If you require stained glass repairs, remember us here, at Green Spot.
We can arrange the glass, leading, replacements, and painted glass repairs for you, and coordinate pickup.

We also prepare wood frames, as seen in this sample…. to your specifications. Hope to hear from you soon.
Call us today, or email your info and we’ll promise to get back to you asap to bring your treasured items back to life so you can prominently display them for all to see.

Cheers.
Vince.

Dinosaur BANDIT Strikes Again…

Back in the Summer 2009 I Opened our doors to discover Someone has been Playing with our Dinosaur in front of our Shop Green Spot Antiques

There sits our Mascot Dinosaur, which we appointed to hold our OPEN sign. The kids in the neighborhood love him and always look for him on their way to school.

The Dinosaur was Dressed Up like this

Since then our Mascot Dino has been dressed with Oven mitts in various colors.

Yesterday Morning the Dinosaur BANDIT Strikes Again…

Previously I have found him dressed in

and

Today the Dinosaur BANDIT Strikes Again…

Humm, I wonder if the Bandit can start to dress the Dinosaur in Scarfs to wrap up his boney neck, it is getting cold outside and we do want the Dinosaur to last the winter.

Cheers to you Dinosaur BANDIT whoever you might be.

It has taken a while to get the first batch of windows done, but the results were well worth the time involved.

Here’s our latest restoration project, which, together with Matt McWilliams (Our stained glass expert -on hand) was completed by Green Spot Antiques in our fabulous restoration workshop.

The window frame is original, and restored to a great varnish hand rubbed finish for outdoor use in a monument… and the stained glass windows were torn apart and recomposed with all glass sections repaired, cemented, and properly leaded to provide another century of fine art to the public.

It addresses issues of sustainability, durability, securability, servicability, flexibility and frugality. All parts and parcel of what I do here at Green Spot every day. I hope you enjoy the read, and proceed to consider our Antiques & Salvage as more just “decor”. It’s a way of life, a sustainable lifestyle which you too can have a part in by frequenting our store.
Combined with our Trading Post policies… we still are the “ULTIMATE GREEN” store in Cambridge, and your neighbourhood too

Please visit
http://www.originalgreen.org/

I have a small sideline to my main antiques business.

You can get information about that from http://pianobuster.com I get old organs and pianos and tear them apart to repurpose them in whole, or in parts. So I’ve always got some very cool ornate parts for sale you can make shelves, counters, benches, or tables from. Come check me out sometime, some great surprises await you if you have some creative bones in your body.

Here’s one I was tearing apart yesterday. The frame is built in a rather unique fashion, making it ideal to use for a BOOKCASE, with less work than usual, and I am expecting an excelent result.
Here are the BEFORE pictures, and the AFTER pictures of the frame now ready to repurpose into a magnificent walnut bookcase.

Hope you enjoy the view, and check back in a month or two when this actually enters the workshop and becomes one fine piece of furniture for YOUR home. It will be highly desirable, I can already see it finished in my mind’s eye.

But I’ve never seen them put to such good use as this.

“Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time. Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed.”

“Dettmer manipulates the pages and spines to form the shape of his sculptures. He also folds, bends, rolls, and stacks multiple books to create completely original sculptural forms.”

Please view the full article here.
It’s a real eye opener.

IN this case, from an old organ, and some imagination, you get a really nice bookshelf. Note the fact that the old frontpieces are now used internally in the back of the bookcase, look closely.
And the books are laid out like piano keys as well.

Very nice job. wish I could say I did this one… but Kudos go to one of our young clients here.

Enjoy the remake… and keep in mind that I specialize in old organ and piano parts for re-use… so if you want to make that special shelf, or bookcase, or even a bench seat that has real character and age…. look no further.
Our sister site, http://pianobuster.com explains it all.. then contact me here for your needed pieces.
cheers.
Vince.

Purchased a new water softener the other day, and guess what comes in the boxed package?

