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March 2002 Issue
Compiled by
Bruce Gventer

What follows is a random assortment of art and antiques related websites that we have visited and enjoyed in the last few weeks. Your discoveries and suggestions are always welcome. Send them to bgventer@bcn.net

Post Cards
http://home.mindspring.com/~robertskw/index.html

This is a commercial site selling vintage post cards, photographs, and ephemera, with weekly auctions on eBay. They offer a search service for specific post cards. Specialties are roadside America, cabins, motels, road maps, amusement parks, Coney Island, NYC and NY State Views, Adirondack Mountains, old resorts, old photographs, and real photo post cards.

The link page is well worth exploring; send them your link suggestions. Links include resources, clubs, forums, bibliographies, books etc. Their list of links to web sites includes collectors' pages, commercial, and dealers sites. The links to auctions lists seven post card auction sites. The Frequently Asked section has a brief history of postcards with a glossary of postcard terms you might find useful. There are lots of tips like how to mail postcards, grading post cards, abbreviations, terms, and an explanation of what makes a post card rare. You can spend a lot of time in this section.
 

Wood Restoration
http://www.longwoodrestoration.com/

Longwood Restoration are historical craftsmen who want to help preserve the architectural history of America. They want to be the caretakers of early American architecture. They disassemble cabins, barns, homes, and buildings, many of which are slated for landfill. They offer antique flooring, antique heart pine, log cabins, hand-hewn beams, recycled wood, barn board etc.

They have a stock of old log cabins and houses available as well as a wide assortment of hand-hewn beams, timber, and lumber in various lengths and widths. They have a changing supply of salvaged architectural elements. If they don't have what you need in stock, they promise they can find it for you. Got a piece of property that needs an old American cabin on it?

Toys
http://mainetoymuseum.homestead.com/museum.html

They claim to have one of the finest Lone Ranger Collections in the world Fawcett's Antique Toy Museum, Famous Fine Art, & Antique Shop has a lot of good images of toys. Items like toys still in the boxes, a 1939 French carousel figure of Donald Duck, the first Mickey Mouse watch, a Steiff 1930s Mickey Mouse, Big Little Books & Comic Books, a rare 1930s Popeye, and original Disney Fantasia animation art. They have rare cereal boxes & radio show premiums.

John Fawcett is a Professor Emeritus who taught for 32 years in the Art Department of The University of Connecticut and now runs this toy museum dedicated to the art and design of antique toys. Antique toys are bought, sold, and appraised.

Antique Prints
http://www.haleysteele.com/

Another commercial site, this one sells fine art prints and has been in business since 1899. They realize that their best customer is a knowledgeable customer. The learning pages on this site are tremendous. The section on identifying Audubons gets into the nitty gritty you need to know. Points on how to tell whether a print is from the The Havell Edition of 1827 - 1838, The First Royal Octavo Edition of 1840-1844. The Bien Edition of 1860 or The Amsterdam Edition of 1972 are given so you can tell if your print has potential.

          There are a lot of other valuable tips to be found such as advice to help hang pictures, advise from the Library of Congress on matting, framing and what to look for from a frame shop. Learn about the different printing techniques used and how to spot the difference printing techniques. A dictionary of printmaking terms is reproduced from the American Historical Print Collectors Society web site. The gallery pages provide a gold mine of images that can be searched by category, artist or by technique. I checked one of my favorite artists, Besler, and found four images to view. Take the time to visit some of the exhibitions of artists.

The artist information is very informative and you can view the works online.

Match safe
http://www.matchsafe.org/

The larger image at right is enameled with a copy of the cover of The Sportsman magazine featuring a kangaroo and a lion in depiction of Australia and England playing their famous cricket match. Another of the match safe illustrations found on this site depicts a late 19th century American gold rounded rectangular piece. The front of this piece is decorated with a raised hand. Each fingernail and the cuff is set with a diamond, the lid chased with a scrollwork frieze.

This is a non-profit organization. Membership gets you a quarterly newsletter with articles, price trends, reproduction information, and classified ads. There is an annual convention with informative presentations. There are live auctions, buy-sell-trade opportunities, and Show and Tell, as well as opportunities to meet, correspond, and exchange information with other collectors. They produce an annual commemorative match safe. If you collect match safes, this will be a match made in heaven.