Collections v. Collectibles

I received an e-mail this morning suggesting that I buy some company’s Christmas Entertaining Collectibles, starting at just $39.95!  That got me thinking about things that one collects versus collectibles and what the difference is, exactly.

To me, a collection is something that you amass over the years, searching for it piece by piece. You might poke around the dusty corners of an old book shop or barn, or even the remote corners of Ebay to find that certain piece to complete your collection.

Most collectors that I know, myself included, can tell you the circumstances surrounding each piece in their collection – and are willing to talk to you about it at length! In my mind, collectibles are things like Beanie Babies, Franklin Mint Plates and Pokeman cards. They are something that you just go into a store and buy, or you order them via a payment plan scheme.

A few years ago, people were collecting Beanie Babies as an investment, but it’s hard to think that something that is mass produced is going to increase in value substantially enough to be an investment for the future. Although there are supposed to be limited editions, that was always doubtful. 

Do you delineate between the collections and collectibles? Is there a difference in your mind between the two of these things, or is the line blurred. Let me know your thoughts!

P.S.  I am sorry if anyone was confused by my mini-rant yesterday. I am being bothered by a commenter who’s pushing their commercial interests and leaves a dozen comments at a time. I’ve asked them to stop, but they persist and I do not want to give them free advertising. Hence, the call-out.

Worst Home Decors

Dear People at Best Worst Home Decors,


Please stop leaving multiple comments on my blog. I know it must be a total pain in the ass for you to have to go through the word verification process, only to have me delete every one of your comments right away. It's certainly not the way to drive traffic to your site. People see you for what you are. Bad taste. Worse decors.


Sincerely,


The Management

Holiday Shop Hop

I slipped a little sentence into a post the other day about a holiday shopping tour I am planning, and already the response has been good. I am only doing the tour one day, because there’s so much going on at this time of year, that two days is just an impossible feat.

The date of the tour is Friday, December 3 and we will be starting out at Housewerks because it’s just off I-95 and there is plenty of parking.Among the shops we will visit are some of Baltimore’s most unique places where you are guaranteed to find things that you won’t see in any store in the mall or catalogue in the mail.

Housewerks, where we will be starting off, has myriad fascinating items, including some of the great green glass globes which I took up to the Nate Berkus Show and which Nate fell madly in love with.Then we will head to the atelier of master craftsman and antiques dealer, David Wiesand and his shop, McLain-Wiesand. David has a selection of gorgeous hand-crafted pieces, as well as a treasure trove of beautiful antiques. Then we will head uptown to Red Tree in Hampden, a place with a fabulous collection of interesting accessories and furnishings for the home and garden. Next, it’s up the hill a little bit to the Turnover Shop, Maryland’s oldest consignment store. I don’t think that I’ve ever left there empty handed. It’s the place where the posh locals consign their goods… and pick up new ones!We’ll break for lunch either before or after the Turnover Shop and then we will head down to the Jones Falls Valley to Gore-Dean’s new shop location. As I’ve said many times, Deb and her husband, Spider, have the most well-selected goods. Finally, we will head back downtown and stop at the Mount Clare Holiday and Greens sale at the beautiful and historic Mount Clare Mansion. Friday afternoon is the Preview Sale, and you will get first pick of the amazing greens that the Colonial Dames bring from their country estates, including fresh holly, magnolia and evergreens. Please send me an e-mail here if you’d like to join in the fun at the Holiday Shop Hop. I estimate that we will begin the tour at 9:00 a.m. at Housewerks and finish up back there at about 3:00 p.m. As usual, we will try and carpool to alleviate parking issues in the city.

My Beautiful Weekend

These past few days have just been spectacular. Chilly nights and warm sunny clear days. So when I read the forecast for the weekend, and I knew my friend Wendy would be down for the weekend from NYC, I knew it would be a perfectly beautiful weekend.

Wendy arrived just in time for Saturday brunch and we kicked the weekend off with a Bloody Mary with a shrimp and a piece of candied bacon. What could be better than bacon, booze and sugar! 

There was a little craft show at the restaurant, so we popped in to say hi to some friends, including two gals who were hall-mates of mine at college! Shawn owns The Floral Studio where you can always find one-of-a-kind floral arrangements. I loved this piece made of carnations.

It will last more than a week and would make a beautiful centerpiece for the holidays.

We drove out to the countryside north of the city to see Halcyon House, where Stiles, Jonathan and Eric were unloading all of the Christmas ornaments. I’ve never seen such an amazing selection of fabulous pieces and think that a tree or wreath with any of these would be stunning.

Jonathan took us for a spin in the tractor, but no worries, the bumps were softened by huge John Robshaw pillows! We stopped by to look at the old barn which is being re-built by some Amish men. The original beams from the barn will remain, but the outside will be all new.

Then we ventured into the gardens, where the bones of the layout could be clearly seen. I had been there this summer to pick flowers and seeing it in the fall made me appreciate how much work the guys have put into it.  From the gardens, we cruised over to the pastures to see the resident cows and horses. Ever since I can remember, there have always been horses on this farm, and when I was small, we’d always stop along the fence to see the horses. They all trotted along with us as we drove along the fence. Here’s a little video of us cruising along the driveway and the pond, which is full of migrating geese.

As we went back into Halcyon House, we were both delighted with the amazing selection. I found these treasures.

Sharkskin bangles in two sizes

Jade & pearl necklace

 John Derian plate with enfiladed hallway.

Fabulous blown and sparkling glass balls.

From Halcyon, we headed back into the city for a spin by DeBois Textiles where Wendy picked up some gorgeous fabrics, including a piece of chocolate-brown faux suede and a piece of dusty rose velvet, all for a special project. Then to Housewerks, where Wendy found a fireplace mantel and mirror for the fireplace in her NYC apartment.

