Antique Wooden Ducks and Saltglazed Stoneware For Sale at Auction in Wainwright Alberta, Feb 16th 2013

Scribner Auction is proud to host the 2nd Annual February Long Wknd MULTI-CONSIGNOR ANTIQUE & COLLECTIBLE AUCTION

Saturday Feb 16, 2013,  10am start. Attendees can expect to see some very high quality pieces and some very rare items at this Antique Auction! This sale features an entire private collection which includes a large variety of glazed crockery, wooden duck decoys, tins, lamps and more items.

MUST REITERATE! THIS SALE HAS AN ENTIRE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE WOODEN DUCK DECOYS & A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE GLAZED CROCKS !!!!

ANTIQUE WOODEN DUCK DECOY COLLECTION!

Katrina Scribner, the Auctioneer / Manager Scribner Auction Ltd. Wainwright, AB wrote a little about the Collector.  She wrote,

"... Sandy is a great lady, who works tirelessly as the owner of a Pilot Truck Service in Saskatchewan, Canada. This business has taken Sandy to most points through Western Canada, and has afforded her some opportunities in visiting a few different Auction Sales. When asked how she started collecting, Sandy says “I’ve been collecting Antiques my whole life, but about 30 years ago, I decided on Crocks & Decoys”. Sandy attends as many auction sales as her schedule will allow, and truly enjoys the challenge of finding this type of Crockery & Wooden Decoys, as they are more scarce in Western Canada.  So one Crock lead to another, and one Duck lead to a flock, and, well you get the idea. Sandy stated that “I love my Crocks & Decoys, but I was and still am attracted to any thing with a Country Look”.

The decision to sell her entire Antique Collection was not an easy one, but the sale of her 5 story country home, and a move that took Sandy to a smaller house, made the decision necessary. Sandy has since expressed a bit of relief, and now awaits the sale of her Collection by Public Auction on Feb 16^th in Wainwright, AB so that she can look ahead and perhaps, her Crock & Decoy quest will continue, but on a smaller scale.

                                                                                                Written: Katrina Scribner

                                   

Below are individual Pictures of the Decoys - Special Thanks & Consideration to Steven Lloyd, International Historic Decoy Expert  who generously gave his time to provide the descriptions and dates below.

Mallard Hen Maker - Circa 1920's Peterbourgh Canoe Company	Mallard Hen Maker - Circa 1920's Peterbourgh Canoe Company	Bluebill Hen by Victor Decoy Co. Circa 1920's - 30's
Mallard Drake by Victor Decoy Co. Circa 1920's - 30's	Whistler or also called Golden Eye Drake Swimmer (rare) Unknown Carver Circa 1830's - 1840's	Bluebill Drake Unknown Carver

Whistler Drake - Unknown Carver Circa 1930's - 40's	Blackducks - Unknown Carver Circa 1930's - 50's	Bluebill - Mason Decoy Compnay (painted over original)
Mallard Drake - Unknown Carver Circa 1940's	Mason Decoy Company Circa 1890's - 1920's	Blackduck - Unknown Carver Circa 1940's - 50's

Mason Decoy Company Circa 1890's - 1920's	Great FOLK ART - Unknown Carver Circa 1930's - 50's	\
McWilliams : Mason Decoy Company Circa 1890's - 1920's	Bluebill - Unknown Carver

Bluebill Hen - Unknown Carver From Lake Erie	Bluebill Drake - (Head ?) Mason Deco Co.:Circa 1890's - 1920's

Unknown Carver	Brant Goose Decoy from BC Unknown Maker
No Description Yet	No Description Yet

No Description Yet	No Description Yet
No Description Yet	No Description Yet

SALT GLAZED CROCK COLLECTION! - INCREDIBLE! Below are individual pictures of the Glazed Crocks of many different varieties and patterns!

