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Carlton's
Road trip to the
PORTLAND
EXPO ANTIQUES SHOW
July
9th- 11th 2010
The
following day was Sunday and the plan was to leave for
home first thing in the morning, and same as on the way
up, stop
along the way at antiques stores. However, my "first
thing in the morning" departure  never
got off the ground. By the time I got my car packed it
was almost 1:00PM. The Yale Fence print wouldn't fit in
the trunk, so the only way to bring it with me was to strategically
maneuver the 42" by 29" piece of real estate in the back seat....which meant keeping the convertible
top up all the way home to keep it from damage or flying
out. Normally I don't like being ruled by this stuff,
but necessity took over.
About 25 miles
south of Portland on Highway 5, I saw a sign advertising ANTIQUES in the town of
Aurora....I knew nothing  about the town, but figured I'd
go see what I could see. It was about a five mile jaunt
in, but once there the antiques stores were easy to
find. Turned out to be worth the trip; there were about
eight stores...pretty good ones overall. I didn't
make any finds but again it was during the Expo. One
store owner told me Aurora had long been good
antiquing. I'll be stopping there from now on.
The
next antiquing stops were the towns of Coburg and nearby
Springfield and Eugene. Using my GPS I located the
Coburg Antique mall in Coburg. It was about 4:30PM and I
knew the antiques stores would be closing about five. I
jammed thru the Coburg mall, and got some quick advise
on what stores to hit next. The lady there graciously
gave me the names of two, The Oregon Antiques Mall in
Eugene and the Glory Days Antique Mall in Springfield.
Being helpful she asked what I collected to try to guide
me to the best one....sports antiques I said....well she
said....Glory Days in Springfield would probably be your
best bet....the Oregon Antiques Mall has more furniture.
OK I said. I called both malls and the Glory Days Mall
closed at 5:00 and the Oregon Antiques Mall closed at
6:00...perfect I thought....I'll wing'um both and
that'll be it for the day....and tore off for Glory
Days.
I
made it across Springfield, screeched
to a stop, ran in and saw the whole Glory Days Mall in
probably under 4 minutes. They were closing and I was in
a hurry so worked out for everyone...Hopped back in my car and tore off for
the Oregon Antiques Mall....last stop of the day......I
made it across Eugene and pulled  up in front of the Oregon
Antiques Mall....pretty nondescript...looked almost like a thrift store....Now
remember Oregon was in a heat wave ....it
was late Sunday afternoon about 5:30 and I'd been going hard in 100
degree heat all day.....actually, since early Friday morning and I was about
out of gas...I'm seeing nothing if I go in, but I'm
bound by the sports antiques constitution to turn over
every rock....at least a quick run thru and that's it
for the day...It's hot, I'm tired and I know I'm not
going find anything....but it's an antiques store so I
must obey, I must go in...
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| c1910
dog ear football helmet - as found in store |
Two
ladies were there yakking....Hello how are
you? Fine how ya doing....yada yada....can we help you
find anything...no just browsing....I had just enough
energy to be cordial.....so I'm cruising thru it...and
it's pretty good size....I make it thru the right side
and thru part of the back....and like the lady at Coburg
Mall said, it was mostly furniture....so I made my way
around the store and was nearing the end....just a
little more and I was done...no more antiquing for the
day...So I was coming from the front left of the store
towards the back when I came to a display case with a
lot of small collectibles.....my eyes scan the case of
knick-knacks....I look down and on the second shelf I see a c1910 leather dog ear football helmet surrounded
by some pad locks, a small decorative thermometer , an
apothecary mortar, and a soapstone carving of
walruses....my eyebrows
go up and I try to focus....I look at the price tag...I was so fried it looked like $350.00...I'm
thinking, that's a pretty good price, I should probably
get it...so I ask one of the ladies if I could see
it...she goes...oh just help yourself, you can go behind
and pull it out....
So I get it out and it looks
great. It wasn't a Spalding which is usually the most
desirable, but it had the coolest maker's mark I've ever
seen on a football helmet...The name SCHMELZER was on
the front, inside a 1 1/2 inch by 1 inch embossed mellon
football with the grip laces  at
the top. The
 leather
was a little faded but remarkably soft and pliable. It
had all the original padding and even the chinstrap; two
important aspects that effect value .....then I looked at the price tag....it was
$35.00 not $350.00!!!!...The lady goes....well
what do you think?...With raised eyebrows and a poker
face I
go..."uh...I'll take it". Rarely do I pay asking price
without haggling....So I go to pay and the lady at the
cash register says....Oh, I think we're having a 10% off
sale....and the other lady goes....Oh no Edith, or what
ever her name was...it's 15%....Now I'm really trying to
hold it in....Oh that's nice I said calmly....So
with the 15% off it came to $29.75.....and no sales tax
in Oregon!
Oh
man, I'm so jacked up...I take off and get a few blocks
away and have to stop the car and get it out to look at
it again....I'm having a one man party on some street in
Eugene Oregon!!! I don't know what to do...so I text
John Gennantonio in Cincinnati .....SCORED A DOG EAR FOR
$29.00!!!!....within minutes, SEND PHOTOS he replied...
Gennantonio told me later it was a $1,000.00 to
$1,500.00 helmet...which was even more than I
thought....I was thinking like $600.00- $800.00!!!!
Later
after looking into the Schmelzer company I learned the Schmelzer Arms Company was a very large and varied
sporting goods company out of Kansas City Kansas. It's
founder John F. Schmelzer came from Oldenburg
Germany in 1844 and settled in Hartford Connecticut.
There he was associated with the Colt's Manufacturing Company.
In 1857 he started the Schmelzer Arms Company in
Leavenworth Kansas. In the 1880's his son Charles
Schmelzer traveled the west by wagon selling firearms
and ammunition. By 1930 the company filed for bankruptcy.
George Lowe, later head of the Lowe & Campbell
sporting goods concern, was athletic buyer for Schmelzer in the
company's prime.
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c1910
DOG EAR FOOTBALL HELMET
WITH
ORIGINAL PADDING AND CHINSTRAP |
Before
leaving the store I asked the ladies if they knew any
history on it....It was a walk in...they said someone, a
young man I think she said, had brought it in. I speculate, if they had $35.00 on it, they probably bought
it from the guy for $15.00....phew!...And I can only
imagine where he got it...probably some garage sale
there in Eugene for five or ten dollars. Who knows what team the
player played on, that wore it in the day; but the
University of Oregon is there in Eugene.
Right
after that I hit another bulls eye....I was done for the
day and ready for a good meal...When I'm on a trip I'm
always on the lookout for a good indie restaurant (independently
owned)...So I'm driving down some street in Eugene and I
see a fifties retro looking  restaurant
that looked very interesting...and most important it was
busy.....so I park and go in....I'm wild for diner food
so it was the perfect place for me. The burger was a
little rare but other than that everything was excellent
especially the garlic fries and the chili! Whoever
started that place had it together.
| DICKIE
JO'S BURGERS EUGENE OR. |
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From
there I continued my trek home....back out to Hwy. 5
south...Got to Medford and called it quits... got
a cheap $50.00 room for the night. The following morning
I went
to a large antique mall in Medford called Main Antique Mall. Pretty
good mall, and big! But didn't find anything...And from
there made it back home that night. Hope
you enjoyed the trip!
LAST
STRETCH HOME
END
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