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    Welcome to the Showcase Antique Center Blog. At Showcase Antique Center, we feature great antiques and vintage collectibles. We have thousands of items from dealers and consignors that are of interest not only to collectors, but that make unique gifts for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations. You can peruse our vast collection of antiques and vintage collectibles by going to our catalog
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Antique, Vintage and Estate Jewelry is in the Eyes of the Beholder

Jewelry as objects of adornment has always been regarded with special affection. Showcase Antique Center has a large assortment of antique, estate and vintage jewelry on line. Most antique shops don’t carry the selection and quality of antique, vintage and estate jewelry for sale that we do.We realize that when people are shopping for jewelry, some will prefer estate jewelry because of the way the stones are cut and its modern look. We have a large selection of estate jewelry for sale. Others will prefer to search for vintage jewelry on line because they want the look of jewelry from the 1940’s to 1960’s. Still others will search vintage jewelry on line but with an eye for an antique piece which has fine detail. To give you examples of each of these categories let’s look at our current on line vintage, antique and estate jewelry.

From our Jewelry General Category we find a piece of vintage jewelry on line which is:

Vintage 18k star sapphire and diamond ring.

VINTAGE 18K STAR SAPPHIRE, SAPPHIRE, AND DIAMOND RING
18K STAR SAPPHIRE, SAPPHIRE, AND DIAMOND RING WITH ONE
OVAL CABOCHON-CUT NATURAL STAR SAPPHIRE WEIGHING
7.50 CTS (ESTIMATED), EIGHT (8) DIAMONDS TOTALING 0.80 CT (ESTIMATED),
AND SIX (6) NATURAL DARK BLUE SAPPHIRES; STAMPED “18K” ON THE SHANK; SIZE 5.
Next we will show you an exquisite piece of antique jewelry in our on line store.

ANTIQUE 12K SARDONYX CAMEO EARRINGS

ANTIQUE 12K SARDONYX CAMEO EARRINGS
12K YELLOW GOLD SARDONYX CAMEO EARRINGS DEPICTING THE BUST OF A WOMAN; UNMARKED. Length=1.25
Finally a piece of estate jewelry for sale with a more modern look and brilliant cut stones.

14K ART DECO-STYLE DIAMOND RING

ESTATE 14K ART DECO-STYLE DIAMOND RING
14K YELLOW GOLD ART DECO-STYLE DIAMOND RING WITH ONE (1) MARQUISE-SHAPE DIAMOND WEIGHING 0.34 CT (ESTIMATED), TWENTY (20) ROUND DIAMONDS TOTALING 0.46 CT (ESTIMATED), AND TEN (10) BAGUETTE DIAMONDS TOTALING 0.72 CT (EST.); MARKED “AM-G, 14K;” SIZE 6 1/2.

I hope the above examples help to illustrate the differences between vintage, antique and estate jewelry. The vintage jewelry has a softer look than the modern estate jewelry but not done with the same detail as the antique jewelry.

 Estate sales are wonderful but they are not famous for always getting the best prices. Antique shops like Showcase Antique Center which are located in tourist areas and open year round, have a large database of customers and attract may retail and wholesale customers. This may be a better choice for selling your estate jewelry.

Every Saturday we offer a free verbal jewelry and antique appraisal from 10:00AM to 2:00PM. Limit 2 items per person.

 You can sell us silver coins, sell us gold coins and gold and silver. You can sell gold from your broken gold chains, dental fillings or jewelry that you are not using. You can sell us sterling silver flatware or tea sets as well as accessories such as sterling bowls, candlesticks, etc..

 Although the Showcase Antique Center web site mainly offers antiques for sale on line it also offers antique furniture, jewelry and art.  
Buying antiques on line is easy because you can shop right from the comfort of your home and your purchases are shipped right to your door. If you want to buy antiques on line from Showcase Antique Center, we will gladly give you a (3) three day return privilege if you live in the USA. Only a small portion of our jewelry is on line. If you are searching for something special, give us a call or send us an e-mail and we will get right back to you.

