Going antiquing and the thrill of the hunt

​         Debbie and I enjoy going antiquing when we are able.
        Some of our favorite spots are the Brass Armadillo in Des Moines and Antiques Iowa in Story City north of Ames.
       The Plaza Antique Mall in Dyersville is another great antique mall featuring the old town movie theater façade at the entrance to the building.
       It’s been a number of years since we last visited The Plaza Antique Mall and we hope to get back there again soon. Being Dyersville, the antique store does have a nice selection of Ertl toy tractors and implements.
In 2009, my dad gave me his old Farmall 130 tractor with a couple implements. It came with a brush hog that my mom bought him to mow the pasture.
       He wanted me to have the tractor and Debbie and I arranged to have her brother and a friend drive to Oklahoma and bring it to Iowa.
        The Farmall 130 was manufactured in the late 1950s.
       My dad bought the tractor and implements from a neighbor in Oklahoma in the early 1980s and always enjoy mowing or driving around the yard.
       It sat in my driveway for several years and we opted to sell it to a collector and restorer in Oskaloosa. He gave us a fair price and went on to refurbish the tractor.
      I was able to take some photos of the refurbished Farmall 130 tractor in the Montezuma “Let Freedom Ring” Parade and wrote a story about it that was published in Farm Collector magazine.
      The tractor had a large dent in the front grill from the time my dad passed out from the heat while out mowing and ran into the back of the family Mercury.
       It happened to be a hot Oklahoma summer day. I’m sure my dad was thinking the grass needed mowing and due to the heat, probably should have waited until later.
      His buddy, Roger, was there at the time and saw what was happening. He was running after my dad and hollering his name. We are thankful Dad didn’t fall off or get hurt.
       Later, I was able to buy an Ertl toy tractor of the Farmall 130 at an toy store in Dyersville. 
      One of my favorite antique ventures is hunting for postcards. There are two postcard dealers at the Brass Armadillo who have an expansive offering of postcards, all of which are categorized by state, subject, farming, comical, World War II and much more. There’s even a chair and table at each dealer’s booth to use to sort through the boxes of postcards.
       Debbie will go one way and I will head to the postcard section.
      We also have enjoyed visiting antique stores in Hannibal, Kirksville, Columbia, Eldon, Marshfield, Ozark, Joplin and Lebanon in Missouri. All those cities and towns have nice antique malls. We have also visited antique malls in Illinois, Oklahoma and Kansas. 
     Going antique hunting on E-bay is another of our favorite pastimes. We have purchased a number of goodies through the on-line auction service. In fact, I’ve been buying on E-bay since 2004. My first purchase was a book on Buford Pusser, the legendary sheriff of McNary County, Tenn., who carried a big stick and kept law and order.
       His life was featured in a series of three DVDs from the 1970s. I remember seeing the first movie at a theater in Tulsa my senior year in high school.
       When buying on E-bay, be careful of the shipping costs. Some dealers have some steep prices to ship the items. Other sellers have high prices on their goods. Look around for the best deal and make your bid and leave it.
      Outside of collecting postcards, I enjoy collecting cigar boxes, Auburn rubber toy tractors, pop bottle openers, Pepsi collectables and seed corn booklets.
      Back in the day, seed corn dealers used to give their customers a pocket-size seed corn booklet. Some have various seed corn company history and others are blank or have charts to track prices and yields.
One seed corn booklet that I bought at the Old Threshers Reunion in Mount Pleasant a few years ago was used to record the farmer’s family tree.  It lists in detail the entire family.
       The seed corn books are colorful and full of history.
      What Cheer is another great place to find antique goodies if you are willing to do a lot of walking, dig through the treasures and have a pocketful of change. I like doing the digging, but I don’t have a pocketful of change, so I have to move on in some cases.
      I always enjoy entering my antiques in the Iowa State Fair. The antiques are located in Pioneer Hall. I typically win a few ribbons and once won a sweepstakes ribbon for my antique Will Rogers mantel clock.
       And now our oldest nephew enters antiques with us at the ISF. I enjoy the challenge and seeing who can pick up the most ribbons.
       And in recent years, we have purchased some items through auction services on-line and in person.
      We bought some Pepsi collectables through an auction from New York state and we also attended a two-day auction at a Pepsi bottler in northeast Missouri a few years ago. The owner had passed away and the family was selling his collection. It was amazing how much the Pepsi metal signs went for. They were all out of our price range.
      Debbie recently found a Barbie auction and had a great time digging through the large collection on-line and bidding on a few items.
     It is fun doing something we enjoy together. It’s all about the thrill of the hunt and enjoying God’s blessings.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.