Meet Me in St.Louis,Louis, Meet Me at the Fair.

 

Large billboards like this dotted the land advertising the 1904 World's Fair.

       

This was the main entrance to the Fair. There was and never has been, anything like the 1904's Worlds Fair.

                           

The  Grand Basin featured  small rivers and boats from around the world.

The Palace of Electricity, marking this Fair the first ever to be lite by Electric Lights. What a slight that must have been. Most people had never seen an electric light,let alone thousands. 

The world's largest birdcage, contained thousands of exotic  birds. It is still in the park in St.Louis today and is a part of the St.Louis Zoo. It is designed so one can walk through and see the birds close up.

This is one of  a few buildings that were designed to  stay after the fair closed. This was the Palace of Art and now it houses the World Class, St.Louis Art Museum.

The Palace or Agriculture, covered 20 acres of land and was at that time the largest building ever made by man.

This columned walkway led to,"The Pike".

In 1904, at the St.Louis World's Fair, this was the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world. 

One of the many posters that were designed and made to advertise the fair.

David Rowland Francis was a big factor in making this the best World's Fair in history.

       
    The 1904, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St.Louis Worlds Fair,. was an international exposition held in St.Louis,Mo, United States, in 1904. St.Louis hosted a major fair. One that has not been equaled today. The fair celebrated the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, one year late. It was delayed one year to allow for full scale participation by more States and Countries. The Fair opened April 30,1904 and closed December 1,1904.
    The fairs 1,200 acre site, designed by George Kesler was located at the present day grounds of Forest Park,the second largest city park in the world, New York Central park being the largest, and Washington University.This was  the largest Worlds Fair to date. There were over 1500 buildings, connected by some 75 miles of roads and walkways. The Palace of Agriculture alone covered some 20 acres,at the time, one of the largest buildings ever made. All the buildings, except for a few, were temporary and were made of wood and plaster.Only 3 are still standing today.Exhibits were staged by 62 foreign nations, the United States and 43 of the then 45 US states. There was also over 50 concession-type amusements found on ."The Pike", that provided educational and scientific displays, from distant and foreign lands and pure entertainment. It has been reported that 19,694,855 people attended that fair.A fast number, when you think that the main transportation at that time was still by horse and buggy.
    A number of foods are claimed to have been invented at this fair. The most popular is the ice cream cone. The story goes, that they ran out of china bowls to serve the ice cream in, and some one grabbed a waffle and rolled it up ,and served the ice cream it it, the rest is history. Other claims are more dubious, including the hamburger and hot dog, peanut butter, ice tea, Dr. pepper,cotton candy,doughnut  and puffed wheat.
   The fair inspired the song ,movie and Broadway Musical, Meet me in St.Louis, Louis.All of which were major hits and remain as favorites to lots of us today..
   The Fair hosted the 1904 Summer Olympic games, the first ones ever to be held in the United States.
   Important visitors to the Fair included: John Philip Sousa, who performed on opening day. Thomas Edison, who flipped the switch, to  light the first ever World's Fair in history ,to be lite with electric lights. Theodore Roosevelt opened the fair by telegram and made an appearance after his re- election  that year. Scott Joplin performed  his now famous, Ragtime. Helen Keller gave a lecture in the main auditorium. Geronimo was displayed in a teepee      David Rowland Francis was the 27th Governor of Missouri, Mayor of St,Louis, US Secretary  of the Interior, US Ambassador to Russia  and President of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He was the biggest promoter of the fair and is rumored to have been the force behind the fairs success. He personally gave 100 acres of land to the city of St.Louis as part of the fair. This land is now a park and bears his name. "Francis Park."
   Now to quote the words of Dorothy,to Rose, on, The Golden Girls,'What the hell has any of this got to do with, My Old Historic House.?" Well David Rowland Francis, Great Grand Son was a friend and neighbor of mine. He and his family had a farm, with a  weekend home, next to the farm where I grew up. Dover,Mo. has now a population of 9. Our farms were connected and I spent many summers making some spending money, mowing the Francis yard and tending the flowers. There children, David and Diana, both went to the same public school that I attended. Diana is still a close friend and is my attorney, she lives in St.Louis. Little David has moved on and I am not sure as to what he is doing these days. In 1989, Big David died and the family sold the farm.There was a public auction and I bought several items. Two of them I am highlighting in today's blog. One is a French, gold gilt love seat, from the French World's Fair  Display. There were several pieces to this set, and most of them are now in the Missouri Governors Mansion  in Jefferson City,Mo. They are in the the third floor ball room.  The love seat, I have, was kept by the Francis family and used at there country home. The other is a 5 foot tall , Temple Vase from the Chinese display. This vase again was saved by the Francis family and used in there country home. I bought both pieces at the Francis auction and have held onto them for all these years. They are both in my entrance hall. They are great reminders of a great fair and a great Missouri family. I am very proud of them.
   I hope you have enjoyed this little journey, back in time,  to the 1904 Worlds Fair. And most of all,my two wonderful pieces from that fair. Please come by anytime for a tour to see these two in person. I will leave the lights on and Sissy Dog will always meet you with a jump and a kiss.

