More January 2005 Hotlines

What collectibles sell best at a garage sale? It depends on the location. At a recent garage sale in Miami Beach, no-name ’50s furniture and nice clothes were the first to go. Next to be scarfed up were ’50s collectibles, especially vases and toys. The Shawnee Corn King dishes and McCoy vases that would have sold first in the Midwest were left unsold at the end of the day.

Boxes are big. A 1935 Mickey Mouse Ingersoll watch box showing Mickey with a top hat and cane sold online for $2,275. The box was split and had a few tears and a stain.

Are the crowds at antique shows so small that dealers can’t sell enough and the shows will close? Dealers tell us you need about 20 people coming to the show for each dealer. Top shows with expensive antiques can exist on eight people per dealer. We think an exciting show should be bustling. Aisles should be filled, but not crowded. That seems to mean up to about 50 visitors per dealer.

Thousands of valuable textiles, trimmings, and weaving-related tools were sold to the public in November and December. Scalamandré, the world-famous maker of luxurious textiles, is moving production from New York to the South and sold fabric remnants, silk skeins, leftover trim, Jacquard looms and punch cards, spools, winders, spinning wheels, silkscreen patterns, buckets, carts, benches, tables, and more. Look for them at shops and shows.

Tall case clocks, usually called grandfather clocks or floor clocks, are coming back. The high ceilings found in new homes allow the use of a better-than-8-foot-tall clock. Perhaps the clocks bring back memories of earlier, less hectic lifestyles. (Art & Antiques, September)