 Showcase Antique Center Logo

Showcase Antique Center, Inc.
Marketing for Dealers & Consignors since 1990
The Estate Sales Alternative
371 Main Street
At The Entrance To Old Sturbridge Village
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Tel: (508) 347-7190
E-Mail: sales@showcaseantiques.com
See our antiques for sale on line
Web Site: www.showcaseantiques.com

Antique Staffordshire Dogs

             ANTIQUE STAFFORDSHIRE DOGS

 Scores of potteries sprang up in England’s Staffordshire district in the early eighteenth century.  Figurines and groups were made in great numbers; dogs were favorite subjects.  Often they were made in pairs, each a mirror image of the other.  They varied in heights from 3” or 4” to the largest, measuring 16” to 18” and were produced from 1840 until about 1900.  As a rule these were never marked.


Dog Front

Pair of rust and white antique Staffordshire spaniel dogs with poodle cut; spaniels have basket of flowers in mouth, unmarked, circa 1855, 7” H. These were sold by our antique shop within one day without doing any estate sales.

Pair of white Staffordshire spaniel dogs

Pair of white antique Staffordshire spaniel dogs; spaniels have gold detail and “donut” tails; marked with a raised number 1 on base, circa 1865, 12” H.

Rust and white antique Staffordshire Spaniel dog

Rust and white antique Staffordshire Spaniel dog with basket of flowers in mouth; unmarked; circa 1860. 7.25″  H.

 

 Showcase Antique Center Logo

Showcase Antique Center, Inc.
Marketing for Dealers & Consignors since 1990
The Estate Sales Alternative
371 Main Street
At The Entrance To Old Sturbridge Village
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Tel: (508) 347-7190
E-Mail: sales@showcaseantiques.com
See our antiques for sale on line
Web Site: www.showcaseantiques.com


Antique Ice Cream Scoops

Ice Cream Scoops

All of these beautiful antique ice cream scoops are for sale. Five them are listed on our Web Site.  These antique ice cream scoops are interesting because many of them have mechanical functions and shapes which are unlike anything produced today.  The antique scoops pictured are:

1) Nickel plated brass Clipper Disher Scoop produced by Geer Mfg. Co., Troy, N.Y., Pat. Feb. 7, 1905.
2)Nickel plated brass Dover Slicer Scoop #20 produced by Dover Mfg. Co., N.H., Pat. Feb. ’24.
3) German silver and aluminum Rainbow Ice Cream Dispenser Scoop produced by Cake Cone Co., St. Louis, Mo., ca. 1920’s.
4) Nickel plated metal Kingery Ice Cream Disher #16 produced by Kingery Mfg. Co., Cincinnati, OH., Pat. 1894.
5) Nickel plated metal Kingery Ice Cream Disher produced by Kingery Mfg. Co., Cincinnati, OH., Pat. Sept. 4, 1894.
6) German silver Icypi Ice Cream Sandwich Scoop produced by Automatic Cone Co., Cambridge, Ma., ca. 1924-1930.

 

 Showcase Antique Center Logo

Showcase Antique Center, Inc.
Marketing for Dealers & Consignors since 1990
371 Main Street
At The Entrance To Old Sturbridge Village
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Tel: (508) 347-7190
E-Mail: sales@showcaseantiques.com
Web Site: www.showcaseantiques.com

Vintage Tonka Toys

 

 

Vintage Tonka Toys

RELIVE YOUR CHILDHOOD WITH THESE WONDERFUL VINTAGE 1960’s TONKA TOYS RECENTLY CONSIGNED TO US.

Top left is a vintage Tonka aqua and white pickup truck with open trailer, horse trailer w/two horses, boat trailer and boat.

Top right is a vintage Tonka light brown pickup truck with sportsman trailer and boat.

Bottom left is a vintage Tonka orange State Hi-Way Dept. hydraulic dump truck.

