CNN — (CNN) -- Shelves full of knickknacks, chairs piled precariously atop tables, dusty toys dangling from the ceiling and barely enough floorspace to set a foot down: It's a scene that's caused more than one shopper to flee a flea market.

"Like where your garage is just thrown up in your face? I get that." said Kristie Rackliffe, an antique dealer at the Queen of Hearts antique mall in Buford, Georgia.

But there's no need to fear the antique mall, say some thrifting pros, if you know what you're looking for and how to navigate through a seeker's paradise to get to it. Just be prepared to pay more at those fancy booths that don't require mountain climbing equipment.

"If I can't walk into the space, I'm not gonna. If I see something that I like in the back, I might say, 'Oh, that's neat,' but if I can't actually get to it, I won't bother," Rackliffe said.

An artist who has worked in Los Angeles as a set designer and interior decorator, Rackliffe is well-versed in the art of shopping an antique mall. Naturally, Rackliffe's 8x8-foot booth stands out at Queen of Hearts.

"I want to look at (an antique). I want to squat down, look at the bottom, look at the top, I want to move it, I want to see behind, I'm going to really inspect it," she said. "So I try to make that possible for other people coming into my space."

Rackliffe's booth recently featured a coffee table with an octopus painted on it, a chest of drawers emblazoned with a square-sailed ship, strategically placed decorative items and plenty of walking-around space.

It's the kind of booth, said "Mr. Goodwill Hunting" Rashon Carraway, that attracts a new kind of antique shopper: one who's not willing to dig.

Carraway, who assembled thrift-centric rooms on designer Nate Berkus' talk show, has been building his own collection of antique furniture and decor for many years. He's a seasoned pro at finding the proverbial "needle in a haystack."

The booths that are packed to the rafters are that way on purpose, he said. Antique dealers and thrift shop owners can make enough money to rent their retail space by stocking a large volume of small, cheaply priced items.

"You can definitely find more treasures, more items in those stuffed booths," he said. In a dealer's booth that looks more like an artfully merchandised store window, "you're going to pay for that presentation," Carraway said. That's because the dealer is providing not only ease of browsing but an idea of how to display the antique in your home, he said.

Boutique-like curation is a tangible new wave in the industry, said David Duncan, owner of David Duncan Antiques in New York City, close to the design district in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan.

Interior designers and decorators, who visit antique stores for inspiration as well as to accent their clients' homes with unique finds, are shopping for antiques differently than they once did.

Young designers in particular are accustomed to viewing antiques on a website or against a white tearsheet background, Duncan said. Those expectations carry over into the store environment; Duncan's store features stylized vignettes or antique lighting installations to spark a designer's imagination.

Antique dealers have also come to recognize that shoppers, once eager to roll up their sleeves for a little DIY, are getting tired of spending their sweat equity.

"I have started so many projects with the attitude of, 'Oh I could do that, I could totally do that'," Rackliffe said. "And I get about halfway through it and I'm like, 'holy crap, this is so hard, why did I think I could do this?' " she said. "Now I'm wise enough to say pay someone else to do it."

People decorate with thrift finds or antiques because they're trying to save money, Carraway said. But sometimes there's more value in saving your time and your muscles.

Jan Agnello, the owner of Storyology, an antiques refurbishing business, would like to save you the trouble.

"I'm willing to get my hands dirty for the customer," she said.

Part of her business model is to go above and beyond a cursory restoration. Gold and silver leafing, painted details, book origami and whimsical repurposing helps set her furniture and decor apart from other antique booths, she said.

"Some people don't trust their judgment, or they know what they like when they see it, but they can't reimagine it. So they look for that piece that's been painted already or restored," Agnello said. She takes care not to cover up what she thinks is the most important aspect of any antique: its age.

"In no way does it devalue an item if it's old. In fact I think it gives it added value, an ambiance and patina to it," she said. One of her favorite examples is a vintage photo of a Harvard Cricket club, from the early 1900s, hanging in her booth at Queen of Hearts.

"You can see that you have a lot in common with people and yet it was so long ago," she said. "I want to show the relevance these things have today."

Source: www.ketknbc.com 

In Gameological Unplugged, Samantha Nelson looks at trends and new developments in the vast world of tabletop games.

