In my recent travels to Fiestaland, I did pick up a few goodies at the surrounding antique malls which I thought I'd share with you today.From Pottery City, I got this rather unusual hand-painted, art nouveau style bust...
She's just plaster and probably isn't very old. I suspect she was someone's craft project, someone with an eye for detail who thought that what usually took on a uniform bronze cast would benefit from a bit of color and livening up...
I liked her because of the cheery pastel colors, her luster overcoat, and the careful painting of the piece. (Also because she was cheap!) So she lives in my blue sitting room very happily next to a vintage rose painting.
And speaking of roses, I couldn't resist this great vintage print of a lady in a garden, carrying a bushel of fresh flowers...
The vibrant color caught my eye right away! It just felt like summer to me.And lastly, at that same antique store in Columbiana, Ohio, I found these Fiesta (yeah, I know: surprise) candlesticks...
They were $10 for the pair. Which made me chuckle a bit, because apparently different grades of Fiesta-- condition, whether they're discontinued or not, maybe even manufacturing runs-- can cause pieces that seem to look virtually identical (at least to my untrained eye) shoot off into the skyrocketed-crazy price range. I mean, one vendor at Pottery City had a pair of orange candlesticks in this very same style-- possibly from the 30s-- for...(Wait for it...
Are you sitting down?...
Good. Because you'll need to.)
That vendor had ones in this very same style for...
Over $900!
G-ah! Yes, yes, I know-- rarity, condition, blah, blah, blah-- but OH WOW.
And I've seen ones for $20, $30, and $80 as well. Just goes to show, it's very important to know what you want to pay for things, and stick to it. If I had $900 candlesticks, I think I'd never use them. I'd just put them in a clear glass box with a spotlight on them and charge for tours.
And is that really what Fiesta-- such usable dishware-- is about?
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