1940s woodworking

[hubops]

Dining set at a local auction - link below -

I wonder what it cost when new .. ?

... in contrast - last week someone lost their marbles :

John T.

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There's a lot of hand work in making the "stripes" of colored glass (there's an episode of "How It's Made" that covers making the multicolor "cane"). That's where the value is in those marbles. Sadly, very few want the craftsmanship of that 1940's set - it's just not big enough to be impressive these days :-(

[Michael Trew]

I buy/sell antiques, from marbles up to furniture, at our local antique mall in town. I don't normally get marbles, but jars of old marbles are usually are popular. Not nearly that expensive locally.

How sad that the gorgeous dining room set only sold for $240... Things don't sell for much locally, but I could have gotten more money than that if I put the set up for sale in the basement of the antique mall! (huge furniture room).

I would have jumped on that set in a heartbeat, for my own personal use. I have a much more simple late 60's matching hutch, buffet, table, and

6 chairs in my dining room... half of the chairs need to be repaired (where's a wood worker when you need one..? heh), but I didn't pay a dime for the set -- I just had to haul it out of a vacant rental house.

[hubops]

Old pianos are often free-for-the-taking. One local auction doesn't even accept them. Newer apartment sized pianos < ones that aren't ~ impossible to move > often sell for peanuts. John T.

[DerbyDad03]

There was an upright piano in my family for 4 generations. Grandma used to play for us when we were very young. When we were getting Dad's house ready to sell, we weren't sure what to do with the piano. None of us wanted it.

I called a friend who was a piano tuner/restorer, gave him the name of the manufacturer and asked for his advice. He said we might as well burn it. Piano's like that aren't even worth the cost of tuning up.

We put it on Craigslist for free and it was gone the next day. I wasn't there when they picked it up but my Dad said they looked a lot more like scrappers than concert pianists. ;-)

[Sonny]

My niece, 9 or 10 at the time, was an unusually gifted musician, could play almost any instrument, including the drums, learning by ear and teaching herself. She often spoke of wanting a piano. I bought an upright (in good shape) at the State surplus auction for $10.... one string/wire was missing, $12 to replace, she tuned it herself. She was floored, having no idea I had bought and delivered it, with only my brother knowing... I had phoned him from the auction before buying. He, a drummer, encouraged her talents. ~20 yrs later, she still plays it all the time.

Sonny

[J. Clarke]

Flashing on a former co-worker. She told her husband she wanted a piano. So he got her a piano for her birthday. A very nice rather expensive elecronic one. She was very disappointed. He didn't understand that she was looking for a piece of furniture rather than a musical instrument.

[krw]

Antiques sell for about nothing here. Many antique stores have gone under and there are only a few left. I think the last of the "mall" style went under a few years ago. There wasn't anything in them that was worth buying, IMO. Everything was pretty well beat up and so dry that it was a fire hazard - about its only use. My wife was into antiquing but gave it up because she didn't see anything worth buying for a long time.

[Scott Lurndal]

We have two antique malls on main street (a third closed during the pandemic). Picked up a nice walnut table the other day along with a couple of history books published in 1900 covering the first hundred years of the republic. They seem to be doing fine.

[Michael Trew]

I took piano lessons when I was young. I'd love to again, and pick up one of these pianos for the front room in my house. I have seen some beautiful pianos go up for free... most need tuned, however. Best have

4 strong men to move them.

I do have a gutted upright piano, where someone turned it into a custom-made work bench. The work bench extends out at least 2 feet beyond where they keys used to be, nicely done wood top. I'll post on here some day when I clean it up and repair it -- it started falling apart when I moved it from the basement in a home that was being torn down into my basement. I think I have all of the pieces, but it won't even stand up anymore.

[Michael Trew]

Our mall is 40,000 sq feet, an it still turns a profit for the owner. Depending on the month, average revenue before expenses is $1,500/day (plus dealers pay rent, and can work the floor in lieu of rent). People come from other parts of the country, especially down in Florida, buy stuff dirt cheap up here, fill a van, and make big bucks selling it to older folks down there. Right now, mid century stuff (and furniture) is in.

It's mostly older folks up here, and yes, lots of cheap old stuff like you describe, but you never know what interesting will come through the door. I make a few hundred a month, selling things from sales and auctions. It's more of a hobby than to make money, but it covers my pocket change for the week, fuel for my car to get to my regular job, etc.

[Michael Trew]

California was a republic in 1800? I thought it was more recent than that.

[Scott Lurndal]

The United State is also a republic ("constitutional federal republic").

California joined the constitutional federal republic in 1850.

The books:

John W. Foster _A Century of American Diplomacy_. Published 1900.

Covers 1780 through 1890. Excellent coverage by someone who trained State Department diplomats at the School of Diplomancy of the Columbian University and served as Secretary of State.

Original source material heavily footnoted, mostly historic documents from the State Department, Congress and the Executive.

Edwin Emerson Jr. _A History of the Nineteenth Century Year by Year_. 3 Volumes. Published

1900.

example: "[In the spring of 1853] An agreement was signed practically assuring the independence of the Swiss district of Neuchatel, which had revolted from Prussia in 1848. Three days later, on May 8, a protocol was signed concerning the Danish succession. This intricate problem continued to vex the souls of diplomats. Lord Palmerston, when interrogated about it, said that there were only three persons who understood the Danish sucession; One was the Queen Dowager of Denmark, one was God Almighty, and the third was a German professor, but he had gone mad."

A bit lighter, short summaries by year including pop culture (literature, theater) and politics. Some authorial bias (e.g. his religious beliefs, i.e. his belief in the inherent superiority of his brand of christianity, and of the soi disant benefits of european colonization) creeps in during parts of the narrative; yet interesting for all that.