This angel is one of those religious carvings that truly takes your breath away.    The figure has been carved so beautifully and painted with such sensitivity that it sets her apart from most religious carvings that date to the late 19th century.  Click on images to enlarge.

In this full length photo the quality of the carving really shows through in the fluidity of the fabric and her sense of movement.   She has her original glass eyes and her very sculptural carved wings.

The Jielde industrial steel lamp is illuminating a bonsai tree sculpture nestled in the Art Deco aquarium.  Behind the deco aquarium is another earlier cast iron aquarium dating to the late 19th century.

This is a wonderful deco cast iron aquarium with a slate bottom and original glass panels.   It is marked “jewel” on the front of its base.   This size aquarium is perfect for maidenhair fern, orchids, african violets, and even fish!  Click on images to enlarge.

French free-blown glass cloche bell jar made in the late 19th century was used to protect tender plants from the cold.   Period cloches are very hard to find in this condition.   I have filled it with interesting seed pods to add texture and contrast.

This pair of cast stone compotes lasted one full day in the shop.  I couldn’t resist at least getting a photo of them before they went out the door.

One of the smallest things to come into the shop recently and one of my personal favorites was this carved Brazil nut “fruit” (full of Brazil nuts) with a faux copper stem and leaves.  So simple and yet so beautifully crafted.  Before I could decide if this treasure just may have to go home with me, it sold right after I took this photo.  Click on images to enlarge.

The 12 foot long table in the back of the shop seems to hold all the big heavy things.   I just acquired the two English chimney pots, they are an unusual size, small enough to go on a large table or on either side of a doorway.   Between the chimney pots is a brass and cast iron English scale with a large rock crystal formation on top of it and next to the scale is a red and black 19th century bookpress retaining its original polychrome.   For some strange reason I have always found bookpresses interesting.   I love books and so I think the idea of hand binding a book is very romantic, however, I also have a feeling the actual practice of  book binding is much harder work than one would think.

This is a closeup of one of the  English chimney pots, it has a very architectural feel to it.  Click on images to enlarge.

These dogs I found in Holland, they date to the late 19th century and are covered in real lambs wool and have glass eyes.    They have amazing details and are quite realistic.  I have been asked several times if they are real stuffed dogs, which is not something I would carry in the shop.  These dogs were cherished by some child in the past and were probably made in Germany around 1890.

This little doggie has decided to take a ride in a very well made miniature advertising coal car.    The car dates from the late 19th century and has been entirely handmade out of wood and tin with cast iron wheels.   The car measures just over 15 inches long and is very realistic.  Click on images to enlarge.

This French 19th century cast iron and brass pastry table came in with some of the other garden items from a really wonderful St. Louis estate this past week.   The pastry table has a one inch thick white marble top that is just perfect on the black iron base.   This is also the first pastry table I have had in the shop that is signed with a  makers stamp deeply impressed into the iron with the makers name and “Paris” stamped below his name.   Roxy, my schnauzer, was wondering what all the fuss was about; all of those new treasures aren’t worth one doggie bone to her.   Come see Roxy in her window watching the world go by every Thursday thru Saturday, 10 to 4, she will be just as uninterested in the shop treasure but will be more than happy to give you a sniff.  Be sure to check us out on Facebook!

This is a photo of my booth at the Chicago Botanic show in 2010.    The dates for this year’s show are Friday, April 15th thru Sunday, April 17th.  This will be my 4th year to exhibit at the garden show and I can’t wait to get there and get the booth set up for this year’s event.    I have in stock some of the best antique garden material that I have ever had and will be bringing it all to the show.   You can find out more information on the antique fair by going to the show website  here.   The shop will be closed Thursday, April 14th thru Saturday, April 17th, during the garden show.   We will also be closed Thursday, April 28th thru Saturday, April 30th, while I exhibit at the Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair in Chicago.  You can find out more information on the International show by clicking here.  Click on image to enlarge.

Christmas Open House is just around the corner.   This year’s Christmas event is Thursday, November 18th from 5 to 9 pm.  Don’t miss this year’s very special assortment of antique Christmas decorations as well as my usual unusual objects of desire.    I’ve held back some very great pieces for this year’s party, so don’t miss it.  Join us Thursday the 18th for a very sparkly Christmas celebration at R. Ege Antiques.

This is the last week of the store wide Sale at R. Ege Antiques!

Everything in the store is 20% off.  The sale continues next week, Thursday the 26th, Friday the 27th, and Saturday the 28th.

The August sale has been a great success but we still have to make more room for the new shipment arriving soon from Europe.   Try to make it by the shop this next week and treat yourself to a wonderful new addition to the house or garden and receive an extra 20% off.   This is the final week of the sale.

This is the second year for the Winter Party and I have a to say it was a great success.   St. Louis still had some snow on the ground and it was snowing the day before the party, but last Thursday turned out to be a  beautiful sunny day, the perfect weather to feel the beginning of spring at the shop.  Click on the images to enlarge them.

Surrounding the 18th century English mirror are European wallpaper stamps from the 1950s.  The stamps make a dramatic wall covering and hence are almost all sold out.

