Antiques: Luxury Recycling

Recent articles are touting the comeback of the antiques market: prices are generally at least 20 to 30 percent lower than two years ago. We’ll be testing that theory at the NYC semi-annual Pier Antiques Show  March 13-14, at Pier 94.

The Details:

Moi Tip: The New York Times usually has a $5 discount ticket coupon several days before the show.

Be Green – Buy Vintage

Shopping means different things to each of us. For TBG, shopping equates to buying. For Moi, shopping is most frequently free, and involves looking and thinking and deciding and training my eye to love new things, or to adjust my view of old, everyday things to new uses. I shop very slooooowly, but when it speaks to me…

I spend alot of time shopping; shopping is looking at everything out there…whether its in a shop window, worn by a passerby on the street, glossily glaring at me from a magazine, blinking at me from my laptop, carelessly displayed on a cluttered flea market table, or stashed away in a forgotten corner of my closet. And sometimes, when I’m very lucky, design inspiration occurs.

I had a design need. Years ago I re-appropriated my old lingerie chest as a jewelry chest. I like to keep the boxes that nice jewelry comes in, so I’m lucky to have my drawers cluttered with boxes from Cartier, Hermes, Tiffany, Georg Jensen, Baccarat, and Louis Vuitton. The boxes make me happy! But they take up alot of space, hence the jewelry chest.

For my everyday casual fun jewelry I went to the Container Store and purchased little organizer trays that come in different sizes and stack…so I can have a stack of earrings, a stack of necklaces, a stack of bracelets. Very convenient, very useful. Fit easily inside the drawers.

But I have my standby, everyday go-to jewelry that I throw on without thinking or planning as I head out the door. I keep them tossed in a little tray I bought in Madrid, and its grab-and-go as I’m heading out the door. Until recently.

The last year or so I’ve developed a passion for long and dangly neck chains. They swing casually, decorated with different charms I’ve re-purposed (and I shared with you and The Antiques Diva!).

Great, right? Wrong! Long dangly chains become a tangled mess when all thrown into a little tray. I needed organization, but it needed to be easily accessible. I considered the options:

• bff The Antiques Diva has re-purposed an old glove mold into a jewelery organizer in her tres chic Berlin toilette (look to the far right on the counter)

• CoMo bff S turned her serviette kitchen towel holder with hooks into a necklace display/organizer

Moi? I didn’t have a plan, yet… I have tiny little NYC apartment, and introducing things or adding clutter is just not an option. but… Our dry cleaner closes TBG’s shirts with little plastic clips that I save and use as paper clips. Brilliant? It gets better. I had a stack of these little clippies on my my jewelry chest, adding to the clutter. I had a tangled mess of long chains that I was trying to untangle so I could wear my silver chain with the dangling baccarat earring. And I had design inspiration.

I took a dozen of the clips and clipped them over the top of the lampshade that was on my jewelry chest, leaving each clip protruding up about 1/2 inch. I hung one of my long necklaces over each of the clips. Voila: no more mess. No more tangles. And no expense.

Before:

After:

Design Inspiration!

Moi is hard at work shopping the bazaars of India, researching exotic shopping tips to share with you. Until you get Moi first India road trip report, here are some ideas on wearing your memories as jewelry that Moi recently shared with The Antiques Diva:

Souvenirs de la Reine

It ain’t easy being green – Kermit the Frog

Trying to be eco-conscience with an extra hot Starbucks chai latte in hand is not as easy as it sounds…Moi needs those cardboard cup sleeves to prevent hand burns.

Lucky Moi: eco-friendly and super-chic CoMo bff S gifted me this reusable knit cup sleeve.

Crafted in Missouri by Jolene of 3 MOMS Creative Outlet out of recycled wool sweater cuffs and buttons, the felted wool cup cuff can be carried in a purse or stored in your glove compartment for coffee on the go.

Eco-smart!

Moi tip: are you a crafty lady? I found a site that shows you how to make your own recycled wool cuff cup

I wasn’t always a pen-atic: I acquired my recent pen fetish from TBG. I think collecting pens is a very typical male obsession: as they climb the corporate ladder, whipping out important or unusual pens to sign the business document is a status symbol. TBG started his pen collection over 30 years ago, inspired by an antique crystal and wood inkwell and pen holder he inherited from his grandmother.  Over the years he’s acquired gorgeous, expensive and unusual pens (new, vintage and antique) and out of necessity, cases, stands and holders to display and store these pens.

Having a spouse with a pen obsession or other mantique passion is very desirable to antique, flea and vintage market lovers like Moi:

• he’s always willing to accompany me to a market or shop as he has his own interest to track down
• when I’m browsing alone I can keep an eye out for the perfect gift
• he totally gets why some things cost what they cost
• he understands that something “similar” won’t do: I can spend years tracking down the exact thing that I want

Over the years I’ve gifted TBG with pens, cases and other accessories to support his collection (and to prove that I was thinking about him while I’m off traveling on my own, such as the flower frog to hold pens on TBG’s desk).