When I was in middle school and high school, I was obsessed with Magic: The Gathering. I spent most of the money I got from my allowance and after school job on booster packs, keeping up with the new sets and building decks to play against my friends whenever I had an opportunity, which included before school, at lunch, during class, and on weekends. When I went to college, I met people who were far more serious about the hobby than my friends from home. They’d spent more money on cards and done more research to build their decks. Given the choice between stepping up my investment and abandoning the hobby altogether, I did the latter, finding other games to spend my time and money on.

I’ve heard variations on this story countless times: tales of disillusioned collectible card game players who put away their decks years ago when the hobby became too onerous. Now game designers are trying to lure us back with free-to-play digital CCGs, three of which are currently in open beta.

The biggest name in the business right now is Blizzard Entertainment, which put Hearthstone: Heroes Of Warcraft into open beta in February. Players assume one of nine characters from the Warcraft computer games, each representing a different class found in World Of Warcraft. The game’s production value is high, with voice acting for the characters and sound effects for the minions and spells they hurl against each other. While you’re considering your move, the mage Jaina Proudmore might muse “What to do, what to do?” and if you wait too long, a fuse will cross your battlefield, warning to take your turn soon.


While the graphics are impressive, the rules are basic. Most cards just have a single ability, like Charge, which allows fighters to attack as soon as they’re played, or Taunt, which diverts the attention of enemy minions. The game is easy to pick up, but it lacks a lot of the nuance of other CCGs. The most interesting component is that Hearthstone lets the player take actions that don’t involve playing cards—you can often attack an opponents or their minions directly.

Lightmare Studios’ Infinity Wars, which launched its open beta on Steam in February, offers more complexity and shows how digital CCGs can use the medium to offer designs that would be much harder to incorporate into a cardboard-based game. Each of the cards are animated, making them seem like Magic cards that wizards in Harry Potter might play with. But the game’s biggest distinction is that all players choose what they’re going to do and then resolve their turns at the same time. 

Players move their cards between support, assault, and defense zones to protect their base and to set up attacks on the enemy, and you must try to predict how your opponent will act—you won’t get to react until the smoke has cleared. There are seven factions, each with their own play styles, that you can mix and match depending on what commanders you’re fielding. Luckily, Lightmare does a good job of teaching players how to use different strategies to their advantage with a campaign mode that compels you to try a variety of different decks. The plot is thin as can be, but paired with the cards you get as a reward for completing missions, it’s enough to justify what would otherwise be an extensive tutorial.

Stone Blade Entertainment’s SolForge, the product of a collaboration between Magic creator Richard Garfield and a team of professional Magic players, is the game most likely to appeal to serious CCG fans. Like Infinity Wars, its primary design feature would be hard to pull off with physical cards. Every card in SolForge has three levels. Once you play the lowest level card, you have a chance to get the upgraded version in a future hand. 

Often, the escalating levels of a card follow a simple progression, offering increasing bonuses or doing incrementally higher damage. But sometimes the change is more creative and weird, like a plant creature that’s tiny and easy to kill at level one, a dormant tree that can’t attack at level two, and an enormous, dangerous monster at level three. 

These digital CCGs have appeal beyond their novel rules. Players get starter decks for free and unlock additional cards as they play. It produces the same thrill I used to get from tearing into a freshly purchased booster with the added bonus that I didn’t have to fork over any cash to get it. Hearthstone even allows you to “disenchant” cards when you have too many duplicates and craft the disenchanted fodder into new cards you might want. SolForge’s developers have said they plan to add a similar system.


While I enjoyed the time I spent meticulously sorting and laying out my Magic collection so I could build a new deck, I’ll admit that doing the whole thing digitally is far more convenient. I can easily see what cards I have for a given faction or character and break them down by cost so I know that I have good options for every stage of the game. Plus there’s never a risk that I’ll bend a corner or spill a drink and ruin my cards in the process.

Yes, you can still pour plenty of money into these games, and there are players doing just that by buying packs and shelling out for admission to digital tournaments run by Hearthstone and SolForge. But you can also acquire packs and pay your entrance fee using in-game currency, which you earn by playing. 

