Woodstock, Easy Rider, Rock n' Roll, Old Recipes

COOKERY HERITAGE TASTES GOOD TOO

THE ADVENTURE TO FIND HANDWRITTEN RECIPES….WHAT KIND OF HOLY GRAIL IS THIS?

IT'S FUNNY HOW, OVER A LIFETIME IN THE COLLECTING / ANTIQUE ENTERPRISE, YOU CAN SUDDENLY CHANGE INTERESTS, AND IN MANY CASES, QUITE PROFOUNDLY. THE WAYS AND VALUES OF THE PAST, ARE LIKE GAS PRICES; SUBJECT TO EXTREME CHANGE.

WHILE I MIGHT PRESUME TO KNOW, I CAN'T REALLY SPEAK FOR ANY ONE ELSE, IN THIS REGARD. FOR ME IT HAD EVERYTHING TO DO WITH LACK OF FOCUS AND MONEY. EVEN AS A KID, I COLLECTED RANDOM SHINY OBJECTS THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AT THE MOMENT. I WOULD COLLECT RELATED ITEMS FOR AWHILE, BEFORE SOMETHING ELSE TURNED MY CRANK. I LIKED A LOT OF STUFF. IF I'D HAD A RICH FAMILY, WHO LAVISHED THEIR KID WITH POCKETS-FULL OF MONEY, THEN UNQUESTIONABLY, MY COLLECTIONS WOULD HAVE BEEN EXTENSIVE, VERSUS MINOR AND SOMEWHAT UNREMARKABLE. BUT I WAS AS HAPPY AS A LARK, TO BE HUSTLING AROUND ON THE CHEAP, LOOKING FOR STUFF TO BRING HOME TO OUR SMALL ABODE. IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A HALF DOZEN BROKEN HOCKEY STICKS, USED BY SENIOR HOCKEY PLAYERS, IN BURLINGTON, ONTARIO, WHERE I SPENT MY EARLY YEARS, OR SOME REALLY NEAT HATS I SCOFFED FROM THE "LOST AND FOUND" BINS AT THE ARENA. I HAD NO BOUNDARY, EXCEPT THE FACT MY MOTHER WOULD INTERCEPT ANYTHING THAT APPEAR UNSANITARY, BEING SNUCK PAST THE FRONT DOOR. HALF THE TIME, USUALLY WITH SOAKERS AND MUDDY TROUSERS, I DIDN'T MAKE THE LIST EITHER, AND AS MERLE USED TO QUIP, "YOU LOOK LIKE A MUDLARK," FROM A CLASSIC BOOK, BY THE WAY. A LOT OF MY EARLY TREASURES, THE MODEST COLLECTIONS BEING BOLSTERED ON A DAILY BASIS, WERE CHUCKED-OUT BY MY STALWART MOTHER, WHO INSISTED THAT NEATNESS, WAS WHAT GOD WANTED MOST FROM HUMANITY. NOT NECESSARILY WORLD PEACE. NEATNESS. SHE DUSTED A VENEER COFFEE TABLE FOUR TIMES A DAY, UNTIL IT REFLECTED LIKE A MIRROR. IT WAS WORTH $15 WHEN SHE BOUGHT IT, AND IT WAS WORTH $4 AT THE END OF HER LIFE. FOR ALL THAT POLISHING, I THOUGHT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN WORTH MUCH MORE. IT WAS A DARK VENEER BUT IT WAS SO BEAUTIFULLY POLISHED, YOU COULD SEE THE PORES OF YOUR SKIN. IT WAS A PRETTY PIECE TO HER, SO THE ACTUAL VALUE DIDN'T MATTER. JUST LIKE MY OLD BROKEN HOCKEY STICKS HAD MEANING TO ME.

We're all susceptible to the influences of the world around us. Events in our lives. In November 1963, a lot of non-collectors became collectors because of one internationally important news event. The assassination of President Kennedy. All of a sudden, people who had never contemplated collecting anything more than cash in the bank, started hanging onto newspapers, magazines and books that came out immediately after the tragic event. People thought it was important to collect these news materials…..for themselves and for their kids, and grandkids. Many other world events have struck a similar chord, and whether it is Royalty memorabilia, or news of celebrity deaths, war, and trips to the moon, and sundry other adventures in outer space, we have collected those related momentous. There are collectors of hair, dental appliances and actual teeth that have belonged to celebrities, including Elvis and John Lennon. There are collectors of autographs, photographs, clothing with provenance, Scottish tartans, folk art, stamps, coins, shrunken heads and taxidermy ducks, loons, moose and deer heads. Big fish and little fish, and a wide array of other critters that have been carefully and artfully preserved. I've read about those who collect funerary materials, including antique coffins (some with windows), and of course, elaborate horse drawn hearses. Good for them. Point is, there's no limit. I love being involved in a lifestyle and business that has so much open territory to explore…..sort of a Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper "Easy Rider," kind of liberation. An open road and an open mind.

