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| Photos by Andrew Currie |
THE ANTIQUE WOODEN BOX WITH A LITTLE EXTRA
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO FIND TO EXCITE THE SENSES
It really doesn't matter how many years you've been working in the antique profession, or how many strange and indescribable items one has handled in any given year. It can always get stranger!
There are rare occasions, each year, when we come across something antiquated, that initially, at face value, doesn't seem much more than just another "old" piece, which we buy and sell, as a matter of our daily grind. It happens, even to the those who don't believe in such things as ghosts, when paths cross with an unusual quantity or quality of antique. It will trigger emotions you can't explain. Best not to try!
Even a hard to shock, long-in-the-tooth, veteran dealer, can be impacted by something they've acquired, at an estate sale, or auction, maybe even from a church fundraiser, that carries with it that little bit extra intrigue. I call them "enchanted" pieces, because on close inspection, and quite suddenly, you find that what was thought to be run-of-the-mill, and just a nice piece of inventory for the shop, or antique mall booth, possesses something characteristic of the paranormal.
In the past thirty five years of buying and selling antiques, and collectables, from all over God's half acre, I have acquired articles, from furnishing to photographic portraits, that have had a spiritual enhancement that is hard to describe. In our line of work, our general inventory always has had something to do with death. In many cases, if we own a dresser from the early 1800's, chances are pretty good, that there has been a significant mortality issue, somehow involving this piece of furniture. Either being in the room where someone in family history had passed away, and that could involve a lot of departures from this mortal coil over 200 years of service to a bedroom and family. So if you believe that disgruntled ghosts can, if the circumstances work in their favor, hang around their former digs, and attach to special lifetime-possessions, whether it is a child's Victorian era doll, a period Christening gown, or a pioneer vintage cradle, then what I am about to explain, may make some sense. Or maybe not. You decide.
There is an antique dealer tall-tale, now almost a legend of the profession, about a haunted Victorian doll's cradle, that would rock by itself, late into the evening. I wanted to buy it, but Suzanne insisted I refrain from bringing any more ghosts into our lives. At this point, we already had a haunted portrait of a little girl named, Katherine, a haunted German Bible from the early 1700's, and a plethora of disobedient dolls, that refused to be positioned, or in any way manipulated to fit into either cradles or vintage high chairs. Toppling over and out of the mounts we thought they were secured! The story of the haunted baby cradle, has as its alleged provenance, that it survived a tragic house fire, in the early years of the 1900's. A young girl, rescued from her home, that was engulfed in flames, defied her mother and father, and ran back into the burning building to rescue her favorite doll. The girl was found later, after the fire was extinguished, collapsed with the doll in her arms, beside the pine cradle in her bedroom. The fire had been extinguished before consuming this part of the house, and the cradle was unscathed; which in itself was strange. The story is, that at certain times in the night, the cradle would begin rocking by itself, as if being manipulated by the child who had perished in the fire. Many owners had experienced the haunted cradle, and it had been passed-on many times, because it became undesirable as a result of its spirited patina. Is it true? It really depends on your belief in life after death, and the way and means of the spirit-kind to connect with the living.
In the antique trade, as I've written many times before, whether we believe, as a community in ghosts or not, doesn't deflect from the very real situations we experience out on the hustings, handling the possessions of the dearly departed. Many of us have had strange encounters, working alone, dismantling estate collections, that we can't really explain. Having, for example, the sensory perception, that someone was looking over our shoulders, or occasionally brushing by us, breath on our exposed necks, feeling a hand on a shoulder, or smelling a lingering cologne, without finding any source of the aroma. We actually experience so many of these, while handling the former possessions, from folks who had to die before we could get them, that we just consider it part of the job and don't often consult mediums or paranormal researchers, to report our experiences. It can be a little chilling at times. Especially sensing you're being watched. Honestly, if some other antique dealer was pawing through my stuff, I'd probably be leaning over their shoulder as well! Possibly a lot more severe, like a full fledged haunting!
What about a memorial keepsake box? Well, my acquisition of the small, nicely decorated box, that would fit neatly on a dresser top, or be tucked into a drawer, came from a regional antique co-operative. Suzanne and I, and son Andrew, were getting ready to leave, after making several purchases. As I have always been an intuitive buyer, and I do believe these items can speak to me, in the most subtle, voiceless fashion, I was drawn back into the shop as if there was a Holy Grail I'd somehow missed on two previous passes. I must confess, that I had defied my senses, which have always served me well, and walked by on these occasions, despite feeling a nagging need to stop. When I walked back, not really sure what I was looking for, or why, I noticed a small wooden keepsake box on a shelf, exactly where this feeling had occurred previously. This time, I felt it necessary to look more closely. It was a Victorian era box, in good condition, with a note about a previous owner, with companion dates, and really interesting period Christmas paper pasted inside. The price was good and we do sell a lot of these kind of small, neat, wooden boxes.
