Tag Archives: antiques

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Downtown Littleton, antiquing and some seriously good beer.

November 13, 2022 Rivergirl 31 Comments

Every time we stay in the White Mountains of New Hampshire we try to explore a new town. This trip it was Littleton….

A charming place with a delightfully quirky downtown area.

They’ve been voted Best American Main Street numerous times and once you stroll around… it’s easy to see why.

Of course when you’re strolling with my husband that means ducking into every antique store you see.

Clearly this fellow takes his wine selection seriously.

But wait… what’s that on the floor in the back?

Weeee! Another vintage alcohol related crate for my vinyl collection. I paid more for this one than any of the others, but we haggled 20% off and there’s no sales tax in New Hampshire so I’m calling it a win.

Husband doing the dishes in our resort condo as well? Score!!!

Heading to the riverfront area we discovered a pedestrian covered bridge.

Which afforded some great views..

And that old red building with the waterwheel on the left?

Turned out to be Schilling brewery which made yours truly very happy.

They kept the feel of the old mill with a rustic interior…

And served a fabulous wood fired artisan pizza with chicken, bacon, cheese, spinach, tart apples and maple syrup. Sound weird? Yes… but it was heavenly.

As was their beer, which they take very seriously. The bartender was extremely knowledgeable and quizzed you before you chose. It wasn’t pass or fail, but it definitely resulted in him pouring you the perfect beer suited to your tastes.

My liquid ambrosia this visit? Schlaumeier – a Hefeweizen (wheat beer) with delicate notes of banana and clove. It sounds bizarre was positively grand.

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A flea market bust but a brew pub win.

September 26, 2022 Rivergirl 23 Comments

My husband heard about a large flea market in Fryeburg , Maine… and since the 90 minute drive did not deter him, over to the western part of the state we went.

There was indeed a flea market, but that’s the only good thing I can say about it. Yes, there were a few antiques scattered here and there… but mostly it was tacky new merchandise. Like this:

Clearly Barbie has reached menopause age.

It was hot as hell that day with no breeze whatsoever and that made me cranky. The only thing that made me smile?

Martian chauffeurs.

After a few fruitless hours of my husband searching for treasure and me searching for shade, we left empty handed. And since it was well past lunchtime and I’d worked up a terrible thirst.. there was only one place to go. The penultimate brew pub.

If you don’t know where it is, you’ll never find it… tucked away down a narrow wooded residential road, alongside a golf course in a quiet town near the border of New Hampshire called Lovell .

The barn is the pub, and there’s outdoor seating as well.

If you’ve never heard of Ebenezer’s? Good. That means more beer for me.

But if you live in New England, chances are you know this award winning shrine to suds. A visit there never disappoints.

To be continued….

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Antiquing in Brewer… continued.

September 23, 2022 Rivergirl 13 Comments

While my husband doesn’t like those crafty, shabby chic types of antique stores… he does love the kind I hate.

The ones with massive piles of disorganized, rusted and abandoned crap that are more suited to a trash pile.

Veritable junk yards is what they are… kitchen sink and bathroom tub included.

But he happily pokes around, just knowing there’s a buried treasure there somewhere.

Thankfully he didn’t find any here.

Though he did give that industrial bread rack a hard look.

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Antiquing in the Brewer area.

September 22, 2022 Rivergirl 22 Comments

I can always tell when my husband isn’t going to like an antique store.

You know the type…. filled with shabby chic and crafty things. He cruises through those stores quickly and rarely enjoys himself,

Until he turned a corner in this one and saw the shredded wheat crate he’d just purchased for $25…

(Yes, he collects wooden yard sticks. Don’t ask.) ….was selling for $125.

Then? He was a fan.

And chuckled at a few things.

Especially the creative way the owners of this old schoolhouse decided to deal with their roof leak.

New shingles? Not exactly.

Indoor guttering.

Odd… but you have to admit, it is interesting.

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Treasure… part 2.

September 1, 2022 Rivergirl 16 Comments

More ephemera for the collection.

WWII gas ration book, Army Air Corps ( precursor to the Air Force) birthday card and a warning from Uncle Sam.

Vintage political.

And then there was this strange little booklet about the different lodges. When you read it, start with the number on the top… it’s a countdown.

I’ll spare you the entire book…

Long live the Elks! They know how to hold their liquor.

And finally, my personal favorite…

An ad from the St. Louis chemical company famous for its miracle cures and odd skeleton graphics. Many products contained quinine and heroin but this particular flyer is for Antikamnia. The formula varied over the years but the main ingredient was acetanilide, a coal tar derivative which caused cyanosis… turning patient’s extremities blue from a lack of oxygen. Deaths were reported as early as 1891. No miracle there I’m afraid.