A Tisket. A Tasket, Look at the Pretty Brides Baskets.

           

    Collectors sometimes give a new name to an old object. This is the case of the Victorian Brides Baskets. The old glass and silver company catalogs, never listed a,"Brides Basket." They were called berry or fruit bowls. Today they are called." Brides Baskets, as they were very popular as wedding gifts during the Victorian era, 1860-1900.
  Silver plate companies made the frames and bought the glass basket inserts from glass companies, and vice versa. They were married up ,to form what we all know today as a," Brides Basket." Because they were a product of two companies they were rarely marked as to who the maker was. Some times the silver companies would mark the frames, as there was a law ,stating that silver plate had to be marked ,as so. There were a lot of silver companies that made these frames. A few of the more popular ones are: Reed and Barton. Rogers Brothers, Pairpoint,Tufts. Meriden and Britanna. The same goes with the glass companies. Art glass of this period were rarely marked in any form, one has to learn the look to tell the maker. A few of the companies that made the glass baskets are: Crown Milano, Mt.Washington,Peach Blow,Moser, Webb and New England Glass Co.
     The bowls were all hand blown of art glass and usually had crimped or fluted edges. They have hand painted decorations, which was very tricky to do.After there were hand painted they were required to be fired to set the paint. A lot of the glass explodes or slumped with the re- heating. Reguardless of this problem, thousands were made and survived . They have been very popular with antique and art glass collectors for many generations. More often than not, they are found in the parlor of today's homes, even thought they were meant to be used in the dining room. The bowls are found in plain glass as well, but the more sought after are the fancy colored and highly enameled decorations. The highest prices are paid for baskets with unusual forms and rare art glass. A lot of brides Baskets today are not in there original silver frames. To achieve a higher selling price this is important. If the bowl does not fit the frame, slides around, it probably is a marriage.This would not bring as much as if it was the original frame.
   Almost all the silver frames were plate. Most being quadruple plate,which meant there were several layers of silver. The plated is done by  a process that transfers silver on to a base metal, like copper, by electricity. Some frames were made of sterling, but most likely  not, as it was far ro expensive and had to be hand made, where the plate ones could be mass produced from molded parts. A few were made from brass or bronze and some simple ones had pewter frames as well.
    During the 1880's. fancier glass inserts began to appear and the styles available were numerous by the 1890's. American silver and silver plate companies used glass bowls that were made both in America and Europe. The bowls added greatly to the cost and the popularity of the brides basket. A 3 layer quilted satin glass bowl was very labor intense to make, costing much more than a plain ruffled cranberry bowl. The bowls were hand blown by one artist and then turned over to a painter or decorator, which added to the cost of production. Rarely  did a blower of the bowl ,do his or her  own decorating. Most American collectors tend to like the American made bowls best. I usually pay no attention to who made what, and buy what I like and think is beautiful.

