Unless you are buying direct from an estate auction where everything's
been untouched in the attic for decades and nothing has been prepared
for sale except to throw it in a box lot, you're not seeing most
garments in their original state anyway. Dirty rags don't sell well.
Dealers take anything salvageable off badly damaged garments and throw
the rest out. They not only clean and mend others, and replace buttons:
They often dye stained items. They alter waistlines to fit the modern
figure where at all possible. They cut off damaged parts to do things
like make a petticoat much shorter or turn a nightgown into a blouse. If
white dresses with empire waists are in style, they sew a petticoat onto
a crocheted yoke. I've been seeing a bunch of those on eBay lately. If
knee-length skirts gathered all around are in style, they shorten
petticoats and redistribute the gathering all around. I've been seeing a
lot of those on eBay too. They turn chemises into camisoles, which
people are more likely to wear--I see a lot of those alterations. If
heavily trimmed drawers are in style, they add trimming to plainer ones.
Dealers do whatever it takes to give a garment rack appeal to someone
who wants to wear it and who will pay the highest price obtainable. You
are often not getting a pristine historical item, and almost never one
with any provenance.
Vintage jewelry dealers (at least the higher end ones) commonly restring
pearls and beads and replace clasps. With other items it depends. But,
for example, I see Edwardian sash pins made into not only belt buckles
but statement necklaces. I adore Art Nouveau sash pins, but they are not
very wearable in modern life and it can be preferable to have a necklace
you will wear than a sash pin you will not.
Fran
Lavolta Press
www.lavoltapress.com
On 3/29/2013 7:52 PM, Sybella wrote:
Never mind. I give up. LOL!
Maggie, I love the Bake King glass baking dishes for the philbe and
sapphire design. And I do use them. I'm sure I'd like your mother's
depression glass but it's usually delicate, which makes me nervous. :)
'Bella
On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 7:31 PM, Lavolta Press <f...@lavoltapress.com>wrote:
People are entitled to preserve their own items for any aesthetic or
sentimental reason they want. I certainly have things I think are
beautiful that I would not alter for style (at least not right now), but
that is different from being a custodian of history, let alone a custodian
of someone else's stuff, and different from thinking everything old is
precious and should be inviolable.
Fran
Lavolta Press
www.lavoltapress.com
On 3/29/2013 7:22 PM, Sybella wrote:
Yeeessss!! Maggie's got it!! :)
Though, I do use my vintage gold and silver hat pins, jewelry, hair combs,
etc. they will never be altered while I own them. Their history is an
important part of why I adore them so much. I have a few vintage hats that
I have considered hand-sewing some vintage bobbles to but I'm having a
hard
time convincing myself that it's okay to alter them.
One time I hurt my finger and had to get a ring off quick because my
finger
was swelling. You should have seen me stressing about cutting it off! It
was comical! The inside is inscribed "10 29 1895-1945" because it was
someone's 50 year anniversary ring at one time. The people that were with
me were looking at me funny because I couldn't bring myself cut the center
middle. "What are you doing?!!?" they were saying, "You don't cut a ring
toward the front!" All the while, I was just hoping I would miss the
inscription. Finger, be damned! LOL!
Clothing, household textiles and whatnot, I don't have that same problem
with. I do buy linen at thrift stores just to harvest the fabric for other
projects.
'Bella
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