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by Rosemary Lee Potter
Special to Tropical Breeze
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| At top, crossed English Naval sabers are displayed in the dining
room of Carl and Dee Swanson, Virginia Beach, VA. They are among the
dozens of antiques in their collection, which includes an heirloom
rocker from Kentucky that is cherished by Dee, a crank-style 1930s
telephone which announced callers with long and short rings, a very
heavy vintage anvil displayed on the strongest supported floor of the
home — the downstairs bath —and an English embroidered sampler created
in the mid-1700s. Each of the items leads to another collecting adventure story. |
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While visiting a friend, retired Pinellas
County Schools media specialist, Carole Popaden, at her beautiful
riverside home in Virginia Beach, I was struck by her neighbors'
stately home, right across the hedge. Indeed, I had met the home's
congenial owners, Carl and Dee Swanson, a couple years ago.
However, I'd never actually visited them at home next door until
this summer. What a wealth of collecting adventure stories was just
waiting for me over there!
Dee explains her many beautiful antiques
as a "catalyst transport here to the future and to the past!"
While living in England and traveling
widely, she purchased many lovely antiques, each with an intriguing
tale which captivated her. Now she enthusiastically entertained me
as she began to share the stories of some of her antiques. For
example, in her elegant dining room, on top of a china cabinet,
rest two crossed Naval sabers which Carl bought, surprising Dee
with his superfind, a meaningful and aesthetic treasure.
In the Swansons' living room there sits a
very old wooden rocker which belonged to Dee's grandmother. On the
wall in the kitchen there is a wooden box crank phone which she
brought home fairly recently in fond remembrance of her childhood.
With her cousins, she loved listening in on the then party line
conversations. She just had to have that exact phone — a
product of the 1930s, recalling those early times when her home
phone number (ringer) was "long ring, short ring, long ring."
So when she could acquire the phone from
her mother's farmhouse estate, she was very pleased to bring it
home and place it on her own wall. It's not used, of course, just
fondly appreciated by Dee and her family.
Today's numerous ring tone devices, which
are so common, remind us what huge communication changes have taken
place over the last 77 years! Telephones are actually a popular
collectible. Some people specialize in character phones such as
those featuring Mickey Mouse or Kermit the Frog, the latter sitting
in an executive chair, the receiver cradled vertically hung over
one green leg when the phone is not in use. Kermit is shown relaxed
in an executive chair.
Folks are already collecting the many
variations of the ever-shrinking, continually redesigned, cell
phone. Some are worn like earrings, some are skinny, others are
wired for no-hands use. Some people use stylish period models,
rather than current pop-culture styles, the gleaming glamorous.
Instead they choose fancy period replicas with say a white phone
instrument perhaps with brass trimming. They delight in just a
plain old functional black, preferring to pick up both the handset
or bell-shaped receiver and its pedestal as well while talking,
although still tethered to the wall phone port. Say, picture the
late Bette Davis dialing out and then involving both her hands, as
dramatically poised to communicate. The phones are functional.
Next Dee led me to a nearby bathroom to
point out a very large antique anvil just sitting on the floor.
When I asked about this location, she told me that the anvil is so
heavy that Carl feared that was the only spot where he could be
sure there was enough support under the house to hold up such a
dense weight.
Finally, I asked Dee about a framed 1750s
sampler which hung on the nearby dining room wall. Was it a family
heirloom? No, she had discovered the sampler in England at the New
Caldonia Market. Imagine the long ago cross-stitcher, if she could
hear Dee explain "It spoke to me." For Dee this was a sampler which
she said reminds her at once of the wonderful relationship she has
with her daughter, Carla.
Aside from the lovely stitchery, the
rendering of verses from Psalms 23 and 42, the two female figures,
likely country shepherdesses, resemble and remind of a fond
mother-daughter combo. The shepherdess figure in the right
foreground seems to guide or encourage the actions of the more
slender figure back and to our left.
The 250-year-old sampler will one day
belong to Carla. Dee and Carla reflect that the beautifully
stitched sampler definitely depicts their own very special
relationship, which is the real reason why Dee was drawn to buy it
in the first place, since it was a bit pricey.
A contemporary aspect of the sampler
collecting adventure was her experience buying it from the English
market vendor. She found she did not have enough cash with her to
make the purchase. Yet she did not want to change her mind. Dee
offered the vendor a cash deposit on the sampler if it would be
held for her. The seller told her just to take it and send a check
to him later. With this amazing arrangement, the sampler went home
with Dee. To her surprise about a week after she mailed the check,
she received a phone call from the man who politely told her that
she had forgotten to sign the check! Embarrassed, Dee told him
she'd mail him another immediately and thanked him for his
understanding attitude.
There are so many pretties, special,
ornate, elegant pieces in the Swanson home, it's an eye-feast.
Everywhere this couple traveled, they shipped home antiques now
eclectically associated in their intriguing home décor. When
I get chatting with Dee, it's clear that her diverse finds,
definitely decorative, do truly entertain far beyond the visual. At
each of my glances or questions, Dee immediately offered an
accompanying, fascinating back story. With Dee as my docent,
treating me to all those vivid details, it was value-added to the
collecting adventures. How she too relished our mini-tour!
I regretted that I had to leave the
Swansons as there were so many more antiques to consider. However,
we both had other commitments! How wonderful to visit such a
stately home, furnished with memorable furniture, accessories AND
stories. Why we'd barely finished discussing the first floor
furnishings! However, that's what happens when collectors share
knowledge of past and present treasures. What is time? Hooray for
such collecting adventures, however brief.
Dee probably would really like to crank up
the phone to call her daughter or to answer a landline or cell
whose tone is a "long ring, short ring, long ring!" Maybe once more
just for old telephone time's sake?
© 2007 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.
PHOTOS FOR TROPICAL BREEZE BY ROSEMARY POTTER
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