I was old enough to appreciate the entire span of the 1960's, and while I never really took to the Timothy Leary "tune in, turn on, tune out" thing, I was very curious about the hippy movement, the rapidly evolving rock 'n roll scene, and the revolution of the social / political culture of the time. I had a few records and an unreliable turn-table, and I did appreciate the whole liberating, anti-war sentiment; the "peace" movement and free love seemed worthwhile things to join. Yet no matter how much I got into the music, the psychedelics of the period, it just never rubbed off on me, that I should collect any of the relevant materials associated with this time in history. Instead, I became very much enamored with the pioneer, homesteading period, I had experienced, traveling with my parents in both Canada and United States….who insisted on taking me to a wide range of historic sites, from battlefields and old forts, to a former Jesuit Mission, from the early 1600's, in the community of Midland, Ontario. I liked the ambience….the woodsmoke, the patina of antique furnishings, and yes, the scent of old fuel-burning lamps that I found so wonderfully intoxicating. Thus the strangeness of the collector, to follow any set-down plan or rule, imposed by another. I'd go home and listen to Janis Joplin, and stare at my Easy Rider poster, and look at souvenir guide books from my favorite historic sites. It's been a life-long confluence of special interests, full of contradictions, and I suppose, a few wrong turns at Robert Johnson's haunted crossroads. For the life of me, I can't really explain, all the stuff that has influenced me, to bypass some obviously keen collecting interests, to then, suddenly change direction, to latch-on instead, to obscure collectibles, such as handwritten recipes. Here it is, 2012, and I'm still mired in the early history of Canada and the United States, loving the whole pioneer thing (I have two illuminated coal oil lamps on my desk, right now), but my two lads, Andrew and Robert, both musicians, are heading into their sixth successful year, operating a main street vintage music and collectible shop, selling restore antique instruments, from guitars to accordions, and the kind of 1960's and 70's memorabilia I should have been interested in…..but wasn't. I guess that's what happened. I transferred my latent interest to these guys, who surround themselves every day of their lives, with what I lived through….."my actuality" that I must have celebrated rather passively I'm afraid. I did grow my hair long, and owned several pairs of bell bottom pants, and I almost got to Woodstock. My mother said one of those motherly things, as I was preparing to jump into a Volkswagon love-van. "Over my dead body." The only way I was going, was to kill her. Seeing as I'm a career pacifist, who has a hard time killing insects, and loving Merle, well, I just watched the news reports and listened to the music of the day on our favorite radio station….."Chum am" of Toronto.

The other great influence I still deal with as a collector / dealer, with a few miles on the rubber, is the expense factor. I've never known a period locally, in our bailiwick of Ontario, when there have been more collector / dealers buzzing around the sale circuit. Online auctions have created many of what we used to call "attic dealers," (part time dealers) and so many antique roadshow-type television shows, have inspired lots of folks to enter the collecting game…..and the "buy / sell" of antiques and collectibles. The more competition? The greater the hustle! The more the demand, yup, vendors start to get the message, there's lots of room for price increases. Even as I write this, I'm actually bumping-up, not only interest, but potentially the asking prices, for second hand shop inventory. Boy, I'm fond of myself, aren't I? Well, it's like this. In this region, known as the District of Muskoka, I personally know every shop manager, and virtually all the staff at the small number of antique stores, thrift shops, second hand and flea market outlets; and of course large outlets such as the Gravenhurst Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, of which I'm a fixture most days of the week. They all know I write antique related columns for provincial publications, as well as this blogsite. I certainly don't mind them following along with my editorials, but it does create new realities for management. Enlightenment in a nutshell. Seeing as I am always willing to give an appraisal to shops that raise funds for the less fortunate, like the Salvation Army, I encourage them to price sensibly, proportionally to condition, and with the knowledge that many, many of their regular customers are collector / dealers, who are shoppers four seasons out of the year……not just summer time patrons. Over-pricing these folks out of the market is bad business. While it may take some of the big, big bargains away, very few collectors will argue about sensible price increases, based on researched valuations. Every now and again, however, some newly appointed manager will become an antique dealer without having earned the stripes first, and make all kinds of ridiculous price increases that turn good customers…..into fleeing patrons. I will gladly offer my expertise in general pricing, and provide more in-depth research, if it means these folks will lighten up on the fantasy valuations.

Price and its escalation has most definitely played a role in my own collecting interests, since I began as a dealer back in the late 1970's. I was always broke. But I wanted to collect. I also got the idea I should make some money on general antiques I came upon, for a good price, but didn't have any great affection. I have sold many pairs of vintage skates, for example, from simple blades on a wood base, strapped to boots, all the way up to low rise leather-boot skates, to quite a few pair of vintage speed skates. Son Andrew has quite a large skate collection now, that I have helped him develop. Point is, I have always had to shift interests because frankly, many collectibles I was interested in, were too rich on a reporter's wage. Even when we opened our first Currie family shop, in Bracebridge, Ontario, back in 1977, I had to get deals on everything we purchased, most of it requiring refinishing, just to eke out a small profit. The second shop I opened, was with my wife Suzanne, in the late 1980's, and we still had the same necessity of bargain hunting as a rule. I'd work at the shop through the day, and refinish tables and dressers in the evening, and on Sundays, when in fact, I should have been camping with the boys, or taking them fishing. Ah, the rigors of the antique trade. The chosen excesses of the free market! How many have made similar sacrifices to turn a profit?

By being frugal and a well-tutored collector, I have been fortunate to find what I like, and always what I needed, for competitive prices, and always in ample quantity. This is where vintage handwritten recipes come into play. I most recently paid thirty dollars, if memory serves, for an early 1900's recipe book from our region. It was a good price for what I was able to harvest from it, not just in recipes, but as a story-line for a future article in a monthly magazine I write for, known as "Curious; The Tourist Guide," that you can access online. I have also photographed quite a number of pages and published them on my Muskoka Cookery Heritage blog site. If we were solicited to do a cookery display, as we sometimes are asked as regional historians, I would proudly display this rare cookbook. Point is, the cost of that little book was high, for my budget, as are many regional recipe collections from the 1800's and early years of the 1900's…..based on supply and demand. We have sold many rare and out-of-print cookbooks through on-line auctions, and I can't believe the enormous prices they can attract. Suzanne and I, with our interest in the handwritten recipes, often contained in those cookbooks, most definitely benefit from the general lack of interest in collecting them for fun or for profit. Tell you what! If I published images of what these beautifully penned, hundred year old (plus) recipes looked like, matted and framed (under glass), I might soon start a rigorous price war, and a brand new trend in collecting. I have only framed a dozen or so, always with conservation (acid free) as a main concern…..and they can always be removed if needed. Hung in a retro-design or antique-laden kitchen……they would look fabulous. I'm not an interior decorator, but these bits and bobbs of cookery heritage, are both "pretty faces," and social / cultural icons….and the gravy and icing stains are provenance to be celebrated. In restaurants, especially ones looking to capture the tradition of culinary arts, these would make wonderful conversation pieces. I just prefer, at the present, to enjoy them in our safe folios.

For the price of one rare, vintage, typeset, fair condition cookbook, I could probably acquire about five pounds of handwritten recipes, from flea markets, yards sales and second hand shops, and never leave the region of Muskoka. This by the way, is what we have attempted to do, from the historical side of the equation. We wanted a regionally reflective collection, and while it doesn't mean the recipes were all inspired by the region, dating back to the 1850's, we wanted it to be representative of the population of folks who settled here……..their cultural and ethnic backgrounds of significance to the historians……more than just the "collector us." It's quite remarkable, in fact, to research through the piles of interesting recipes, spotting the significant changes to traditional fare, to suit what was grown, and available in the region as substitute (eg. herbs and spices) ingredients. Plus finding other attachments of provenance, such as a family's location in the district, and ancestral relation to Europe, especially where settlers emigrated from, most actively, during the period of the free land grant period, shortly after Canadian Confederation, in 1867. Each time we settle down to look through these interesting recipes, all pieces of culinary folkart, we find something different, quite unique and historic. A recipe Suzanne will attempt in her modern kitchen, adapting measurements used in the 1800's with what is standard today. We must be people who are easily fascinated…..because these very inexpensive acquisitions, satisfy our collecting interests, and motivate us as historians, to interpret and highlight them whenever an opportunity arises. Not as exciting as collecting Railroad and Ship memorabilia, medical-use skeletons, fossils or sculptures, but it works for us as a retiring couple, who love kitchen lore, cookery memorabilia, vintage food advertising, and did we mention…..food. My wife has made me what I am today. And I'm on a diet because of it. You see I can write this, because I know she won't read my blogs. In fact, since we were married, she has full knowledge I'm a writer but just doesn't care. We do share the joy and adventures in the antique profession however, and that's all we need. Don't let her know, for my sake, that I've just now accused her of fattening me up. I've got a good and satisfying life here at Birch Hollow. It hinges on me keeping my mouth shut about certain matrimonial situations……like me needing to diet, so I can indulge evermore at Easter.

Thanks so much for joining today's antique / collectible blog. More to come.