Archaeological Expedition to Le Claire Iowa

August 2015 - heading to Peoria for our nephew Ray's wedding we decided to make a pilgrimage to Antique Archaeology in Le Claire Iowa, just on the other side of the Mississippi River.

This must be the place: the familiar Nash Rambler from the TV show.

The friendly Le Claire shop girls Morgan, Destiny and Jenna (?) (Please contact The Moderate to Severe Collector if we got the name wrong) were happy to autograph the book  we bought.

  Lots of good junk including Mike's personal Vespa which is not for sale...

The original building.

Even the stuff outside looks pretty good.

Unlike those obnoxious tourists, we bought useful stuff like a shot glass, guitar pick, lip decal and their book.

Antique Archaeology

Lunch in Le Claire
 

Big Dave and Holly's

Lunch at Big Dave and Holly's in Le Claire. Great little place. I had tacos, Merikay had a breaded pork sandwich. Good food and clean bathroom. What more could you want?

Check out Big Dave and Holly's on the web

     

Map Your Mile in Oak Brook - interesting estate sale

I call this Map Your Mile because you had to park your car across 31st street in the church parking lot and then walk to the end of the dead end street for the sale. But it was worth it. The exact type of sale pickers like.

 

Coming down the road but no house visible. Interesting

 Make the turn in to the driveway. Everyone had to walk a couple blocks since this was a narrow dead-end street with no room for extra cars to go in and out.

Greeted by a helper in the basement.

Lots of books

Massive rope collection for those rope-ologists.

 Vintage Western Holly double oven.  One of their trademarks are the round windows.

This was a Lynn Estate Sale. Pictured with helper Paula.

Vintage clocks from a school.

Some unusual bikes. The folding bikes seem very collectible.

 Very rusty old Schwinn. No tank, so no thanks.

Nice Tootsie toy truck

This bird had some heft and the price was right.

All 1960's coffee carafes seem to be different. No two alike.

A cuppla 70's neckties. These are starting to look better all the time. They just needed to age a while.

Some decent paper: Mustang magazines, Roy Rogers coloring book, wartime Hawaii guide book, early 1950's Colorado brochure, mid-1940's religious book from the Middle East, 'Deep River' Armed Services edition.

 Lynn posted this picture of a Luna Moth she saw on the side of the house. This was after we left. Finding Luna Moth is the dream of every midwest Lepidopterist...the Crown Jewel of motha. Though I don't collect butterflies and moths anymore except digitally I would have gone nuts if I had seen this.

Record Riot in Hillside Illinois!

Hadn't been to a record collector show in years. I used to hit them frequently in the early 80's. Even rented a table a few times and was shocked at how little I sold. Actually ended up buying more than I sold. Other dealers would buy my best stuff before the show even opened. I did the same thing. I was scooping up some nice Beatle sheet music cheap.

 

The shows aren't as frequent now but the attendance appears to be excellent. I like the 50's stuff but metal, alternative and prog seem to be big now.

Jack Levin, Facebook friend who specializes in radio surveys. I picked up a very clean WLS Silver Dollar Survey from 1960. These are getting tough to find. 

WLS Silver Dollar Survey form November 26, 1960.

Poetry in Motion by Johnny Tillotson is #1 and deservedly so.

 

 

 I come back to my car to catch my car in a little hanky panky. I hated to break this up but we had to go home.

 Nice Ray Charles concert program from 1962.

Chicago Record Collector Show

Tommy James and the Shondells Rarities

The first Shondells hit was distributed on a local Niles Michigan label called Snap. When it took off as a regional hit, Snap arranged with Roulette for national distribution and it went to #1 some three years after Tommy James recorded it.

A Hip Pocket record version of I Think We're Alone Now

A rare one sided prom of Crimson and Clover

Lowering the Bar?

Lowering the bar in the sense that this bar and the surrounding buildings are coming down to make way for a subdivision.

It is the end of an era in Hinsdale Illinois as Belluomini's restaurant and bar has its estate sale. An institution for 78 years, it closed earlier this year.

This is the kind of sale a picker can't miss, especially a picker who spent many hours and dollars as a customer of this fine establishment.

 Beside the bar, a 1920's farmhouse on the property was packed full.

The living and dining room were nicely packed with a good assortment of vintage stuff. Lots of waffle irons; some appeared to be unused in the box.

 Ancient washing machine waits for the special collector.

A small kitchen holds some commercial equipment.

A view of the bar. Tons of glassware were available for purchase.

The garage held the usual assortment of tools and junk.

View from the back of the house. All buildings will be coming down soon to make way for a subdivision of 4 or 5 houses. The land is very valuable and cannot be used for commercial now that it has left the original family.

Decent Stromberg Carlson TV. Asking $300, probably could get it for a lot less. These things are heavy and take up a lot of space.

Need some shot glasses?

This is a Paul A. Lux W.C. Fields decanter from 1976

These lazer tag guns are a new category for me. I don't know anything about them but at two bucks apiece the color and complexity caught my eye. As I loaded them into my car they started making electronic noises.

This Sharper Image robot was cheap also, but missing the remote control. I will have to go back and see if I can find it.

Day 3 of the sale: picked up yet another gun. This time, an Executive Marshmallow shooter. Comes in a nice carrying case: