring Snoopy and friends offered by Kay Andrews of Black Cat Collectibles.

Also popular, if not precisely Christmasy, are depictions of movie stars like Marilyn Monroe, such as offered by Carolyn S. Dorsey, who operates a collectibles business called Memories Past and Present in Henderson, Ky.

When storing antique and vintage glass ornaments, remember to first remove the hooks, which can scratch the paint. Wrap the ornaments in acid-free tissue paper to cushion them against bumps that can cause them to shatter. Don’t store vintage ornaments in damp locations since this can cause the paint to crack and flake.

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WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

The Variety sale on the Dec. 4 and 5 is simply that, a cross section of more than 1,500 lots that include the good, the honest and the collectible. Furniture, china, glass, jewelry, decorative arts and paintings. With Christmas just around the corner or if you’re newly married, recently divorced or just an avid collector, this sale, to use a hackneyed expression, has it all.

The furniture being offered is a collection that includes primarily American, English and a few Continental pieces thrown in.

Lot 29 is a New England stained-pine blanket chest, which is provincially simple and conforms to the design that translated throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic states. The estimate for this piece, as is the case for most of the furniture throughout the sale, is low at $200 to $400.

Lot 43, a small New England mid- to late-19th-century dome-lid painted box, dimensions 11½-by-25½ inches, appears to have its original hardware. Size and condition play an important part in making this a good item to purchase. You can e-mail Pook and Pook for a condition report. Estimate: $200-$400.

Lot 54 is a really handsome inlayed mid-Atlantic Federal mahogany chest of drawers, circa 1810. With six drawers and possibly its original hardware, this 48¾-by-43¾ piece has the size, style and integrity to move it well beyond its estimate of $400 to $600.

Lot 334 is listed as a miscellaneous collection of 19th-century porcelain. The central-figured teapot with rosebud decoration is the draw for this collection. What we call a good, honest piece of Staffordshire. Estimate for the collection: $100-$200.

Lot 805 is more Staffordshire porcelain. This offering has an important piece of transferware depicting Lafayette at the tomb of Benjamin Franklin. Pictorial transferware has an excellent track record and has consistently held its value. Estimate $300-$500.

– By Christopher Kent, a member of the WorthPoint board of advisers and director of evaluations for WorthPoint. He is also an antiques and collectibles generalist, fine-arts broker and president of CTK Design.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

The clock isn’t just a timepiece or a collectible, said Mark Peer, it is “the most important machine of the last millennium” and the measure of people’s lives and experience.

“When you look at an antique clock, it comes with history and stories,” said Peer, a WorthPoint specialist on collectible and antique clocks. “Unlike some collectibles, clocks were a part of daily life. People looked at the mantel clock every day.” When a birth or a death took place, someone marked the time. “There is this aura about clocks,” Peer said.

It is also a measure of mankind’s invention. The clock—the word comes from clocca, the Latin for bell—dates from the 14th century. Around 1510, a German locksmith, Peter Henlein, developed the spring-powered clock and dubbed his small, handheld timepieces “Nuremberg Eggs.” They were the ancestors of the wristwatch.

About 150 years later, Dutch scientist Christian Huygens made the first pendulum clock. In the early 19th century, American clockmakers began making clocks with interchangeable parts—one of the first steps of the Industrial Revolution.

America clockmaker Eli Terry developed the wooden mechanism, which put the clock within the reach of nearly every household. And so it has gone right through quartz crystal and electronic clocks. The National Institute of Standards and Technology provides an informative history of clocks starting with ancient calendars.

The clock, however, is more than a technological function, according to Peer. It is also artistic form, and that is what makes it a fascinating collectibles field. “Clocks have been built out of just about every material—glass, silver, bronze, gold, china and a variety of woods,” he said. “Anything you can think of, they’ve made a clock out of it.”

An inveterate collector, Peer obtained his first antique clock in 1977 and soon fixed on clocks full time. In 1986, he began selling clocks and antiques in Sarasota, Fla., under the name “Mark of Time.” Since then, he has set-up a clock exhibit at the South Florida Museum and has become a life member of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. To learn more, visit Peer’s Web site.

With its long history of form and function, the clock market can be a tricky one, Peer advised. Consider a gold clock. “The value of a gold clock goes up and down with the value of gold.” Meanwhile, the prices of common Victorian mass-market mantel and wall clocks, which fetched $200 to $250 in the 1970s, “haven’t changed much.”

Among the hottest parts of the market are the unique “experimental clocks” and the pieces by high-profile craftsmen like Simon Willard.

Clockmaker Silas Burnham Terry, who produced clocks from about 1830 to 1860, “got bored with day-to-day clockmaking,” Peer said. And so Terry would experiment with designs. These experimental versions, produced in low numbers, can fetch as much as two to three times more—$1,000 to $5,000—as a standard Terry clock, even if there is just a variation in the clock’s mechanism, Peer said.

