Thanks for the add to the forum!

Hello All Antiquers!

Although I am not a dealer/seller of antiques, I figured it would be fun to learn a bit about them. I think I was born in the wrong era; I absolutely love the look of old things, and buy them whenever something catches my eye.

Anyhoot... one of the (many) reasons I ended up coming to this forum; I am curious as to what someone in the 1800's would have paid for a basket... Google couldn't deliver, and I am hoping someone here can. Another other reason, I read a post saying that this was a very friendly forum, and, well, I am a newbie! Newbies like friendly!

Cheers!
Miss Sissy

 

Hola, and welcome!
Shall I call you "Sissy", "Miss", or "Senorita Hermanita"? That's Miss Sissy in Espanol...

 

Welcome, MissSissy. I hope you'll enjoy this forum as much as I and so many others do.

I like your interest in the "original" price of items that are still making the rounds in the current stream of items available for purchase.

I'm still amazed at what my parents were paying for a loaf of bread or for the construction of their first house when I was a baby/toddler.

 

You may call me any of the above.

 

Hi,
My grandparents bought an 8 room stone house on 2000 acres in PA in 1911 for 200 hundred dollars. Their taxes were $1.50 a year. It took them 10 years to pay off the farm. My grandfather sold off 1000 acres for 5 thousand in 1955.
greg

 

Senorita Hermanita it is, and gracias!

 

Hi MissSissy (love the name ! ),what kind of basket are we talking about ? Like a nantucket basket ? or native American ? I would think most folks made their own as needed . Greg,in 1968 my folks bought a little 2/1 bath block home next door to us for $1500 ! They later sold it for $20,000. It recently sold for $74,000 !

 

Welcome, Miss Sissy!

Many of the members here are neither dealers nor sellers. Like you, these members (myself included) are simply interested in various "old things" and have accumulated enough information over the years that they have knowledge to share. I think you'll like it here!

 

Hi Johnny,
When I lived in Brooklyn, my landlady paid 35 thousand for a four story brown stone. Ten years later in the 1990s it was worth 1.3 million. When I bought my house here in Jersey I paid 260 thousand they are selling now for 230 thousand.
greg

 

Greetings and welcome, MissSissy!

 

Welcome Miss.
In 1959...my folks bought their 1st home...semi detached , for $24,000...in a Montreal suburb .

In 1900 a lovely Makah grass basket of good quality at around 5 x 7 inches would have cost 2 silver dollars.

 

Welcome, MissSissy! It is, indeed, a friendly forum .

 

In 1956, my parents, grandmother and uncle bought a two-family house in Brooklyn for about $25,000. We had the second floor and a finished attic, and my grandmother and uncle had the first floor.

My parents bought the downstairs when my uncle and grandmother moved out of state in the mid-60s, and then my mother sold the house in 1969 or so, I think for around $125,000. According to Zillow, it's now worth almost $1.4 million. I sure wish my mother had held onto it... would have given her income from renting the downstairs and the other advantage I don't think I need to say.

Oh, well....

 

As to basket prices in the 1800s, I can tell you that a Louisa Keyser (Dat-So-La-Lee) Washoe Indian basket was purchased from her by Abe Cohn for $25. He sold it for $50, and evidently thought it was a bargain, because he soon arranged to buy all she could make, for the rest of her life.

He carefully documented every one, including the sales price. (As he did for all the Indian baskets he sold.) Undoubtedly the documentation and his promotion of her work contributed to the subsequent prices her baskets went for, but she also is usually recognized as the having been the best basket maker in the world. Her baskets today are valued at over $300,000 each.

True, it's a unique case, and a unique weaver. But if you are asking about Indian baskets, that's the gold standard. And you could have bought one in the 1800s for $25 (which was a pretty hefty price, considering U.S. workers' annual income then averaged less than $200.)

 

Hi Jonny,

Honestly I know nothing about baskets; I just love them. I am amazed by the workmanship and how they have lasted so long with what I assume was with heavy use.

Periodically, I will swing into a Goodwill looking for "something" old to decorate my house with. I have found a number of baskets I fell in love with. I am not sure as to whether or not they are indeed antique, but they look the part.

One basket I bought last year at Goodwill for .99 has "$1.96 Plus Tax" written in pencil on the bottom - it's faint, but I can still read it. It made me wonder at what point in time did such a cute basket cost $1.96?

 

Here is another I picked up yesterday... I just love it!!! Tag is coming off today and finding a spot somewhere in the house...

 

That is amazing! I will have to Google these baskets; they sound beautiful.

 

At 3 bucks, I'd buy those NE ash melon / buttocks baskets all day long !!!

The bigger , older ones are harder to find for $3 though......

 

Thank you all for the friendly welcome! Hopefully someday I will be able to contribute some knowledge to the board. For now, please forgive me as I will be full of questions.

Even while I was young, I always admired the craftsmanship of old items. I never took the time to learn about them really, just admired. I guess now that I have some patina to me, I finally want to learn.

Wandering the forums, it amazes me how you all know who made what, the marks of the makers, the periods in which something was made, etc! All I can say is WOW!!

I love reading the responses of information everyone has provided me with!! Thank you so much.

Komokowa - My melon/buttocks basket is approximately 13" tall x 12" wide x 16" long, is that considered a good size basket? AND, thank you for letting me know it's Ash NE... I had no idea!! How do you even begin to figure out what type of baskets you have (other than pestering the poor souls on this board)? I have Googled what makes sense to me on some of my other baskets, but a lot of the time, I come up empty handed. How do you begin to know it isn't something recently made? I pass up many baskets that have dust, dirt, and discoloring to them because I thought wasn't truly old, but where do I go to learn whether or not, I passed up a beautiful old basket? PS - love your baskets!!!!

Again, thank you all for the friendly welcomes!

Cheers!