Inv #891	Inv #892	Inv #893
Inv #894	Inv #895	Inv #896

Inv #897	Inv #898	Inv #900
Inv #901	Inv #902	Inv #903

Inv #904	Inv #905	Inv #906
Inv #907	Inv #908	Inv #909

Inv #910	Inv #911	Inv #912
Inv #913	Inv #914	Inv #915

Inv #916	Inv #917	Inv #918
Inv #920	Inv #921	Inv #922

Inv #923	Inv #924	Inv #925
Inv #926	Inv #927	Inv #929          Inv #938

Post by Robert Campbell on Feb 8, 2013

Victoria Dinnick takes Dumpdiggers on a Tour of Gadabout on 19th January 2013

Gadabout Vintage at 1300 Queen St E is owned and operated by Victoria Dinnick, who gave Dumpdiggers a walking tour of her famous antiques store on 19th January 2013.

Inside this front cabinet there are about four hundred small items for sale. There are cameo broaches, fake gems and other glass baubles, hair accessories, vintage belt buckles, old coins, antique watches, war medals, silver whistles and odd bits of gold coloured jewelry.

Most Toronto antique collectors probably already know Gadabout, and have met its owner. That's because Victoria Dinnick makes herself known wherever she goes - she's a powerful smart lady with a dry sense of humour that leans toward sarcasm.  Victoria is a familiar face in the crowd at auctions and estate sales all over Ontario and Quebec. She regularly participates in the seasonal shows of several antiques and collectibles subcultures including The Old Paper Show, and The Old Clothing Show.

Victoria was a fixture at Harbourfront Antique Mall in the 1990s and still has regular customers that seek her out at sales and make frequent visits to her 1300 Queen St E address. There are some pickers from whom she still buys merchandise, and veteran collectors to whom she sells stuff.  Anyone can email the store Info @ GadaboutVintage. com

Victoria Dinnick started collecting antiques in the 1980s and by the early 90s she was selling her merchandise at Harbourfront Antique Mall, which, if you don't know was a giant two story antiques superstore here in Toronto - it had twenty or more independent dealers under one roof and was located near the base of Spadina at Queens Quay, right on the lake shore near what was once Ree's Wharf ...

Victoria escaped Harbourfront and opened Gadabout, her first antiques and collectibles store in 1997, in the Mirvish Village on Markham and Bloor. She moved to 1300 Queen St East in 1999 and was instrumental in the gentrification of this area which now boast several antique furniture stores, funky cafes, used clothing stores and specialty coffee shops.

Victoria told me there are over 100,000 individually priced antiques and collectibles inside Gadabout - the building is packed full of old stuff for sale, and the prices are 

A curious helper holds a larger then life sized poster of a man frozen in the unmistakable action of putting on his coat.  This young helper with a boy's name watched me walk about the rows of shoes and bags and past racks of coats and reminded me once that all the clothes for sale in Gadabout have been previously dry cleaned.

Victoria Dinnick and her dog ...


Gadabout medicine cabinet shelf has lots of turn-of-the-century patent medicine quackery and many dozen old remedies including morphine pills and other opiates, and lots of bizarre wild concoctions. At a glance I spotted the blue coffin poison which is an item that I know and more importantly I know approx what it's worth and can use it as a handy measure by which to gauge Gadabout prices.

Victoria stunned me by only asking $99 for this gorgeous large UK cobalt blue coffin poison!

Here is liquid dextrose, a sugary syrup for intravenous feeding in hospitals. 

Lots of the medicines in the cabinet are full of their original contents. Here is Ovolax which is a healthy laxative prepared by John Wyeth & Brother from Chicago. These guys went on to found a huge drug company - see here for more on Wyeth Co

From Germany, here is a cardboard container filled with 100 Red Pearls whcih were taken as a remedy against anxiety and nerves. Yes the red pearls are filled with opiates and this little package is sure to be worth a small fortune today, but Victoria is asking only $35 for the item. * She could triple that on eBay I reckon.