Bottom center is a vintage Tonka red VW Beetle.

Bottom rear is a vintage Tonka boxed No. B-213 Fire Dept. set which includes the T.F.D. #5 red aerial ladder truck, T.F.D. #5 white tanker truck and T.F.D. #5 red fire engine.

These items are new to us and they are displayed in our showroom only.  If interested, please inquire.

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 Showcase Antique Center Logo

Showcase Antique Center, Inc.
Marketing for Dealers & Consignors since 1990
371 Main Street
At The Entrance To Old Sturbridge Village
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Tel: (508) 347-7190
E-Mail: sales@showcaseantiques.com
Web Site: www.showcaseantiques.com

On Valentine’s Day

ON VALENTINE’S DAY

You have got to have HEART 

and we do with 20% off  most items

14K OPAL & DIAMOND HEART PIN/PENDANTGEORG JENSEN HEART WITH BIRD STERLING PINAntique 18K GARAVELLI DIAMOND HEART EARRINGS

What better way to say I love you now and always with all my heart. But, we have even have

more! 

ANTIQUE TIN PUDDING MOLD WITH HEARTS

ANTIQUE HEART-SHAPED MATCH HOLDERANTIQUE STERLING HEART-SHAPED TRAY W/BOY AND DOG

For those who desire other expressions of love, we have special items for you too!

18K STAR SAPPHIRE, SAPPHIRE, AND DIAMOND RINGANTIQUE CAST IRON PIRATE BOOKENDSVIENNA BRONZE KITTEN WITH RED SHOE

Come see our entire collection or shop our web site 

 

Showcase Antique Center

At The Entrance To Old Sturbridge Village, Route 20
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Tel: (508) 347-7190

20% OFF SALE on Hundres of Select Items

20% OFF SALE on Hundreds of select items*

*Holiday Sale 20% OFF on Hundreds of select items. THIS SALES DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL ITEMS ON WEB SITE PLEASE ASK PRIOR TO PURCHASE.

Tour of The Store

Showcase Antique Center is a large store with 185 showcases filled with antiques and vintage collectibles plus jewelry, art gallery and furniture. Our web site www.showcaseantiques.com only has a small percentage of our total inventory. This store will take many blog posts to complete however, we feel it will be worth while to show our on line audience what its like to shop in the physical store and will give you a chance to see our complete inventory. Please realize that our inventory changes daily and that some items yoiu see in the pictures may already be

sold.

Showcase Antique Center Store Front

Wrap Counter

Wrap Counter

 

Showcases with antiques and vintage collectibles

Aisle 2

antiques and vintage collectibles

Aisle 3

antiques and vintages collectibles

Aisle 4

Art Gallery

Art Gallery
Shows only a portion of our art gallery

Antique furniture & art

Antique furniture & art

Hundreds of Items Consigned

A Vermont antique dealer and collector consigned several hundred items to us which include all their collections and inventory just a few days ago. Among the items are Christmas, Easter, candy containers, children’s items, yellow ware, cast iron doorstops, cast iron still banks, primitives, advertising, black forest, Royal Bayreuth and much, much more. We will be updating this post as we unpack the contents over the next couple weeks. Below are a couple pictures. Most of the items shown below are not on our web site if you see something your are interested in please feel free to Email us or call (508) 347-7190 for more information.

Vintage Candy Containers

Vintage Candy Containers
Antique Cast Iron Still Banks

Antique Cast Iron Still Banks

Antique Cast Iron Still Banks

Antique Cast Iron Still Banks

Antiques

Antiques

Vintage Cast Iron Doorstops

Showcase Antique Center, Inc.
Serving our Dealers, Consignors & Customers since 1990
We Welcome you to visit our store,  shop to our web site, Email us or call us anytime.
At The Entrance To Old Sturbridge Village, Route 20
371 Main Street
Sturbridge, MA 01566

Estate Sale To Downsize Your Home?