The flip side.

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And now, the treasure.

August 31, 2022 Rivergirl 20 Comments

You knew the husband wouldn’t come home empty handed from all those antique stores we visited, right?

It was a banner day for ephemera and since the market is pretty much dead right now, these little gems were only a few dollars for the batch.

An old Maine prohibition postcard.

It’s takes 160,000 children to keep me in gin? Thank you boys and girls. River appreciates all your hard work.

Continuing in the alcohol vein… vintage beer coasters for the man cave.

So many brews I’ve never even heard of.

1939 World’s Fair. Very collectible.

Trade cards. These used to go for $20+ each.

And because I still haven’t found any crates to house them, another old vinyl record.

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Antiquing in the Mid Coast region.

August 27, 2022 Rivergirl 17 Comments

Not finding any vintage beer or whisky crates on our shopping trip to the lakes region, we headed to the mid coast for a different batch of stores.

We hit the Wiscasset antique mall first. This is my favorite place to shop for treasure. Three floors, numerous dealers and a whole lot of everything under the sun.

They had boxes galore. Biscuits, seafood, soda pop, ammunition, fruit… everything but what I was looking for.

Classic!

The next store we tried had a vintage husband attitude corrector…

As well as a disturbingly large dwarf face.

Another box, but still not alcohol related.

This?

I have absolutely no explanation for.

😳

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Antiquing (and drinking) in the Lakes Region.

August 24, 2022 Rivergirl 34 Comments

I didn’t see much of the lakes when we visited the lakes region the other day.

But I did see every single antique store in the town of Bridgeton. Some even had their very own Name That Crap pieces.

Seriously, this thing had a question mark on the price tag. Anyone want to hazard a guess? I can’t answer because I have no clue.. so no judgement if you get it wrong.

It was approaching 1:00pm when we hit this store and my stomach was grumbling it’s protest of a lunchless noon. I believe the store was also sending me subtle hints it was time for a cocktail.

Because if a bottle hugging lobster isn’t clear enough… there’s martini Jesus. And who am I to argue with the Lord?

I’d been hearing about this place for years but never tried it. The atmosphere was fun, very horsey.

The rosemary pear Cosmo? Meh. Nothing to write home about. My Rachel sandwich was much the same, and while the husband’s French onion soup was tasty.. his fish and chips was a solid chunk of heavy batter encircling the skinniest, most anorexic haddock ever to float the sea. Seriously, the saddles hanging on the wall would have been more appetizing.

Stomachs full but not overly satisfied, we kept shopping.

At Grandma’s Front Porch we found another Name That Crap mystery item. Seems to me if you’re going to price and sell something… you should know what the heck it is first.

🤣

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Antiquing in the Lakes Region

August 23, 2022 Rivergirl 39 Comments

A beautiful Maine summer day demands a road trip to the lakes…

Long Lake, pictured here, is in the Sebago Lakes region of our state with the western mountains rising in the distance. The lakeside village of Naples is charming, and perfect for leisurely strolling with random stops to enjoy the views… unless you’re my husband who drove straight through on his way to a store in Windham called the Den of Antiquities.

This is the view he prefers.

It was a great store with a converted pre Civil War era barn. Treasure was abundant.

Like this fabulous old slot machine. Please note at $3,950 the price was not even close to fabulous.

Vintage white enamel bed pan used as a display container? Now that’s fabulous.

I’m still hunting for vintage wooden beer or whisky crates to house my vinyl collection and thought I’d hit the motherload here..

But in all those boxes, there wasn’t one alcohol related piece of wood in the bunch. Oh sure, I could have bought this …

But who wants their records stashed in a giant box of rubbers?

This crate had promise… it said it housed a dozen quarts which denotes liquid, but for the life of me I couldn’t make out the name. Google search came up empty as did all the other customers I asked. Even the owner didn’t have a clue. We shifted it every which way trying to decipher the lettering to no avail. I was struggling to understand what the hell ‘Caitus Guhs’ was when the owner had a eureka moment and figured it out.

Can you?

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The search continues.

August 12, 2022 Rivergirl 19 Comments

The husband and I hit another antique store yesterday, but failed to find any appropriate vintage beer or whisky crates for my vinyl collection. (okay, I did see a Budweiser crate but even I have standards)

I’m afraid the search is proving fruitful in only one aspect.

And that’s enlarging the number of albums I need to house in the first place. But I was happy to find 13 of the same records I lost decades ago. A few covers are in rough shape, but for $2 each I won’t complain.

And lest you think the husband came home empty handed, he found a treasure for the man cave as well.