Daryle Lambert - Mission Accomplished. Antique Items delivered to Auction House.

Can you imagine getting up at 3:00 in the morning and leaving on a 24 hour trip? Well that is what Cindy and I did when we left for Evansville, Indiana yesterday morning.

Cindy arrived at my house at 4:00 am, and we took off under a a clear night sky, thankful for good weather. The van was already packed with the items we were bringing to Sohn's Auction House in Evansville, Indiana including the Harvey Joiner portrait we have. We immediately became immersed in conversation knowing it was going to be a very long trip. We talked and talked, until I finally realized the gas gauge indicator was blinking. Neither one of us knew how long it had been on. We prayed for a gas station to appear, quickly, and what a sigh of relief for both of us when one finally did.

31 Club Member, Cecil, was waiting for us at Sohn's Auction House in Evansville when we arrived there at 10:00 A.M. He's the tall guy in Today's Photos. We met with Don Sohn, and checked in our pieces for the January 2nd auction. After our paperwork was done, we browsed the current auction offerings that were on display, and what a great display it was. There was so many interesting pieces here of early farm life we could've spent hours going through it all. We also saw Teco, Rookwood, Roseville and Hull Pottery. "The auction houses in Chicago don't have these kinds of things," Cindy commented. She's right, because starting Thursday, Don is going to have one terrific auction.

I saw the best coin collection that I personally have ever seen being sold, I believe, on Saturday. Glassware and China was on every table plus great antique toys, advertising signs and furniture. If you are in the Evansville area you wouldn't want to miss this auction. What a great place for finding treasures.

I can hardly wait until our pieces sell on the second of January, and Don seems to think that he is going to have an even bigger sale that day. Yes, things are very different in the country, and our city girl now sees that very clearly.

We spent a good couple hours browsing at Sohn's until our stomachs began to rumble. My daughter, Dana joined Cindy, Cecil and me for a fine lunch of the most delicious sea bass both Cindy and I ever had. Treasure hunting with Cecil was next, and we set out to look through all the little shops and malls in the area. All the shop owners knew Cecil, and unfortunately, we didn't find much. Cindy and I are fairly certain Cecil picked the places clean days before, but it was a great deal of fun looking and spending time together.

We soon heard that the snow storm moving into the Chicago area was coming earlier than anticipated, and Cindy kept saying, "Don't you think we should head home soon?" Cecil and I sped up our search and headed to the front door. When we got there, Cindy had disappeared on us. We waited and waited. Cecil finally had to go back and find her. Yes, she was combing through some box in a corner that was pretty well hidden, thinking she just might find something. I didn't think we'd ever get her to come out of that store and head back for Chicago, but we finally did.

We hit snow about halfway home, and it wasn't pretty. Slowing down to forty miles an hour the rest of the way home, we finally got back to my house at midnight, but Cindy still had another 45 minutes in the storm to get back to her house.

This morning, the snow is piled up about six or more inches. Joshua, his friend Ben and I waded though the snow over to my truck so I could drive them to school. I finally realized my wife, Vickie, never gave me back my keys when we traded vehicles for the Evansville trip. And she was already long gone. Let me tell you, after having been awake close to 24 hours with little sleep inbetween, that twenty minute trek through the snow with the boys a real lesson in having stamina. It's good to be home now, and I just might even sneak in a cat nap.

Discover how our book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles can be the tool that helps you become financially free.

Be sure to visit our web site for more information about how you can join the 31 Club Wealth Building and start your own race to your millions! Read more about The Million Dollar Challenge.

If you haven't yet had a chance to see what we've got listed in the 31 Gallery & Marketplace, click on over and take a look. You might even find a real bargain. We've got many high quality items priced reasonably. If you have a high quality piece you'd like us to find a buyer for, why not consign your item to us. No high fees when you sell with us. Contact us here.

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Daryle Lambert - Has His Eye on Van Briggle Pottery

One of my first loves is American Art Pottery. It was easy to fall in love with the beauty of Rookwood Pottery, because these fantastic pieces were made in Cincinnati Ohio, only about two hours from my Kentucky Home. The same can be said for Roseville Pottery, because it, too, was made in Ohio. But how I got interested in Van Briggle Pottery, made in Colorado, makes for a good story. This will show you that studying and researching one thing might just lead you down a very different path from the one you thought you were traveling upon.

I was quickly becoming a serious Rookwood collector a few years back, studying everything I could get my hands on that mentioned Rookwood. One day, I came across the name of Artus Van Briggle listed as an artist for the Rookwood Pottery Company. I decided I should add a couple of his pieces to my collection. So, off I went like a old bird dog trying to track that special piece I had decided was waiting for me to discover.

Having very little luck finding a Van Briggle piece over the next several months, I went back to my books. I wanted to figure out why I was having so little success in my search. I soon found that Van Briggle started with Rookwood in 1887 but stayed there for a very short time before moving on to several other companies. For reasons of poor health, he returned to Cincinnati in 1897 and worked for Rookwood another three years before starting his own company in 1901. Because he was actually only at Roodwood for a few years, his production there was limited. Now I had my answer for why it was so difficult to find pieces of his work at Rookwood.

He never fully recovered his health, so instead of beginning his new business in Ohio, he traveled to Colorado where he set up shop. Within four years, Artus Van Briggle died. After I found out more of his history, I made the decision to see if I could find some of his earlier pieces for my collection rather than his Rookwood pots. You see what I mean? You can never guess where this business is going to lead you.

I was much more successful in finding the Van Briggle pieces than I was the Rookwood. I soon realized that if I was going to collect Van Briggle, it had to be pieces that were made while he was living.

The difference in price for pieces made in the three years he actually worked at his factory and the later pieces was astonishing to me. I'll give you some examples. A piece made by the Van Briggle Pottery Co. after 1930 may bring less than one hundred dollars. But a piece made from 1910 to 1930 can fetch up to seven or eight thousand dollars. This was the period of time his wife, Ann, continued running the factory. But are you ready for this? A piece made by his factory while he was living, from 1901-1904, could bring $30,000 to $50,000! In fact, the piece shown in today's photo sold at auction in March of 2007 for $42,000 through Craftsman Auctions.

The mark on most Van Briggle is two capital A’s side by side. There is a wonderful book printed on Van Briggle called, Colorado Pottery by Carol and Jim Carlton. If you find it, be sure to add one to your library. You can check for used books through our Amazon Link right from our recommended reading list page.

If you haven't yet had a chance to see what we've got listed in the 31 Gallery & Marketplace, click on over and take a look. You might even find a real bargain. We've got an Erte Bronze, Lotton Glass, and many many more high quality items priced reasonably with no buyer's premiums. If you have a high quality piece you'd like us to find a buyer for, why not consign your piece to us. No high fees selling with us.

Be sure to visit our web site for more information about how you can join the 31 Club Wealth Building and start your own race to your millions! Read more about it here!"The Guy in the Red Tie" --- Daryle Lambert

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