What has happened to honesty?????!!!!!!

This is off topic but I have to vent!!

I made a mistake, a huge mistake and I will assume full responsibility for the error. I mailed a package to the wrong address.

It was an eBay item and I had already mailed one item to this person, person #1. The last names were very similar and I screwed up and put wrong address on the second parcel. When the non-delivery to person #2 was brought to my attention I started going through my Post Office receipts and discovered the error.

Person #1 had been in receipt of the wrong package and their own package for almost a month and has not said a word even though an invoice to the correct person was enclosed in the package. Fortunately the item was insured.

Regardless, according to the Post Office this is a felony offense. They should have refused delivery of the item or at the very least returned it at my expense. The Lt. General for this person's Post Office will now go and attempt to retrieve the item from this thief and I will leave very negative feedback about them on eBay.

I am shocked and appalled that our morals have degenerated to this level. I am angry that someone has to stoop to theft in order to obtain a stinking birdcage.

I believe strongly in what you put out there comes back to you threefold, call it karma or what you will. This is why I strive to do good, be kind and treat others as I want to be treated. But.... there is another side to me.... you DO NOT WANT ME MAD AT YOU. I can be mean and spiteful if crossed or if you mess with my family. I do not like liars, cheats, people that harm children or that don't pay their child support. In my eyes these are the lowest forms of pond scum there is on this earth and I have a zero tolerance policy with these folks. There is no excuse for this type of behavior and this includes people that knowingly steal mail.

Comments anyone????

Reproduction Alert - Buyer Beware

Here are the most recent reproduction alerts that I have caught wind of.

How can you tell a reproduction antique from the real thing? Educate yourself. Visit antique shops that carry authentic antiques and collectibles and touch, smell and examine them. Read, read, read.

We are never too old to learn new things.

• Cobalt blue Shirley Temple glassware with a white graphic of Shirley Temple has been being reproduced for quite sometime. The original glassware is thin and delicate with a fairly good image of Shirley Temple. The new glassware in heavy and thick and the graphic doesn't really look like Shirley at all. The original glassware was made by the Hazel Atlas Glass Co. in the 1930's therefore, most of the original glassware will show some wear to the white image.
• 30 inch Gulf Oil Signs. The repros have smaller hanging holes than the originals and the shading is uneven.
• 19th Century Shenandoah Valley pottery was being faked by a woman in PA. The original pieces were made by John or Solomon Bell from Maryland and this loony woman was recreating these pieces with the intent of duping collector's into thinking that these were originals. Shame on you!!!
• Dazey glass jar churns.
• Any toy or game marked Schylling is probably not old.
• The above mentioned company is selling reproduction tin robots and other tin toys.
• Hen covered dishes have been reproduced for quite sometime. The new ones have a few clues that you can look for. New dishes are made in patterns not originally made by Imperial or Westmoreland. The tails don't have much detail. Most look like carnival glass. The top and bottom don't fit together tightly.
• Holt Howard Pixieware is being remade but it is marked differently. It is being made by the original designer Curt Blanchard and is in several new designs.
• Old fashioned kitchen towels with vintage looking designs are back and cute as ever.
• McCoy Pottery is being reproduced and the marks look the same only the item has some differences

Vintage and Antiquarian Books

Vintage Books Childrens Antique Books Adult Collectible Books

I adore vintage books especially antique and vintage children's books. I recently purchased a 1902 Reader that has the most amazing Victorian graphics in it. I still don't know if I am going to sell it. What I will probably do it enjoy if for awhile and then pass it on for someone else to admire.

I also enjoy the old books on etiquette and books that instruct girls and boys on moral behavior, I have several of these that will be going in the shop soon.

Homemaking books and vintage cookbooks are also favorites of mine. I have learned quite a few very practical new skills by reading these wonderful vintage books such as how to make slipcovers for chairs. You will find these in my shop.... the books not the slipcovers.

Vintage magazines, I have quite a few dating back to the late 1900's. Several of them are children's magazines. The stories, poems, graphics and ads are priceless.

These are wonderful for framing and this is what I originally purchased them for but I can't bring myself to deface them by cutting the pages out of them. So atleast once a year I pull them out and read them.

What are your thoughts on vintage and antiquarian books and magazines?

What is an antique?????

This is an age old question. A columnist's in one of the antique related magazines I subscribe to has decided that an antique is anything that is 30 years old. I frankly think that this is absurb.

My personal feelings are that an antique is atleast 100 years old. In my online shop, www.mygrannysatticantiques.com, I classify items as follows:

• Antiques - 1904 and earlier, this includes most Victorian collectibles
• Vintage Collectibles - 1905 - 1949 (this included art nouveau and art deco)
• Mid-Century Collectibles or Mid-Century Modern - 1950's (depending upon the style
• Retro Collectibles - 1960's - 1980's
• Modern Collectibles - 1990's to present

This is just my own personal system of dating and naming antiques and collectibles and I don't expect the "professionals" to agree or adopt my little system. But you will also never find me calling a 30 year-old item an antique.

What do you think?