Antique Butcher Shop & Mercantile

I happened upon these great room boxes this weekend with my daughter - I agreed to accompany her to get some new ballet shoes and she agreed to accompany me to an estate sale.

The owner said that she picked them up when Antiques Roadshow was in town a few years ago.  An older lady brought them in for appraisal.  The set appraised for $1,800 and they discussed fees associated with trying to auction them off.  The couple behind her offered to buy them for $800 apiece so she sold them there.  According to the estate Another couple purchased the set today and plans to display them in their Victorian Style home in Beggs Oklahoma.  They were kind enough to let me snap some photos with my phone.  The green facade building is a butcher shop.

The back wall has a full array of poultry, meets and fish - and all of the tools you would need to cut and wrap and sell them to customers.

The window on the left hand side has a couple of boxes of fresh fish on ice.  The faux marble painted and gilding on the pilasters are pretty impressive with it's crackled, aged patina  finish.

The mercantile front is shown in this photo.  It included ice blocks out front and a horse and wagon around the corner.

Drawers and shelves lined the back wall.   The large coffee grinder sat on the floor.

I was impressed with all of the brands of box and canned goods and with the labels on the drawers.

An old fan, bottles, and steins sit on top of the cabinets, while baskets of fruits and vegetables sit on the floor.

The window on the right has baskets of fruits and vegetables and I couldn't tell what was under the glass dome.  The prices might help date the piece, unless they have been changed over the years.

The front window on the left had baked goods, breads, rolls,and buns.

There was a side window on the right which had a variety of items, a pipe, cigars, baskets of fruit and cheese under a glass dome.  

The delivery wagon has two horses that were actually covered in real animal hair.  The saleslady shared that the two boxes were part of a window display in New York City that came up for sale.  The family that bought the piece allowed their daughter to play with it on Sundays!  The detail and craftsmanship is exquisite.  My phone camera doesn't really do the pieces justice.

Recent Acquisitions

Not much work on miniatures last week but I did pick up a few items.  I came across The Doll House Book at a local used book store for $1.25 this last weekend.  It was a good read and very informative.  I love how the author had the book made in the shape of a house.  It will go great with my other books on miniatures:  click here 

  These are  the items have picked up over the last few weeks on my lunch break.

I came across the small brass and glass box at an estate sale.  I am not sure what to do with it yet, but I thought it seemed pretty neat.  The maple rocker and small tricycle were at another estate sale with a bunch of Christmas ornaments and the collection of small pottery was at a local antique mall. I like the chamber pot that says "gents" or is it a spittoon?  The blue and multi-color glaze on the pitcher second from the right, has a great arts and crafts/art deco look.  The green earthy pitcher will probably end up in my cabin.