Antique and Ghosts

ANTIQUE HUNTING IN MUSKOKA - SO WHAT'S OUT THERE - ANY HOLY GRAILS OR - ANY MONEY TO BE MADE?

THIS WINTER SEASON, I WILL BE PREPARING SOME NEW COLUMNS FOR "CURIOUS; THE TOURIST GUIDE," ON ANTIQUE HUNTING….GENERALLY. I WILL BE DOING SOMETHING SIMILAR FOR THIS BLOG-SITE, SO THE TWO WILL FEED EACH OTHER. IN A THIRD EDITORIAL SITUATION, I AM CURRENTLY INTO MY THIRD FEATURE COLUMN, FOR WHAT THE PUBLISHER OF THE GREAT NORTH ARROW (DUNCHURCH, ONTARIO) HAS ENTITLED, WITH SOME AFFECTION I ASSUME, "CURRIE'S CORNER," ON THE PARANORMAL. ONE THEME THAT WILL BE PRESENT THROUGHOUT THE SERIES, IS THE STRANGE CONNECTION BETWEEN ANTIQUES (AS IN OLD STUFF, BEING OVER 100 YEARS OF AGE) AND ANTIQUES WITH HITCH-HIKERS (UNDESIRED PASSENGERS). THAT'S RIGHT. SOME ANTIQUE PIECES, AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE ANTIQUES AS SUCH, CAN COME WITH A LITTLE EXTRA THE BUYER MAY NOT BE AWARE OF, AT TIME OF PURCHASE. I AM KEENLY AWARE OF THESE THINGS. (I WILL EXPLAIN IN MORE DETAIL LATER IN THIS COLLECTION) I WOULD BUY SUCH A PIECE, BASED ON SUCH PROVENANCE. WITHOUT QUESTION. YOU CAN READ BACK A FEW BLOGS, ON THIS SITE, AND FIND THE PIECE I WROTE (DECEMBER), ABOUT PURCHASING A "DEATH BED," FOR MY WIFE, SEVERAL YEARS AGO. A BEAUTIFUL LATE 1800'S SPINDLE BED THAT WAS ONCE USED AS A FUNERAL PLATFORM, IN A FORMER MINISTER'S HOME, IN TORONTO. NOT ONLY WAS IT A BEAUTIFUL BED, BUT WITH A STORY LIKE THIS ATTACHED, GEEZ, IT HAD TO COME HOME. IN ADDITION, I ALSO HAVE A MUSKOKA AND ALGONQUIN GHOST BLOG-SITE, THAT IS GOING TO GET A WORK-OUT THIS SPRING SEASON. BUT AS FOR THIS SITE, I'M GETTING READY FOR A COLUMN SERIES ABOUT ANTIQUING ADVENTURES, CRAZY SITUATIONS WE'VE FOUND OURSELVES IN; STORIES ABOUT OUR TRAVELS, PAST AND PRESENT, AND THE INTERESTING SITUATIONS WE'VE GOTTEN OURSELVES IN OVER THE DECADES. AND I WANT TO OFFER SOME ASSISTANCE TO ROOKIE COLLECTORS AS WELL, AND SOME ADVICE FOR HOME DECORATORS. IF YOUR HOUSE NEEDS A GHOST, I MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP THERE AS WELL, BUT I WON'T ACTUALLY SELL YOU A HAUNTED PIECE. I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT. THEY CAN BE A MUCH HIGHER MAINTENANCE CONCERN THAN PETS……LET ME TELL YOU.

There have been many stories about pieces that were considered possessed; evil enhanced. A somewhat devilish situation, with a more threatening patina, than what I'm writing about from my own experiences, with both antique hunting and the paranormal hitch-hikers that attach to significant pieces. Legendary events known amongst collectors, like what the news stories, of the day, revealed about curses on those who stole artifacts from Egyptian tombs, and then paid with their lives. I don't advocate tomb raiding that's for sure. Some of my stories will reveal more soft-core ghostly situations, like grandmother's rocker being used by a reclining specter. One story, for example, was of an antique doll cradle that a Canadian dealer had in his shop. The story is, the cradle belonged to a little girl, who perished in a fire, as a direct result of trying to save the doll she kept inside. When the father of the family, tried to exit mother and children from the burning house, a daughter ran back into the fire, without being noticed, to fetch her favorite dolly from the wooden cradle. Her body was found beside the cradle, when the fire was extinguished, apparently having perished due to smoke inhalation. The cradle and the doll were slightly damaged by the fire, which largely destroyed another part of the house. When someone connected to the house retrieved the cradle and doll, the haunting started soon after. The cradle would begin rocking on its own without anyone setting it in motion. Believing it was somehow possessed by the little girl, after life, relatives didn't want to own the piece. It made the rounds of many families and antique dealers, so the urban legend goes, and those who thought it was a very neat provenance to have, with the pine antique, soon found it sad and disturbing, and couldn't adjust to the spirit within. The story doesn't have an end here, but there are many other parallel stories about rockers that rock without anyone sitting on them, organs that play on their own, keys of pianos tinkling in the darkness of Victorian parlors, and printing presses running on their own. In the paranormal field, it's not odd at all, to read about this kind of per-item haunting. While it's most often the case, a story-line will deal with the ghost or ghosts of a structure, if you read ghost stories carefully, with an interest in the furnishings attached, you might also read about the spirits having a favorite chair, or bed to hover over, on their regular visitations. I like both stories, but seeing as I'm a dealer of antiques etc., my interest is certainly peaked by a piece of furniture with a little extra patina.

