About This Site

Do you love vintage pottery and other vintage collectibles?  Are you a collector or a seller?   My hope is that this site will appeal to both those who have a passing interest, as well as the passionate collector.

The collecting world is vast.  Almost anything you can think of is collected by someone.  This site will focus on vintage and antique collectibles. 

As time goes by and content is added to this site, my goal is to  touch on, and perhaps go into depth about a wide variety of vintage collectibles and collecting.  I hope you will find this site interesting and informative, and maybe even inspire you to begin collecting in your own areas of interest.  Comments and information are always welcome!

Three Puppy Dogs

The little puppy on his back and the one standing on his hind legs are made in Japan, the other one is unmarked.  All three are quite old, and are favorites of mine. 

Atomic Mall Browser Toolbar Add-On

Atomic Mall now has a custom toolbar available as an add-on to Firefox, IE and Safari. With this toolbar installed in your browser, you’ll have quick & ready access to all AM categories, your Account page, Inventory page, new sale items, login page and more. You can also perform a direct search, and even see your local weather and add cool radio stations!

 Firefox 2.0+
http://atomicmall.ourtoolbar.com/xpi

Internet Explorer
http://atomicmall.ourtoolbar.com//ie

Safari:
http://atomicmall.ourtoolbar.com//sf

Compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. Install and enjoy!

Bauer Ware

At the end of the great depression in the 40’s when my mother was 16 years old, she worked in a dime store in downtown Los Angeles.  She was engaged to my father, and was collecting items for her hope chest with the money she earned, as well as paying her mother and father for room and board.  In those days dime stores sold pottery from the local pottery factories and studios.  The owner of the store made a buying trip to the Bauer Pottery in Los Angeles, and invited my mother to come along and purchase some household items using the shop owner’s wholesale discount.  During the buying excursion, they were able to watch the Bauer factory potters working.  At the time they were working outdoors under big tarp canopies.  The factory building was used mainly for storing and shipping the finished products. This ring ware Bauer pitcher is one of the items that she bought on this trip.  The cup and saucer were given to me by my aunt.

Vintage Bauerware 1940’s

                                                  

Flour Sack Towels

In the 1800’s,  food staples such as flour, sugar, cornmeal, and rice were packaged in tightly woven 100% cotton sacks.  During the American Great Depression, between 1929 and the late 1930’s, early 1940’s, everything was hard to come by.  Frugal housewives would re-use these cotton sacks and make them into clothing, toys, quilts, curtains, pillowcases, underwear, and of course, dish towels.  The re-use of flour sack towels became wide spread, and the flour companies took advantage of this trend by printing the sacks with flower prints, pretty borders, and  doll and toy patterns to incourage housewives to buy their brand of flour.  Women would swap and sell the sacks to one another to obtain a particular print or pattern. 

In the mid to late 1950’s,  flour companies begain using a cheaper method of  packaging, paper sacks, and with the growth of new prosperity in America, the re-use of flour sack towels  went by the wayside. 

Flour sack towels are making a comeback today.  They are not easy to find but can be purchased in some  dollar stores, drug and hardware stores.  It is a shame that they are not more readily available.  As a kitchen towel, flour sack towels are far superior to a terry dish towel most commenly seen today.  They are lint free, dry quickly, wash beautifully and can be used for a wide variety of household uses. 

“Flour Sack Towels” at Atomic Mall sells new flour sack towels with hand painted vintage designs. Retro up your kitchen with these adorable, soft, 100% cotton lint free dish towels. These measure  30  x 32 inches:

                                                                                                       

                                

                                                                                                                                  

http://www.atomicmall.com/floursack                                                       

   click the link above for a complete assortment of available designs, with more being added frequently.

 

Vintage Clothing Patterns

The picture above is a vintage sewing pattern available from White Deere Pattern Village at Atomic Mall

Here are links to some adorable 1940’s ladies pajama ,jumpers,dress and skirt patterns available from White Deere Pattern Village at Atomic Mall:

http://www.atomicmall.com/view.php?id=394436

http://www.atomicmall.com/view.php?id=490986

http://www.atomicmall.com/view.php?id=491178

http://www.atomicmall.com/view.php?id=385053

Fashions and Textiles

Vintage fashions are one of the most popular items that collectors look for.  Use care when purchasing fabrics and textile items.  Depending on how they are cleaned and stored, they can be in great condition, or utterly worthless.  If you are able to examine the item in person, be sure to unfold and inspect the piece you are interested in, especially tableclothes and other linens.  A folded piece can look as if it is in good usable condition, only to find that once it is unfolded, there are damages due to improper cleaning and storage.  If you are buying vintage textiles on the internet,  ask for a full disclosure of condition if one is not given in the ad, and be sure to  check that returns are accepted in the event that a condition issue was missed.