All last night, I had this compelling urge, to go out to the van, and bring the box inside. I had so much writing work to do, even missing my deadline for publishing a daily blog, that I ignored my gut feelings and carried on with work. I even had a dream about the box, after retiring to bedlam. When I got to the shop, the next morning, the first bag I emptied, was the one containing the curio box. I sat down, got my magnifying glass, and with a pen and paper, began copying out the pen inscription inside, so that I could make a proper tag, when it was put out for sale. The first thing that happened, without anything particularly spooky occurring, was that I found myself suddenly spellbound by the sweet, haunting aroma, from something that had been stored previously in the box. I just sat there, feeling a weird connectedness to the perfume, as if it had once been important to me. Maybe in a previous life, I don't know. Most of us would admit to having such experiences, possibly the reoccuring scent of a great aunt's, or grandmother's special brand of perfume, we remember from those hugs, in childhood, we tried desperately to escape. It reminded me of someone, and some circumstance, but I couldn't quite figure it out. Then I began transcribing the notation, which I had not read thoroughly when I decided to make the purchase from the antique shop.
The inscription reads, "Sister Bertha's Box, Birth, October 26th, 1864, Kingston; Died April 2nd, 1890, Toronto." She died at only 26 years of age. I assume that "Sister" referred to the fact Bertha had been a Nun, and this is where her final, most personal few keepsakes, were stored as a tribute by friends and family. Did the spirit of Sister Bertha connect with me, and approve of myself, as someone who would look after the little box, that had been trimmed with Victorian Christmas paper?
Something led me back to that antique shop booth, to look at a shelf that I seldom pay any attention to, because it doesn't usually house what I'm interested in buying. I have the box at my side, at this moment of writing, and the aroma is driving me nuts; trying to identify where I know it from, in my own life travels. Possibly it's unearthly. Not all paranormal events involve rocking cradles, or visible vapors we might identify as textbook ghosts. I'll write a follow-up if I figure out where I have smelled this perfume before. It will likely take awhile, but it's usually what happens in cases like this! By all the checkpoints of the paranormal, was this little box carrying a little bit extra? Only in the calmest, most gentle way, and not what we think of in the Hollywood version of what it means to be "haunted." Is this a sale strategy, to sell an antique? I have never sold anything that was, in our minds, or by actions, influenced even slightly by the paranormal. We have them all at home. This is a much gentler haunting, as such, so by selling it, we don't anticipate any associated spirited hitchhikers going along. We won't attempt to disguise the aroma. It's part of its legacy.
All part of being in one of the world's oldest professions. No, not prostitution. Buying and selling antiques!
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AN HISTORIC BOOK, AN HISTORIC MAP, AND ALL ABOUT TRAINS AND NORTH AMERICAN FUTURES
As I offered a glimpse of, in yesterday's blog, I wanted to make mention of an unassuming little book crested by the City of Boston, in the year 1852. I acquired the remarkably important book, oozing history, at a regional antique shop, that, for a rather large investment, proved upon inspection, to possess three times the content I'd been hoping for, when I agreed to the purchase. Now in the spirit of my former historian friend, archivist Hugh MacMillan (you can archive back to read last week's advisories from Hugh's book), I used every tip for ferreting out a good buy, on an important piece of heritage. In this case, the history was dealing with the construction of railways in the United States, and Canada, pre-Civil War, detailing the finished tracks to Canada, and lines heading to the western frontier. The book is in good overall condition, although the map, attached to the back board, has some minor tears. While Suzanne winced at the asking price, as she does with anything over fifty cents, (she's a little close with her funds) I showed her the significant map attached, and she slapped me on the back, and as we say in this business occasionally, "damn good find old chap!" It was! I get goose bumps making these kind of discoveries, especially because of what the book reveals about the development of North America, at this time in history; about fifteen years ahead of the Free Land Grants, in Muskoka, but only seven years before the first settlers, arrived in the south end of the District of Muskoka.
The report, for the City of Boston, was completed a year after the 1851 Jubilee, of when the first major railway work was commenced stretching out in all directions from the city; the key interest for me, being the railway line completion, uniting the cities of Montreal and Boston. The celebration, on the 17th of September, to the 19th, in the year 1851, was considered a Jubilee event, because of the year the shovels first went into the ground, to create a cross country, cross river(s) link with Canada, and points west especially. It was an expansionary sign of progress, that was thought, by the mayor of the city, and a special committee, worthy of a special Boston party (minus the tea). There was even a Boston Harbour flotilla, as part of the event, to recognize and in fact celebrate, the great improvements in trans-oceanic travel, with the subsequent launch of steamships that would connect with the new train service. Even the school children of Boston were invited to participate, and it was a party that deserved a special book, and I now own it! In its 288 pages, it is loaded full of information about the rail line construction, and all the many details about all the dignitaries, and participants in general, of the three day Jubilee, celebrating the new era of outreach by steam power onto the frontier, making a steam connection, all the way to Europe.
