Antiquing in Eastern Tennessee

I always enjoy thrifting and antiquing when I’m traveling and I was delighted that my brother was game to take me around to a few locations on this visit. One of our stops was back to downtown Clinton, TN, to check out their bevy of antique stores. We went to three and gosh I spotted some fabulous items. Most I did not buy for various reasons!

Here’s one of my favorites–an amazing and unusual MCM glass ashtray in turquoise and gold with triangular shapes at Granny’s Attic. It had a few flea bites but was overall in great condition. But at $49 and being glass I had to say no. (I’ve found several similar ones listed online in different colors listed as being Murano. But they all seem to be priced or have sold in the $30s, though perhaps this turquoise color is more valuable.)

I loved these MCM brass Jewish shabbat candlesticks, but there were quite a few currently listed online and prices varied widely. At $35 for the pair, I didn’t see a profit for me.

Well, I’m a sucker for this sort of carved shell thing which could appeal to both folks who like religious items and quirky folk art things, but it is not “unusual” as the tag suggests. Ten dollars is a fair price, but really that’s all it’s worth unless you can prove it’s antique and this appears to have no great age.

After finding dozens of things that I had to reject for one or more reasons, I did buy a beautiful good-sized antique crocheted spread at Granny’s Attic. [Correction: knitted thanks to a reader!] The seller had it marked as a “table spread”, but it’s likely a bed spread because one end doesn’t have a scalloped edge like the others. It has a few spots and light discoloration, but I can forgive it that because of the fine, small stitches and the fact that I could see no holes. (It’s surprisingly heavy.)

I’ve used my thumb for scale so you can see how small the stitches are. It looks to be hand done because of some of the inconsistencies in the pattern, though I’m not 100% sure. But when I flipped it over the different patterned squares definitely had been hand-stitched together.

Is this sort of thing on trend? Not hugely, but I think there are buyers for romantic decor and granny core and this is a particularly good piece. (I was able to get a 20% discount on this piece.)

This antique beaded Iroquois whimsy at Corner Antiques also in Clinton caught my attention, but it had so much wear to the velvet that for $45 I just couldn’t spring for it. I must say though that Corner Antiques has some very impressive older unique pieces that I don’t normally see in an antique store that has multiple vendors. It was less of the vintage glass and china and more primitives. I appreciated that.

Outside of Maryville, TN, we popped into Highway 411 South Antiques, where my brother seriously considered buying this cool, old crate that originated near our hometown.

We had a good wander around and I ended up buying this sweet 1920s/30s lizard skin purse, in darn good shape for its age. The store was able to give me a 10% discount which basically covered the sales tax, but every bit helps. I believe the clasp is bakelite, but I’ll test it later.

Another store, worth a stop is Broken Arrow Antiques also outside of Maryville proper.

The store is jam packed with all kinds of goodies almost making it difficult to look at everything but exciting too! The gal at the counter told us there was a 20% discount being offered on most everything. Alas the items I liked were still too pricy, like an antique German silver mesh purse for $125 that I neglected to take a photo of. (BTW, German silver is not silver but copper, nickel and zinc.)

I should have been able to find something here, but I think both my brother and I were getting “antiqued out” by this point. We had looked at thousands and thousands of items before we even hit this store.

My total cost for the antique bedspread and the Art Deco lizard purse: $64. These are just the kind of older, quality things I want to sell so I am a happy camper.

Wishing you happy hunting in your neck of the woods,

Karen