Antiques and Collectables – The Collectors Blog

Nicki Britton of The Houston Chronicle writes about a store that specializes in selling high-end used items at a fraction of “new” retail prices:

There are no couches with icky, stained upholstery. No insect-infested furniture with pet-chewed legs. No broken-down appliances. No unpleasant, you know, smell.

Check stereotypes and stigmas at the door. Resale shops are a great way to furnish a home on a shoestring budget.

Bob Shiles of The Free Press reports that Department 56 is moving Lenox’s fine china production facility to Oxford:

Lenox will cease production of fine ivory china at its Pomona, N.J. plant on Nov. 14. It is also closing 31 of its 61 retail stores.

Ivory china production is being moved to Kinston because the existing plant on Dobbs Farm Road can manufacture both ivory and bone china. The Kinston plant currently manufactures 100 different china patterns.

Patrick Howington of The Courier-Journal reports that Brown-Forman Corporation has sold most of its Lenox subsidiary for $190 million in cash:

Owsley Brown II, chairman and chief executive, said it was a good price “given the difficult competitive environment” for the luxury-goods business. Lenox sales have fallen in recent years, partly from the impact of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Other than the Lenox name, its brands include Dansk and Gorham. Lenox products are sold in department and specialty stores, at Lenox-owned outlets, online and through catalogs.

P.J. Harston of the London Free Press reports that Forest City Coins and Stamps Ltd. continues to thrive by buying, selling, trading and accumulating collectibles:

The items are as diverse as you might imagine — everything from ancient Roman and Greek coins and 100 million-year-old fossils to hockey cards and military medals.

Forest City Coins and Stamps Ltd. has been a staple in London for more than 40 years, billing itself as one of the city’s most interesting shops.

Hillary Whitcomb Jesse of The Times Herald writes this tidbit about an antique store in Port Huron that looks forward to Boat Week and its influx of antique buyers:

“People come back to see us from all over, especially during Boat Week,” manager Sharon Bender said. “They’re more than ever asking for nautical items.”

“Generally the boat people are more savvy antiquers,” Bender said.

Nell Luter Floyd of The Clarion Ledger writes about an antique shop in Clinton, MS that has a variety of antiques and collectibles that everyone can admire:

Down the street from the gallery in the historic business district in Clinton that features paintings by Wyatt Waters is Leake Street Collection.

The shop of vintage clothing, antique toys and collectibles is the kind of place Waters might wander through and find subject matter for a watercolor.

Janet Huck of The Leader writes this article about how people are hand bookbinding with equipment from the Industrial Revolution and how these books have become a thriving business:

Almost a forgotten art, hand bookbinding is thriving in Jefferson County. For 25 years, Myhre has been binding everything from traditional law books with exquisite gold-stamped titles to custom wedding albums or genealogy books. Marsha Hollingsworth is sought-after for conservation and repair work by collectors throughout the United States. And now there is emerging a new generation of bookbinders in Port Townsend making art books and blank journals that sell as far away as New York City and Japan.

Mary Shustack of The Journal News writes about her trip to an antique shop in South Salem called Cottage Antiques:

Lisa Miller-Pozniak’s offerings at the Chappaqua Outdoor Antiques Show earlier this month were so enticing that a trip to her home base, Cottage Antiques, seemed in order.

Summer is the perfect time to wander through the antiques and collectibles that the shop’s card describe as “part garden, part shabby chic and part plain old Americana.”