The games also have formats that are friendly to those who don’t want to worry about having every card they need to build the perfect deck. Hearthstone and SolForge have modes that let players compete using decks they make up on the fly with a limited card pool. Infinity Wars offers a weird format where players’ decks are melded together, so your opponents rare cards could wind up in your hand. The result is that the time you’re willing to spend practicing and getting to know the cards is more valuable than an extensive collection.


Each of these games has promised that future updates will bring new features to keep players hooked. Considering that they’re CCGs, you can also expect a constant stream of new cards. The question is whether the glories of online play are enough to stave off the usual CCG fatigue. Will the digital conveniences be enough to keep me and others like me invested and coming back for the thrill of opening a pack and devising new decks? Or will we lose interest the same way we did in their cardboard counterparts—except without the shoebox of cards to remind us of our lapsed hobby?

Source: www.avclub.com

If you’re into antiques, April can’t come soon enough. A new website will be launched showcasing the antique shops Connecticut has to offer.

The Connecticut Antiques Trail is in good company.

There’s the Connecticut Wine Trail, the Connecticut Beer Trail and the Connecticut Chocolate Trail.


The beer, chocolate and wine trails have something the antiques trail doesn’t — a website that lists all the stops in the state.

The Connecticut Office of Tourism is hoping that will all change in April, when it launches a new statewide Connecticut Antiques Trail website.

“Not only does Connecticut have a rich history in antiquing, but there is also tremendous interest, knowledge and expertise in the American and international antiques industries here,” said Randy Fiveash, director of the Connecticut Office of Tourism in a press release. “We look forward to partnering with Connecticut antiques dealers, auction houses and key folks in this industry to develop a robust and informative Connecticut Antiques Trail for our visitors and residents.”

But first, the CT Office of Tourism needs help from Connecticut’s antique dealers and auction houses, to help make the site robust and comprehensive.

Qualifying antiques dealers and auction houses receive a free business listing on the website. The Antiques Trail website will be a part of Visit Connecticut, the state’s official tourism website.

If you’re an antiques dealer with questions on the website and participating in the directory, contact Jean Hebert at Jean.Hebert@ct.gov or (860) 256-2739.

The deadline for submitting information is March 10.

Source: http://brookfield.patch.com 

The Obama administration is preparing to treat virtually every antique collector, dealer and auctioneer in America as a criminal. In the name of saving elephants, the administration is effectively banning the sale of all ivory objects, even if they were acquired legally decades ago. Doing so will weaken conservation efforts and enrich those engaged in the illegal ivory trade.

Elephants are being killed in Africa. Under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, only ivory from before 1989 can be sold. Unfortunately, ivory prohibition has not stopped the slaughter.

The greatest demand for new ivory comes from Asia. Most ivory in America arrived legally, many years ago. The owners followed the rules as they invested hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars in objets d’art.

Until now the rules were simple and sensible. Ivory imported legally, that is, prior to 1989 or after 1989 with CITES certification, could be sold. Older ivory usually can be identified by coloring, stains, style, wear, quality, subject and more.

Moreover, the burden of proof fell on the government, which had to prove that you violated the law to convict you of violating the law. That’s the way America normally handles both criminal and civil offenses.

However, in mid-February the administration issued what amounted to a ban on ivory sales. In practice, virtually every collector, dealer, auctioneer and other person in America is prohibited from selling ivory items, even if acquired legally, owned for decades and worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Every flea market, junk shop, estate sale, antique store, auction showroom and antique show is at risk of raids, confiscations and prosecutions.

First, no imports are allowed, not even of antiques, which before could be brought to America with a CITES certificate.

Second, all exports are banned, except antiques (defined as over a century old) in what the Fish and Wildlife Service says are “exceptional circumstances.” At best the administration is raising the administrative and cost burdens of exporting to countries which already limit ivory imports to items with appropriate CITES documentation. Or the new rule may restrict the sale of items previously allowed, thereby hindering Americans in disposing of their legal collections.

Third, interstate transactions are prohibited, except for antiques. And, explained Fish and Wildlife: “Sellers of antiques in interstate commerce must prove through documented evidence that items qualify as bona fide antiques.” Unfortunately, such evidence rarely exists. Thus, the sale of almost all ivory across state lines is effectively banned.