In Boston, Simon Willard was the most famous member of a clockmaking family, which included his brothers, Aaron, Benjamin and Ephraim. The clocks Willard made between 1802 and 1835 adorned the White House and the Supreme Court, and they are now highly valued.

There is just one problem. “There are a lot more Willard clocks out there than Willard made,” Peer said. The temptation to put the Willard name on a timepiece of the period or to add fancy wood inlays to boost the value are great. But big dollars are at stake when it comes to a Willard clock. A dealer was able to buy one at auction for $30,000, refurbished it and then turned around and resold it for $100,000, Peer said.

Now, if you don’t have $100,000 to spend on a clock, WorthPoint’s Peer has some advice: “Some of the best bargains on the market are unsigned clocks and high-quality clocks from lesser-known makers of the same period.”

“These are really good clocks and good value,” Peer said. “There are still handmade clocks out there are good prices.” For example, Pennsylvania clockmakers were making fewer mass-produced pieces.

The key is to know what you are getting. “When I look at a clock, I look at the oxidation on the unfinished wood, the smell, the type of wood and manufacturing techniques,” Peer said. He also looks for modifications, structural damage and repairs. “If you’re a novice, you really need some help” is Peer’s advice.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

Carousels have ignited the imagination of Americans of all ages since their golden days in the late 1890s through the 1920s when carousel makers in New York, Pennsylvania and Kansas built elaborate ones destined for parks and resorts and simple ones that would travel by train and horse-drawn wagons to small towns all across the country.

Out of the 2,000 to 3,000 wood carousels built in America, there are fewer than 200 left. Most of the surviving carousels are on the East and West coasts. Colorado has five that together tell a fascinating story of America’s carousels.

Back in the late 1990s, I spent a good part of a year researching, writing and producing a documentary about Colorado’s historic carousels. This article is based on the documentary, which I am posting in segments on the WorthPoint Web site with the permission of the Colorado Carousel Society.

”Jewel of American Carousels”

The Kit Carson County carousel is Colorado’s oldest, a national landmark, often called the “Jewel of American Carousels.” It is the only one in America that still has all of its original paint and the only surviving menagerie carousel from the Philadelphia Toboggan Co., once the premier builder of carousels in America. The carousel’s Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ is the only one left like it in the world—still in its original cabinet and still playing the music it played almost a century ago.

The Philadelphia Toboggan Co., or PTC, built 74 carousels. Today fewer than 30 survive. This one, PTC #6, the sixth one the company built, is among the finest American carousels in existence.

Although it is a PTC carousel, the design and patterns for the animals came from an earlier company owned by E. Joy Morris, who sold it to PTC in the early 1900s. That purchase helped PTC emerge as a major player in the carousel business.

The Kit Carson County carousel is significant because it is virtually the same as it was when it was built in 1905. It still has the original paint. You can still see the artists original pencil markings on the back of a giraffe. It is also the only menagerie and the only stationary PTC carousel that still exists.

Philadelphia Toboggan’s carousels were beautiful, elaborate, artistic and expensive, the best that money could buy.

Magical and ornate decorations

Everywhere you look, there is something to catch your eye. Nothing is allowed to distract you from the magic. Everything is covered, decorated and ornate. Even the drive machinery is hidden, obscured by oil paintings, the original ones from 1905—paintings, that like the music, lift you up and away.

You can see the craftsmanship in the detail. The toed animals have dewclaws. The hoofed animals have shoes. The antlers on the deer and the horse tails are real. All the eyes are made of glass, not the painted wood you see on many carousels.

The carousel was just an amusement ride, but the men who carved these animals and built these carousels were fine craftsmen and artists. And it is a testament to the quality of their work that nearly 100 years later, we can still ride this carousel and appreciate that quality.

For Barbara Charles, a founding member of the National Carousel Association and carousel historian, the Kit Carson County carousel is a good example of a community coming together to preserve its heritage.

“This carousel is just a super example of what a community can do. It is considered a pinnacle of preservation. And every year, they add something new. They worked on the animals—restored those. They worked on the military-band organ. So it sounds just like it did originally with all its old rolls. The valances were put in recently. The lights. The paintings. These are all the original paintings, and they have been carefully touched up. It is just loved by the community, and it shows.”

Every spring, carousel volunteers make certain that the torch is carried on, that a new generation learns about this magnificent machine and the story of the county commissioners who made a good decision 70 years ago but weren’t appreciated at the time.

Volunteers tell the tale

As the carousel goes round and round, the volunteers tell the story all over again, how the carousel was at Elitch’s, a family-owned amusement park in Denver; how in the late 1920s, there was a technological innovation that allowed the new carousels to go up and down, as well revolve.

According to volunteer Jo Downey, who is a founding member of the Colorado Carousel Society and along with others worked hard to preserve the Kit Carson County carousel, “Elitch’s had it from 1905 to 1928, but Elitch’s wanted a new one. They wanted one that goes up and down. So they sold this one to Kit Carson County for $1,200.”