It was part of the new transportation linkage, that seeded the idea for a Canadian transcontinental railway, well before Confederation in 1867. The Americans were fanning out, and pushing westward, which caused fear in the minds of the Canadian governance at the time, because there was very little in the way of population, in the western lands, and the west coast. If the British were to justify their claim, to the open spaces of this area of the continent, they would soon have to prove, with new emigrants, their intent to create settlements. As I've been writing about the settlement of Muskoka, being in essence a trial balloon, that proved successful (despite tragic losses) for the government, of the 1860's, the rail improvements south of the border, created a new sense of urgency to attract hardy settlers, to take up the vacant lands. So it's a pretty compelling book to possess, at a time when I'm still researching the pioneer settlement years in Muskoka.
The companion map is of most interest. I will publish an image of it with tomorrow's blog, because at present, it is being flattened out on a backboard, after some years of having been folded incorrectly in the back of the same book. The tissue map shows the progress of the rail lines, for example, showing linkage between Boston Harbour and the railroads of Massachusetts. The 'Skeleton' map also shows lines between Cape Canso and St. Louis, and the rail link from Boston to Montreal. The most interesting aspect of the map, for me, is the projected rail line, from Toronto, and Southern Ontario, to the bottom of Georgian Bay, creating a convenient route, to connect with steamships in the upper Great Lakes. The eventual line, from Toronto to Belle Ewart, on the south end of Lake Simcoe, that streamed thousands of settlers to steamship passage north, eventually across Lake Couchiching, to the stagecoach link at Washago, isn't marked-in at this point, in 1851. Obviously, the proponents and financiers of the Boston railways, were interested in the web of lines going deep into Canada; and while good for the settlement period, did remind government officials, that there was too much interest in our vast open spaces. Lake Couchiching isn't even marked on the map, and there is nothing marked, to situate the Muskoka Lakes. In many ways, for my purposes, the map is more important than the book; but alas, they are part of the package. Railroad histories are amongst our best sellers, in the vintage book market, so it isn't really a risky acquisition. The magic is in the dominion of steam transportation, because it has many hobbyists and historians chasing it down; in books and in antiquities from the period, reflecting the advancement of rail travel eventually coast to coast. Here it was, in its fledgling years, spoking out in its infancy, and connecting with Canada long before it was an actual sea to sea nation. So the link between Boston and Montreal is an old one, and this book is clear evidence, how important the connection was in 1851; and what promise it held for economic developments, trade and passenger travel, and of course, the future infilling of open lands in both countries, with emigrants looking for homestead opportunities. I have to tell you, that it's a pretty significant book, in the hands of the historian, who has been writing about this period for years, but having much less thorough research material. It's true, I didn't know about the book previously. But I likely couldn't have afforded it when I really needed it, twenty years ago, but what the heck; I'm still in about the same place as I was then, so maybe I can make up for loss time, with the help of this book. Being jammed with facts, it's going to take me months to get through it, enough to make sensible insights, and correct some of the misconceptions about the period, I've fumbled with for this same amount of time. I paid a little above market value, if you were to hunt through the old book collectives, online, like ABE (Advance Book Exchange), but this really is as close to pristine as you could expect to find in a text this old, finding its way into an antique shop booth. I think the map will be framed separately, but still sold with the book if and when I finish with it in the months ahead. Normally, it is considered sacrilage to separate a book and its companion (attached) maps and charts, but in this case, the tearing of the tissue, has to be addressed before the damage destroys the entire graphic integrity of the historic rail map. Folding and unfolding the paper since the 1850's, has impacted its corners, and this leads to extra stresses, when opened after the initial cuts. There are some folks in our line of work, who would sell off the map separately, and I expect it to be worth a hundred and fifty, to two hundred dollars, due to its content. Rest assured, there will be no dividing and conquering on my watch.
Other interesting aspects of the map, is that it identifies Upper and Lower Canada. The "proposed" rail line that brushes by Lake Simcoe, probably the same route to connect with Belle Ewart, carries on to the southern shore of Georgian Bay in a northwest direction; which when completed would save "600 hundred miles of Lake travel."
I will offer some graphics of the 1851 map in tomorrow's blog.
Thanks for joining me today. I've only got through a third of my chores. Suzanne does keep track.
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