Fourth, intrastate commerce, said the agency, is “prohibited unless seller can demonstrate item was lawfully imported prior to” 1990, when the international ban took effect. But how does someone “demonstrate” when, say, a gift from his or her parents was imported? Without such proof, the item is not marketable even though brought to America legally.

By any standard, the administration rule is grossly unfair to thousands of Americans. Why is the administration penalizing the law-abiding?

The administration complained about the difficulty in distinguishing ivory imported legally and illegally. No doubt, banning everything eases enforcement, but the policy fails to distinguish between guilt and innocence. Moreover, much older ivory, given its manifold unique characteristics, is easily distinguishable from new work.

The illegal ivory supply also is small compared to that of legal ivory. Rather than ban the latter in an attempt to limit the former, the government should concentrate resources on aiding African countries in protecting their elephants, better interdicting illegal imports, and identifying sellers who specialize in new ivory. In fact, targeting owners of legal ivory will perversely undermine such enforcement efforts. Making most ivory in America illegal will vastly expand the ivory black market and dramatically dilute enforcement resources.

Ivory commerce will continue, only more often underground. More objects will privately pass among dealers and collectors, never reaching public view.

The interstate ban, too, will be flouted. Owners also may hand carry items to other nations without similar restrictions. Moreover, documentation will be faked.

If the administration does not withdraw its rules, Congress should overturn this unfair attack on the law-abiding. Washington should penalize poachers and their seller allies – not collectors and dealers who have followed the rules. Especially since the administration’s new regulations will divert enforcement resources and push owners of legal ivory into the illegal trade, meaning more elephants are likely to die.

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan.

Source: www.ocregister.com 

Locals Wendy Currier and Penny Coburn got together a few years ago and decided to create an antique show. The popularity of TV’s “Antique Road Show” was proof enough that people love antiques—or at least, love to know how much antiques are worth. So the two ladies booked the Avi Grand Ballroom and held their first “Remember When” Antique Show. It was a hit. They had crowds walking the aisles winding among numerous vendor booths covering the ballroom floor. And they were smart enough to play off the “Antique Road Show” attraction and have an appraiser on hand offering free appraisals on small hand-carried antiques.

Well, the “Remember When” show continues its winter tradition with the latest installment of this free admission event on Friday-Sunday, February 21-23, when the Avi Grand Ballroom once again fills up with merchandise from antique dealers from all across the U.S. and Canada.

“The show is in it’s sixth year, and is headed to be the best show yet,” says Penny Coburn. “We have at least 14 new vendors, maybe more, bringing in all new interesting items we haven’t had before…things like high end furniture, military items, unusual clocks, silverware and more.”

Add these new vendors to those coming back and you have a full house.

“We have filled the ballroom with so many vendors this year we will have to spill out into the foyer….we may have to annex the front hotel lobby,” Coburn adds, jokingly.

According to Coburn, past shows have been standing room only, the aisles filled with people enjoying all the memorabilia from the “good ol’ days”.

“As you walk down each aisle you will hear people exclaiming ‘Oh, my grandmother had one of those,’ or ‘Grandpa used to use a meat grinder like that,” or ‘I wish I had saved that old fruit jar,’” she states.

In among the fruit jars and old meat grinders are a myriad of other items, including: vintage clothing, Coca Cola and Hollywood memorabilia, toys, metal trucks and cars, glassware, cowboy and western items, Mojave pottery, silverware, linens, crystal, china, vintage jewelry, and a lot more.

“One of the returning vendors are the Gold Buyers of Mohave” added Coburn. “Bring in your old gold jewelry and coins to sell and maybe use your profits to buy a beautiful item from one of the many dealers participating in the show.”

Coburn also points out that you don’t have to worry about the weather because this is an indoor show within the spacious Avi Grand Ballroom.

Free appraisals…

Coburn and Currier know a good thing when they see it, thus, free appraisals on small hand-carried items will be part of the show. There is a limit of three small items per visit. If you have a larger item you wish appraised you can bring photos of the item into the show for the appraiser to view.