As the baby boomer generation and their parents want to live in a smaller house, condominium, apartment or care facility, they see their belongings as just stuff and want to dispose of them in the quickest fashion without giving any consideration to value. This is very unfortunate because the proceeds from the sale could go a long way to help with their expenses. Because people are so anxious to just get it done, things get thrown away or donated like Lionel train sets, dolls, teddy bears, quilts, rugs, souvenir items, dishes, paintings, antique furniture, jewelry, pottery and lots of other things that are worth money. Most of these people are at a time in their lives where they depend upon a fixed income to meet expenses and when inflation takes hold they need any extra money to make ends meet. Antiques, collectibles, gold, silver, antique & collectible toys, stamps, antique guns, antique swords, antique medical items and more are worth money just like your car. The only difference in determining value is that you know what make, model and year your car is so it can easily be looked up in a value guide. Antiques, jewelry, paintings and collectibles are more difficult because you have to be familiar with the subject matter in order to research value.

 

Estate Sale

In order to get the most money for your stuff, it needs to be sorted. If you want certain relatives to definitely have certain items regardless of worth, they need to be marked or given to them. You also need to mark everything you want in your new home. The remaining stuff are items you want to dispose of. They need to be sorted by how you plan to dispose of them. Some options are charity, consignment store, auction, estate sale or dealer. Some items will go best at an estate sale and quite frankly belong there. Other items would be best given to charity and still others to a consignment store or auction. The key factor in deciding what goes where is knowledge of what you have and how much it’s worth.

 

Some people, in an effort to get the disposal process done quickly, call in an antique dealer. Some antique dealers are fairer than others. Remember, the antique dealer wants to pay you as little as possible so they can make a nice profit. If you don’t know anything about what you are selling, it might be more prudent to call in an appraiser first. That is why auctions or consignment stores might do better for you because they take a percentage of the selling price.

 

Auctioneers will tell you that the market is the market but each auctioneer has his own market which is determined by who comes to their auction, what they want and how much they bid. If you take the same item and put it in different auction houses, you may get different prices due to the demographics of their audience and their interest in your item. Auctions can be effective depending upon what you have and their audience. People go to an auction with the idea of getting an item cheap. It’s only the competition in the audience bids that forces the price up. If there is little or no competition, the price has little or nowhere to go before the auctioneer yells “SOLD”. Most auctioneers don’t like to place reserves on items because that limits their ability to sell the item and takes the idea of getting a bargain out of the auction.

 

SOLD! But at what price?

SOLD! But at what price?

In a rush to move on and get rid of the stuff, many people have estate sales or yard sales. If you saw a piece of Tiffany Glass at a yard sale or estate sale, would you be willing to pay top dollar for it? If you are looking to purchase a used car privately, are you looking to pay book value for it? My point is that depending upon where the item is being sold and how it is marketed may go a long way in helping the ultimate sales price.

 

If you can wait, a consignment store such as Showcase Antique Center can do a great job for you. We have free appraisal days every Saturday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and will give you a free verbal appraisal. Limit of 2 items per customer. If you are looking to consign, simply set up an appointment, tell us about your stuff and bring it in. We make phone calls to customers we know who might want what you have, we advertise monthly in the Maine Antique Digest, have our web site and blog and put some items on ebay. We sell your items at a fixed fair price and if we are offered a lesser price, we pass that information along to you with our recommendation.

 

I am not advocating that going with a consignment store is always the right answer in every circumstance, however, it should be considered along with auctions and estate sales.

 

We at Showcase Antique Center would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss your personal situation. We have helped a lot of people who are attempting to move to a smaller home who tell us that they are really trying to find a way to get more money for their stuff  Just give us a call at (508) 347-7190 or email us at sales@showcaseantiques.com and see the Showcase difference for yourself. You can also visit our web site www.seniorsdownsizing.com for more information on the process.

Valentine’s Day Sale 10% off Through February 15th

Valentine's Day Sale 10% off through February 15th

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