Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs.  Please pack carefully to prevent damage on the return trip. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value. 

The following items can’t be returned or exchanged:

• Custom or personalized orders
• Perishable products
• Digital downloads
• Intimate items (for health/hygiene reasons)

Condition Guide

Condition: Unless described as “Mint” Antiques and Collectibles, by their very nature, generally show some signs of normal wear. Since “condition” can be quite a subjective matter however, the following “Condition Guide” is provided:

Mint in Box/Package (MIB): Item is as produced by the factory and never removed from its original packaging or may have been removed solely for inspection and photographing. (i.e. some minor factory flaws may be present but no signs of damage or wear)

Mint: Item is as produced by the factory as above but may not have its original packaging.

Near Mint: Item is in almost perfect condition but may have some slight evidence of handling or some very minor flaws that prevent us, in good conscience, from classifying it as “Mint”.

Excellent: Item may have a few minor signs of wear that don’t affect its overall appearance but no significant wear or damage.

Good: Item has some minor flaws or normal signs of wear but still an attractive piece.

Fair: Item has noticeable signs of wear or some damage, as described.

Poor: While we try not to offer items in such condition, sometimes a piece is so rare, collectible, quaint or interesting, that we have decided to include it in our inventory.

Age Classification

Antique: Officially an item must be at least 100 years old to be considered a true “Antique”.  So, items made up through the 1920s can be considered “Antique.”  The period encompassed several historical and stylistic periods, including:

–  “Victorian”: Generally refers to a 63-year period from 1837 – 1901 marking the reign of England’s beloved Queen Victoria.  This period birthed a variety of highly recognizable outrageously wide “hoop” skirts and highly ornate “bustle” dresses.  It also saw the emergence of the “Industrial Era” with the discovery of electricity and invention of steam power toward the end of the century.  Due to several different stylistic changes during this period, the Victorian Era is often broken up into “early”, “mid” and “late” Victorian.

– “The Gay 90s”: Refers to the 1890s in the United States.  The term was actually coined in the 1930’s during the “Great Depression” when, in a time of harsh economic conditions, sparsity and restraint, this earlier period was nostalgically regarded as a decade of carefree prosperity and comfort, associated with romantic gas lighting, early bicycles and cars, and the feminine but assertive “Gibson Girl” style (as in long black flared skirts and lacy white blouses with puffy shoulders and upper arms.)  It was also seen as a more “innocent age” before World Wars and atomic bombs.  In reality, though, the Gay Nineties was a time of tension and change, marked by economic depression, labor agitation and was (the Spanish-American War). Even then, the term “Gilded Age” was meant to indicate that the good times were only a surface veneer, with serious problems lurking just beneath.  With few or no official laws to protect the employee, working conditions were often exhausting, unsanitary and unsafe.  Even with increased mechanization, employment at the dawn of the “Industrial Age” typically required long hours (often 10 or 12 hours) of tedious labor for 7 or even 8 days per week.

“Edwardian”: Queen Victoria was succeeded by Edward VII, her eldest son roughly 1901 to 1910, but the overall style extended into the teens and is sometimes expanded to the start of the First World War.  Women’s fashions underwent a prominent turn in direction during this time period, featuring large-brimmed hats often lavishly adorned with flowers and feathers, and slimmer straight or “Tulip” shaped skirts with a slight train that trailed gracefully behind (think “Titanic”).  Edwardian ladies took on a distinctive “S-shaped” profile due to a new longer corset that imposed a particular curve to the spine and a puffy front on the bodices known as the “Pigeon-Breast” style, sometimes pared with a slight bustle.  While some women were still reluctant to give up the corset, it saw a gradual decline during the late Edwardian period.  This period also saw the popularity of the sheer lacy white cotton summer “Lingerie Dresses” so called because they resembled womens “under-garments” of the time.  Mostly worn by teens and younger ladies, this fashion was sometimes considered a bit “risque” by the older generation because of this association with “intimate apparel”.  Oh, those rebellious teenagers!  Ah, but time marches on!

Vintage: A widely accepted restriction is that the piece has to be 20 years or older to be classified as “vintage”.  So, Items from the 1920s through the 1990s are generally classified as “Vintage”.  This includes:

–  “The Roaring Twenties”: 1920 -1929,  After the turmoil and human loss of the First World War, public sentiments turned to more positive peace time issues. It was a time of incredible change and challenges.  With the industrial revolution well under way, the American people  were introduced to such novelties as radios, telephones, cars, a dizzying variety of “ready-made” clothing, and a host of electric home appliances and furnishings all offered at modest prices at a new type of retail source known as the “department store”.  Silent films evolved into “Talkies” in the late 20s and a

 

With the increased employment opportunities, industrialization triggered a great migration from rural farms and small towns into the new urban centers as people sought to be included in the growing economic prosperity.  All this security resulted in the birth of a new “consumer culture.”  The twenties also brought us the 19th Amendment, securing women’s right to vote, and the 18th Amendment,  which banned the purchase and sale alcohol.  Not all Americans were in favor of giving up their “vice” however, and unfortunately “Prohibition” lead to a new wave of crime including “Bootlegging”, “Rum-Running” and violent organized crime gangs which gave rise to such notorious crime figures as Al Capone, “Lucky” Luciano, and the rakish young couple Bonny & Clyde.

 

This decade was also the first generation to have had a distinct, and often rebelious, “Youth Culture”.  One social group, known as  “Flappers”, would defy social norms by frequenting “speak-easies” and private clubs where they could drink illegally, smoke cigarettes with impunity, and listen to a new and exciting genre of music called “Jazz!”  Fashion also defied convention by lowering waistlines and raising hemlines, which exposed more leg than their more conservative parents considered “proper”, as they stepped lively to such new exilerating dances as “The Charlseton”, the “Fox Trot”, and the “Two Step.”

 

The carefree days and financial prosperity of the “Jazz Era’ was not to last long, however, as devastating economic trouble was looming just over the horizon.

–  “Depression Era”: 1930s

–  “Mid-Century Modern”: 1950s and early 60s

–  “Boho” (short for Bohemian) or “Hippie Style”: Mid 1960s – 1970s

–  “Disco Era”: Late 1970s – 1980s

–   1990s (?): While I have seen such terms as “Grunge”, “Techno” and “Premilinial” used in online articles, I have yet to find one term used specifically for the 1990s.  We are probably still to close to this decade for a moniker to have solidified.  What I see a lot in online sales and auction venues is “Pre-2000s Vintage”.  I guess time will only tell what the decade marked by the waning of the Twentieth Century and dawn of the computer age will be nostalgically known as. 

Collectibles: Items produced more recently are typically classified here as “Collectibles”.

Retro: Refers to a contemporary reproduction that references a style from the past.