Volunteer Ted Wickham continues the story. “. . . and that was a tremendous amount of money to be spent in those days. A dollar those days looked as big as a house. Two of the commissioners, the way I understand it, lost their seats when they were up for election the next time, and the third person decided not to run. So the people got back at ’em in that way.”

But the carousel surprised them all. At a nickel a ride, it paid for itself in just a couple of years.

In 1931, during the Great Depression, the county fair was canceled, and the carousel building was filled with cornstalks and hay. Then the rats and snakes and pigeons moved in. The rats ate the hay and chewed through the rubber tubing and the bellows on the band organ. When the fair started back up in 1937, some people in the county wanted to burn down the entire infested mess, but they decided to clean it up with soap and water instead.

“The animals were getting very chipped and torn and bruised and broken, and so in 1976 when Colorado was 100 years old and the United States was 200 years old, we started restoring it to celebrate the centennial and the bicentennial. It has a Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ that is the sound you hear. [Restoring it] was the first thing we did,” Jo Downey said.

“We have lots of things besides horses. The one that is Elitch’s now has just horses. We have the only menagerie carousel carved by this company left in the whole world. There is a dog on that carousel—there are four other dogs like that, but they all belong to people who are collectors or they are in museums. But the magic of the carousel is because all the animals are still on this platform and you can ride it. If you have a carousel in your living room, it is nice to look at, but you have lost all of that magic.”

The Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ

Back in 1905 when this carousel was built, amplified music didn’t exist. There were no tapes, no CDs, no big speakers. Music was either live or from mechanical machines.

The Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ, with its 100 instruments and rolls of paper that made music, was a marvel to behold. This is the finest example of the three monster-band organs left in the world.

And finally, on a summer night during the Kit Carson County Fair, a sort of life Olympics of the Plains with blue ribbons for the best of everything—jams and jellies, pickles and peppers, quilts and steer—it’s time for the magic, time to ride the carousel.

It’s a night when you can feel the past whisper in your ear. A night to breathe a silent thank you to county commissioners and civic-minded people as you ride round and round on one of the last of these magical carousel “collectibles.”

WorthPoint—the premier Web site for art, antiques and collectibles.

To contribute to the Colorado Carousel Society–send a check to Colorado Carousel Society 7061 South Quince Street, Englewood  80112.

Carousels have ignited the imagination of Americans of all ages since their golden days in the late 1890s through the 1920s when carousel makers in New York, Pennsylvania and Kansas built elaborate ones destined for parks and resorts and simple ones that would travel by train and horse-drawn wagons to small towns all across the country.

Out of the 2,000 to 3,000 wood carousels built in America, there are fewer than 200 left. Most of the surviving carousels are on the East and West coasts. Colorado has five that together tell a fascinating story of America’s carousels.

Back in the late 1990s, I spent a good part of a year researching, writing and producing a documentary about Colorado’s historic carousels. This article is based on the documentary, which I am posting in segments on the WorthPoint Web site with the permission of the Colorado Carousel Society.

The Kit Carson County carousel is Colorado’s oldest, a national landmark, often called the “Jewel of American” carousels. It is the only carousel in America that still has all of its original paint and the only surviving menagerie carousel from the Philadelphia Toboggan Co., once the premier builder of carousels in America. The carousel’s Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ is the only one left like it in the world—still in its original cabinet and still playing the music it played almost a century ago.

The Philadelphia Toboggan Co., or PTC, built 74 carousels. Today fewer than 30 survive. This one, PTC #6, the sixth one the company built, is among the finest American carousels in existence.

Although it is a PTC carousel, the design and patterns for the animals came from an earlier company owned by E. Joy Morris, who sold it to PTC in the early 1900s. That purchase helped PTC emerge as a major player in the carousel business.

The Kit Carson County carousel is significant because it is virtually the same as it was when it was built in 1905. It still has the original paint. You can still see the artists original pencil markings on the back of this giraffe. It is also the only menagerie and the only stationary PTC carousel that still exists.

Philadelphia Toboggan’s carousels were beautiful, elaborate, artistic and expensive, the best that money could buy.

Everywhere you look, there is something to catch your eye. Nothing is allowed to distract you from the magic. Everything is covered, decorated and ornate. Even the drive machinery is hidden, obscured by oil paintings, the original ones from 1905—paintings, that like the music, lift you up and away.

You can see the craftsmanship in the detail. The toed animals have dewclaws. The hoofed animals have shoes. The antlers on the deer and the horse tails are real. All the eyes are made of glass, not the painted wood you see on many carousels.

The carousel was just an amusement ride, but the men who carved these animals and built these carousels were fine craftsmen and artists. And it is a testament to the quality of their work that nearly 100 years later, we can still ride this carousel and appreciate that quality.

For Barbara Charles, a founding member of the National Carousel Association and carousel historian, the Kit Carson County carousel is a good example of a community coming together to preserve its heritage.

“This carousel is just a super example of what a community can do. It is considered a pinnacle of preservation. And every year, they add something new. They worked on the animals—restored those. They worked on the military-band organ. So it sounds just like it did originally with all its old rolls. The valances were put in recently. The lights. The paintings. These are all the original paintings, and they have been carefully touched up. It is just loved by the community, and it shows.”

