[CarltonHendricks]

I took off work Thursday and Friday Nov 11th and 12th to go to two antiques shows…The Grass Valley Western Show in Grass Valley California on Thursday… and a half hour away, the 49er bottle show held in Auburn California on Friday…plus I went to the Sacramento Antiques Faire on Sunday…so that was three shows in four days….By Sunday night I didn’t want to hear anything about antiques…

Paid $80.00 for an early entry pass to get into the Old West Show on Thursday during set up….First thing I found was this c1905 die cut easel back Carter’s Union Suits sign featuring a little girl shooting a basketball…before I even got into the show…guy was set up in the parking lot selling an array of advertising…and this was setup on a stack of plastic tubs right in the center his booth…c1905 advertising signs depicting basketball are almost nonexistent…so I was all over it…had never seen an example before…When I got home I emailed Pat Vesper to see just how rare it was and Pat had never seen one…Pat has one of the best basketball collections in the world…Turns out Carter’s clothing company is still in business….they started in 1865…









So that was my first strike…I saw a few things I liked but intuition said hold off…then I spotted this fire station sign…from Station one of the El Cajon California Fire Department…built 1950 razed 1983…the seller was retired from there and had worked at the station…said he got the letters when they tore down building and had them in his collection many years…Knowing the sign’s history was invaluable…It was pretty serious money and I don’t like spending too much on non-sport pieces…however…where would I find another…so bingo pulled the trigger…wasn’t exactly sure what I’d do with it…just figured I’d sort it out later…once home I eyeballed a spot where it could go above my cupboards in my kitchen…



Next was this bulldog pillow cover…price was right $200.00…





The next day was the 49er Bottle Show…what a letdown…Before covid it was one of my favorite shows of the year…about half bottles half general antiques…and typically lots of advertising…used to be there were people selling out of their cars in the parking lot before the show opened…They hadn’t had the show I think last two for covid…so I was raring to go on this reopening one…However…Just wasn’t the same by any means…Used to be people drove right into the fairgrounds and parked wherever…no rules…total open range policy…Not this time…I got up at 4am and got there at 8:30am not wanting to miss any of the parking lot action…not to be…I go there and friend was packing up his stuff…said someone from the fairgrounds told everyone they couldn’t sell in the parking lot and to pack up…So that was stunning…what was I supposed to do for three hours till the show opened…Then a friend invited me to go to a guy’s house nearby that had stuff for sale…and I got this 1956 California motorcycle license plate….very cool it’s still on the tail mount and has a 1959 sticker so you know it’s been retired since then….

Well the bottle show was a bust…It was almost all bottles…I think the sellers that brought all the great advertising in years past were at the Old West Show…I was so disappointed afterwards I drove the half hour back to the Old West Show…and ended up getting this bronze statue of a swimmer…I think in thirty five years I’ve only seen maybe two sculptures of swimmers so it’s rare…











I picked up quite a bit more stuff online same weekend...the most important was this 1953 metal Tour de France press sign that were mounted on cars as they trailed the cyclists...The description said it was 1950...but I figured out the 50e meant "50th"...so since the TDF started in 1903 it would be from 1953, the 50th anniversary...



Like I said...by Sunday night I didn't want to see anymore antiques...