Miniature roses fit perfectly in the Dutch white ironstone “tub”  surrounded by French mother of pearl opera glasses.

This French style chair has been upholstered in black silk with a hand-stitched Crane across the back.  The forged iron table has bronze detailing  in the manner of Oscar Bach.

A French 19th century cast iron urn with more miniature roses poses in front of a pair of garden planters.  These smaller iron urns can be used in so many different ways inside the house as well as outside.  The urns can be changed out for the seasons with a variety of contents, ie: blooming bulbs in the spring, shells in the summer,for fall.. well you get the idea .  Click on images to enlarge.

The theme for this Winter Party was “Spring” so fresh flowers continued throughout the shop .   In this photo note the wonderful European iron awning, for over a door, that hangs above the terra-cotta obelisk.   Hanging from the awning are several hand-painted Mexican pottery birds from the 1940s.

A very whimsical European armillary sundial rests on the round marble top table.

The teaching posters were printed in France in the Flemish language.  The circa 1940s posters have wonderful graphics and color.  Click on images to enlarge.

The zinc downspouts on the left of the photo were found in Belgium.  I think it would be interesting to make lamps or sconces out of the pair of downspouts, the shadows that the light would create could be dramatic.

The whimsical painted dove weathervane stands between several European cut stone planters.   To the right of the planters is a carved stone well-head of a mans face that has an incredible worn surface.

In the two previous photographs you can see the window display is of Japanese paper lanterns from the 1930s.  Roxie is keeping watch in her window perch, a job she takes quite seriously I might add.  She often feels the need to alert everyone in the shop to the presence of a dog being walked in front of her shop, often loudly… unfortunately.

The bookcases behind the counter hold an array of unusual objects.

I have never seen the bronze pieces with hands mounted on stands shown in this photo ever before.  They are the pockets from a 19th century billiard table and are made of bronze.  The ivory balls shown in the hand-cups would fall through the hole and be “caught” by the small hand that is holding the round cup.

To the right of the Italian Mirror is a very organic bronze light in the form of a gnarled grape vine with leaves.  It has holes in the base suggesting this wonderful bronze light might have been used on a newel post of a stylish house in Europe at the turn of the century.

In this photo a wonderful 19th century religious artifact with carved gilt-wood rays hangs in a shelf above the ever wacky doll head mold forms.

Blackforest antlers surround the wooden “gear” mirror made from an industrial mold form.

The venetian mirror in this photo found a new home very quickly.   The owl sculpture is by a St. Louis artist, Tom Blaizer.  The owl body has been made out of tin and the eyes out of sliced agate stone.

Nothing says spring like fresh flowers and we had a nice assortment of them at the shop for the party.  For me forsythia brings back childhood memories of my grandmothers gardens, she let it grow huge and wild, it always seems so bright,  bold and cheerful.   The forsythia is in a huge battery jar I found in Belgium.  The oversized chrome strainer also on the table is by Curtis Jere and dates from the 1970s.

I currently have a great collection of vintage medical teaching aids in the shop.

One of the more unusual items in the shop right now (and that’s saying something) is shown in the center of this photo…. the “mirror.”   A relief sculpture made from resin of a muscular nude male holding a woman in his arms has been applied to the mirror glass and put into a chrome frame, the piece has a Los Angeles label on the back and dates to the 1970s or early 1980s.  Click on images to enlarge.

A Curtis Jere swan sculpture hangs above the 1940s machine age aluminum tricycle.

One of my favorite pieces to just come into the shop is this European industrial cart.  It has great surface-ware and patina.

The wire “donut” on the wall is actually a handmade wire crap trap,  I think the trap has a fine sculptural quality to it.   The tin trays, the lanterns, and the candlesticks are all from Mexico and date from the 1940s.

Rosalie seems to be pondering the wooden bowling balls from Europe that are on either side of her carousel panel.

I am fortunate to have tall windows in the back of the shop that really let the light pour in.  The anatomical charts on the back of the shop wall are from Belgium.  Click on images to enlarge.

I wanted to end this post with a photo from the shop of simple a simple way to say spring.   I used green depression glass salt and pepper shakers for mini vases.  I placed three of the bouquets under a 19th century glass cheese dome on top of a plain glass cake stand.  The flowers have been in the shop for almost a week now and still look great.  There is so much we can all do to enliven our lives with fresh flowers without costing a fortune.  I try to have something blooming or have cut flowers in my house throughout the winter.  It makes the house smell great and it makes me feel good.  Until spring gets here and gives us fresh bouquets daily get out there and bring some flowers home.  You just might need an antique battery jar or garden urn for those flowers, luckily R. Ege Antiques has a few of those.  Come in and check us out.

This years Halloween window features a bound body caught in a spider’s web.  Click on images to enlarge.

The “body” in the web is actually an early turn of the century Martha Chase Hospital Doll.  Martha designed, handmade, and hand-painted these life-size dolls to be used as training tools for nurses in schools and hospitals.   I am sure Martha Chase never expected one of her dolls to be used in a Halloween window display but for a brief period it is perfect as a spider’s treat.