Antiques and Vintage success- the latest haul

By Elizabeth Prata

There are 4 1/2 days of school left with the kids. I return after Memorial Day for 3 last days of post-planning, which really means just packing up the room and wandering the empty halls talking with other staff who have also finished packing.

I do not know who votes for the worst options given for our school calendar every year, but STOP IT!

Anyway, phew, we had Field Day this week and it was pretty great. I was tired though, but not ready to head home. I needed a bit of a buffer. I also had a curtain problem, and I needed to buy some craft supplies for a gift I was putting together for a student. I had also, ahem, looked at ebay and seen a 1901 Andersons’ Fairy Tales for sale and suddenly got “old book fevah.”

I withstood the desire to buy the old book for $30, and went on with my day, then after work decided to resolve my curtain problem at my favorite vintage store. I needed a lacy curtain that allowed the diffuse light to beam on my plants, but not so sheer that everyone walking by at eye level would see into my whole apartment. (It is a front facing window). I found this:

I had a blast! I found a curtain panel for $5 that was the same as I had on the other window I’d bought 8 years ago! I also found some other goodies. Here they are:

Two Maurice Sendak books; One Swell Pup, a graphic mini-novel, and Pierre: A Cautionary Tale. These I’ll bring to school and put with Where the Wild Things Are, and I can do an author study. Paperbacks are $1.50 and hard cover is $3. A deal.

This one looked interesting for $3. Published in 1938.

And I satisfied my “old book fevah”! I found this miniature book. It is called Young’s Night Thoughts. This edition was published in 1852. Cost, $1.50. There are three things I went off and researched about this little find:

First, here is a rare book seller’s description of the book’s theme and contents:

“Pursuing consolation for the loss of his stepdaughter in 1736 and his wife and son-in-law in 1740, Young wrote The Complaint, or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality (1742–6), arguably the century’s greatest long poem. Its nine ‘Nights,’ issued serially in quartos tending to greater length, total nearly 10,000 lines of blank verse. The first of these maintain the quasi-autobiographical fiction of a nocturnal speaker lamenting the loss of child, spouse, and friend and finding Christian consolation… Over 100 collected editions of the Night-Thoughts were published in the next five decades, including translations in most European languages… Illustrated by William Blake and read closely by Wordsworth and Coleridge, the poem remained popular well into the 1800s”

OK, that looks like something good to read. Elsewhere I saw that his book was very well thought of into the 1900s.

Next, we learn a lot from the names inscribed inside the front cover. The inscription on the inside reads: to Minnie Laurie Van Horne from Papa, Jan 10, 1916.

I found those people! The Papa who gave this book to his daughter, a lady who never married, was Dr. James T Van-Horne, born Oct. 19, 1850 ~ passed away Oct. 7, 1917. He lived in the Covington-Newnan-Monroe GA area His grave inscription says “IN HEAVEN A BELOVED PHYSICIAN, DEVOTED HUSBAND AND FATHER.” In his later years he ran a drugstore in Monroe from 1881 till his passing in 1917, when his two sons took it over. The drugstore lasted for 70 years. Minnie Laurie lived with her brother Spence till the end. She passed away in 30 May 1957 (aged 76). This was the Doctor’s home in Monroe that he built for his wife in 1890:

It remained a private residence for 100 years. Source

Third, I learned about miniatures. Wikipedia says “In the 19th century, technological innovations in printing enabled the creation of smaller and smaller type. Fine and popular editions alike grew in number throughout the 19th century in what was considered the golden age for miniature books.” Ladies could carry them in their reticule and men could have them handy in their suit pockets. Despite this book’s small size, it is easy to read with clear print.

I also found a book of Amazing Grace lyrics accompanied by watercolor paintings,

The book will be a gift to someone who loves hymns.

And two Victorian creamers, $2.50 each. They are quadruple silver plate. The design looks etched. I think it’s a C B Barker MFG CO 1896-1915. So, a genuine antique at more than 100 years old. I will use them as mini-vases for wildflowers. Quadruple plate just means 4X the amount of silver plated to the base metal. I read that quadruple silver plate often tarnishes and looks black because of two reasons:

“While four times the amount of silver used to plate them, the layers of plating on quadruple plate were much thinner than standard plating. And while silver is stable in pure air and water, it tarnishes quickly when exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air containing sulfur. Victorian homes not only had some of these elements present due to the use of coal-burning stoves and fireplaces, but many upper middle-class homes had overzealous servants who polished the silver pieces incessantly. Each time a servant polished a piece of quadruple plated silver, he or she removed some of the silver.”

I like the black look. I won’t use these for potable liquids, but I will for flowers or other displays.

this creamer has no maker’s mark on it at all. I like the rounded design

So my haul included home décor solution (curtain), gift for a student, gift for a friend, a couple of antiques, some books for home, books for classroom. So fun! The store looked great and it was a pleasure browsing among the fine furniture and other antiques, and the help was available and pleasant. Only one other customer in the store. I spent about 20 minutes shopping things on my list, and was home in half an hour. My kind of day!