Thank you for your continued support and readership. Please insure to forward this Newsletter to your friends and neighbors. If you no longer wish to receive our emails regarding the update of this page, please send us an email to info@nova-antiques.com with the subject line "OPT OUT"
NOVA-Antiques.com does not run, manage or operate any of the flea markets, auction houses or estate sale companies advertised on this page. The NOVA-Antiques Newsletter is published for the exclusive use, enjoyment and convenience of our readers and subscribers. Any questions regarding the flea markets, auction houses and estate sale companies should be directed to the appropriate owner, promoter or manager.
In June 2005, a collaborative project was announced by former Buffalo Bills Quarterback and Hall of Famer
Jim Kelly and WNED in Buffalo, New York. The project is named “Guitars for Hope,” and was designed to celebrate music, art and
hope in Western New York. The project is based and modeled on many held around the country, and the premise was “for local artists
and national celebrities to create and transform fiberglass guitar molds into works of art.” The guitars were then displayed
around the city of Buffalo and will be auctioned off on July 14, 2006. The project benefits Kelly for Kids, the Hunter’s Hope
Foundation and WNED’s Guitar Festival.
A woman wanted to get the inside of her house painted. She called a contractor in to help her. As they went
around the house, she specified the color for each room. She said, “Now in the living room, I'd like to have neutral beige, very soft
and warm." The contractor nodded, pulled out his note pad, and wrote on it. Then he went to the window, leaned out, and yelled, "Green
side up!" The woman found this strange, but didn't say anything. Next, they went into the dining room. She said, "In the dining room,
I'd like a light white, not stark, but very bright and airy." The contractor nodded, pulled out his pad, and wrote on it.
Recent Auction of Civil War Currency
A $100 bill issued during the Civil War in 1863 recently sold for $2.1 million. It tied for the
record price for paper currency with a $1000 bill from 1891 that sold for the same price at the same sale in Dallas, Texas. There are two other $100 bills from the same era known to exist and they belong to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. The former owner of the bills, from Florida, was expected to donate the proceeds of the sale to charity.
Upcoming Antique Shows & Flea Markets
NOVA-Antiques.com provides the most comprehensive antiques show and flea market calendar
for the Mid Atlantic region.
Click here to view the most current antiques and collectibles shows calendar . . . > > >
Click here to view our flea
market directory and review pages . . . > > >
In a recent NOVA-Antiques Newsletter we talked about the difference between an antique, a vintage collectible and
a collectible. Both collectibles and vintage collectibles are things that people collect. The difference being that a
vintage collectible is something that is older. A collectible is normally anything that is produced just for collecting purposes. Franklin Mint, Hallmark and Hummel are companies that produce things that are collectibles. Memorabilia on the other hand was
usually produced for an intended purpose. According to the dictionary memorabilia is “something that is remarkable and worthy
of remembrance" or things that bring up memories of the past. Vinyl records, vintage flyers and playbills can all be considered memorabilia.
Antique Roosevelt Gun Returned
Many of us have learned in history class at one time or another of Teddy Roosevelt and his charge up
San Juan Hill, during the Spanish American War, in 1898. Roosevelt was a Colonel at the time and the leader of the 1st U.S.
Volunteer Cavalry, otherwise known as The Rough Riders. We have all seen pictures of Roosevelt on his horse and some of us have
even noticed the pistol that he carried in all the famous battle scenes.
Again he went to the window, leaned out, and yelled, "Green side up! "The woman was perplexed, but still she said nothing. In
the bedroom she said, "In here, I'd like blue. Restful, peaceful, cool blue." The contractor nodded, wrote on his pad, and once more
yelled out the window, "Green side up!" This was too much for the woman, so she asked, "Every time I tell you a color, you write it
down, but then you yell out the window 'Green Side Up.' What on earth does that mean?" The contractor shook his head and replied,
"I have Mikey laying sod across the street."
History of the Antique Singer Sewing Machines (From Antique-Antiques.com)
Isaac Merritt Singer designed and perfected the first practical
sewing machines in a small Boston, Massachusetts machine shop. It took only 11 days and $40 in borrowed capital for him to create
the sturdy lock stitch sewing machine that would revolutionize sewing across the globe. The following are some highlights in the history
of the Singer Sewing Company and Singer sewing machines and indications for why antique sewing machines are in such great demand.
From 1850 to 1851, Orson C. Phelps of Boston was manufacturing sewing machines under license from John A. Lerow. The Lerow and Blodgett
machine was not very practical. The circular movement of the shuttle took a twist out of the thread at every revolution. Isaac
Merritt Singer, after examining the sewing machine, noted "instead of the shuttle going around in a circle, I would have it move to
and fro in a straight line. In place of the needle bar pushing a curved needle horizontally, I would have a straight needle and make
it work up and down."
Some of the many celebrities that transformed the guitars into works of art include, singer Lee Ann Womack, NASCAR auto designer Sam
Bass and Meet the Press moderator, Tim Russert. However, our favorite guitar was not designed by any of those celebrities, but
by one of our own, Former Franconia Elementary (Springfield, Virginia) art teacher and artist, Carolyn McNamara. Our friend
Carolyn is currently an art teacher in Buffalo and serves on the C.E.T.A. (Continuing Education Through the Arts) Committee, a partnership
between art teachers and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and the Young Scholars Initiative. She has titled her entry “Electric
Avenue.” Congratulations to our friend Carolyn and we hope that bidding goes sky high for her guitar.
Roosevelt received the 38 caliber, Model 1895 Colt revolver from his brother in law who had served as a Navy Captain. This particular
pistol originally belonged to another Navy officer who had gone down with the USS Maine in Havana harbor. The gun became a family
heirloom and later ended up in a display case at the Old Orchard House at the Sagamore National Historical Site, the former home of
Teddy Roosevelt.
In 1990, someone jimmied the display case and stole the pistol and had been missing for about 16 years. In September of this
year, a tipster, not believed by officials to be involved in the theft, called the FBI with the tip that would bring the gun back
to its rightful place. The FBI has been mum about the tip and its investigation but the pistol was returned to Sagamore National
Historic Site and the National Park Service on June 14, 2006.
After 11 days of work and forty dollars in cost, Singer completed his invention: the world's first practical sewing machine. This
sewing machine had a straight eye-pointed needle and transverse shuttle, an overhanging arm, a table to support the cloth, a presser
foot to hold the material against the upward stroke of the needle, and a roughened feed wheel extending through a slot in the table.
Motion was communicated to the needle arm and shuttle by means of gears. In 1851 Singer patented his lock-stitch sewing machines
and began production in Boston. He joined forces with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark to form I. M. Singer & Company.