The show continued and got even better when she found a bright red wallet that contained medicated gelatin 'lamels' which are strips of morphine infused cloth that act as a local anesthetic? I suppose. This is military grade pain killer for front line soldiers in WW1. The writing is as follows,  MEDICATED GELATINE LAMELS. SAVORY & MOORE, LTD, LONDON / EACH SHEET IS DIVIDED INTO 24 SMALL SQUARES. EACH SMALL SQUARE IS AN ORDINARY DOSE

 Look inside and you can see what's left of the strips.









Finally Victoria is very eager to promote her latest discovery - a 1929 Map of Toronto !

Although faint with age, the map is good condition has been professionally restored - its linen backed and has been recently cleaned and repaired. 

Victoria is asking $875.00 for the 1929 Map of Toronto with street index.

Evening in Paris

Gadabout is located at 1300 Queen Street East Toronto, ON M4L 1C4‎  (416) 463-1254
Antique Store, Clothing Store - open most days from 11:30 am - 6:30 pm

It's a good destination for the intrepid shopper who likes the hunt as much as the find!

Dumpdiggers 1901 Fashion Accessories

Behold, Dumpdiggers Fashion Accessories.  Below is a link to a Men's necktie on Zazzle.com that shows a vintage map of Toronto circa 1901; the map shows the Toronto lake shore and the downtown core, including the oldest section of the city around King St East and the new downtown core of Toronto that formed around Yonge St as it stretched north to drive its way up the province. Yonge St. bisects the tie in the middle - the designers were very smart to focus on the lakeshore.

http://www.zazzle.ca/vintage+map+toronto+ties

What was Toronto like in 1901? Its curious but that date is significant throughout the British Empire as its the year that Queen Victoria died, and a great many photographs were taken of everything as though people knew they would like to record things just as they were... this map is part of that trend.

It was the end of the Victoria Age and the beginning of the Edwardian Age. The reign of King Edward VII, whose short-lived governance (1901-1910) preceded the modern House of Windsor in England. The "Edwardian" style broadly encompasses the years of 1901 through 1919. The end of the century brought the dawning of a new age and a new attitude toward life. It was an era when social differences dissipated and the mores, customs, and expectations of the citizenry came together Stephen Rowe. The Edwardian era was a historical moment of tremendous technological and social change

This is the Toronto shoreline showing the skyline in 1901 - the image form US Library of Congress

You can read the Toronto City Directory for 1901 here. Its a cool interactive book. Check it out.

Here is a picture of Yonge St on Pretoria Day June 5th 1901 presumably connected to the Boer War?
Checking into Hotels in Toronto in 1901 was definitely more labourous... all those stairs! But look here there were several first rate hotels to choose from in the city at the beginning of the Edwardian Age. Here are four:

And don't forget Rossin House, The Queens Hotel and of course the King Edward Hotel which is still in operation today.  The Queens Hotel sat on the land currently occupied by the Royal York Hotel, across from Union Station. The Queens was owned by a charismatic millionaire named Dick McGaw who had worked his way up to owner from an entry level position as bellhop 1862. The modern day Royal York Hotel was built in 1929 and was completed as the beginning of the Great Depression.

Most of the city north of Bloor St was not built yet in 1901. Yorkville was a separate community,

Education in Toronto in 1901

Boys went to school at Trinity College on Queen St West, St Georges in Yorkville or Upper Canada College north of St Clair and Avenue Rd.  For girls, St. Clement’s School was founded in 1901 in buildings around and between the apple orchards. The St. Clement's School facility didn't become an exclusive school for girls until 1930 something, but today its one of Canada’s leading single education private schools and boasts a dynamic community of approximately 470 female students, from grade 1 to 13 as it were.

 Here is a picture of Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, also completed in 1901
This is the first picture of the school taken immediately after the building was erected in 1901. It soon became the #1 postcard that students would send home to their parents.

