Collecting Sewing Machines

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If you want to collect sewing machines you have to have a lot of space in your house because it would really be futile to collect these machines if you live in a cramped situation. one catalogue of singer sewing machines and its accessories alone would weigh 12 pounds.

Sewing machines are considered an industrial archeaology the old ones that is. In fact Mahatma gGndhi said that "sewing machines are one of the few useful things ever invented."

Numerous men claimed to have invented the sewing machines but in the early years it was destroyed because seamstresses are threatened of their livelihood. It wasn't until Isaac Merrit Singer an American built his first machine in boston in 1850. He was granted patents and started to mass produced his machines.

Sewing machines like in the picture above were elegant in shape, black decorated with gold. many of these machines are still in working condition even after fifty years of use.

If you want to collect sewing machines you have to look out for companies that produced fewer machines than singer or maybe imported ones. Portable machines fetch better prices in account of rarity and economy of storage space.

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collecting sewing machines
singer sewing machines"

Collecting Plates

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Collecting plates are more popular than any other pieces of a dinner set because it is easy to display. you just hang it on the wall or put it on the shelf just like a picture.

In the middle of the nineteenth century many british firms were manufacturing china ware. dinner sets that composed of a hundred pieces. a lot of thses sets were broken up thus plates of these sets were mostly collected, unlike cups or tureen dishes.

Many of these plates from broken collections were extremely fine and became more and more scarce. surely plates from these broken sets will appreciate in value.

Another popular item is the green-glaze ware.this is earthen ware in the form of leaves or embossed on the surface. i think one popular example of this is the recently reported majolica plates that were auction at estimated $75 to $250 in retail at an antique shop.Majolica plates are best known for its transparent glaze, limited color palette and most of its designs are ferns, leaves and butterflies .

Or you can decide to collect perforated plates. these have perforated pattern punched out around the rim. many were produced as souvenirs or cake dishes.

You might start browsing around thrift stores, who knows you might discover thrash or hopefully treasure.

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collecting plates
china ware
dinner sets

Railway Bric A Brac

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Collectibles and Memorabilia.

People obviously have this obsessional interest in railways. Why? because it all lies in the bric a brac that railways accumulated. there are signs, buttons, uniforms, equipment and much more. In short, railways have more collectibles.

Of course such popularity means that prices will be bouyant, but that's good if you can locate a reasonable source of supply to build up a comprehensive collection.

And as usual to make more impact invesment wise you should collect thematically. station name signs are a popular theme. Uniform badges, buttons or even complete uniforms are also collected- badges in particular because they not only provide information but can be stored easily.

Train nameplates are the cream of the railyway bric a brac, along with the ornate company crests.then there are tickets, handbills, posters, guard's whistles,lamps ,transport tokens, ticket dispensers, waiting room clock and so on. The range of collectable themes in railway bric a brac is bewildering thus its fascinating.

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Memorabilia.
Railway Bric a Brac
Collection
Collectibles

Trade Tokens

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Collectibles and Memorabilia.


Trade tokens come in different forms such as pressed tin, in round, oval and square shapes. the other are lightweight brass coloured metal.

Trade tokens are the predecessor of the trading stamp.sometimes governments have been unwilling or unable to provide the population with sufficient small change, and the shopkeepers and traders have made good the shortage with token coins. Sometimes they have been produced illegally, but most have been accepted by the community out of necessity.

And even when there were no coin shortages, it was often in practice, in the past for traders and private banks to issue such coinage. In fact, the procedure was only suppressed early in the nineteenth century.

Strangely, the practice did not survive. Some firms manufactured tokens specially for collectors and other tokens were struck by collectors for their fellow collectors. These were made in very small quantities and are consequently rather scarce.

Another fascinating aspect of trade tokens is the variety of false tokens. there are counterfeits which are imitations or forgeries of genuine trade tokens; special tokens which have an original design but which copy a commercial one in order to deceive collectors: and mules-tokens in which the obverse of one token is combined with the reverse of another, in order to make a third.

You need to know a lot or do a lot of research if you consider investing and collecting trade tokens.they have been collected for so many years and that there's plenty of opportunity for someone who really knows what he's doing.

There are plenty of variety of tokens in the first half of the 20th century but then trade tokens of the current century could prove to be a sound investment.


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Trade Tokens

Kitchen Ware

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You don't usually hang paintings in the kitchen and the dining table rarely sees works of srt other than perhaps some real repositories for a vast range of collectibles.

The sliced loaf virtually rendered the breadboard extinct. on the other hand collectors are most apt to think that the breadboards can be extremely attractive and collectable.

The main interest centers on their decoration, which is often extremely ornate and sometimes a tribute to the woodcarver's art. you can pick up breadboards with coats of arms, flowers, animals or intricate designs round the edges. Shape too, is varied-they were mostly round, but squares, rectangles and ovals are unusual.

Unlike breadboards, caddy spoons have not been overlooked by the collector's market. these are small spoons used for measuring tea out of the caddy. With their short,stubby handle and large, shallow spoon bowl, they are extremely distinctive. Early caddy spoons, particularly silver ones, are now quite expensive. electroplated spoons of the 1840-1900 should fetch in very good prices.

The kitchen is really a place for cooking, so what better theme for kitchen ware than cooking utensils? in particular you could collect those utensils which were innovative in their time, for examples, many saucepans or accessories which have been designed to prevent milk boiling over. from an aesthetic point of view well-polished copper pans provide a spectacular display, particularly if they have brass fittings.

Then there are items such as fish kettles, tea urns, coffemakers, kettles and even electric toasters. in fact, they have invariably been made with both efficiency and eye appeal in mind, a collection of toasters, from their days until today should prove both attractive and profitable.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much paraphernalia has been attached to the egg over the years? first of all, there's the common egg-cup. silver, ceramic, cooper, electroplate, wood, plastic and of course the double and even triple egg cup.

Egg boilers which had a tiny bell that rang when the eggs are ready.then there are egg-timers, egg poachers and so on.

Graters and mincers have always played an important part in the kitchen, particularly in the pre-electric blender and mixer era.

The humble cheese and general purpose grater has been made in a wide number of shapes and a collection would be quite interesting.

Mincers could fare a little better, but the trouble is that the original design was obviously so efficient that to this day thay are virtually unchanged.

In early days, people used to carry these tiny nutmeg graters in their pockets. They were used to add spice to their food and drink. They were considered indispensable by many.

Most nutmeg graters were wholly or partly made of silver and they are fetching extremely good prices even more so in the future.

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