Tag Archives: About Me

Pez Collection – Peter Pez Display Head

Posted by thenewcollector in Collectibles, My Collections and tagged with , , , , , ,

It’s super hot around here so I’m taking it easy and photographing inside stuff this week. I figured it’s about time to introduce you to a minor obsession of mine – Pez dispensers. Remember those little plastic tubes with funny heads that shoot candy when you tip the head back? You probably got one as a kid and never really thought about again? I have boxes of those things. Numerous plastic boxes that form a small wall in our basement. I’ve been collecting Pez dispensers and Pez branded items for over two decades! I started young because it was something I could look for when my parents dragged me to auctions and antique shops. Pez is a great thing for kids to collect because they’re cheap, small, and easy to find both new and vintage. Although my buying and selling has slowed over the years, I still appreciate a good Pez buy. Pezhead for life, yo.

So let me tell you about my newest purchase! A few weeks ago I bought a plastic three-dimensional Peter Pez head from the top of a retail Pez display. Who is Peter Pez you ask? The PEZ wiki (yes, it exists) explains that “Peter Pez is the PEZ mascot. He is depicted on the sales displays, as well as numerous other forms of advertising. Often, Peter PEZ is depicted as a real clown, holding in his left hand a Peter PEZ dispenser.” True to the description here’s the display:

Peter Pez display head

Originally, this Peter Pez head would have been mounted on the top of a circular rack that would be filled with hanging Pez dispensers. At the bottom of the rack were plastic clown shoes to match the head. They stopped using this display in stores sometime in the 1990s. There was a great discount department store called S&R in Kingston that had the full display with plastic head and feet. When S&R  was going out of business a few years ago I BEGGED them to sell it to me. I was willing to come all the way from Toronto to get my hands on it. After a few calls back and forth, they stopped communication and sadly the store closed. I know the employees had a lot of things on their minds and it was easy to forget about me, but I just hope that some other misguided soul was able to purchase the display and it’s not sitting in a dump somewhere.

If you can find the six-foot tall display intact including head and shoes it can set you back as much as $300 – $500 dollars from sellers. It’s quite the rare item and honestly it’s a pretty cool way to display your own Pez dispenser collection. The head alone is usually worth about $100. I found this one on kijiji from a man in Scarborough who was asking for $50. Coincidentally, I had just sold a used air conditioner on kijiji for $50 so it was cash in, cash out. My husband Anson drove me to pick up the head and asked me if I was attempting some type of opposite bartering system where I take an air conditioner and eventually trade it down to a toothpick. Funny guy.

Here are a few more photographs of Peter Pez in all his glory. In case you’re wondering, yes, the other side of the display is the same image. You cannot escape the clown.

Peter Pez display

Pez display hat

How big is Peter Pez in relation to the average house cat? This big:

cat with peter Pez display

This display has real value to me as a part of my collection so I will want to show it off. The bottom has a hole in it from where it was connected to the rack so I’ll probably try to put something in there and mount it on my wall. Most terrifying idea would be to stick a light bulb in this thing and make it glow. You see so few clown themed night-lights these days.

So I guess in summary while I am not the biggest fan of clowns I am very happy with my Peter Pez display head 🙂 The cat, however, remains unconvinced.

My Favourite Mountie Painting

Posted by thenewcollector in Collectibles, My Collections, Vintage and tagged with , , , , ,

I’m back! For all my readers (hi mom!), I should explain that I was on vacation last week in lovely, sunny Cuba. It was a wonderful break from our mild but dreary Toronto winter. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here’s a photo I took looking out my home office window a few weeks ago:

Toronto winter

Yipee.

Now here’s a photo of the sunset on our last evening in Cuba:

Cuba sunset

That's more like it.

Although it’s good to be home I still feel sluggish. Therefore, today I’m going to lazily post some photos tell you about my favourite Mountie painting. I can’t believe I forgot to mention it when I wrote about my Mountie collection before, since this painting has been on my walls since I was sixteen. If I remember correctly, my dad picked it up at a yard sale. He knew I liked Mounties, and he was smitten by the painting’s iconic image and overly dramatic staging. For me, it was love at first site:

Mountie painting

The Mountie and his noble steed.

She’s a beaut, ain’t she? Everything art critics would tell you – that the figures are too rigid, the setting cliché, the whole thing is kitchy – is true. I don’t think that this is a particularly good painting. But, BUT, what it lacks in artistic sophistication it makes up for in enthusiasm. There’s a signature on the bottom that says “J. Hamilton”. I’d like to believe the artist was an older man who was a hobby painter. One day he decided to paint the most noble, upright (very upright – he’s almost jumping off his horse) Mountie he could imagine. He put his subject in the classic Canadian wilderness where grass, meadows, mountains and clouds meet sky.

mountie painting close up

I love how the clouds arrange themselves with almost heavenly reverence around the Mountie. I love how the horse is restless, but the Mountie sits with complete poise and control. It’s all pretty great. You might not respect me for admiring this painting so much, but that is the risk we all take when we find original art and put it on our walls. At the end of the day, I think it’s much more interesting to have questionable but well loved original art, versus bland and mass produced consumer art.