Every spring, carousel volunteers make certain that the torch is carried on, that a new generation learns about this magnificent machine and the story of the county commissioners who made a good decision 70 years ago but weren’t appreciated at the time.

As the carousel goes round and round, the volunteers tell the story all over again, how the carousel was at Elitch’s, a family-owned amusement park in Denver; how in the late 1920s, there was a technological innovation that allowed the new carousels to go up and down, as well as revolve.

According to volunteer Jo Downey, who is a founding member of the Colorado Carousel Society and along with others worked hard to preserve the Kit Carson County carousel, “Elitch’s had it from 1905 to 1928, but Elitch’s wanted a new one. They wanted one that goes up and down. So they sold this one to Kit Carson County for $1,200.”

Volunteer Ted Wickham continues the story. “. . . and that was a tremendous amount of money to be spent in those days. A dollar those days looked as big as a house. Two of the commissioners, the way I understand it, lost their seats when they were up for election the next time, and the third person decided not to run. So the people got back at ’em in that way.”

But the carousel surprised them all. At a nickel a ride, it paid for itself in just a couple of years.

In 1931, after the Great Depression hit, the county fair was canceled, and the carousel building was filled with cornstalks and hay. Then the rats and snakes and pigeons moved in. The rats ate the hay and chewed through the rubber tubing and the bellows on the band organ. When the fair started back up in 1937, some people in the county wanted to burn down the entire infested mess, but they decided to clean it up with soap and water instead.

“The animals were getting very chipped and torn and bruised and broken, and so in 1976 when Colorado was 100 years old and the United States was 200 years old, we started restoring it to celebrate the centennial and the bicentennial. It has a Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ that is the sound you hear. [Restoring it] was the first thing we did,” Jo Downey said.

“We have lots of things besides horses. The one that is Elitch’s now has just horses. We have the only menagerie carousel carved by this company left in the whole world. There is a dog on that carousel—there are four other dogs like that, but they all belong to people who are collectors or they are in museums. But the magic of the carousel is because all the animals are still on this platform and you can ride it. If you have a carousel in your living room, it is nice to look at, but you have lost all of that magic.”

The Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ

Back in 1905 when this carousel was built, amplified music didn’t exist. There were no tapes, no CDs, no big speakers. Music was either live or from mechanical machines.

The Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ, with its 100 instruments and rolls of paper that made music, was a marvel to behold. This is the finest example of the three monster-band organs left in the world.

And finally, on a summer night during the Kit Carson County Fair, a sort of life Olympics of the Plains with blue ribbons for the best of everything—jams and jellies, pickles and peppers, quilts and steer—it’s time for the magic, time to ride the carousel.

It’s a night when you can feel the past whisper in your ear. A night to breathe a silent thank you to county commissioners and civic-minded people as you ride round and round on the magic of the carousel.

WorthPoint—the premier Web site for art, antiques and collectibles.

A Cornucopia of Collectibles at Brimfield

At Brimfield, WorthPoint’s Tom Carrier discovers you can get almost anything you want in the way of collectibles and antiques: from old newspapers to adjustable dress forms. Buyers show off their treasures.

Amazing finds at Brimfield

Brimfield is a mecca for dealers and fans including WorthPoint’s CEO and founder, Will Seippel, a lifelong collector. In this video, Will walks around Brimfield sharing his experience as a collector and dealer and finding treasures including Edison Cylinders, state license plates and a phonograph from the Sonora company, which his grandfather owned.

A Dealer’s Point of View at Brimfield

We call Dan Borsey, Dan the man in the WorthPoint van because he’s traveling up and down the East Coast attending antiques and collectibles shows and events. In this video he he heads out into the fields at Brimfield to talk to buyers and sellers and to get a feel for what’s happening in the antiques and collectibles world. Antiques dealer Ron Cioe from Waterhouse Antiques is interviewed.

Curious Finds at Brimfield

With more than 5,000 dealers, the fields at Brimfield have antiques and collectibles for everyone. As a collector and former antiques dealer, WorthPoint’s Founder and CEO, Will Seippel, enjoys walking through the shows at Brimfield looking for bargains. In this video, he finds unusual and curious collectibles that provide a glimpse into our past.

Furniture Finds at Brimfield

Will Seippel, has been a collector most of his life. He put himself through college buying and selling antiques, and there are few things he enjoys more than hunting and gathering collectibles and antiques at Brimfield. In this video he finds a New England work table, a Victorian walnut bed and smaller items including Victorian drawer pulls.

More Flags at Brimfield

Worthologist Tom Carrier is WorthPoint’s resident flag expert. At the Brimfield antiques and collectibles shows, he finds what he is searching for—some fascinating flags. Tom interviews Rae McCarthy from R&R Collectibles in East Hampton, Mass.

An Indentured Servitude Contract at Brimfield

WorthPoint’s Tom Carrier finds a unique English document from 1799 for an indentured servant and interviews Paul Norton from Hartco Trunks in W. Hartford, Conn.

