Saturday saw me at a local 'collectors fair' held in a village church hall which was really just an excuse to get out of the house and not have to do the cleaning up.
The village hall was packed with people and about twenty stalls showcasing many different antique, vintage and retro collectables, from antique lace to war collectables and of course vintage costume jewellery.
The first stall holder was a lady I often visit to look at her treasures. Her daughter collected all kinds of vintage and antique accessories over the years and now her mom is selling them for her as a poor student, she needs the money.
The first thing I spotted was what I thought might be a uranium glass necklace. The price was reasonable so I held on to it while still looking. Next I saw a classic Art Deco Czech necklace with rare fan shaped top drilled beads on its original twisted cord. Another one to hang on to as people gathered to my left and right.
I am always on the lookout for Art Deco Czech Rosalin glass here, as it seems a little known subject, especially out in the wilds of the Kent countryside. This is a rosalin art deco trinket pot bought for very little money at another country market a couple of years ago. So few people know that this glass was vastly under-produced (and hence is hard to find) but also that it is uranium rich and therefore glows.
Moving around the hall I came upon a stall holder who was selling everything at half price. It was mostly antique ceramics and china but there were one or two vintage jewels and metalware in amongst the rest. I spotted what I thought could be a cut steel brooch, but it turned out to be a button. They had some Arts & Crafts pieces too so I made a note of it and moved on to the next stall.
Next came a seller who insisted that a really awful modern plastic 'fakelite' necklace was actually:
"Antique bakelite of course - worth ten times what I have it priced for"
Since it had bright white beads, with a very obvious mould line all around the middle, along with hideous fake Egyptian revival beads of a cheap shocking pink, I just smiled and moved on. There seems little point in trying to educate people about what they have - they always seem to think there is an ulterior motive.
So finally back at the first stall some three hours later, and I again looked at the two selected items. First I looked again at the possible urganium Czech necklace. Yes - the instinctive radar worked well and I knew it was for sure.
A second look at the classic Art Deco vintage necklace proved again that was precisely what I had thought at first glance. This time with the most unusual beads of which I have none. But I have seen them in one of my reference books.
Another request of the sellers best price reduced the price again. I 'hummed and harrred' while looking at her other stuff. As a previous customer of hers, I knew she would give me a good price.
Something caught my eye which I liked but which I have never had any interest in collecting. A hand held fan.
I do seem to be lucky enough to have some kind of built in radar which never fails to point me towards items which are rare, exceptional or both.
Something drew me back to the hand held fan, so I added it to my stash and asked in the nicest way possible what would be the best price this lovely lady could offer me for all three items?
She reduced the total again making each item just under three pounds each (I'm guessing this is about $5 each item).
I paid for them and went back to look at the half price stall. The prices had been reduced again and I snapped up the cut steel button for only a few cents. If nothing else it will illustrate the article I am writing on this subject for my new site. It had obviously been kept in damp conditions as it did show some slight signs of rust. Here is one I owned several years ago, and sold, which did not suffer from rust.
Can anyone out there guess what age this fan is and what it is made from?
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