It’s also lucky to have friends who are on similar hunts! I recently visited bff The Antiques Diva in Berlin, and of course we spent much of my visit exploring the antique markets of Berlin. I’d been to Berlin several times before with TBG, and was eager to revisit with a shopping list in mind. And one of the items on my list was a gift for TBG. Fortunately for me, the AD is married to The Wine Guy, and TWG is also an avid pen collector (who discovered several years ago he could research and buy antique and vintage pens on French ebay). So one of the first steps on my mission was to consult TWG for advise as to the perfect German pen to gift TBG.

TWG knew the exact pen to track down: a Pelikan pen, and to complete the gift, a Pelikan pen holder. Pelikan is a German brand, so the perfect souvenir gift. TWG also happens to be close friends with The Pelikan Pen Guy! He even could recommend which market was most likely to offer the pen, and gave Moi guidelines on style, price and condition.

TWG’s Pelikan Pen shopping guidelines included:

• pen should be manufactured around 1950’s
• buy from a pen specialist, not just a stall with pens
• a fountain pen is interesting but roller more practical
• spend time writing with the pen to be sure the ink flows smoothly, the pen feels good in the hand
• preferably the classic cigar-shaped pen
• spend no more than 50€
• look for the Pelikan display case: again not more than 50€
• accompanying filled ink jar and nibs would be interesting (if I went for the fountain pen)
• try the flea market Straße des 17. Juni
  

So with our Pelikan pen mission clearly outlined (plus a shopping strategy of our own) the Antiques Diva and I headed toward Straße des 17. Juni.

What do you think of our find? TBG loves it!

I love finding something special when I’m not even looking. Whether it’s for Moi or a gift, the surprise find brings extra pleasure.

Last week I visited the recently completed Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach, Florida. We’ve been watching the construction for several years, and reading the signage each time we passed by, and TBG and I were excited to walk in and finally have a chance to investigate. First stop: the shops.

etc. café & gifts is filled with magazines and sundries, gourmet foods and candies (indulged in 2 boxes of Fran’s Smoked Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels), palm leaf shaped serving trays and glitzy utensils, logo-ed sweat shirts, sparkled Christmas ornaments, and lots of fun beach accessories, toys and souvenirs. But tucked in the corner of a shelf I spotted a small plexiglass display housing 10 slim, gold pens with beaded tops.

So different than anything else in the shop, I quickly got the scoop:

A warehouse in Maine burned down and someone had salvaged a box of early 20th century glass beads and semi-precious stones. Someone else (no one seemed to know who made the pens, I’d love to share their name with you) had fashioned these little antique treasures into one-of-a-kind pens. And 10 of these pens styled with antique beads found their way to the newly opened Seagate Hotel and Spa.

And now, for only $20, a slim gold pen with a blue and gold beaded fob is tucked inside my bag, ready to dazzle as I autograph my credit card receipts.

Moi tip: if you’re staying in the charming seaside village of Delray Beach I’m loving the Seagate to stay a few days, enjoy the spa, lunch at the Atlantic Grille, or just browse the shops.

The West Palm Beach Antiques Festival starts today: January 1, 2 and 3.

Looking for something to do this weekend? The first full weekend of each month from November through June, the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival is Florida’s largest show.

This weekend’s show theme is Antiques & Modernism. This is a new show for the Fest, and combines  the traditional West Palm Beach Antiques Festival show and the West Palm Beach Modernism show. Modernism dealers from all over the country will be offering Arts and Crafts, Mid-Century, Nouveau, Glass, Pottery, European Furniture and Accessories.

Americraft Expo Center at South Florida Fairgrounds, Southern Boulevard, West Palm Beach

• Antiques Fest Hours:
  • Friday: 9:00am – 12:00pm:   Early shoppers $25, good for entire weekend
    
  • Friday: 12:00pm – 5:00pm
    
  • Saturday: 9:00am – 5:00pm
  • Sunday: 10:00am – 4:30pm
• Adults $7       under 16 Free    Seniors $6
• indoor airconditioned booths and outdoor booths
• unlimited free parking
• on site glass repair and jewelry repair

Moi tip: Go to the website and print out the $1 discount coupon

I’m a browser. I love to shop, but I don’t necessarily want to buy. I’m not always looking for a great deal, the find or anything else. Sometimes I’m just looking.

If you look long enough, you eventually find things.

Antique shows, garage sales, swap meets, vide-greniers, flea markets, brocantes, tag sales. Call them what you will, but they’re basically old stuff for sale. Price negotiable.  Caveat emptor: buyer be ware.

In my thousands of browsing expeditions, I’ve seen hundreds of small, glass half-circles with lots of little holes on top: flower frogs. Priced anywhere from $3-50, clear to pale pink to blues and greens and blacks. Even swirly multi-colored frogs. Tennis to soft ball sizes.

For years and years I passed them by, then one time in Paris at a weekend street brocante, the brocanteur displayed his glass frog next to his cash box, with several pens and pencils poking out of the holes, like little flowers.

Voilà: a gift was born [Read more →]