Hertan’s Antique show at Brimfield

Brimfield’s Antique and Flea Market is actually more than tweny separate antique shows. Hertan’s has one of the best settings and high quality items for sale. Worthologist Thom Pattie interviews David Lamberto, owner and operator of Hertan’s Antique Shows.

For more WorthPoint videos on art, antiques and collectibles click on the word “Video” in the brown bar at the top of the page or use this link More WorthPoint Videos.

If you have a video about Brimfield’s antiques and collectibles, that you would like to add to this list, please contact us at news [at] worthpoint [dot] com.
We are always searching for good video stories about antiques and collectibles. If you are going to have something special or a good story to tell at Brimfield in May 2009, send us an email News [at] worthpoint [dot] com.

What’s a good story? Take a look at some of the videos below, and you’ll see some of the stories we’ve produced at Brimfield.

WorthPoint – the premier Web site for art, antique and collectibles

Here are some tips and suggestions for buyers and dealers at Brimfield that might make the event more prosperous and enjoyable.

While you are at Brimfield, stop by and see the WorthPoint team in Gary Sohmers’ Wex Rex booth in The Meadows.

Buyers

The Brimfield Antique and Flea Market Shows is one huge event made up of 21 independent antiques and collectibles shows (sometimes called fields). The show runs September 2-7. You can find all of the shows listed in WorthPoint’s Events section or scan the list below.

Tips for Buyers

Check out prices before you go

If you know what you want before you go, check out what similar items have been selling for by clicking on Prices in the brown bar at the top of the page.

Comfort

• Check the weather report before you go.

• Wear comfortable shoes.

• Take some wet wipes. It gets dusty.

Be Prepared with the Right Tools

Thom Pattie, WorthPoint’s chief Worthologist, suggests taking a loupe, a type of magnifier, at about 10X. “A loupe will make it easier to look at items very closely to gauge age and condition. With a loupe, you can easily determine if a piece of art is an etching or a print. It’s also handy for seeing silver marks and other details,” Pattie said. (See Thom Pattie’s blog Tools of the Trade for more suggestions on small items to carry with you to Brimfield.

Also take a small pad of paper and a pencil, in case you want to jot down where you found something and head back there later.

Food

Both Dan Borsey (aka Dan the Man in the WorthPoint Van) and Thom Pattie say the Caesar Salad in the food area directly across from Central Park is really good.

Pace Yourself

When we asked Worthologist Tom Carrier for his suggestions on how to shop 5,000 dealers in six days, he came back with a succinct answer. “Don’t even try.” Carrier suggests that you pace yourself and be selective. “With 5,000 dealers, no one can see everything. Make a plan. Decide if you want to look for furniture, for example, or if you want to browse a couple of shows a day.” Tom also suggests using an online list of dealers in each of the show areas to narrow down your options and plan where you want to go.

What to Buy?

Finally, what should you buy? Thom Pattie offers some general advice.

“Buy things you like especially if you are buying to resell. That way if you don’t sell it, you can enjoy what you have,” Pattie tells buyers.

Be Nice to the Dealers

Save yourself some hassle and possibly some dollars. When I was at Brimfield, I overheard more than one dealer suggesting that you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar.

Additional Tips from Dan Borsey

Dan Borsey has been to all three Brimfield shows. His top three tips for working the fields at Brimfield are:

1) Don’t buy the first one you see.

2) Wear comfortable shoes. You will walk a lot.

3) The early bird gets the worm! Dealers wait for the official open to “pick” the fields. Don’t be afraid to race them for the best items.

If you’re a Brimfield veteran, please share your suggestions, tips and advice for buyers by clicking on the words, “Add new comment” in the left column.

Dealers

• Please check your listing on the Events section of this site, and update any information. Consider adding a comment to your listing telling potential buyers what they can find in your field. You must be a member to add information to the site. Membership is free.

• You can subscribe for a relatively small fee and post items in the classifieds. Click on the tab “You deserve the best . . . Upgrade to Platinum” in the right column to subscribe at the gold or platinum level.

• Yes, you can advertise on this features page as well as other pages on the WorthPoint site. Contact the sales department at sales [at] worthpoint [dot] com.

• If you have a story or an item that you think the collecting community would like to know about, or other suggestions, please e-mail us at news [at] worthpoint [dot] com.

Brimfield Shows (Fields)

Brimfield Acres North
508.754.4185
413.245.9471
OPEN: Tue, Sat
(Tuesday 1 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. one-day shows)

Brimfield Barn Antique Market
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(7 a.m.)

Central Park Antique Shows
413.596.9257
413.245.4674
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6 a.m.)

Collins Apple Barn
413.245.3948
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Crystal Brook
413.245.7647
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Dealers Choice
OPEN: Tue
(Tuesday 11 a.m. one-day show)

Faxon’s Midway
508.347.3929
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(7 a.m.)

Francesco’s
413.245.4640 or 413.245.6691
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(9 a.m.)

