SEEN A DRUNKEN BRICKLAYER, ANYONE?

We have the same exact thing in America. Only it's called a garage sale because people do it out of their garage. Some people just for fun of treasure hunting go out on sat. and sun., have breakfast at their favorite coffee shop while going over the sunday paper where alot of garage sales are listed. Great and cheap working class American entertainment. Bargaining is also part of garage sales.

I watch Flog It! and I have seen/heard of the drunken bricklayer.
They are worth a tidy sum, you lucky so and so.You got a £1 bargain.

AAH! That's a weight off my mind.....where was I?

Right, there are two reasons that I have started this thread, namely:

1. To try and create a pool of knowledge for people from different countries, who are into collectables, but are only familiar with items from their own neck of the woods.
For instance, I watched the U.S. and Canadian "Antiques Roadshows" not so long ago, and was amazed at the prices that some of your collectables were fetching. Native American items for example.....blankets, pipes and necklaces, if they were old, were fetching crazy money.....I had no idea that there was such a demand over there! I am now keeping an eye out in our junk shops.

2. Possibly inspire people who read the responses (hopefully I'll get some) and get into searching for treasures during days of bad weather or boredom. There is nothing like finding something that a) you really think is a beautiful item and/or b) you get at a bargain price, only to find that it is worth a hell of a lot more.


If there ARE any people that are fairly knowledgeable in a certain area, or just into this collecting lark, it would be great to discover what are the "hot tips" from the U.S.A, Canada and Australia.

I'm not asking for pages and pages of detailed info. which will probably be too hard to digest......just your recommended top five "collectables" or "names" for now, and/or the future...and a link to said maker or relevant history site, ebay etc.

I will also post a link to this on the Aussie thread, as they had a massive influx of Brits arriving in the 60's, all bringing piles of their relevant family clutter with them. My sister has lived in Oz since '71, and we regularly liaise with each other re. various bits.

SHE has actually found four separate items of Clarice Cliff at Oz junk sales! Jealous or what! More of Clarice later.........

OK...here goes. My top five to look out for in amongst US, Canadian or Oz junk, highly collectable in the UK, but very rarely found at a bargain price here, are:

1. Whitefriars glass (particularly "Baxter" styles from the 50's/60's.)

http://www.whitefriars.com/ .......or ebay.

2.Millefiore Paperweights (good quality...whitefriars, Caithness, Murano etc)

Type Millefiore into ebay (UK) (glass category) and you will see what I mean.


3."Dinky" or "Corgi" toy cars, preferably in box, from about the 60's.

Again, check ebay to familiarise yourself with what they look like........big money over here.

4. "Carnival glass" ...for the future.

(ebay again)

5. "Vaseline glass"........fantastic for display under ultra violet light...it glows (miniscule uranium content?...made in or around the 1900-30's.

(ebay again)......a fair price over here already, but climbing rapidly.

Good hunting......................

Now, what are your particular "home" tips?

Mine wasn't a drunken bricklayer, I'm afraid......but I live in hope.

Yes we do amigo. We also have sales in some areas in the city streets of NY, and sometimes you find very interesting things.

I bought an electric Yoda.I have the packaging but its not in too good condition as i wasnt amoney grabbing 'antiques of the future' seller back then.
I also have a packed Po from Teletubbies.
Not as classy as yuor suggestions but do yuo thnk they will be worth anything in the future?

MG, I wouldn't dare to put myself up as an expert on your items, as I only have a passable knowledge of various glass (preferably art glass), Clarice Cliff and a mild interest in Art Deco.

What I WOULD say, is keep the packaging, any instrucytion manuals and or incidentals that may have come with it, as this will at least double the value if and when it becomes collectable.
Maybe someone else would know more about your items?

Just another little fun tip. When on ebay, or similar sites, always try a mis-spell of the particular thing you are after.


Just one example of many little successes, so far.........
About a year or so ago, I was looking around for Victorian or Edwardian paperweights, and typed in "paperwights" just to see if there was anything there.

THERE WAS!.....and I quote....."3 x Edwardium paperwights"

Now, if a searcher typed in "paperweights", this wouldn't show up on their results.
Three people had viewed it (probably the seller himself) and it was on a no reserve auction with no bids entered, and one day remaining. Postage charge was minimal.

I bid £1.50 just to secure it, put it on my "watched" list and followed it through. I was the only bidder, and got them for £1.50.

I suppose they would have been worth £20 or so, at proper prices.
One is "little Red Riding Hood" (Victorian, actually)
The other two are Edwardian scenes, one a photograph and the other a painting, set into the glass.

So, if you are searching for a particular thing, ALWAYS try various, even stupid, combinations of spelling.......YOU NEVER KNOW!


Not bad for 50p each.......

Your sister probably knows all about Carter's Lord E but just in case:

http://www.carters.com.au/

The link in the left hand panel to antiques and collectables online may be of some relevance I hope.

I've seen some stunning pieces at auctions here that came over here in the 19th Century (pieces that pre-date the 19th Century settlement of my state) with reasonably well-off settlers and which were handed down through the family and are usually in the auctions as a result of a deceased estate. The prices for some pieces are amazing low by world standards.

drunken bricklayer
I have come accross this vase which at first i thought was quite ugly lol but it has started to grow on me. Someone told me it was a drunken bricklayer. So I did a search and found some pictures on the whitefriars website and it looks exactly the same. It is brown and is about 10 inches high but it has no markings or anything. I was wonderin if you knew how much it is worth if anything, and any other info you think could help.

LAst weekI was at a yard sale in Calais and bought this great big cross section piece of cedar log. Its about 3 " thick and about 4 ft indiameter. Any suggestions what I could do with it besides making one really big coaster?

Lord E, if youre still wandering around the halls, Battersea boxes are very hot over here. If you want to buy English stuff to sell in the US,, mostly avoid furniture. Americans pay big money for stuff with its opriginal paint on and Brits and Canadians seem to all want to strip all the early paint off of things.

Farmerman

I've seen some nice furniture made with wood slabs -- coffee tables, stools, etc. Or maybe you could plank grill a tuna

Stick edge down in the garden as a sculpture.

emahoshi, welcome to a2k. I have no idea of the answer to your question, and Lord Ellpus is on vacation. But someone else might know...

I only know Arts n Crafts and Art Moderne pottery, never heard of the drunken bricklayer. There is so much pottery and porcelain that its difficult to keep up. Especially if its non American.

Farmerman, I assumed it was pottery, as well, until I did web search. It's glass.

A drunken bricklayer can be worth quite a bit - see the first post on this thread.

tHATS EVEN WORSE. tHEonly glasses I know slightly anything about are Lalique, Blenko, Pierpont, tifanny, or Russian cloisonne. Glass is a whole different area that Ive stayed awy from. Too much chochkie stuff out there.

Do you know when lord ellpus is back? I hoped he might be able to shed some light. I looked all over the vase and cant see any markings of any kind. Is there meant to be some. Oh and it's not 10 inches it's about 8 and a half. Emma X