Yup, a small sample bag of pellets from Windsor Salt.
Must be a whole 9 pellets here…

So… figure it’s enough to fill and test the water softener, right?

Who’da figured?
I’m going to keep this and sell it as a “salesman sample” 20 years from now… going to be worth big bucks, dontcha think?
Gotta hand it to the marketing department at the Canadian Salt Company. How in the world did they figure this would help sell their salt? Cause we can open the bag and see how PRETTY the salt is? Are we supposed to taste it?
Wish it came with instructions

For REAL Salesman Samples, furniture mostly.. see this link instead.
http://greenspotantiques.com/index.php?s=salesman+sample

Or this link to OLD samples of our salesman samples (just a sample of the tems we’ve had or still have, from the past)
http://greenspotantiques.com/samples/miniatures

Yes, about the system saver salt sample, I THINK I’m only kidding.

Cheers.
And Happy New year to all.
Vince.

Our latest call is for the extraction and restoration of well over 28 large stained glass windows from an old church.

Our crew will be meticulous in removing these windows, and then we have a huge job of restoring many of these for our client.

The windows were exposed to weathering for decades, and are hightly bowed, mortar is loose, and have many cracks and broken pieces.

Well, We know how to get them fixed.

Step one will be removing them, a big job in itself, and perhaps I’ll have time in the middle of the task to upload a few pictures of the crew at work.

But for now… feast your eyes on these lovely old stained glass marvels from an old church in Niagra Region, coming soon to a Green Spot near you Perhaps some will be available for sale soon.
(Full provenance will be supplied to buyers)

Every day I get calls from all corners of North America asking me if I can tell somebody what that widget I have on the website sold for.
My standard answer is, sorry, I handle so much stuff I can’t possibly be expected to remember all of them.
Just sign up as a Member here on the website… and you have access to all the SOLD pricing of all 1700 ++ items shown here.

Yup, suddenly realized today, that I have over 1700 items SOLD here on the website.. and that’s not even the bulk of the business. Until some months ago MOST of the store was not even online.

So feel free to use this as a great resource for your research into antiques values. Real prices, real sales… real antiques store, LIVE in your screen. Almost as good as dropping in live, isn’t it?
Well , it will be the day that every item in the store is online.

Until then,I’m pretty glad to announce that I’ve now reached OVER 1700 items showing SOLD on this website.
I consider that quite an accomplishment.
Can you hear the pat on the back I’m giving myself today?

And guess where we’ve sold all this stuff to?
have a gander at the map below.

Green Spot World Sales Map - to 2010

My DSL modem went down — my lifeblood connection to the internet.. in the midst of a huge lightning storm. It’s dead, no light, no connection, HELP no internet.

Ok, I pull out my trusty multi-meter and see that the power transformer (a 22 volt DC transformer) is dead, no output. It’s almost like a tech should ask “is it plugged in” ?? ?? This is a story of how keeping around an old item, worth less than $1 can save you $90 easily.

Ok, perhaps the DSL modem is still good…. but my internet is down so I can’t possibly look up a source for a power supply.
I call up my Teksavvy people…. and after some hesitation on their part, the answer is my modem is pooched, I need to buy a new one. As a long-term customer I ask if there is any discount to help me stay connected, rather than pay the $75 fee for a new one. Answer is NO… so I break down and ask how fast they can get me one here so I can get online again.

Using Canada Post, I MIGHT get it Friday. Arggh.
Great service from Teksavvvy, overall… but I can’t afford to stay disconnected for 3 days.

So Wednesday morning, I get up and start to call Tech stores, Futureshop, Best Buy… both closed at 9:15 am in the morning. I guess they keep my store hours.. opening at 10? I thought that was a privelege reserved to us antiquers… I’m looking for a quicker source to purchase a DSL modem so I can get up and running in a flash…. well after I setup the thingy. I even check with Sentex… and yes, they would be happy to sell me one (at least they were open at 9am…..