Green Acres
Open: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6 a.m.)

Heart-O-the-Mart
413.245.9556
OPEN: Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(9 a.m.)

J & J Promotions
413.245.3436 or 978.597.8155
OPEN: Fri, Sat
(Friday 6 a.m./Saturday 9 a.m.)

Hertan Antique Shows
860.763.3760
413.626.0927
OPEN: Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Wednesday noon/Thursday — Sunday 6 a.m.)

Mahogany Ridge
413.245.3182
413.245.7220
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

May’s Antique Market
413.245.9271
OPEN: Thu, Fri, Sat
(9 a.m.)

New England Motel & Antique Market
508.347.2179
OPEN: Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6 a.m.)

Quaker Acres
413.245.6185
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Shelton Antique Shows
413.245.3591
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Sturtevant’s
413.245.7458
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

The Meadows Antique Shows
413.245.9427
413.245.3215
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6 a.m.)

Useful links:

Be Prepared for Brimfield – Weather Report

Google Map Brimfield, Massachusetts

Bill Simonic’s very handy online guide to everything you want to know about Brimfield including lodging, dining, shops, services, the Brimfield show, general information, dealers information, a map of the show and a show schedule.

An online list of dealers and you can also download a pocket guide for Brimfield

While you are at Brimfield stop by and see the WorthPoint team in Gary Sohmers’ Wex Rex booth in The Meadows.

Buyers:

The Brimfield Antique and Flea Market Shows is one huge event made up of 21 independent antiques and collectibles shows (sometimes called fields). The show September 2-7. You can find all of the shows listed in WorthPoint’s Events section or scan the list below.

Tips for Buyers

Check out prices before you go

If you know what you want before you go, check out what similar items have been selling for by clicking on Prices in the brown bar at the top of the page.

Comfort

• Check the weather report before you go.

• Wear comfortable shoes.

• Take some wet wipes. It gets dusty.

Be Prepared with the Right Tools

Thom Pattie, WorthPoint’s Chief Worthologist, suggests taking a loupe, a type of magnifier, at about 10X. “A loupe will make it easier to look at items very closely to gauge age and condition. With a loupe, you can easily determine if a piece of art is an etching or a print. It’s also handy for seeing silver marks and other details,” Pattie said. (See Thom Pattie’s blog Tools of the Trade for more suggestions on small items to carry with you to Brimfield.

Also take a small pad of paper and a pencil, in case you want to jot down a note where you found something and head back there later.

Food

Both Dan Borsey (aka Dan the Man in the WorthPoint Van) and Thom Pattie say the Caesar Salad in the food area directly across from Central Park is really good.

Pace Yourself

When we asked Worthologist Tom Carrier for his suggestions on how to shop 5,000 dealers in six days, he came back with a succinct answer. “Don’t even try.” Carrier suggests that you pace yourself and be selective. “With 5,000 dealers no one can see everything. Make a plan. Decide if you want to look for furniture for example, or if you want to browse a couple of shows a day.” Tom also suggests using an online list of dealers in each of the show areas to narrow down your options and plan where you want to go.

What to Buy?

Finally, what should you buy? Thom Pattie offers some general advice.
“Buy things you like especially if you are buying to resell: that way if you don’t sell it, you can enjoy what you have,” Pattie tells buyers.

Be Nice to the Dealers

Save yourself some hassle and possibly some dollars. When I was at Brimfield, I overheard more than one dealer suggesting that you catch more flys with honey than you do vinegar.

Additional Tips from Dan Borsey

Dan Borsey has been to all three Brimfield shows. His top three tips for working the fields at Brimfield are:

1) Don’t buy the first one you see.

2) Wear comfortable shoes, you will walk a lot.

3) The early bird gets the worm! Dealers wait for the official open to “pick” the fields: don’t be afraid to race them for the best items.

If you’re a Brimfield veteran, please share your suggestions, tips and advice for buyers by clicking on the words, “Add new comment” in the left column.

Dealers

• Please check your listing on the Events section of this site, and update any information. Consider adding a comment to your listing telling potential buyers what they can find in your field. You must be a member to add information to the site. Membership is free.

• You can subscribe for a relatively small fee and post items in the classifieds. Click on the tab “You deserve the best…Upgrade to Platinum” in the right column to subscribe at the gold or platinum level.

• Yes, you can advertise on this features page as well as other pages on the WorthPoint site. Contact the sales department at sales [at] worthpoint [dot] com.

• If you have a story or an item that you think the collecting community would like to know about, or other suggestions for us, please email us at news [at] worthpoint [dot] com.

Brimfield Shows (Fields)

Brimfield Acres North
508.754.4185
413.245.9471
OPEN: Tue, Sat
(Tuesday 1:00 P.M. and Saturday 7:00 A.M. one day shows)

Brimfield Barn Antique Market
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(7:00 A.M.)

Central Park Antique Shows
413.596.9257
413.245.4674
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6:00 A.M.)

