off to Vinalhaven

the lovely and I are headed to Vinalhaven tomorrow, and may possibly do a little antiquing along the way. We definitely will be stopping in Rockland for the Lobster Fest to see what that entails, and then will hop on the boat and head over to our little island getaway. I will bring the laptop with me, but wireless on the island is somewhat spotty. No corkscrew news, but that may change at any moment!

walker and devil

I was finishing up some last details before we head off to Vinalhaven for a couple days, and I hit a search on eBay. And, what would appear but a Walker corkscrew with metal handle and hook on the side–that is the only way can describe it, as I have yet to find out if there was a name for the piece…perhaps a metal hallboy, as there is a wood handled piece with a similar hook known as "the hallboy." Anyway, I look at the piece, and it has some surface rust, and I already have one, but there is a buy it now on the item. I snapped it up, and went on about my business. A short while later, I received an email which read, "I guess I shouldn’t have made that trip to Home Depot. Congrats on my BIN request." (I will not divulge the name of the sender). Of course, a short while later, I received another email sharing another BIN, this one for a red devil–for 20 bucks. I guess it pays to refresh your computer, and NOT go to Home Depot!

Hall of Fame Inductions

This weekend is hall of fame weekend in Cooperstown, and Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken inducted on Sunday will join the ranks of so many other greats—why Shooty Babbitt isn’t there is still a mystery to me.

And, what timing it was that yesterday an interesting flash corkscrew should arrive in the mail—a souvenir for the “National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; a fun little piece, with great graphics.

news from Elm Bank

Well, there were 150 dealers, many with lovely items, 3 with corkscrews. The first had 4 different pieces, all priced at 65$ a piece. Another had some lovely silver adorned pieces; Walker’s, Hasselbrings, and the like, but her prices were quite high (well over 300-400). The last was one dealer who had the Blackington Sterling Boot–he wanted 175. So, we left the show with no corkscrews, but we did pick up an old Moxie bottle for a friend. All in all, it was a great show; very very nice things, just nothing that would facilitate the withdrawal of a cork–without having to withdraw too much from one’s bank account.

more will & finck

So, I get this email from Mark this morning, which has an eBay link to the same will & finck corkscrew mentioned yesterday. And, indeed, the same person who bought the piece on eBay, is the one who is now featuring it on his website. We must have been out of town when the W & F piece was eBayed, as I didn’t remember seeing it. That said, seeing the ending price would explain why my offer was refused. Heck, my offer was so low in comparison, I am surprised he didn’t break out in hysterics!

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The lovely and I are heading to Wellesley this morning to the Elm Bank Antiques show, perhaps some corkscrews and vintage handbags will be found…! I will update later with pictures from the adventure!

Will & Finck Corkscrew

So, I was minding my business, doing some random search, when I found this Will & Finck corkscrew online. I waited till a decent hour, as the piece is in California, then I called. I talked to the guy for 15 minutes or so, to attempt to negotiate a price. He explained that he added it to his website (which has items for sale) but he wasn’t ready to sell it yet. I made an offer anyway, and apparently it wasn’t enough. He also mentioned he has had two other calls thus far. I am sure more have come in since we talked this morning, but I wonder how much he expects for it. An awesome piece, despite the crack in the handle. Anyone that wants to give it a shot, and offer more than I would, knock yourselves out!

Berger’s Legs Arrive

The legs arrived today in a very large box, filled with lots of packaging material, wrapped around a smaller bunch of tissue, encasing a nice red velvet box, which contained a the Berger’s Legs Corkscrew. It is in beautiful shape, marked Griffon on one side of the worm, and Griffon Cutlery, Works, Germany on the other. Definitely a great corkscrew, and I have always been a leg man!!!!

little zig zag

I was watching this little corkscrew on eBay.fr, and saw that it was slipping through largely unnoticed–or more aptly put, no one really wanted it. I did, however, as I have a growing collection of miniature corkscrews, and this one will make a nice addition.

wanted legs corkscrews

I was perusing craigslist, and ran across a person looking for ladies legs corkscrews. I gave him a call to see how much he was paying, and he was pretty shocked when I offered him a pair I had for the amount I would expect for them. He did admit that he was willing to pay more than 2 dollars, but several hundred seemed like a stretch. So, I asked him if he collected other types of corkscrew, and he said "no, only this type." Then, I asked him how many pair he had, he responded, "just the one." And, a nice pair they are. All flesh!

Vinalhaven and Syroco Pickwick Brush

The lovely and I spent the weekend in Vinalhaven, Maine. A quick trip, but it was fun reclaim our house there. We have had a year-round renter there for going on three years, and now that she is gone, we have decided to keep it as our vacation home. So, we spent the time loading in dishes, silverware, and the like, and discovered 3 vintage corkscrews that I must have picked up at some point. Nothing rare, but a Walker, Clough, and a decent waiter all will be put into use on the next trip. We did stop off at a local flea market on the way up and picked up a Pickwick Brush (pictured below). And, we happened upon an antique show not to far from Rockland, but we were there a bit early. (Shhhhhhhhhh, we managed to sneak in for a bit, and meandered around until we were found out).