Contents of antique shop to be auctioned Sept. 24 in Florida Hundreds of items from the once-thriving (but now closed) Finders Keepers antiques shop, plus a massive mostly-Lionel toy train set from the 1930s will be sold Saturday, Sept. 24, in Wewahitchka, Fla.
News-Antique.com - Sep 08,2011 - (WEWAHITCHKA, Fla.) – Hundreds of items from the once-thriving (but now closed) Finders Keepers antiques shop, plus a massive mostly-Lionel toy train set (many pieces from the 1930s), will be sold Sat., Sept. 24, in an on-site auction at Lake Alice Park, located across from what was once the Finders Keepers storefront in Wewahitchka, 25 miles east of Panama City.
The sale will be conducted by The Specialists of the South, Inc., based in Panama City. “For ten years, Finders Keepers was one of the Florida panhandle’s premier destinations for people searching for quality antiques and collectibles,” said Logan Adams of The Specialists of the South, Inc. “The shop was filled with pottery, books, period furniture, glassware and more.”
Susan Burnette, who owned Finders Keepers, said, “Being from North Carolina, I would regularly travel up and down the Southeast to find the treasures that would make Finders Keepers the store it became. In a bittersweet move back to North Carolina, I must regretfully turn these treasures over to whoever will be lucky enough to win them. I wish a happy auction to all.”
The train set is a separate consignment, from James Quirk of Panama City, whose grandfather built a predominantly Lionel collection that dates back to the Depression era. About 45 lots – to include seven engines, numerous box cars, extensive track, instruction manuals, a book about Lionel trains and more – will be offered, with some of the items sold in multiple lots.
Highlights of the collection include several GM diesel trains (Santa Fe edition), older Lionel engines, Tyco H-O scale examples still in their original boxes, a Shell Gasoline tin tanker, passenger cars, railroad crossing signs, 150-200 pieces of track, transformers, control levers, cranes, steam plows and more. Some pieces have normal wear and patina, but all appear operational.
About half of Finders Keepers was dedicated to books, a passion of Ms. Burnette’s, and one volume expected to generate bidder interest is a circa-1923 copy of Little Women, the Louisa May Alcott classic, in fine condition. Books of all kinds will be offered – rare, out-of-print, fiction, non-fiction, new authors and old. A vintage clock expected to do well is an all-original circa-1830 mantel clock made by William, Orton, Prestons & Company of Farmington, Conn.
Pottery pieces will feature an early 20th century Catawba Valley one-handled vessel with beautiful glaze, an early 20th century North Carolina butter churn with original wooden lid and replacement dash, three circa-1916 Roseville pitchers, a stoneware crock and demijohn made in New York, a white pickle castor from Georgia and more.
Also offered will be an enameled, decorated lavender-to-clear Mary Gregory pitcher with scene of a young girl with gilt rim, a hand-painted Fenton water set with ruffled edge and six tumblers, an early Northwood water set (opalescent blue swirl, with four tumblers), and a Roseville Holland beer stein set (large stein and three mugs), circa 1916, in excellent condition.
Fans of Pink Willow – the transferware pattern highly desired by collectors