OH well… On a hunch, before I have to drive up a few kilometers to Sentes, I stop into a local tech shop, and ask if they sell DSL modems. Yes, they do.. Great, I purchase one…. then, since I brought in my old one, a Speedtouch…. I ask if he has adapters available as I think the modem itself is still good. I know… I should have started with that question… but the modem has a 22 volt adapter now….. and I figured these are harder to find. I have lots of 9 and 12 volt adapters here to use from previous “tech breakdowns”….

The clerk mentions that it’s strange that the modem should have a 22 volt adapter as he has several there, defunct, and they usually have 12 volt adapters. We dig around the shop a bit… but no luck, don’t find one that fits. So I’ve purchased a new modem now, and hurry home to setup.

Nagging feeling still tells me the old modem is good… so I dig in my box of old routers and power supplies, and find a 15 volt DC adapter which fits the old DSL modem. Plug it in , voila, it works like a charm. Back up and running in a flash.

So… off I go to the store again, to return the purchased modem for a refund… oops, clerk doesn’t know how to do a refund on debit card.

So… here I sit with a working modem, the old one, and a brand spanking new one in box ready for the eventuality that the old one dies. Not exactly what I had planned on, but I’m UP and RUNNING again…

Lessons learnt?
1. we have a throwaway society… it never even dawned on the teksavvy staff to consider sending a new powersupply, only option was to buy a new modem, because they have no idea how to sell a power supply and modem seperately (although they come seperately in the original box, even though they sell “open box” sets for only $50 with unknown warranties… is it so hard to take a power supply out of one of these to keep a customer satisfied and online ? ) –
2. Check all parts before substituting — my simple check of the power supply isolated the problem even if it wasn’t easy to find a replacement.
3. Keep your old stuff… as much as humanly possible, as my old power supply was worth well over $90 to me today, but I doubt I could sell it for more than $1 at a garage sale.
4. Dont assume that tech-savvy stores are too tech-savvy, actually. I mean, power supplies are as old as the hills, and knowledge of old technology is not a given in this field. Some know their stuff, but a lot are staffed by young guns with little real practical knowledge.
5. Always think GREEN and REUSE before following the high-tech guru’s suggestions as to what the next step should be.. It seems to me the tech industry is one of the most “non-Green” you can find, especially after this small experience of trying to get something to work. can you say “my kingdom for an old DC adapter” I almost did.

I could recount stories of how a 4 phone cordless system almost went the same way for me…. when one phone stopped working well… but I’ll save that for another day

The whole incident hinges on the savings realized by thinking GREEN and REUSE BEFORE replacement and NEW. For me, it’s a habit and natural approach…. and we all need more of that these days. The “old folks” used to call it common sense and THRIFT. And antiques are the Ultimate GREEN and THRIFT in terms of both $$ and the environment, aren’t they?

I guess there is a lot of money being made on the new generation’s propensity to just “throw out and replace” things these days, don’t you?

I’ve had a ton of new items arrive.
among these are, a Wardrobe, bonnet chest, night stand, oak cabinet sewing machine, Howdy Doody doll, marionettes in papier mache’, old Barbies, diecast Canadian Tire truck, old toys, and more.

Today another load, including some fabulous lighting sconces, and other lighting parts, mirrors, a great hall stand with mirror, a cedar trunk, old boxes, a nice metal baker’s rack with 4 shelves, some great old books, including medical books, brass table lamps, .

A special surprise was the antique assayer’s gold scale, from Suffolk Conn. USA, that was owned by a Mr. Judin back in the late 1800′s. A beautiful piece in brass, solid mahogany, and with all parts intact, including glass doors. Can’t wait to get this one up for sale. Feel free to contact me if you wish a sneak preview, I’m sure I can make the time for a special request

I’ve been too busy to be able to take pictures, but rest assured… all the new arrivals will be up this weekend.
Or… you could just stop by the store this weekend and have a first viewing in person, I’d love to see you then, really

Especially when they’re done well, at least nobody wants to tear them apart and rebuild from scratch. Most of this is due to the fact that the workmanship was GOOD to start with.

