Talking Shop...
 Although many shops, indeed most shops, are still reporting that business is slow, that doesn’t seem to reflect a lack of interest in antiques. I’ve given four separate programs locally in the last few months, on antiques and the antiques business in general. Just the fact that programs on the subject are wanted is an encouraging sign (although I do recognize that sometimes program chairmen are desperate for someone - anyone - to fill a spot on the calendars.)
The groups have been diverse: one was at a retirement community; one at a Kiwanis club; one for an educational group and one for a church women’s banquet. While I have a more or less set pattern to follow, it does require modifications. McMinnville is a small town, and there are always overlaps of people who belong to more than one of the above groups and I don’t like it to seem like I’m giving a canned talk. I also try to stress that I’m a newspaper editor/publisher and not an appraisal guru, although we always end with an identification session where I try to help when I can with things they’ve brought.
There are favorite stories to tell. To emphasize why I shouldn’t be expected to know all about the things that have been brought, I tell about the pottery duck pitcher brought in to the Palmer/Wirfs show at the Tacoma Dome a few years ago. It looked good - nice wear markings, old-looking clay, etc. A fellow evaluator and I placed it in the late 1800s and valued it accordingly. This was fine until the following week, when we were on a buying trip on the East Coast and made a side visit to Castle Imports in northern Pennsylvania. There we turned a corner in their “antiques” warehouse and found a 10-foot row of the same duck pitchers, each priced at $19.95. Definitely a “whoops” moment!
There was also the macrame wall hanging brought into a Medford show a few years back. The story was that 12 of these had been commissioned by Congress, and the owner thought it should be valued in the tens of thousands of dollars. What does one say about an item consisting of red and blue cords supporting a white half-globe light fixture, complete with flag decals stuck on around it and filled with fading blue and red plastic flowers, and completed by a plastic liberty bell hanging from the top? We took the coward’s way out and suggested that only an auction could determine the true value of such a piece.
Depending on the general age range of the group, the questions will vary at one of these talks. In today’s economy, one of the most common is how to sell the things one has. I give options, and try to stress that if they want to sell to a dealer, for most items, 25 cents on the dollar is about the most they can expect. That’s a hard pill to swallow, even when I explain what dealer costs are.
The other point I try to get across is that if they want their kids or grandkids to want and love the special things they have, then they’d better have them visible and in use, at least for special occasions. No grandchild wants something that’s always been hidden in the back of the cupboard where it’s never been seen.
Anyway, as I said at the start, there seems to be plenty of interest in antiques/collectibles right now, even if the buyers have been holding back. Sellers -good luck in hanging on until times change. Buyers - you’d better support your local antique shops now, or they won’t be there when you’re ready to start buying again!
Donna Miller
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Publisher enjoys A Bit Of Family history
 It’s all in the family.
These have been “clean out the drawers” days at the Miller household. A recent estate sale threw Donna into a tizzy about someone else going through her multitude of drawers and cupboards. It became time to clean, sort and discard…or not.
While that was going on, I was prompted to fulfill a promise I made to a cousin, working on family genealogy, to look up any ancestral things I had in my possession, especially looking for birth and death dates that had eluded him.
I did have the Miller family Bible which had some information, and lots of other stuff, including pictures, that I thought might be helpful.
While digging through the dusty family archives, I ran across a fascinating autograph book which had been sent to me several years ago, but had languished in a “banana box” filing system every since.
I believe that I have mentioned my paternal grandmother’s heritage, the Johnsons of early Portland, Oregon fame.(As in Johnson street in Northwest Portland.) The autograph book belonged to her sister, Mercy Ada Johnson, who later married my paternal grandfather’s brother and also became a Miller.
There aren’t any famous signatures, as far as I know, nor does it provide any revelations into early Portland history. What it does do is offer many fascinating bits of prose that had been carefully treasured and passed down for the past 100 plus years.
The autograph book was a gift from Mercy’s “Grandmama” on May 15, 1889. The various entries are dated from that time until as late as 1907, and most are in missives from her classmates at St. Mary’s Academy in Portland.
One of the first reads “Dear Mercie, Rosays read and vilets blue, sugers sweet and so are you. I am your loving friend,” dated Dec. 16, 1890. Another reads “Dear Mercy. When you are old and can not see put on the specks and remember me,” dated May 29, 1891. An undated one reads “Dear Mercy, In this book there’s a golden spot to write the words forget me not.”
It appears that those writing in the book used right hand pages throughout, and then others subsequently filled in left hand pages. That put this March 30, 1894, writing ahead of earlier dates. “Friend Mercy, When the golden sun Is setting and your Mind from care is free, And of others you are Thinking, will you sometimes Think of me?” And “Dare to do right, Dare to prove true, For you have a work That no other can do. Do it so kindly so bravely and well Angels will hasten the story to tell.”
It was Mercy’s friend Florence in an undated one that wrote “Way back here and out of sight, I think is the best place for me to write.” And Ruth wrote “I can spell cat c-a-t, don’t you think that is well for me.” Mable suggested “My pen is bad, my ink pale, My hand shakes like a dog’s tail.”
I especially like Carrie Mansfield Towne’s July 1, 1889, entry that reads “Kind hearts are the garden, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the blossoms, Kind deeds are the fruits.” Violet was creative with “Dear Mercy, When you are married and live by the lake, Please send me a piece of your wedding cake.”
The sentiments were written in flowing, mostly elegant penmanship, the majority in ink, all with no idea that someone else in the family would be reading and enjoying them over 100 years later.
Ron Miller
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