My Blog is all about showcasing my artwork because I no longer have the thrift store.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Once in a Blue Moon Online Thrift & Consignment Store Wanted Lists
Wish Lists. Didn't they used to call Wish Lists, Wanted Lists or just Wanted? When did this all change anyway? I'm sorry, but in spite of being a progressive thinker there are some things I've become accustomed to and would like to at least get a memo before it changes on me. In any case and before anything else changes, we will be delving into the Wish List items of our customers to see if we can learn why these particular items are on their Wanted List.
The first item(s) up are insulators. Our customer wrote that he's looking for old and crude glass, pottery and porcelain insulators. His collection is across a broad spectrum of insulators: Bright colors, crude construction, patent dates, insulators with junk in them (such as nails, milk, amber, etc.), early threadless, civil war insulators, lightning rod insulators, foreign insulators, etc., etc. He added that there are thousands of different insulators and he especially would like anything odd and unusual.
If you're like me you've never given insulators a moment's thought, and so the following information I found on the subject is meant to help enlighten all of us. At least on telephone line insulators. (Please take note: The photos above are ones I found of telephone glass insulators and are only a glimpse into what he's looking to find)
Collectors Weekly: Insulators were originally made to keep telegraph and telephone wires electrically insulated from wooden telephone poles (especially important in the rain). With the additional needs of rural electrification, there was a big insulator boom in the early 20th century, peaking from the 1920s through the 1940s, with production in the millions per year.
Made from glass or porcelain, in a dazzling array of shapes and colors (e.g. amber, cobalt blue, green, purple), they’re prized for color, beauty, and rarity. Collectors identify insulators by manufacturer (e.g. Hemingray) and by CD numbers, which are based on shape.
The next item up is an antique/vintage cookie & pastry press made by a company called Mirro, circa 1960's. The kit includes decorating plates and tips. This request came to us from a gentleman who needs 4 kits in total so he can send them to his relatives in Germany who are avid bakers.
I've never used a cookie press so once again I went searching for information. It seems the antique or vintage cookie presses are still readily available, so hopefully it shouldn't be too difficult of a find for our customer. In the meantime the following is what I learned about cookie presses: Also called a cookie gun, this tool consists of a hollow tube fitted at one end with a decorative template or nozzle, and at the other with a plunger. The tube is filled with a soft cookie dough that the plunger forces out through the decorative tip to form professional-looking pressed cookies. Cookie presses come with a selection of interchangeable templates and other tips. Today, they are mostly made of plastic and can be purchased for under $20.00 including accessories. Presses made with aluminum are usually priced at $30.00 and above. Today's cookie presses still look the same as they did in the beginning, which really says something for the original designer, and those that have followed: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Our newest Wish List request comes from someone who is looking for two very different types of fashion related items. The fun stuff!!!
The first item up is a Louis Vuitton Speedy bag in the white multicolored logo design.
Over the years I have sold quite a few Louis Vuitton bags and I'm 99.9 percent sure each one was authentic. At least I never had one returned nor did I have any complaints. Maybe I should bump that percentage up to 100%? That being said, I also admit that I am no expert on Louis Vuitton. Actually there have been volumes written by really knowledgable and smart people on how to determine the authenticity of a Louis Vuitton bag and most write-ups can be found on eBay. The eBay management, as you might suspect; are continually having to keep the selling of counterfeit merchandise at bay. (Did you notice the semi-pun?)
Fortunately when I had bags to sell, a used advice passed on to me by a friend who knew what to look for. She said to check to see if the pattern lined up at the seams. If it did, it was probably the real thing. The technique worked for quite a few years until I came across a large satchel bag with all the other seemingly genuine attributes, but the pattern did not line up. It drove me crazy for a long time trying to authenticate the bag on my own until finally I decided I wouldn't sell it and instead just keep it to use when I traveled. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made!
In my research today of Louis Vuitton bags, matching the seams must have gone by the wayside with the Vuitton people, because if you look at the bags on the official Vuitton site none of the patterns line up. I'm sure back in the day lining up the seams was something the company took pride in, but today with mass production schedules, it's probably too labor intensive and fabric wasteful.
If the need arises again for me to authenticate a Louis Vuitton bag, I'll just leave it to the experts.
The next item on our fashion list is a shawl by Cecilia De Bucourt. The one she would really like is multicolored like shown in the photos, but said any color would do if she could find one at a reasonable price.
The only information I could locate on this shawl was a brief mention with the undated photo on the right. I found loads of Cecilia De Bucourt's other designs, but none make the same fashion statement as this particular shawl.
Since I couldn't learn anything more about the shawl, I decided to see what the fashion world thinks about shawls and scarves.
The first stop on my search was one showing the French technique of layering. We've all seen the look, at least in magazines, if not in person. If you examine the photo at left, you'll note the layering includes not one, but two very unalike scarves. Besides the two scarves and jacket, I think I can also see a vest and I'm sure there's a blouse or shirt under it all. French look or not, I really do love the look.
Since we're into scarves and not yet shawls, I also took note of how some of the stars are tying scarves to the straps of their purses instead of their person and I'm sure we've all seen the look of a large scarf tied around the waist, sarong style. All great ideas to accessorize your outfits.
