The Forties Room

Life has been pretty busy with starting up my company and finishing my master’s thesis, but last weekend we went antiquing again and found a couple things.

First is an oil painting whose tag said it was from the 1920s. The frame isn’t in good shape, but Jenny says she can do something about that.

We also picked up an autograph book for collecting (high school?) classmates’ signatures in. It seems to have belonged to a Wally Nelson and is dated 1943. Unfortunately, it’s completely blank.

Total spent today: ~$51

Jenny and I went to visit my family for the holidays last week. We went to Champaign, Illinois and while there we went downtown to Carrie’s Antiques & Jewelry. I found some Life magazines, all in really great shape from the 1930′s to the 1980′s. They were $5 apiece so I picked up four of them, all from 1940.

I didn’t get around to really checking them out or taking them out of the sleeves until tonight and when I did, I got to see the back covers for the first time. Each one of the magazines is addressed to Mrs. F. K. Robeson Jr. This was a suprise.

The Robesons are a pretty famous family in Champaign. F. K. Robeson Sr. opened what would become Robeson Department Store in 1874; it stayed in business for 116 years, closing in 1990. Check out this article for more info. And check out this article for more about the Robesons. Incidentally, my parents live half a block away from Robeson Elementary School which is next to Robeson Park. So this is pretty cool.

Total spent today: ~$21

Jenny had a book exchange at work and brought home a 1944 version of The Book of Home Party Games. I don’t know who would get rid of this. It’s a great find, full of interesting stuff!

So my visiting parents, Jenny, and I went to Platte Valley Antique Mall and I found some issues of The Saturday Evening Post, which I had yet to come across. They’re from 1946 which is later than I would have liked, but since they were in great shape and I didn’t know when I’d find any earlier ones and they were $4 apiece, I picked them up.

I also found some bottles of Perry Cola. Now the tag on the bottles said that they were only in business for 12 years, but Googling around, I couldn’t find much more info other than they were sold during the 1940s. Since it’s going to be pretty hard to pin down any other kind of soda’s decade by the bottle, I picked up a couple for $9.

Total spent today: $17.83

So my parents came to Omaha for a visit and my grandma — who is going through her stuff while preparing to move — gave my mom a couple more of grandpa’s things: a picture of him from around 1941 (just after he finished boot camp) and a mirror that was made in 1940 and was given to all the soldiers for use in the field.

Just over a month ago I took the radio to Antique Radio of Iowa to get my 1939 Zenith radio restored and repaired. I just picked it up last night and they did a great job of polishing the chassis, replacing the burnt-out tubes, swapping out the old paper capacitors with modern ones, adding a fuse, fixing the dial, polishing the glass, and other little details. The radio plays very well now. I just need to get an AM transmitter to broadcast my old shows to it from my computer. Below are before and after pics.

Total spent today: $346.20

I’ve been looking for a mantel clock for a long time now and I finally found one on eBay which met all the preferences: a mechanical humpback style clock in good condition from the right period which worked, chimed, had a pretty face, pretty hands, had a key, had a pendulum, and had the original paper instructions intact.  From what I’ve seen on the market a clock with all of those qualities easily goes for upwards of $200.  This clock has a manufacturing date stamp of December, 1932 so it’s perfect.

Total spent today: $65.48

Jenny and I just got back from vacationing in St. Louis and on the way back we some antique stores, including the River Market Antique Mall in downtown Kansas City where I found a great hat rack for only $25. I’ve been looking for a coat rack for a long time and this one looks just like the style I’ve been researching. It has a broken hook, but I’m sure I can find a replacement.

I’ve also been looking for a fedora for a long time and they’ve been notoriously hard to date since it doesn’t seem like they changed much in the mid-20th century, the hats don’t have much information on them, and I’ve learned the condition of the hat is not a good indicator. In any case, it’s been really hard to find hats that fit, regardless of the age, style, and color. But I found one at this place and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.

Finally, I got Jenny a lady’s hat which looks to be from about the right time (the tag said 1930′s).

Total spent today: $57

Jenny and I just got back from vacationing in St. Louis and on the way back we hit some antique stores in Missouri. One was Artichoke Annie’s about 11 miles outside of Columbia. This place was not your typical “antique store” which has a lot of junk in it; this place had some good stuff.

We found a couple magazine racks and I couldn’t choose between them so I got them both. The larger one is more practical since I already have a lot of things I could put in there and it has a cool drawer. It’s definitely from the 1930′s from my research.

The other magazine rack we found was smaller, but more the style that you’d expect to see and it’s more decorative. But I’m not super-certain about the decade; I’m following my gut on this one.

Total spent today: $68

Today Jenny and I checked out a new place in Omaha that just opened up called Lucky’s Vintage and the owner, Jeanne, was very cool. There were a lot of really cool things there and it wasn’t the typical “junk store” we usually see.

I finally found a desk chair which has been a priority for awhile. This desk chair is pretty unique; it has the simple look I’ve been looking for, but also there’s a plate on the back that says “Made by Milwaukee Chair Co. especially for Omaha Printing Co. Omaha, Neb.” That’s pretty cool. And the chair is pretty heavy.

It’s really hard to find any info on the Milwaukee Chair Company, but there is a chair here which has was manufactured in 1914 with the exact same style of plate that’s on my chair; except it says “especially for Rucker-Fuller Desk Co. San Francisco, Cal.”

We also picked up a half moon table which looks very similar to this one and other tables I’ve seen from the 1940s.

Total spent today: ~$41