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.