You have no idea how hard it is sometimes to find exactly what you're looking for on the web. Well, maybe you do. Anyway, a simple request of '2010 shawl fashion trends' should come up with more information than "Big, Bodacious Shawls" with a photo of Gwen Stefani wearing a Big, Bodacious shawl, but it didn't. So I moved on and found some info on Wikipedia about Pashmina shawls. Not exactly what we're looking for, but interesting information nonetheless.
Pashmina is the latest trend in shawls and refers to a type of fine cashmere wool and the textiles made from it. The Pashmina shawl rose into fashion prominence during the mid-'90s, when they were dubiously marketed. Cashmere used for pashmina shawls was claimed to be of a superior quality, which was really due to the enhanced sheen and softness that the fabric (cashmere blended with silk) had. Some shawls marketed as pashmina shawls contain wool, while other unscrupulous companies marketed the man-made fabric viscose as "pashmina" with deceptive marketing statements such as "authentic viscose pashmina".
So there you have it. I hope you found the information useful and will now go out and see if you can fill the desires of our customer's Wish List .
If you're like me you've never given insulators a moment's thought, and so the following information I found on the subject is meant to help enlighten all of us. At least on telephone line insulators. (Please take note: The photos above are ones I found of telephone glass insulators and are only a glimpse into what he's looking to find)
Collectors Weekly: Insulators were originally made to keep telegraph and telephone wires electrically insulated from wooden telephone poles (especially important in the rain). With the additional needs of rural electrification, there was a big insulator boom in the early 20th century, peaking from the 1920s through the 1940s, with production in the millions per year.
Made from glass or porcelain, in a dazzling array of shapes and colors (e.g. amber, cobalt blue, green, purple), they’re prized for color, beauty, and rarity. Collectors identify insulators by manufacturer (e.g. Hemingray) and by CD numbers, which are based on shape.
I've never used a cookie press so once again I went searching for information. It seems the antique or vintage cookie presses are still readily available, so hopefully it shouldn't be too difficult of a find for our customer. In the meantime the following is what I learned about cookie presses: Also called a cookie gun, this tool consists of a hollow tube fitted at one end with a decorative template or nozzle, and at the other with a plunger. The tube is filled with a soft cookie dough that the plunger forces out through the decorative tip to form professional-looking pressed cookies. Cookie presses come with a selection of interchangeable templates and other tips. Today, they are mostly made of plastic and can be purchased for under $20.00 including accessories. Presses made with aluminum are usually priced at $30.00 and above. Today's cookie presses still look the same as they did in the beginning, which really says something for the original designer, and those that have followed: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The first item up is a Louis Vuitton Speedy bag in the white multicolored logo design.
Over the years I have sold quite a few Louis Vuitton bags and I'm 99.9 percent sure each one was authentic. At least I never had one returned nor did I have any complaints. Maybe I should bump that percentage up to 100%? That being said, I also admit that I am no expert on Louis Vuitton. Actually there have been volumes written by really knowledgable and smart people on how to determine the authenticity of a Louis Vuitton bag and most write-ups can be found on eBay. The eBay management, as you might suspect; are continually having to keep the selling of counterfeit merchandise at bay. (Did you notice the semi-pun?)
Fortunately when I had bags to sell, a used advice passed on to me by a friend who knew what to look for. She said to check to see if the pattern lined up at the seams. If it did, it was probably the real thing. The technique worked for quite a few years until I came across a large satchel bag with all the other seemingly genuine attributes, but the pattern did not line up. It drove me crazy for a long time trying to authenticate the bag on my own until finally I decided I wouldn't sell it and instead just keep it to use when I traveled. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made!
In my research today of Louis Vuitton bags, matching the seams must have gone by the wayside with the Vuitton people, because if you look at the bags on the official Vuitton site none of the patterns line up. I'm sure back in the day lining up the seams was something the company took pride in, but today with mass production schedules, it's probably too labor intensive and fabric wasteful.
If the need arises again for me to authenticate a Louis Vuitton bag, I'll just leave it to the experts.
The only information I could locate on this shawl was a brief mention with the undated photo on the right. I found loads of Cecilia De Bucourt's other designs, but none make the same fashion statement as this particular shawl.
Since I couldn't learn anything more about the shawl, I decided to see what the fashion world thinks about shawls and scarves.
Since we're into scarves and not yet shawls, I also took note of how some of the stars are tying scarves to the straps of their purses instead of their person and I'm sure we've all seen the look of a large scarf tied around the waist, sarong style. All great ideas to accessorize your outfits.
Pashmina is the latest trend in shawls and refers to a type of fine cashmere wool and the textiles made from it. The Pashmina shawl rose into fashion prominence during the mid-'90s, when they were dubiously marketed. Cashmere used for pashmina shawls was claimed to be of a superior quality, which was really due to the enhanced sheen and softness that the fabric (cashmere blended with silk) had. Some shawls marketed as pashmina shawls contain wool, while other unscrupulous companies marketed the man-made fabric viscose as "pashmina" with deceptive marketing statements such as "authentic viscose pashmina".
So there you have it. I hope you found the information useful and will now go out and see if you can fill the desires of our customer's Wish List .
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