Collins Apple Barn
413.245.3948
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Crystal Brook
413.245.7647
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Dealers Choice
OPEN: Tue
(Tuesday 11:00 A.M. one day show)

Faxon’s Midway
508.347.3929
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(7:00 A.M.)

Francesco’s
413.245.4640 or 413.245.6691
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(9:00 A.M.)

Green Acres
Open: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6:00 A.M.)

Heart-O-The Mart
413.245.9556
OPEN: Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(9:00 A.M.)

J & J Promotions
413.245.3436 or 978.597.8155
OPEN: Fri, Sat
(Friday 6:00 A.M./Saturday 9:00 A.M.)

Hertan Antique Shows
860.763.3760
413.626.0927
OPEN: Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Wednesday Noon/Thursday – Sunday 6:00 A.M.)

Mahogany Ridge
413.245.3182 413.245.7220
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

May’s Antique Market
413.245.9271
OPEN: Thur, Fri, Sat
(9:00 A.M.)

New England Motel & Antique Market
508.347.2179
OPEN: Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6:00 A.M.)

Quaker Acres
413.245.6185
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Shelton Antique Shows
413.245.3591
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

Sturtevant’s
413.245.7458
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(Daybreak)

The Meadows Antique Shows
413.245.9427 or 413.245.3215
OPEN: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun
(6:00 A.M.)

Useful links:

Be Prepared for Brimfield – Weather Report

Google Map Brimfield, Massachusetts

Bill Simonic’s very handy online guide to everything you want to know about Brimfield including loding, dining, shops, services, the Brimfield show, general information, Dealers information, a map of the show and a show schedule.

An online list of dealers and you can also download a pocket guide for Brimfield

Editor’s note:

A popular exhibit at the American Presidential Experience is the Cool Kids Art Contest at the WorthPoint exhibit. The contest rules were to draw a picture of the person or people who put the gold coins in the Salvation Army kettles in Denver last Christmas. Hundereds of children drew pictures for the contest and we will begin posting them later this week.

Click on an image to see a larger size.

WorthPoint and ANACS (America’s oldest coin grading service) are helping the Salvation Army take the coins to auction in October.

The Cool Kids Art Contest is sponsored by WorthPoint and ANACS.

WorthPoint – the premier Web site for art, antiques and collectibles

The Cool Kids Art Contest Video

Page 3 – More of the children’s pictures

Page 4 – More of the children’s pictures

Back to Page 1 of the Salvation Army Cool Kid’s Art Contest

Editor’s note:

The Cool Kids Art Contest at the WorthPoint exhibit was a popular site at American Presidential Experience. The contest rules were to draw a picture of the person or people who put gold coins in the Salvation Army kettles in Denver last Christmas. Hundereds of children drew pictures for the contest and we are posting some of them on the WorthPoint site.

Click on an image to see a larger size.

WorthPoint and ANACS (America’s oldest coin grading service) are helping the Salvation Army take the coins to auction in October.

The Salvation Army Cool Kids Art Contest is sponsored by WorthPoint and ANACS.

WorthPoint – the premier Web site for art, antiques and collectibles

The Cool Kids Art Contest Video

Back to previous pages

Page 1- More of the children’s pictures
Page 2 – More of the children’s pictures
Page 3 – More of the children’s pictures

Editor’s note:

A popular exhibit at the American Presidential Experience is the Cool Kids Art Contest at the WorthPoint exhibit. The contest rules were to draw a picture of the person or people who put the gold coins in the Salvation Army kettles in Denver last Christmas. Hundereds of children drew pictures for the contest and we will begin posting them later this week.

Click on an image to see a larger size.

WorthPoint and ANACS (America’s oldest coin grading service) are helping the Salvation Army take the coins to auction in October.

The Cool Kids Art Contest is sponsored by WorthPoint and ANACS.

WorthPoint – the premier Web site for art, antiques and collectibles

The Cool Kids Art Contest Video

Page 4- More of the children’s pictures

Back to previous pages

Page 1- More of the children’s pictures

Page 2 – More of the children’s pictures

Editor’s note:

A popular exhibit at the American Presidential Experience is the Cool Kids Art Contest at the WorthPoint exhibit. The contest rules were to draw a picture of the person or people who put the gold coins in the Salvation Army kettles in Denver last Christmas. Click on an image to see a larger size.
Hundereds of children drew pictures for the contest and we will begin posting them later this week.

WorthPoint and ANACS (America’s oldest coin grading service) are helping the Salvation Army take the coins to auction in October.

The Cool Kids Art Contest is sponsored by WorthPoint and ANACS.

WorthPoint – the premier Web site for art, antiques and collectibles

More of the children’s pictures

The Cool Kids Art Contest Video

WorthPoint announced Wednesday, August 20, 2008 that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Dublin, Ohio-based GoAntiques, an online network for buying and selling antiques and collectibles.

GoAntiques, the oldest antiques-and-collectibles Web site, was founded in 1994, by Kathy Kamnikar, as Antique Networking. It offers 600,000 items from more than 1,300 dealers in 31 countries and the world’s largest antiques and collectibles price guide, PriceMiner ®. GoAntiques logs nearly a million visits and thousands of transactions each month and has more than 350,000 registered members.