Unlike my recent renovator/contractor from hell,unfortunately a nice local chap.
In a small bathroom, size of 6 by 9 feet… he managed to score a 1 out of 10 in terms of quality of workmanship.
I feel sad for the materials which cross his hands… and any future customers. And he has all the nice tools and gadgets that any handyman would want in order to do the best job possible. Simply lacking the skills, I guess. (Rona and Home Depot must love these guys, biz for the tools, the materials, and for the eventual rip-out and redo in the future).

I would rather have an antique, 1920′s bathroom that seems “outdated” than the work produced as shown below.

Heaven help those who do not learn the lessons of the past, eh?

In this case, the upcoming changes, slated for October 1st bring a slight problem up for me… once again.

I have over 400 items listed for sale on eBay today… and they currently have an email contact embedded into the listing description. eBay has now changed their policy and all listings with such info will be disallowed.

I guess this means they will delete any such listings.
I have two choices.
1. go and manually modify all item descriptions now in preparation.
Why manual? well because the eBay bulk editor does NOT edit HTML in descriptions, and that’s what needs changing now. I don’t believe I wish to change, for a third time in 1 year, ALL my item descriptions manually. That’ll add up to about 8-9 hours work, if the internet is fast and there are no hangups……. Too large a cost to consider.

or
2. let the items drop off eBay as they get deleted and “overseen” by their staff or robots.

And this, on the week when I’ve just received my Top-Rated Seller Badge.

IN either case, it looks like you’ll find better selection, pricing, and service, right here on my website if you are shopping for collectibles and antiques.

I welcome the increased interest and traffic lately, and look forwards to a further increase here at http://greenspotantiques.com due to these recent eBay changes.

It is rather foolish of eBay to institute a change like this without providing sellers with a valid tool to modify their listings to comply, don’t you think?

La Di La.. another change in the eBay sales stream, and it seems to be always uphill, a real shame.

I invite you to now not only take advantage of our better selection and pricing here… but also to join up as a member and receive the additional automatic 10% savings reserved for our preferred customers. It’s FREE and EASY !

Want to see what the store looks like today? and up to date?

Try our Virtual TOUR here…. , it’s a glorious mix of 200 photos — almost as good as walking around the store in person, no?

cheers.
and happy browsing to you all.

roomattop Aug 01, 6:08pm via Web
@GreenSpotting whoa listen to I sell comics by CourageMyLove for inspiration http://t.co/E2YWsW

A great local band echoing just what we were experiencing at Kempenfest this weekend, with over 4000 comics we saw a lot of action , just like in this video….  have a peek.  couragemylove is a local band from Kitchener, Ontario,  and we wish them the best, and love this song.

Have a listen, it’s as much fun as coming to Green Spot Antiques store for a visit.

Here’s our past happy customer list

View Greenspotting the WORLD, one spot at a time in a larger map

We are a registered business in Ontario, as TwoJJs – Green Spot Antiques, serving customers worldwide since 2003, one happy customer at a time.

A client sees a lovely yellow ceramic lamp base — very retro, yet elegant.
A shine in her eyes, love at first sight.

As we look closer at it… without shade……. a gleam again…. we look to the ceiling at various tiffany style leaded glass shades. A particularly lovely white/blue and yellow shade pops into view.

Another gleam in her eye… and voila — two previously unrelated items make the perfect buy.
Another happy customer goes home with their imagination satisfied.

The lamp above was made with these items.
The shade: PLUS the base

That’s what makes Green Spot so great — We work with YOU , and your ideas, and try to give pleasure and service as best we can. Hope to see you soon, with a gleam in your eye