20's lighting find

[Gothichome]

Corcetiere, How do you sleep at night.

[phil]

like a fool I wired my kitchen with two pots which only created difficulty because finding nice antique ones at a bargain store price in pairs is difficult. removing both pots to put just one up in the middle is also just too big of a hassle. when I did my living room I went with no ceiling lights and just wired up a couple of switched plugs so I have switches in the room for floor lamps.

I keep thinking it would be fun to make some fans that look antique. like the kind with a motor driving a belt and a few fans coupled by leather belt or a lineshaft with gearing to drive each fan with a single motor. I think they are fun to watch. I never seem to see used ones that are antique. probably rare and pricey. I have a lathe and turning the brass parts could be fun. It's a bit like how guys retire to their shop and build a steam engine just for the fun of the hobby, not because its practical to do so.

[Corsetière]

Corcetiere, How do you sleep at night.

It really is robbery!

I have a couple honey holes that I generally find some cheap gems at. I am starting to flip some of the finds that I know I cannot use here at this house. If the price is right and I'm pretty sure I can sell, I go ahead and buy it. I bought a nice quality antique door knob set for $3 that I thought could work on my porch door but turned out to be the wrong size, so I just listed it on eBay. And I flipped a really smart set of Mid Century drinking glasses that looked terribly out of place in my house. This set of chandeliers will probably go in my 1st floor bath if I can make them work.

[Corsetière]

like a fool I wired my kitchen with two pots which only created difficulty because finding nice antique ones at a bargain store price in pairs is difficult. removing both pots to put just one up in the middle is also just too big of a hassle. when I did my living room I went with no ceiling lights and just wired up a couple of switched plugs so I have switches in the room for floor lamps.

I keep thinking it would be fun to make some fans that look antique. like the kind with a motor driving a belt and a few fans coupled by leather belt or a lineshaft with gearing to drive each fan with a single motor. I think they are fun to watch. I never seem to see used ones that are antique. probably rare and pricey. I have a lathe and turning the brass parts could be fun. It's a bit like how guys retire to their shop and build a steam engine just for the fun of the hobby, not because its practical to do so.

Yes, it can be very challenging to find pairs. I apparently have the right juju at the moment though. I found two sweet pairs (though both need restored). I bet you could create some incredible faux antique fans. Imagine if you bought some antique ormolu furniture mounts and attached them to the blades.

[phil]

I remember scoping out some stores in Cleveland about 10 years ago. the area seemed so depressed then and so many antiquities. That one shop had so many lamps that were really collectable, in the thousands but probably still good investments if you see it that way.

out here there just isn't so much. I find some of the thrift stores get good stuff and then after they run the store a couple years they get organized. the salvation army does this. what they do is if something rare and collectable enters the store they sell that separately and online. I avoid those stores that do that because there is not much hope then of scoring some rare and beautiful thing that just walked in.

when I got interested in radios I scoured ebay and really got in tune with the pricing on there. then Id go to the local club meets and we are a friendly group and dont' charge each other ebay prices. so Id be carting all sorts of stuff home. now I'm overrun and so I find myself taking it back each time I get a table and I try to sell the stuff that I don't see investing my time in. a lot I've sold for ridiculously low prices but I feel that's just holding it and passing it back to the system after some 10 or 20 years. maybe feeding and housing the old rat nest boxes is a contribution to the effort of the club which is to restore and preserve old radios. It keeps the club interesting when people do bring stuff as they mostly want ot buy and sell and wheel and deal their stuff. its very friendly and fun though. some reach an age where downsizing becomes important because their families don't appreciate it all the way they do and so they dont like to pass the responsibility down to them.

in the end there aren't many I've paid more than 300 for , most are probably under 50 or so.. often a couple bucks for a dropped bakelite. I have several of some model so if I restore them , having others for parts and comparisons is handy.

a few I bought for the cabinet or chassis. sometimes the two get separated, I've tried to marry them up when I can often its a game of waiting years for the other parts that may or may not ever appear.

the collecting can be a slippery slope. its fun but I know many who collect so much they can't get in the basement usually its the high end and the unusual that appreciates. I tend to not collect the ones that are of high value but I have a few I really like and sometimes you are just there at the right time.

I think 20 years ago I figured the stuff would accumulate value a bit since so many restore them and restorers don't really want to work on stuff that is previously messed with. but 20 years ago we had more music on AM, now there is so many traffic stations and not much music so many just broadcast their own music. I recently found a way of re-broadcasting FM to AM radios nearby and so that works too. I wan to get a transmitter box they are about $200.00 in kit form then you build it yourself. some make them out of old radio parts.

I think the real fascination is the challenge of getting them restored and working. once done I rarely actually play them. its still a fun hobby. I'm trying to sway more to radios that are also a clock or a table or a lamp and things like that that have a dual use just to specialize a bit and add interest. I have the makings of a museum with stuff all the way from the teens to transistor age. I try hard not to collect stuff that is transistor because then they get into smaller components.

there is a real technical side to the radios. Im not an electronics technician but Ive learned a lot of bits and pieces with some gaps in knowleadge. the older ones had more differences and it is interesting to learn how the discoveries advanced through time. im rediscovering it because since I left of restoring there are now a lot of Utube videos and a lot of these older people are doing them to pass the knowledge on. there are very few young radio collectors.

one thing I find most interesting is the era around 1929 to 1935 or so , the depression era. It was a time when they also made a huge number of radios and people go them in their homes and they were big expensive and fancy things. I like the deco cabinet styles. like with the lamps it is essentially art you are collecting , but industrial art rather than paintings and things. Ive never been so interested in flat stuff like paintings but anything with an old cord hanging out of it and a mouse nest inside I find fun for some reason. sewing machines, even some heaters and early appliances and clocks and lights and things have neat mechanical/industrial designs.

lamps are nice to collect because they are useful when they are fixed up. im glad I didn't get into telephones, they are even harder to find use for even though some are really cool.

at first I thought maybe Id be one of the few that knew how to work on them as the older people take their knowledge with them. I came to realize this is not something to do for profit. i stopped worrying about how long stuff takes so If I do one I just try to do my best and if I leave it sitting while I live life that's ok because its just a pastime to me. Its a real challenge to do ones that I like and some of the real rats nests were the most fun. I think that's why collectors don't really look for restored stuff because it's more about the thrill of the chase and the challenge than the end result. Its something to get lost into and forget your troubles. there are others that collect the really valuable stuff and have bags of money and it can become like a pyramid scheme to get rich by buying the really sought after ones. in the ned its just stuff with a responsibility of how you will eventually part with it. some become ebay dealers. and Ive met some that spend a huge amoutn of time photographing packing answering emails and then get all stressed because of the drama. I bought this it doesn't work or there is a little scratch I want my money back.. that stuff. is it worth the profit? some of the antique stores do that a lot because when no one is in the store they use the time for that.

some get like used car salesman selling parts restoring for profit, using aggressive buying techniques. you can make money restoring for others if they are in love with it because it is grandma's old thing. to make money through adding value is really tough because its just so labor intensive. I guess you can make a little by smart shopping and flipping but I stopped seeing it like that because in the end for the time you spend you could probably make more standing at the corner selling ice cream or something

one of the most fun things is when someone comes up to your table and says how about 10 bucks for this one? and you stop to think and pause and then say well hmmm no , Ill take 5 but not ten,, and you settle it at $7.50 with tears in your eyes because you are both laughing so hard.. that's the fun side of collecting.