Loren and I went to the last Allegan Antiques Fair this past weekend. It was interesting. Lots and lots of stuff, but not much glass. Most of the non-glass was vintage or almost-vintage leavened with some true garage sale junk. Glass was pricey and often damaged.
I didn’t buy glass but checked out a Block Optic rolled rim console bowl (yum!) that was scratched on the top. If it weren’t scratched it would be home with me now.
The most tempting piece was a small etched Janice blue relish from New Martinsville. I didn’t recognize the etch at the time, but it was most likely Canterbury. Pretty!
I’m familiar with a few New Martinsville etches but it’s easier to recognize their glass by the shapes. Janice, Teardrop and their square-ish shapes are all distinctive and you’ll quickly get familiar with them.
We found a few bowls in our Franciscan Apple dinnerware. Franciscan originally made this china in California, then moved it to England and now China. There is a lot of variation in the exact size and piece shapes, as with any pattern made for over 75 years. My Mom had Apple – we used it as our good dishes on Sunday and holidays until I got married – and Dave and I inherited her dishes. She had many pieces, some damaged, and we’ve filled in the missing items.
Besides the dishes Christmas candles for the front porch somehow snuck into Loren’s car. Dave was not impressed. I hated to disillusion him as to my good taste (or lack thereof) but we now have porch candles to light this winter.
There were more vendors at the fair than we recalled from prior years and lots more attendees. The fair runs the last Sunday of the month April-September so we’ll have to go back next year!