The day ended with a lovely dinner party at one of the most amazing houses I’ve ever visited. The owner is a serious collector and has joined together two 1880’s town-houses overlooking Baltimore’s Inner Harbour. Everywhere you looked, you could spot an incredible treasure and a fascinating piece of decorative art. I am hoping that the owner will let me come take some pictures (eh, JH?)

All in all, a really fun weekend, with a fun friend and lots of others!

Philippa’s Worldly Vignettes

My dear friend, Flip, whose house I have shown several times, has her house on Apartment Therapy and she’s receiving the most marvelous comments from the audience, which  can be rather caustic at times.You can see some pictures of Flip’s house:

• Salvage Chic Part I
• Salvage Chic Part II
• Flip Says Thanks
• Flip’s Bathroom
• More Details

I hope that you will take a few minutes and look at Flip’s house and the accompanying slide show. You will notice in her details that she’s gotten several pieces from our talented friends, including David at McLain-Wiesand and Tracey at Housewerks. Flip is super-talented, a marvelous person and someone I am so pleased to call a friend!

Congratulations, Flip! I am so proud of you.

New Gore-Dean

I loved the space where my friends at Gore-Dean were located. It was in a refurbished mill complex and was architecturally very cool. But it had some issues, like lack of visibility and the location next to the stream which powered the old mill, and that sometimes floods.

They’ve just moved into a brilliant new space, about a mile and a half down the road from their previous location and it is FABULOUS!  It has beautiful clean lines and it just so beautifully lit with loads of sunlight streaming in on one side and a view over the courtyard of the complex on the other. While the original site had gorgeous features from the old mill building, it was difficult to see the amazing things on offer, as you can see below. The new shop is set up in little vignettes and items are on wood shelved backing up on a white ground. It makes is so much easier to see everything and gives it a much cleaner, museum-like look. Deborah Gore Dean and her wonderful husband Spider, have such a marvelous eye for both the items in their shop and the display of them. I am thrilled with Gore Dean’s new location and hope that if you’re in Baltimore, you will take time to visit them in Cross Keys.  Check out their Christmas catalogue here.

Treasure Hunting

Sometimes, I just get the feeling I’ve got to go somewhere and check out what they have, and more often than not, I find a treasure.  There’s a charity shop right around the corner from my office, so I swung by there at lunch today just to check it out.

When I went in the shop, one of the gals pointed at an old laundry cart and just left it at that… When I walked over to it, I was gob-smacked to see that it was full of old silverplated pieces of serving-ware. But all of the way at the bottom of this cart, I found something I’d never seen before. There were about a dozen silverplated cups. Not like a Jefferson cup or a julep cup, but almost like a tea cup. They were absolutely filthy. Dirtier than almost any other piece of silver I’ve ever seen. But when I turned them over, the underneath was fine, so I thought I could clean them. I still have some work to do on the one on the right, and then seven more to clean, but isn’t it amazing what a little (a lot) of elbow grease will do for a piece?

The other little treasure I found was a sweet book called “The John F. Kennedys” by photographer Mark Shaw. He was a photographer for Life Magazine who became a friend of the Kennedys in the late 1950s and early 60s. There are photos I’ve never seen before which present a side of the family just before JFK became president and then immediately after.  Here are a few examples.

I love how contemporary the top image of JBKO looks. It could have been taken this summer.

If you want to come treasure hunting with me, I am thinking of doing a Friday-only pre-holiday shopping trip to a couple of my favourite places in Baltimore. Probably the first Friday in December. Let me know if you’re interested.

Pushing The Season

Now, I know it’s about 41 days until Christmas, but I have no idea how many days there are until Valentine’s Day, because it’s not even on my radar yet. Hell, I’ve got to get through the next three months before Valentine’s Day will even be a glimmer on my screen.

But the good PR folks at Dempsey & Carroll, one of my favourite stationers, are already out there pushing for us to order our Valentine’s Day cards. I am probably not even going to figure out what I am sending for Christmas cards until, oh, about December 24th! D&C… please let us get past these upcoming holidays before you barrage us to buy for the next one.  If good PR was your mission in sending this e-mail reminder, you failed.

Paper-Doll-House

A few months ago, in a fit of insanity, I agreed to decorate a doll house to be auctioned to raise funds for the renovation of the Minton-tiled kitchen at Evergreen House. A few months ago, the deadline of Thanksgiving sounded so far away. Now, however, it is right upon us. My über-talented friend, David Wiesand, proprietor of McLain-Wiesand, is also creating a dollhouse, but since he’s got a whole workshop full of amazing artisans at his beck and call, I knew he’d be the hands-down winner. So I had to think of a strategy that was both frugal and creative – just like me! (HA!)As I was drifting off to sleep a few weeks ago in a Nyquil-induced delirium, I had a semi-brilliant thought. Why not make a paper-doll house? Everything in the house will be done in paper. It’s taken me some time to really work out how to do this, but I think I finally have it!Thank god for Google and my printer! I have finished the outside and am now working on the inside decor. At least I won’t be totally mortified when I show up with my paper-doll-house. David will still win, though.

More Jewelry

One of the most important jewelry auctions was held 23 years ago when the Duchess of Windsor’s jewelry collection was auctioned by Sotheby’s. Now, more then 20 of those pieces are being re-sold at an auction later this month, again by Sotheby’s.

Most of the jewelry has been made by Cartier and all of the pieces were highly personal to the Duchess, including a bracelet of crosses, indicating the crosses she had to bear to be with the Duke. Some people would surely disagree with her way of thinking.  To read the e-catalogue, please click here.