“My Heart’s in the Highlands” book

Our neighbourhood's history book

It has taken three years of work from inception or conception you could say, to the launch of this book. As the Chair of the Book Committee for our historical society it was my job to be the liaison between the Board members, the membership, the designer, the writer and the editor. It's a good thing they were all wonderful people to work with. On Sunday afternoon we launched this book at the kick off event for our neighbourhood's 100th birthday. The book was our official Centennial project and it has been a resounding success. What was even more special was that we launched the book in … [Read more...]

Revamping a Front Yard

Front of 1912 House

Well as far as I can see my husband and I have one more major project for our house. Since we moved in five summers ago we have landscaped the back yard from scratch, built a gazebo and new double garage, turned an empty concrete basement into a media room with laundry facilities and new bathroom, and finally redid the 1912 kitchen as well as built a new addition and wrap around deck.   So now we get to tackle the front yard.   As you can tell by the picture at left, there used to be an open porch. It was enclosed in 1927 by the people who lived in this home for 80 years. I appreciate … [Read more...]

Memories of Sales Past

Selling Antiques

    This upcoming sale has made me think of some of the more unusual venues where I have held sales before. Places like:  a house about to be bulldozed. You can understand that time is of the essence in a sale like that!   The 16th floor of an apartment building.  The challenge was doing this inconspicuously and getting the buyers through security. No problems thank goodness.                               A storage container : Have you watched storage wars? Well I turned one of these containers into a mini store - all organized and displayed, … [Read more...]

Antique Books

Books Books and more Books!

  At the end of April I am hosting a private antique sale here in our city. The client is a grand niece of the owner who passed away recently at the age of 104 years of age! He was what is being called today a "hoarder". He never threw anything out (trust me) although it's nowhere as bad as what you see on television.   He was, however, the best kind of hoarder because he collected books. We are not talking about garage sale books but true collectible books. He had a good number of books on a variety of topics that are pre-1900. He was such a serious collector that years before he … [Read more...]

Don’t Hide that Front Door

Antique doors should be seen, not hidden!

 Each spring the City of Edmonton holds a series of educational workshops that are designed to help owners of heritage properties learn how to restore and preserve their heritage homes. Last night we discussed floors and mill work. Both of these are extremely important aspects of the charm of a heritage home interior. Mill work especially is what links one room to another and it's important to ensure that their visual treatment is consistent.  Many old houses also have beautiful exterior doors but often they are hidden behind ugly aluminum screen doors.      Now I … [Read more...]

Syracuse China

Syracuse china

I received an email from a reader requesting some information about the Syracuse China Company because her Mother had a set of dishes that she prized highly. Unfortunately it is hard to give any good information when there are no pictures attached - pictures of the pattern, but most importantly the mark. The picture at left is one of the patterns in the "Federal Shape". The mark tells an appraiser how old it is, when it was made and where, whether it was made for local sales or for export - and a lot more. In this case the info I received indicated that the dishes were made in the … [Read more...]

How do I sell my Set of China?

Blue Mikado

  Many people contact me by email asking for advice on how to go about selling the sets of china that they own. Often the people have inherited the dishes and have no use for them. I recently received an email from a reader telling me they had two barrels full of china and silverware to sell. Once I had determined that the dishes was not extremely rare or of high value I gave then the following advice which anyone can follow when they are ready to sell their own:   Things are always only worth what people are prepared to spend but here are some tips: 1. Take all your china out of the … [Read more...]