If you are skilled at sewing, one of the best ways to obtain vintage fashions is to make them yourself.  Vintage sewing patterns seem to outlast the clothing themselves, and early fashions can be recreated using old patters.  Be aware that sizing standards aren’t the same as they were in the 30’s,40’s and 50’s.   Something marked size 16 then could very possibly be a size 10 by todays standards.   Check the measurements given on the patterns as a guide to pattern sizes that will fit you.

Vintage Advertising Savings Bank

Savings banks were a popular advertising tool during the 30s and 40s.

This is a 70 year old advertising Art Deco coin and bill savings bank. It Measures 5 inches tall by 4-1/4 inches across at the base and is Art Deco Design.

I don’t know what the metals is, but it attracts a magnet. There is some oxidization present on the metal. The red material on the front is probably some type of leatherette.  Embossed with gold logo emblem in gold color and the words United Benefit Life Insurance Company Omaha are blind embossed on the front near the base. The back has a clear acetate like material inserted in the built in frame. This space was probably intended for a calendar or perhaps a photograph.

Search of patent numbers engraved on the bottom reveals that the patent for this design was filed in 1933 and issued in 1939. I cannot make out the maker, but it is engraved New York City below the makers name. Slots in the bottom are for rolled bills and coins. There is a key hole but no key.

Vintage Cookie Cutters Buiscut Cutter

These aluminum cookie cutters are at least 50 years old.  They may be older.  They belonged to my mother and she gave them to me.  I remember my mother using them and letting me play with them when I was a little girl.  The biscuit cutter with the red wooden handle can also be used as a doughnut cutter.  The center ring can be removed for cutting biscuits.  The biscuit cutter belonged to my grandmother, so it dates back to at least the mid 40s, but probably earlier.

                                         

Sandwich Glass

What is Sandwich glass, anyway?  I have seen the term Sandwich glass used in a variety of ways, so, if you are a collector, be aware that when you buy a piece that the seller is calling “Sandwich Glass”, they may or may not mean what you mean by the term.

The most accurate meaning of Sandwich Glass is glassware produced by the Boston & Sandwich Glass Co., Cape Cod Glassworks, and other glass makers in and around the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts from the 1820s into the 1880s. 

Another usage of the term refers to specific glassware patterns produced by a number of makers from the 1920s to the present.  A more accurate name for this glass would be “Sandwich Pattern” glassware.  These later pieces were produced by such companies as Anchor Hocking Glass Co., Duncan & Miller Glass Co., Indiana Glass Co., and Westmoreland Glass Co.  What Sandwich pattern glassware has in common from these makers is that the patterns were inspired by the flower and scroll motif that was made popular by the early Sandwich, MA glassmakers.  Although Sandwich pattern glass is not as old as true Sandwich glass, it is none the less highly sought out by the glass collector.   In fact almost any book about Depression glass that is so popular with vintage glass collectors will include the Indiana Glass Co. Sandwich pattern.

 And there is yet a third usage of the term Sandwich glass.  I have heard of items refered to as sandwich glass because the glass was “sandwiched” together in a glass press.  Glass presses were indeed used by early glass makers including the Boston & Sandwich Glass Co., beginning around the mid 1820s.  Although a reasonable assumption, Sandwich glass is not Sandwich glass because it was formed in a glass press.

Sandwich Glass Museum, Sandwich MA

Sandwich Glass Museum Display

                                                      

                                                 Indiana Glass Co Sandwich Pattern Plate

                              

Gasoline and Oil Company Advertising

Vintage advertising items are popular collectibles, with Gasoline company advertising items probably being the most collected genre of advertising collectibles.  Gasoline and oil products company advertising can be found in the form of countless types of items.  Signs, calendars, ashtrays, product packaging, hats, pins, toys, the possibilities are almost endless.

 As our nation and indeed the world moves toward the manufacture and use of hybrid and electric cars, it is likely that Gasoline company advertising collectibles will become more desirable to the collector as well as in scarce supply and availability in the marketplace.  I can see how these collectibles will increase in value over the course of time due to the nostalgic value and rarity of these items symbolic of the end of the era of Gasoline powered automobiles.

 Included below are photos of just a few of the types of Gasoline advertising sought after by the collector. 

               

      

      

These items plus many more types of Advertisng collectibles can be seen at JANDRSANTIQUES at Atomic Mall.  http://www.atomicmall.com/jandrsantiques