So there will be some stories about the paranormal, tucked into blogs about collecting, and traveling from shop to shop, in the quest for the big finds. We've made a few in our day. It's worth our effort, let me say that.

One aspect of collecting, that I would like to highlight in these blogs, in the immediate future, are Muskoka collectibles, of which I'm often asked to offer appraisals. Back in the late 1980's, and particularly in the period of 1990-95, our little antique shop in Bracebridge was doing a booming business in Muskoka heirloom pieces, particularly those connected to the navigation industry here in, and on the Muskoka Lakes……from the magnificent wooden boats to the steamships that plied these beautiful lakes. We were responsible for building four large personal libraries, for local historians, of out of print and rare Muskoka themed books, dating back to the 1870's. It was an amazingly competitive period, and about five local dealers were in on the Muskoka craze, and there were thousands upon thousands of dollars being spent for the best of the best……which could range from books to paper nostalgia, brochures and navigational maps from the Navigation Company, to hotel-ware plates with the Navigation Company logo printed on the rim. The first Muskoka Navigation Company plate I sold, was at a yard sale, for fifty dollars. We didn't really want to sell it, but put it out anyway, with a highly inflated price. A Muskoka collector, we have known for more than 25 years, picked it up, and considered it a bargain. Since then we have sold an amazing array of Muskoka heirloom pieces, the most prestigious being a bench from the Sagamo, which lasted about four days in our shop, before one of our collector friends added it to her collection. I most recently sold a mint condition Brown's Beverage's seltzer bottle, from Gravenhurst, for about eighty dollars, and that was a good buy for the collector…….as they have sold in the past for well more than this.

When you are collectible shopping in Gravenhurst, you never let a pile of white and green-bordered hotelware plates go, without pawing through each and every one, because this is how we find the Navigation Company gems. This was a big industry in this town, for a lot of years, so it's to be expected these pieces will turn up at all kinds of sales, from church fundraisers to estate sales and at auctions. The same holds true for memorabilia from the boat building industry, here in Gravenhurst, where finding a Ditchburn relic, from paper items to boat pieces, is at least one handle off the grail….…..and the news, for those who don't believe it, there's lots more out there to be found. In fact, Gravenhurst and Muskoka Lakes generally, are hotbeds for these kind of finds, but Gravenhurst is our preference for hunting…..as it is also home base. The biggest of big finds, for the highest valued Muskoka collectibles, short of getting a Group of Seven painting, with local provenance, is in this field of antique boats…..mostly Ditchburn, and Greavette, but also steamship relics. There are Sanatorium relics which have some value, but Camp Calydor, German Prisoner of War Camp, woodwork, is particularly valuable on a global scale. The local market is still soft, because, many folks don't know anything about the prison camp, despite the fact there is a book on the subject. Some of the soldiers at the camp, carved amazing art pieces (boats etc.) on site, during the camp years of 1939-46 approx., and they often traded or presented pieces to local citizens, and members of the Veterans' Guard. I purchased a carved battleship, made of Muskoka pine, that had been traded to a citizen for a bottle of liquor…….through the fencing of the Lorne Street property. I sold it many years ago to a wealthy American family, that collected prisoner of war art. I most recently sold a carved pine picture frame, done at Calydor. Very coveted art pieces if you can get them.