“GoAntiques is a perfect fit for WorthPoint,” WorthPoint CEO Seippel said.

“It is the longest-running and most experienced antiques-and-collectibles site on the Internet and has a great staff. Combined, we will have more than 1 million visitors a month to our Web pages.

“Our acquisition of GoAntiques will accelerate our growth by introducing the antique-dealer community to WorthPoint,” said Seippel. “More importantly, it will introduce thousands of antique dealers to the thousands of homeowners who come to the WorthPoint site daily looking to sell some of their possessions.”

GoAntiques’ Kathy Kamnikar said she is thrilled to be part of the WorthPoint team. “Fifteen years ago my dream was to serve the antiques market. With Jim as President we’ve come a long way and now with WorthPoint we can go even further.”

GoAntiques’ Jim Kamnikar said: “This is a good match. WorthPoint will give us the added resources we need to expand our marketplace and provide additional value to our buyers and sellers.

“WorthPoint represents the future of collecting worldwide, and we are happy to be part of that exciting future.”

WorthPoint was founded in 2007, but it has quickly become the largest social network for researching the worth of antiques and collectibles.

Read the entire WorthPoint Press Release.

Exhibits subject to change.

A

Air Force One
Visitors can tour a full-scale replica of the fuselage of Air Force One and receive keepsake photos of the experience.

Appraisals—Political Memorabilia
Bring political collections to the American Presidential Experience, have them evaluated by WorthPoint and have an opportunity to sell them in daily auctions.

Authentic Signed Documents (During Presidency) of Every President
Authentic signed documents from every American president while they were in office. This is one of the rarest collections of presidential documents assembled. This collection has just been released for public viewing after storage in a bank vault.

Author Signings
Authors will be on hand to sign books written about American politics and the presidency.

C

C-SPAN’S Campaign 2008 Bus
The C-SPAN bus brings the world of public affairs into communities nationwide. The 45-foot bus is equipped with mobile multimedia demonstration centers and TV production units that can be used as studios during live programs, such as C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.”

F

First Ladies’ Gowns
An exhibition of inaugural gowns worn by First Ladies.

First Ladies’ Exhibits
A collection of historic memorabilia of First Ladies during their time in the White House.

Florida Voting Machine
See one of the authentic, original, controversial voting machines from the 2000 presidential election.

The Flag of the United States of America
Three centuries of authentic, historic flags. Dozens of authentic historic flags show the evolving and changing flags as America grew.

H

Hail to the Chief: Take the Oath of Office
Visitors can experience taking the oath of office and being sworn in as president.

L

Lincoln Logs
Children can play with Lincoln Logs and build a frontier village.

M

Merchandising
Seventy-five vendors of memorabilia and products will be available to the public.

O

Oval Office
A full-size replica of the White House Oval Office allows visitors to sit behind the president’s desk, sign a bill into law and receive a souvenir photo.

Official Lanyards and Credentials
Commemorative 2008 American Presidential Experience credential and lanyard will be distributed to each visitor.

P

Presidential Exhibits
Presidential libraries

President Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Mobile Exhibit
A 2,500-square-foot interactive commemoration of the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln in a mobile educational exhibit.

Presidential Chairs
See replicas of three chairs used by Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

President John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy Exhibits
This special exhibit includes numerous items owned by the president and First Lady such as clothing, watches, pens, signed notes, etc.

Presidential Limousine
An actual official limousine is displayed with important historical documentation and photographs of the president riding in it.

Presidential Shoes
From Johnston-Murphy Shoe Co. comes eight pairs of shoes including those worn by Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and other presidents.

Presidential Bio Panels
Educational boards representing each president and his life and times as president and particular memorabilia for each.

S

Suffragette Exhibit
Photos, documents, button, ribbons and political memorabilia from the historic struggle for women’s right to vote.

T

Three Centuries of Political Memorabilia
Rare and authentic posters, buttons and other political memorabilia from the 18th century to the 21st from the American Political Collectors Association will be on display.

Talking Presidential Heads
Ask questions of select presidents, and hear how they answer in this interactive exhibit.

V

Voting Station
Children can learn about political issues, cast a live vote and have it immediately tabulated in this interactive format.

W

White House Animals and Pets
An exhibit chronicling White House pets and animals.

White House Entertaining
A formal display of White House china table settings from eight different administrations.

Washington Monument
A 20-foot-high replica of the George Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

White House Murals
Large prints 8 feet high depict the Blue Room, Red Room, Yellow Room and others in the White House.

White House Touching Façade
Façade where children can reach through openings and guess what the item is on the other side.

WorthPoint Evaluations
WorthPoint experts will evaluate antiques and collectibles—presidential memorabilia, coins, militaria and flags. Free evaluations will be provided for veterans in uniform and convention delegates.

For more information:
American Presidential Experience

USA Button Poll

The Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee