On Wings of Fancy

The sale of our main display case in our antique booth prompted me to do a "re-think" about the space that it was in. I don't have another display case to go in its place, and to be honest, after re-arranging the pieces that came out of the locked case, I realized that my remaining 2 cases, one locked, one unlocked, looked a lot better a bit crowded; with lots of little pretties gathered together. Soooo....for the time being I am going to put a white shelf in that has different size shelves and spaces and I am going to try a different look for a while. That being said, while I was pricing some of these items, I decided to take some pictures to share with you all. In this main photo at the top I would like to point out the fabulous butterfly painting in the gilt frame...I fell in love with this piece and knew it would be a focal point of a display in my booth. Actually, when I bought it, I thought I might keep it, but, such is the purchasing life of a dealer...Here we see a card of green glass buttons, some beautiful creamy mother of pearl buttons and a bling bling rhinestone button nestled in beside a wonderful Victorian bible we found late last year. We believe it to be true jet or gutta percha; unfortunately, I am not an expert in either material and the tests to determine them involove hot needles which I do NOT perform and will not purchase from any dealer who uses these tests either. However, it is a lovely little item and the back is etched with a ladies name; presumably the owners. And I just love the bulldog in the background! Look at his scrunched up face! He is so cute and Italian! Mi Amore!This picture shows a wonderful enameled mesh bag in beautiful teal, gold tone and creamy white. It is circa 1940 and is draped beside a modern Lenox crystal decanter...drape the bag over your arm and pour some scotch....ahhh...luxury....of course, you will also need the faux pearl, crystal and art glass necklace dangling around the neck of the decanter and spread out over the rose ball to complete your ensemble; but wait...the fabulous blue glass brooch by vintage designer BSK is definitely needed to complement the purse. There is also a cute little cigarette holder with a wonderful pink rhinestone capped lighter. I bet this could be re-purposed...a cell phone bag perhaps? Leave the lighter...the rhinestone is fabulous! Scattered throughout these pics are several small photos of people. I found a nice little stash of small photos and thought they would be fun to stick here and there in my vignettes. These brooches date to the turn of the century. They are made of mother of pearl and look so lovely in this old jewelry box. I have a friend who collects these old boxes with a passion...they are pretty cool, I must say - and I love the photo of the two guys peering out over the jewelry. Here is a close up of a resin-type bust of a woman done in Victorian style. Her bodice is - uh- rather on the low side. Perhaps she was on the make for a gentleman? I love the calling card pictured on the right..."Mrs. Dr. Whelpley". "Mrs. Dr".....how fabulous! I may have to see what Emily Post has to say about that. The white and black glass beads resting on the geode crystals are very pretty in their simplicity...the symbolism in black and white has always been a favorite of mine. This purse is a Dresden mesh by the renowned Whiting and Davis company. The lady in the photo would have been mighty proud to have carried it around I am sure. The colors in this Dresden have stayed vibrant except for a few areas near the frame. Dresden's are commonly thought of as impressionistic as many of them have flowers or trees in them. They often appear as washes of color. This last photo shows off several of the small pictures as well as a set of old red glass cuff links that I find very appealing and a wonderful black glass faceted dress clip. All these items are displayed on a fox fur collar. I cannot wait to get into the booth and set up some of these vignettes and see what they will look like for real. The pictures look great, but sometimes making it work in a booth is a little different! Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather!