Instant gratification. Not!! How anyone could leave a calendar untouched and not rip of the months is beyond me. Here's your chance to get a great collectable of gift for that 75 year old. Everyone wants a calendar from their birth year. Untouched, this 3 masted schooner has sat in the same shop in Salem, Oregon since 1939. Yours for $75.

Why are circus posters so popular? Simple, they create emotions and memories. Brilliant colors, outrageous statements of unusual objects and memories of your circus experience. Posters are one of the most sought after collectables on the market. Like everything, condition is important, but unlike many items, subject matter is even more important. Barnum and Bailey or Ringling Brothers are going to be more collectable than the Barnes Circus poster pictured. But elephants are going to be more collectable than cows. Buy what you like, buy the best you can afford, and display it so you can enjoy it. If it appreciates great, but make sure you appreciate it. 

This is one of 8 vintage posters I have just purchased. They can be yours for $75 each. 

Partly due to shows like Mad Men and the age of the boomers, anything 60's is making a comeback. Starburst clocks, straight legged tables, those ugly curtains...it's all coming back. Here is a full set of hard to find caged glass or imprisoned glass cocktail set. These were designed and hand blown by Mexico City artist Felipe Derflingher. The basic shapes were formed with brass, tin, silver or alloy and then the glass was blown inside to fill the voids. Heavy and practical, maybe not the most delicate looking set, these are hard to find. Sooner glass and chalet glass, those organic free form colored desk top glass ornaments are also hot again. These start in the $80 range and may be a good investment. 

It's never too late to go garage saleing. Even on a cold October morning you can find a few exceptional items. This morning while waiting for a store to open at 10am, I had a few minutes to kill. I took a leisurely drive around the neighbourhood, and surprise!, a garage sale. While the 8 or 9 lookie loos were parked at the table selling electronics, I wandered to the back of the property to the old garage and that's where I found this old gem. Late Victorian, probably 1880-1900, this tin embossed trunk with oak strapping is in  a lovely unrestored state. This will go directly into our collectables store, Motherlode's Icecreamery and Galleria. 

WHO CUT THIS LICENSE AND WHY?

Well, no one actually. I was asked by a client to find a British Columbia license plate for a friend's 60th birthday. They had tried everywhere and couldn't for the life of them find a 1954 plate, so they asked me to track one down. 

Well, I too was having trouble until I did some homework. Seems the government of the day decided late in 1952 to build a generic aluminum license plate and supply metal tags (seen above) to attach by screws for the 1953 and 1954 years. This was decades before they made the gummy stickers we have now. Good idea gone bad. Seems the plates were even more expensive to build than the original ones and were easy to steal. 

License plate collecting is one of the easiest and least expensive collecting hobbies in the world. 

For a buck or two you can commemorate yours or a family or friends birthday or anniversary. They look cool hanging on a wall, they're like little are pieces, and they're easy to find. Unless of course you were born in 1953 or 1954