The Edwardian Age is one of my favourite periods of growth in Toronto and a great many buildings were erected in the city in thirteen years between 1901 and the beginning of the First World War in 1914.

Metal Detectors Increase Chances of Finding Treasure at Dump Sites

by guest author, Michael Bernzweig

Dumpdigging is all about finding “diamonds in the rough.” As the saying goes… when diamonds are extracted from mines, they don't look very pretty. An expert with many years of training and experience has to cut the diamond and polish it so that it looks beautiful and is valuable. A raw diamond looks like a lump of salt! The same goes for relics, old bottles, coins and buried treasure. Knowledgeable bottle diggers, coin and relic hunters can take what looks like pure junk, clean it up and voila! Now, it’s treasure that can be collected, traded and sold. Here are some tips on dump digging with a metal detector for Dump Diggers readers from industry professional Michael Bernzweig of MetalDetector.com.

The Makro Jeo Hunter 3D is shown being used in a field for recovering deeply buried relics. This two box style metal detector is the detector of choice for locating buried treasures and caches at extreme depth.

It takes a special breed of person to be an exceptional treasure hunter at old dump sites. One has to have curiosity, a positive attitude, perseverance and patience. But the payoff can be huge. When you read the stories of the dump diggers here, you’ll probably want to find a site and start digging. After all, there’s treasure to be unearthed. It’s amazing to think about all of the treasure caches and hoards (large containers filled with valuables) that people buried many moons ago and never retrieved. With a deep penetrating metal detector, you can dig up this treasure even if it’s far underground.

What Can You Search for at a Dump Site?

Bottle diggers, coin and relic hunters rely on metal detectors to uncover buried treasure, according to Michael Bernzweig of MetalDetector.com. The finds above came from a Buffalo camp ground site.

There are several types of dump sites to explore, as well as old home sites. As mentioned in the Dumpdiggers article, How to Find Old Dumps, there’s the town dump, farm dump, camp dump (which can prove especially lucrative), privy pit and more. At these sites, you may be able to uncover many antique bottles: milk bottles, beer and liquor bottles, poison, perfume and ink bottles.

If you’re searching for a treasure cache or hoard, keep your ear open for the ‘lore.’ Get the facts from an old-timer about where and what things are allegedly buried based on rumor and legend. Next, try to guesstimate how far down the treasure is located. Many times, treasure and relics are buried far beneath the earth in large containers. In order for these to be recovered, you will need deep seeking metal detectors.

Which Metal Detectors and Equipment Locate Relics and Buried Treasure?

Luckily, bottle digging and treasure hunting require relatively low start-up costs that can be recouped with a few good recoveries. Metal detectors for relic hunting are designed for specific objects and surfaces. If the soil you’re hunting in has heavy mineralization, choose a detector that features a ground adjust or ground balance control. Another consideration is the frequency of the detector. Many relics are produced from iron, brass and steel. A detector with a lower frequency will better target relics than a detector with a higher one.

When you are treasure hunting deep beneath the earth, you’ll need "underground eyes". A two-box metal detector can penetrate the earth using special search coils that transmit signals. Once the signal reaches the treasure, it bounces back to the metal detector, which pinpoints the location. And some deep seeking metal detectors serve dual purposes—they target metal targets as well as voids in the ground.

You will need to invest in a few digging tools for serious treasure hunting. Metal detecting trowels, shovels and specialty knives are just a few of the accessories that can assist with deeper yet delicate recoveries. There is a wealth of treasure to be found. Who knows, your next dig with a metal detector might unearth the best find of your years digging!

About the author: Michael Bernzweig manages MetalDetector.com in Southborough, MA. He has written extensively on the subject of metal detecting since the mid 1980’s. He has traveled world-wide in his pursuit of educating, exploring and advising others in the proper use of metal detectors.  Outside of the business he enjoys mentoring students, being involved in the community and spending time with his family.