“When we first started doing this I had no idea about the value of things,” said Coburn. “I had an old vase that my mother gave me and before she died, she told me it was worth something. I would have sold it at a yard sale for a quarter but I sold it here for $50. It’s amazing the things you learn at shows like this. Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s cool just to see the things people used in their daily lives—things that were innovative at the time.”

When…

There is no admission charge to the show which will be open Friday, February 21 (noon-5 p.m. NV); Saturday, February 22 (9 a.m. -5 p.m. NV) and Sunday, February 23 (9 a.m.-3 p.m. NV). It is advised to get there early for the best deals.

Coburn wants to make sure readers know that the times are Nevada times and not Arizona times. In years past, there were people thinking it was on Arizona time so they were waiting outside in line for an hour.

This show helps to support the River Valley Artists Guild, a non profit organization that grants awards to local high school and college art students throughout the year.

For more information on the show or spaces available, contact Wendy Currier at 928-788-1756; or Penny Coburn at 928-768-4196; or email pennycoburn@yahoo.com; or moxienblue@yahoo.com. They can also be found on Facebook at Remember When Antiques.

Source: http://laughlinentertainer.com 

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In a happy ending for the Arlington Theatre, a vintage lamp stolen two years ago has been found and returned by two local antique dealers.

“This could only happen in a town like Santa Barbara,” theater manager Karen Killingsworth said. The priceless lamp was taken at Christmastime in 2011, which was a huge shock, she said. That and the matching lamps are original to the theater, which was built in 1931.

A police report was filed, but nothing came of it.

Friends Michael Junk and Tom Houghtaling often walk their dogs through the Arlington’s main corridor and know the area well. When they heard the lamp was stolen, they took a special interest, Killingsworth said.

They regularly go to garage sales looking for antiques, and on Saturday, they spotted something special at a sale in Goleta. The seller wanted $5 for it, so Junk paid it and immediately drove to the theater to check if it really was the lamp, Killingsworth said.

No one asked how the lamp came to be at a garage sale.

She got the call just as she was starting Frozen for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

“We were so busy but I thought, ‘I think I’m going to go down and pick up my lamp,’” she laughed.

The lamp is in pretty good shape, but is missing some glass and the bottom hook so it’s being refurbished. It will be rehung as soon as possible.

“I could hardly believe it, I was just blown away by the whole thing and he brought it by,” she said. “It was just so amazing that someone would be able to do that, to take the time to make the connection.”

Commemorative train ticket sets that mark Valentine’s Day with a play on words sold out in just over an hour after going on sale at a Taiwan Railways Administration station yesterday.

The tickets, dated Feb. 14, 2014, were for a one-way trip from Dalin (大林, pronounced similarly to “darling” in English) station in Chiayi County to Gueilai (歸來, literally: “come back”) station in Pingtung County, making the “Darling, come back” tickets a popular item for couples and collectors.

The tickets went on sale at 9am at Pingtung Station, but all 3,500 sets were sold out by 10:14am.

Another 200 sets on sale at Dalin Station were snatched up in less than 20 minutes.

First in line at Dalin Station was a man surnamed Cheng (鄭) from nearby Chiayi City, who lined up at 5:08am.

Cheng said the ticket was in remembrance of his girlfriend.

The two never had the chance to spend Valentine’s Day together before she died of illness in November last year, he said.

“Hopefully this belated present can make up for my regrets,” Cheng added.

Over the years, the railway agency has launched a number of commemorative ticket packages that play on the names of specific stations.

One of the most popular was a commemorative ticket set featuring Yongkang (永康) and Baoan (保安) stations in Greater Tainan.

If read clockwise, the characters say yongbao ankang (forever in peace and health).

Source: www.taipeitimes.com 

MOUNT PROSPECT, Illinois — Launching his entrepreneurial career decades ago with ahead-of-his-time advocating for "alternative lifestyles," dreams of a Disneyesque development future for the suburbs and unabashed bold stands on a variety of social issues, Lloyd Levin remains a man obsessed with the future. But the 81-year-old former insurance executive and marketing wiz from Mount Prospect still clings to one remnant from the past.

"This is spectacular!" Levin gushes as he shows off a century-old, hand-painted Valentine's Day card that unfolds into a lush and detailed trolley car with Cupid spreading love among cherubic passengers. "It's overwhelming what they did with the colors and the silver and the gold. Look at the intricacies of it."

He notes that one of the miniature figures on the cards holds an even smaller card reading:

To My Valentine:

This little card

I send to you

To tell you

I continue true

"This is fun stuff," Levin says as he thumbs through the simple, old-world beauty of his collection of 3,000 antique Valentine's Day cards, some of which predate the Civil War.

While he considers the trolley card made in Germany around 1910 as the most beautiful, Levin loves one of his 1850s valentines for the story that comes with it. It was written by Col. Alba M. Tucker, a railroad man who served with the 100th Regiment Indiana Volunteers during the Civil War and later became mayor of Elkhart, Indiana Running railroad operations for the North, Tucker was in charge of the train that brought Confederate President Jefferson Davis to a prison in Virginia, Levin says.

Gently removing the intricate, hand-punched paper lace card from its protective plastic sleeve, Levin opens a flap to reveal a message of "Love and Affection" sent to Sarah Jane Henry, whom Tucker wed in 1857. On the following page is Tucker's handwritten love note addressed in a cursive flourish to "My First Love and My Last."

"Well, maybe not," concedes Levin, who says he once met someone claiming to be a descendant of an illegitimate offspring of the war hero.

The best of Levin's antique cards found new life in 1987 as part of a marketing plan Levin developed for the Marshall Field's store on State Street in Chicago. Having learned many of his marketing skills working in the era romanticized by the TV show "Mad Men," Levin incorporated the antique pieces of art into modern valentines selling for anywhere between $6.50 and $1,000. "It was a message of hope," Levin says, "that our love will last as long (as the antique cards)."

The story of Levin's project got picked up by a news wire service that sent it around the world under a headline of, "Would you spend $1,000 to say 'I Love You'?"

Levin got the idea from the time he recycled a vintage Christmas card by mailing it to a good friend. That friend recycled the same card the following year, and they've been sending it back and forth for 26 years.

Some items in his collection are "vinegar valentines," such as the card sent from "one of your victims" featuring a woman who traps men in her web. "That's not a love note," Levin says. "It's an 'I hate you' note."

Having traveled from Bangkok to New Zealand to Paris and beyond during his long career, Levin still doles out an antique card to "people who do normal work and don't get thanked for it," he says. "I once made a flight attendant cry just by giving her a valentine."

Each card has a story, but Levin's are better. One card somehow reminds him of the time he went to Bermuda with 127 black ministers as part of his efforts to make the insurance industry realize the financial benefits of expanding goods and services to all people. An innovator and progressive thinker, Levin did the same for women, homosexuals, cohabiting couples, drug users and "swingers," he says.

A 1977 Daily Herald front-page story about Levin ran under the headline, "Revolutionary fights economic bias." Another touts his successful push to ban smoking inside train stations a generation before that idea picked up steam nationwide. The Chicago Reader in 1975 profiled Levin in a story titled, "Would you buy a social revolution from this guy?"

"I was a mover and a shaker," Levin says, dipping into his collection of stories to talk about how he loved his times spent working with diverse characters such as Gloria Steinem, Cardinal Bernardin and Phyllis Diller.

"She was a gourmet cook," Levin says of Diller. Levin still insists his idea to sell "Phyllis Diller's Chili on a Stick" from vending machine could have been a winner.

Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Levin says he was introduced to the love of his life by congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's mother. He and Hermine have been married for 60 years and have two adult children. His wife, severely affected by the smoking her husband fought against, now needs constant care and lives in a facility where Levin visits frequently.

"I was brought up in a time when you wooed your girlfriend," says Levin, who was 21 when he took his 17-year-old future bride to see the romantic comedy, "We're Not Married," featuring a host of stars including Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mitzi Gaynor and a 25-year-old Marilyn Monroe. "We forget how to be romantic anymore."

A handwritten note carries far more meaning than a text message, he says. His card collection is a reminder of how to do that.

"I don't see anything we do today that so zeros in on 'Isn't it nice to have a love?'" says Levin. "We didn't have television. We didn't have the Internet. We had one-to-one relationships. You can't hug a computer."

SOURCE: The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald, http://bit.ly/1ok9TVu