One night at Midnight Sun Antique Auction

Last night was the monthly Midnight Sun Auction, and I went to see what I could score on the cheap. The place was full of the usual suspects, and 300 lots of fine junkery. It was one of those nights that nothing excited me very much, meaning there were no "have to have" items for me. In those cases, my strategy is to pick-off somewhat interesting items for the opening bid price; if I don't get it, no big deal. Here was my take:

 

From top left, clockwise: Hand-painted Japanese vase, real elephant ivory elephant (with poorly repaired trunk that my restorer will make perfect, and missing tusks), a mini tackle-box of trade beads many of which are real turquoise, an unsmokes meerschaum cheroot holder in the original case (lacking a stem which I will have made by my pipe repairman). All of this rests on a nice signed etching of Norte Dame, most likely a tourist piece from the 1960's, but nicely executed. Total cost was $137 including buyer's premium. I will have to invest a couple hundred more to make everything more attractive, but overall I think it's not too shabby.

Rained out on Sunday

I wanted to sell at Pasadena City College Swap Meet this past Sunday, but it rained and so all the stand-by spots were allocated to permanent dealers who wanted to get out of the rain and into the parking structure.

So I decided to go shopping instead. Here's a short list of the things I found:

Here's my haul from yesterday (spiraling inward from top center, clockwise): 

1. Antique shawm (early oboe relative)

2. Magic lantern slides from England

3. Imperial Russian brass tea box

4. Cloisonne opium pipe with agate mouthpiece

5. c1820 spoon & fork

6. 1937 King George VI & Elizabeth coronation plate

7. Jumbo fountain pen

8. Crystal match striker

9. Engraved cameo conch shell

10. Sterling silver cigarette holder

11. Kaywoodie meerschaum cigar holder

12. Antique pipe stem (don't have a use for it now, but there are more pipes sans stems than vice versa)

13. Christopher Johnson straight razor

Time to photograph and list most of these on eBay or Etsy. The rest will have to wait for the next swap meet I'm able to get into.