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by Rosemary Lee Potter
Special to Tropical Breeze
In summer folks often travel about, even
in their own areas. The weather's better, perhaps the work load
lighter, maybe car- or family-pooling to save gas. Still there are
always collectors among 'em looking for close-by roadside and
online treasures. So a summer's adventure hunting antiques and
collectibles remains a cautionary affair. One may get heady and
hooked with the great items found out there just waiting to be
carried away.
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| Handy muffin, catch-all, and outgoing mail baskets belonging to the columnist. |
Baskets: Many, many people naturally
"collect" baskets. No, not really as a hobby thing. It's just that
almost in every home there'll be baskets, yes, more than one, and
for good reason. From ancient times, from grass, wicker, split ash,
pine needles, straw, vines, wood shavings and staves, whatever
material, these woven containers are functional, just that --
containers. Everybody needs 'em. Whether in archaeological
exploration of the ancient and rare, the centuries-old ritual, the
fields, the marketplaces or in everyday attic and kitchen, baskets
are an ever-present item. Some baskets are just plain, in here to
hold bread or incoming mail, others ornate baskets deliberately
built for beauty or traditional or original design. Baskets are not
hard to find in any case and any use.
In my home I just turned from the keyboard
and spotted three baskets I use all the time. One is a cutwork
basket which holds rolls or muffins, another, quite flat, serves by
a phone as a small-item collection plate and the third holds my
outgoing cards or letters to mail. I just take them and all the
other baskets in my house for granted -- not really as a treasured
collection, although they are. I have no idea their origin nor from
where I obtained them.
Floridian Sharan McCord, however, is
actually a basket collector. She is a very specialized collector of
one famous basket maker, the firm of Longaberger of Dresden, Ohio.
So involved is this company in making their popular assortment of
pretty practical, sometimes pricey baskets that the company
headquarters is actually a seven-story woven picnic basket, the
building even sporting enormous handles! Imagine a traffic-stopping
basket building company, its office a basket building! Check out
their website.
Longaberger baskets are made not only for
picnic fun, but also for special holidays and occasions, a
continuously emerging variety of unique containers. Sharan's
basket collection is displayed everywhere on shelves in her
kitchen/ family room, some baskets also hanging among shiny pots
from a large, wrought-iron holder above her kitchen work area.
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Just a few pieces in Lillian Donaldson’s vintage jewelry collection-rhinestone brooches, Bakelite necklace and bracelet, and pearl-cameo choker.
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Just to get another notion, a wider
look-see about baskets -- all types, construction, uses, origins,
possible appraisal values, one need only go on eBay to locate
21,334 basket items currently on sale. On the day I checked this
out, the basket category included wire egg baskets, ones made from
Pfaltzgraff china, Fenton milk glass, sterling silver, as well as
hanging flower baskets. In addition, there were handmade baskets
"attributed" to various Native-American tribes such as Navajo and
Cherokee. Cautions both here and on baskets of foreign origin,
though, as the claim or source may not be authentic. More must be
known about the specific item and its established features before
accepting such claims or making such purchases, however compelling
the offer.
Breakables: When you go in for a haircut
-- that is to a new place -- you really don't expect much of a
collecting adventure in the shop. Shows you how wrong you can be.
Collecting stories are everywhere... if you are fortunate enough to
hear or see them. First thing I noticed was a very nice china
cabinet behind the counter. In it was some pretty glassware, looked
like Carnival glass, of course, very colorful. Lillian Donaldson,
the collector/shop-owner/expert hair-cutter, told me how she
started collecting glass.
Seems about five years ago she bought some
attractive cocktail glasses at a garage sale. She had the set just
sitting on her front counter. Although she planned on giving it to
a relative, customer after customer wanted to buy them from her.
For a while after that experience, she'd buy similar appealing
sets and display them AND sell them!
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| A sample of Sharan McCord’s Longaberger baskets displayed on her kitchen potholder. |
By then she was hooked on glass and thus
the pretty and diverse pieces in the shop cabinet. These, she said,
are only a sample of the nice ones in her collection elsewhere.
Brooches: The beauty shop, Tropical Toes
on Gulf-to-Bay in Clearwater, had still another sample collection
-- gorgeous rhinestone brooches, so fashionable in the 1930s and
'40s. Lillian keeps these displayed on a black velvet board, other
interesting costume jewelry pieces in a glass case. Among the
variety Lillian pointed out an Isenberg, some turquoise and some
striking Bakelite pieces, which must have given their owners some
real pride in the wearing. I came close to buying, but resisted a
cute Japanese Scottie dog pin for my ever-present Scottie
collection. Scotties were the rage decoration in the 1930s because
folks all knew about Roosevelt's Scottie, Fala.
Whether you get started collecting by
accident, slowly as you go, or out with driven purpose, both
collector folks and friends show and tell us that baskets,
breakables and brooches are terrific collectibles, the source of
many adventures! No telling what's out there waiting or online!
Now get going!
© 2008 Rosemary Lee Potter. All
Rights Reserved.
Rosemary Lee Potter is a confirmed victim
of the collecting bug and can be reached by e-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or write to her in care of Tropical Breeze,
P.O. Box 585, Safety Harbor, FL 34695.
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