Another particularly valuable piece, amongst local collectors and logging industry specialists, can be Muskoka logging stamps, the iron hammers that imprinted the company logos, that owned the particular log(s). They are in short supply. Did you know that A.J. Casson, of the Canadian Group of Seven Artists, sketched a local school building in Gravenhurst, that recently sold at auction. I won't give the name of the school building, so that the owners don't wake up to a sea of photographers. But it's true. There are lots of great art works out there as well, and many opportunities each year to find one or more for yourself. My biggest find of the year was an exceptional depiction of a pasture, in a large format watercolor, by Thomas Mower Martin, who some art historians, call the dean of Canadian art……one of the painters who, followed the rail lines across Canada, in the late 1800's, painting the exciting vistas. South Muskoka provides a bountiful hunting ground for the collector, in many different fields, from transportation collectibles, navigation heirlooms, Muskoka paper nostalgia (hotel and resort advertising), to art and vintage photographs. I will give more details, and images detailing some of our finds in a later blog.

I have been an "on and off again" antique dealer since the year I graduated University, in the spring of 1977……a degree in Canadian history under my arm, and a minor in English in mind. But I began collecting as a child, without question, and it started at the Burlington Arena, when I first became a recognized "rink rat." Which meant, anything that flew over the boards, was in my domain…..whether it was a stick or a puck, or a broken bit of hockey equipment. My mother Merle, God rest her soul, had to contend with a hoarder as a child. Now's there's a story. So while I didn't open my first business until the late 1970's, I'd been collecting interesting bits and bobbs since the early 1960's. My first antique column was published in 1978, I believe, in the newly opened Bracebridge Examiner. I had a number of those columns in the past 30 years, including my favorite which was called "The Auction Roll," which I used, without shame, to push my weight around, on the very active auction circuit of the late 1980's, and early 90's. The auctioneers hated me, as much as local politicians want me tarred and feathered today I gave away some inside secrets of auctioneering, and the use of invisible bidders to put up the selling price. I saw it all. But that didn't mean that the auctioneers were dishonest…….because only a few relied on this method, to improve their take. But I was intent on helping buyers and it became a useful guide……I used to get asked for auction tips all the time. There were some consequences attached, and I'd get into scraps with a few of the more established auctioneers, on some matters of protocol, but it was a time when going to an auction in Muskoka was a hell of a pass-time…..even if you didn't buy anything. They were socials. Fetes, with companion sales attached. Folks just loved to go to an old fashioned country auction. Now there are very few in our region annually, and that's been a real downer for us in the antique trade.

This is a big month for me, to research and write my newspaper columns in advance, (as Suzanne and I are on the prowl all summer season, and on every weekend of the year). So it's going to be a pretty tough assignment…..but as far as interesting stories…..you just watch. From old pine, and primitives, to paintings and sculptures, and well, you never know what you're going to find at the next yard sale, or fundraiser down the road. Hitch-hikers. I'll tell you about our own haunted portrait…..of a Victorian lass named Katherine.

Please join me, for a number of strange but true odysseys in the antique trade…..with a touch of the paranormal to make things interesting.

Also, if you're interested in kitchen heirlooms, I have a blog on handwritten recipes and journals, and certain regional cookbooks dating back to the 1800's, that is continually added to, when we make interesting finds out on the antique hustings. You can go back to the beginning of the blog, to learn more about the historic importance of these old handwritten recipes, which were priceless to homestead cooks in their day. Let us know about your cookery heritage interests, by contacting us through the blog site http://muskokavintagerecipes.blogspot.com/

If you like the peace and quiet of Muskoka, and would take solitude over the din of urbanity, check out my "Muskoka as Walden" blogsite http://muskokaaswaldenpond.blogspot.com/ , which is my favorite landscape outlet. I would have loved to be able to paint competently…..alas, I have to do so with words alone. This is the site I like to write-on, when things get a little wild at Birch Hollow…..and like Thoreau, I kind of disappear into the woods for a little respite. The blogs are the result of my hiatus periods. I also love to write during the seasonal storms. Canadian landscape artist, Tom Thomson, was always enthralled to watch stormfronts move over the Algonquin and Georgian Bay lakeland, and as I have always admired his work, I've taken to words instead. You can check it out at……

My Bracebridge and Muskoka blogsite is largely for reminiscences of my early days growing up on the town's Hunt's Hill, above the black ribbon of Muskoka River, back in the mid 1960's…..but up to the mid 1980's, as I worked the streets as a roving reporter / editor for the former "Bracebridge Herald-Gazette." These are fun stories about a whacky kid, and a wild-eyed reporter, in an interesting town in South Muskoka. You can find this lengthy collection of blogs, over numerous years, by clicking on…….. http://thenatureofmuskoka.blogspot.com/

Please join me again, for some interesting adventures…….an assortment of stories you don't usually associate with the dull antique trade. Stories written from my home office, here at Birch Hollow, in the pleasant Town of Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada.

Till we meet again!!!