I bought this brides basket as I thought the orange color looked good with my french hand blacked wall paper boarder,

     

     
   Like a lot of antiques, the Brides Bowls, are not as popular as they once were. If you gave one today as a wedding gift to a young couple, most of them would say, " what the hell is this?' They would much rather have a Kitchen Aid mixer, that would cost about the same amount of money, as an antique Brides Basket.. Most old time collectors of antiques never settle with just one of any thing. I have three Brides Baskets that I am sharing with you today, but I have friends that have many more. When I was a new collector I was so excited to finally find and be able to afford a Brides Basket. That one is long gone, sold off in one of my many moves, and the ones I have today, are just as pretty and I find them great fun to use as a decorative accessory. The colors are vast and one can choose the color to match the room.
   I hope you enjoy this little lesson today on the so called, Victorian Brides Basket, aka, fruit bowls. Come by, My Old Historic House ,any time for a real tour and see for yourself, my beautiful Brides Baskets.. Remember, I will always leave the lights on and Sissy Dog will always meet you with a jump and a kiss. It has turned a little colder here in rural Missouri. I for one am not ready or excited about the coming winter. But, what is one to do, but ready themselves and get out the warm cloths and blankets. See you next time
 

This basket has the original frame as it has grapes molded in the silver and the bowl has grapes pained on the glass.

Blackamoors: Fabulous or Offensive?

       I would like to start this post , by saying , that I am not a Racist.I hope I do not offend any one. That is  not  my attention. If I do, I would like to say I am sorry, right now.I love Blackamoor sculptures for there beauty, history and decorative appeal. And after all, they are only statues, made long ago and not by my hand.
     Moor's were a type of black Africans that were captured and sold into slavery. Mostly on the European market and very heavily in Italy. They were Muslims and some were even found in Spain. They were often referred to as,"Nubian Slaves."
   Blackamoors have a long history in decorative art and it stretches all the way back to the 17th century. The trend seemed to have started in Italy and especially in Venice. The Moors  were sometimes used to steer the Gondola  boats and this is the earliest pictures we find of them. Statues  of Blackamoors in theses boats are very common.
   I am not sure how politically correct they come off nowadays, still, in design circles their true charm and decorative statements remains alive a well for the next generation. They are considered very, "Park Avenue."(New York.) Blackamoors enjoyed a surge of  popularity during the 20th century and are somewhat popular today. One does not see them that often in the Americans, but more so in Europe. Sometimes these statues can start tongues wagging, much as  a person wearing fur does. I am not sure how they became a  popular design motif, but their history through decorative arts is well documented.
   Blackamoor is a slang word that refers to dark skinned people, not so much today, but in the past.
    Most older Blackamoors were carved out of wood and covered in gesso and polychrome painted Some are made of bronze and other metals, while many are made of ceramic and porcelain. They were designed to  be mostly pedestals to hold candelabra or flowers. Some were tables and wall brackets. Smaller ones were often found as table decorations. There are so many of them in Italy that most people hardly even notice them.
   Blackamoors have been favorite decorative pieces for  antique collectors and interior designers for years. They were first created during the Italian Renaissance and became a favorite in the Victorian era.I have always had a thing for them. I guess the first ones I came across were in the movies. I  love to watch period movies , and to be taken back in time ,and experience the ancient world. I have seen places and things in the movies that I would never have seen other wise. I have had several Blackamoors in my days, as a collector and antique dealer. The first one I bought in an antique shop in Chicago. I paid $2,500.00 for it ,25 years ago and I had to put it in lay -a-way. I have bought and sold several since then. I am always sad when they sell and have to go hunt another right away. I guess I kinda feel, Blackamoor deprived. Sad ain't it. I have one today at, My Old Historic House. I bought her, here in rural Missouri, at an antique mall. I almost did not stop at this place, as I get tired going through all these big endless antique malls with booth after booth of junk and common stuff. I was on the road and needed a bathroom break, so I pulled off and went in. Well I almost wet my self when right inside the front door was my Blackamoor. They knew what it was and kinda what it was worth. I got it for a fair price and a lot less than the first one I  bought. I keep her in the entrance hall where I think she looks real pretty against the red and gray Toile wallpaper. She is one of the first things people see when they come for a tour. I am sure some people are shocked, but they have to realize, that she is just a sculpture.
   I hope you will come by some time to see Ms. Blackamoor and take a tour. I will leave the lights on and Sissy Dog will always meet you with a jump and a kiss.

A  polychrome painted necklace adorns Ms. Blackamoors neck.

Ms. Blackamoor welcomes guest to, My Old Historic House.

I love her red shoes and pants.

The Base is very Italian, looks like the Tower of Pisa.