September 2002 News from Readers

From a reader in Foley, Alabama: I am hoping one day in the future to have my own vintage clothing store. What makes an a piece of clothing “vintage”? “Vintage,” according to the dictionary, means “old, outdated, classic, or having appeal.” Vintage clothing is all of these. It is any clothing that is not in this year’s style. Everything from Victorian dresses to old blue jeans is called vintage today. Purists refer to anything made between 1859 and 1900 as “Victorian.” Anything 100 or more years old is “antique.” And anything by a famous designer is “couture.” All of these can be sold in a vintage clothing store. Vintage is a popular term because it can be used for any clothing of mysterious origin and unknown age.

A New Hampshire reader sent catalog pages and other information about a Massachusetts furniture maker: Your June issue listed modern furniture designers and manufacturers. We were surprised that you did not mention Conant Ball, of Gardner, Massachusetts. The company made a popular solid birch line called Modernmates during the 1950s and ’60s. We have several Modernmates pieces called “Addables” because a young couple could buy a piece or two and add to them as time went on. We did some research and learned that Conant Ball, which worked from about 1880 to 1980, also manufactured Russel Wright’s American Modern furniture line in the 1930s-after Heywood-Wakefield rejected it. Before that, Conant Ball specialized in traditional Early American furniture. Macy’s advertised Conant Ball’s American Modern line as “not quaint Colonial … not dizzy modern.” Our June newsletter concentrated on the “dizzy modern.”

A sports collector asked us how to contact MastroNet, the sports memorabilia auction company whose spring sale was reviewed in our July issue. A paragraph inadvertently cut from the story explained that MastroNet’s Sports & Americana auction catalog is available from MastroNet, 1515 W. 22nd St., Suite 125, Oak Brook, IL 60523, or online at www.mastronet.com.