Every year my travels take me through Ohio, just west of Columbus on I-70 is one of the largest indoor antique venues in the country. The Heart of Ohio Antiques center. is one of those mega malls that I have a love hate relationship with. On one hand it's a huge venue, in this case it takes hours to cover properly. On the other hand we all know that the dealers pick the hell out of places like this. I don't blame them, I would too. Also these malls must cater to the casual buyer, so 90%of everything is priced with the casual buyer in mind. We dear readers are not casual buyers, we are superior, we are specialists, we've done the research, we've put in the time to know good from bad, etc...etc...etc... So that said, I can't help myself, I have to stop, it's just too big. It also gives me a chance between other more specialized antiques shows to see what's going on, to get a broad feel for things in the antique world. As for the globes to be found. They fit 2 categories, overpriced, or tragic, or god forbid both! a couple pictures will show you what I mean. I will remark that in an earlier post I did see an exceptional 1959 Tripppensee tellurian at this mall, but it was embarrassingly high priced. So good things can show up, but you can't buy them...ha...
Further south in Ohio, I love to visit a similar, but very different place in Cincinnati called Ohio Valley Antique mall. This mall is Cincinnati's largest, and it seems that the dealer quality is a step above the other mall. I NEVER miss this stop when I'm in the area. I've never purchased a globe here but I never leave empty handed, in fact some of my biggest regrets came from this place and Items I'm kicking myself for not buying. This handmade barber pole was calling my name , and for very short money, but for whatever reason I passed, it's such an authentic, real piece of America, how could I have let it go.......A lesson learned. I'll share one more pic, every year around back to school they setup a " classroom" pulling antiques and vintage from around their complex, it always prominently features globes, I love it.
Generally the second week of August every year in Upstate NY just south of Syracuse is a very nice outdoor show The Madison-Bouckville antiques week is what I like to refer to as Brimfield lite. It is a setup that mimics it's larger cousin in that there are really a collection of show fields that open different days/ times. I live 3 hours away from this show so it's just a convenient thing to do. This show is 50% antiques 50% junk, and 50% other...... This is a show that will draw dealers from most of the neighboring states, so there are a lot of good things to see, I prefer visiting late week on Thursday to beat the weekend crowd. I saw a spectacular globe at this show this year and I'll share the picture. A Weber Costello 18 inch floor globe, from about 1920. It was in nice shape, and was all original, and was by far the nicest thing this particular dealer had on offer. Once in a while a dealer will obtain an item that punches above their weight class, this is one of those times. What do I mean by this, well if your a dealer who specializes in one thing or one price range and you find yourself with an item that is way out of your normal zone of operation then you are out of your element. Two things generally happen, you under price your item and it's scooped up so fast your head spins. If this happens to you once or twice as ca dealer, you will react by overpricing the next time you get a great item. This was the case in Bouckville this summer. I wanted this globe, I was excited to see it. I almost fainted at the price, you see the dealer had done some " research" and had arrived at a price that would make dealers on Madison Ave blush. However we were not on Madison ave, we were in a cow pasture in Madison NY, I can see how he might have been confused. Anyhow I whipped out my phone and discovered 2 recent auction results for similar globes. I showed them to him, but predictably faced with this truth that didn't fit his mental narrative he dug his heels in. I left my card, and hope to hear back........no not really, this guy's going to loose money before he sells to me.... oh well it was/is a great globe. The hunt continues.
In part 2 of my summer recap we will go into New England, and visit some stand alone shops, as well as pay a visit to the legendary Brimfield show......more great globes to come....
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