Mountie painting close up

You sir, are a true Canadian hero.

My Mountie painting is not so loved by my husband, but then again he once bought a frame to properly display an “A-Team” poster so I take his opinion with a grain of salt. He really likes other folk art, and I admit this particular piece has a niche appeal. For the RCMP fan, however, it’s the Mona Lisa of Mountie art. If my hallway were the Louvre, this baby would be the star attraction.

Painting the Office

Posted by thenewcollector in Business Tips and tagged with , , , ,

I bet you thought I might not write an entry this week, and then where would I be in my New Year resolutions? Truthfully, I might not reach my goal of two entries, but that’s because I spent my week working hard to realize my other resolution of improving my workspace.

Next month we will move into our new office on the Danforth. To help us get ready, my amazing dad came into the city and helped me paint the two rooms that I will be sharing with my husband’s consulting company. It was hard work with long hours and nothing but a buzzy iPhone for entertainment. Have you ever heard the hits of ABBA through speakers that look like glowing ice cubes and buzz every four seconds? No? I envy you. Anyway, my dad was such a trooper (not to mention an expert painter) and in the end our efforts really paid off. Check out the space before we got our rollers on it:

Tangerine Dream. I meant Nightmare.

Burgundy and orange. Together at last.

Quite the colour pallate for a work space. I’ll admit the orange is somewhat stimulating, even if it burns your retinas. We bought the best darn primer we could (at our local Benjamin Moore store – they were really great help) and got down to work. Here’s my dad mid primer:

Ahh. It’s getting calmer already. The white was tinged green to match our final colour, but we still required two coats of primer.

The view from the door. 1st coat paint on the walls.

Finally, to skip to the good part, we finished two coats primer and two coats paint, had the carpet replaced (by local merchants Citi Flooring – also very helpful), and had the two way mirror replaced with clear glass. The end result? FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS:

Oooooooh. Aaaahhhhh.

Oh yeah. That’s the stuff. Hard to tell from these iPhone pics but the green manages to be calm but cheerful. The carpet is an oatmeal colour with flecks of brown and white. Designer favourite “Cloud White” on the trim. I only remembered to take pics in the evening but during the day the window in the front office floods the space with sunlight.

No words. Should have sent a poet.

My arms still ache and there are some touch ups at the bottom of the trim, but otherwise the office is ready to move into and start using. I’m really looking forward to spending time here. Just goes to show how much difference a little effort (and paint choices) can make!

Welcome

Posted by thenewcollector in Antiques, Collectibles, Vintage and tagged with , ,

Hi there!

Welcome to my blog. This won’t be your standard “I’m going to blog every single day because I’m so excited about blogging” premiere blog post (followed, inevitably, by one week of daily posts and then a sharp demise into rarely ever posting). It’s too much pressure and frankly I don’t have any readers yet so why make any promises? Although my skills are a little rusty, I’ve been blogging on and off since 1998. That’s an eternity on the internet! As a blogger, I’m the equivalent of the old lady sitting in a rocker on her front porch. I blogged back when uploading images was a Kafka-esque nightmare of ftp servers and permission errors. I blogged when blogging was the only way to tell people what you thought because we didn’t have Facebook or Twitter. No son. No Facebook at all.

Sorry, where was I? Oh yes. Despite my elderly blogging stature I’m actually, so I tell myself, still young. I’m in my 30s, and I decided to start this particular blog to talk about my passion for collecting antiques and vintage items.  It’s a somewhat unusual passion for someone my age. People of my generation are supposed to go to Ikea and get a pine table with matching chairs, a particle wood bedroom set, and maybe a plate of those cheap but disturbingly tasty meatballs. It’s modern. It’s clean. It’s kind of boring.

Well, in all honesty I do have lots of modern furniture in my home and for certain uses new is simply better. It’s not about being a zealot, but about mixing the new with one of a kind antiques, funky vintage stuff, and the occasional piece of original art. I called my blog “The New Collector” because I am part of the new generation of antique collectors. I want to spread the word to others who might not see the value in “used furniture”, or who might want to try buying antiques but aren’t sure where to start. I want to show you that antiques can be fun, vintage can give your space personality, and spending your money on really interesting items that will actually appreciate in value is awesome!

At the Christie Antique Show

Me at the Christie Antique Show. No idea who that woman is beside me. Let’s assume another antiques enthusiast!

It is my hope that this blog will grow to encompass many aspects of antique collecting including how to buy, where to look, cleaning & refinishing techniques, the environmental benefits, and why antiques are a great financial investment. I would also love to highlight other young collectors, blogs and antiques related TV shows. I might even start making little videos and doing interviews. I’ve got big dreams for my blog and I am excited to get started. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll visit again soon!