One of the nicest advertising pieces at this show (we collect food-related ads and packages) was a set of three labeled Heinz stoneware crocks. The 6-inch Grape Jelly crock was $385 and the 5-inch Pineapple Preserves crock (pictured) was $355.

I was amazed to see a number of sets of 12 very elaborate dinner or service plates in one booth. The sets were priced $600 to $1,500. Since Haviland china and other early-20th-century dinner sets sell for very low prices, I asked the dealer if he was selling anything. He said he had sold one set at this show but five at an East Coast show the week before. I guess lifestyles on the East Coast are different than in Ohio. The plates would look great in a glass-front secretary or on open dining-room shelves. Or, of course, they could be used as service plates (which are removed when dinner is served).

This show always has several dealers selling sports collectibles, including golf clubs, trophies, tennis racquets, pictures, books and more. In one corner was a group of croquet mallets marked $10 each. A few booths down, there was a full used-condition croquet set—mallets, balls and wickets in a rack—for $128.

I wanted to buy a thin copper lion’s head (pictured), probably the top of a 19th-century drainpipe. It was about 6 inches wide and had a very green natural patina. Price: $385. But I decided there was no room left on the wall where my other lion heads are on display, so I left it for another collector. I did buy an 1890s mourning picture homemade from hair, seeds and embroidery. The dealer agreed it was probably German. The picture was mounted in a nice original frame, and I got it for the negotiated price of $200. It fits on the wall near my other mourning pictures.

There are always unusual items at a show—things I’ve never come across before. A dealer showed me what she called a “glass horse urinal” priced at $15, but it looked more like an early nursing bottle without a top. And I liked the label on an enameled kitchen stove. It said: “Second Generation, 1920.”

A Gerte Hacker (1911-2000) enameled bowl, signed, was marked $75. Hacker was a well-known Cleveland artist and enamelist who worked from the 1950s into the ’70s. When checking on her background later, we spotted a 4-inch Hacker ashtray on eBay. It was described as “rare, unique, 1940s-1950s” and its value was pegged at $1,500. We doubt that the piece will sell—her small pieces cost about $50 to $75 in the Midwest. And the eBay lister’s description is inaccurate.

We saw one piece that worried us. It was a scuttle shaving mug picturing four aces and titled “Lucky Spots.” Very colorful with a very desirable shape and decoration. But the blue printed mark on the bottom, “Brandenburg” above an anchor, is seen on reproduction mustache cups from the 1970s. There was no one in the booth, so we couldn’t talk to the dealer or ask the price.

Other interesting prices: Vanity Fair prints, framed, only $50 each—half what they cost a few years ago. A Hustler orange crate label, framed, $50. Unframed Hustler labels cost less than $3 each a few years ago. About 50 sets of Gaudy Welsh cups with matching saucers were on a large table with a sign: $88 a set.