Hanging out with the old ball and chain, today’s finds!

hi I'm Alex arch bull and I've been buying in selling antiques since I was nine years old from basements to scrap yards I'll look just about anywhere I can to find lost antiques and collectibles and sometimes I'll go big and buy everything with my wife and kids we run an antique shop in Edmonton Alberta Canada filled with some of the most unique items we can find I never know what's going to happen or who I'm going to meet this is our life this is our adventure and this is curiosity oh honey hi guys and welcome to today's episode I am driving in the ambulance and that means one thing I've been out on the hunt for antiques and it's kind of crazy out there right now there's pandemic scares there's things happening I'm being cautious but I'm still going out and I'm meeting with folks so or you know you can tell people are distancing themselves but I didn't distance myself from antiques this morning usually the ambulance means that I went out and I had a bye and we were successful I ended up with some cool stuff so we're gonna head back to the shop we're gonna offload I'll show you some of the cool things that I was able to acquire today and hopefully you guys got a bit of a history lesson lesson on some cool items an artifact so stay tuned we'll do an unboxing and I will go through the stuff together first things first let's go see what's in the trunk now I don't normally buy furniture and I have this kind of in here because it was part of the deal but this is a nice 1920s Arts and Crafts style recliner you know they still make this type of furniture now it's got a little footrest that comes out which is kind of cool upholstery is in really good shape and you know as a decorative piece someone who's decorating an Arts and Crafts style is gonna really love something like that so eventually I'll find room for that I forgot I had the stretcher in the back of this trip so I was a little bit worried I wouldn't be able to fit that chair and this inside if you don't know what this is I'll give you a hint that's a lid that goes up top there just look on the bottom you'll see what looks like little hammers this is what's called a rollup pianola and this predates the regular player piano essentially it's a player piano that you could push up to any piano and make it play this has been in storage for some time apparently it's in working condition the bellows are okay really interesting piece you know they only made them for kind of a few years and then they did away with them but don't often find one in someone's basement it's early early technology early musical instrument and kind of an oddball piece which is the sort of stuff I love but for now I'm gonna leave those two in the back of the car they'll have to find room in the garage at some point but it's cold out so I'm gonna go I disappear inside and deal with that later alright here is the other pile of stuff that I got out of the car I guess what I'll do is I'll start laying it out over by my counter so I can price it and get it all put away let's see first piece I got was a movie poster now it's obviously a war piece it's armored attack but when you look at the cast and Baxter Dana Andrews is actually a lot Walter Brennan a lot of Academy Award winners or Oscar nominees this film was originally put out as the North Star and that came out during the lore around 1943 or so and it was later remarket in 1956 as armored attack so this would be the 1956 poster but it's kind of curious a lot of war movies came out after the war this is one that was actually filmed and put out during the war and you know they they changed a few things and put some different lines and kind of change the plot a bit but this came from a movie theater and it looks like someone who's done you know a very rough job maybe this is how the theater would have displayed it at some point it looks like they had it so you could undo these screws and maybe put a different poster in every week it doesn't look like there's another poster behind we kind of fun if there was like six or seven posters in there but looks like it's just the one that's what they call a one-sheet so that's your typical movie poster size called the one sheet condition not really great but in terms of military graphic for people who collect that sort of stuff it's an interesting item probably worth somewhere around you know even in that condition 125 $150 or so just as it is just as an art piece no you might hopefully you're gonna think this is cool I thought it was cool find out why okay so you look at it it's a metal box really well put together so you might say okay well what did this carry there's a little hint on the front RKO distributing Company of Canada and there's other labels that have been posted underneath here so what did this carry this is an original United Artists Corporation film canister but the cool thing about this is that this predates talkies this is a silent film era judging by the size of the can the manufacturer of it this would have carried the very first types of movies now there's no film inside of it I see how that drops down sort of a step hinge they're really really neat piece I don't know where else you get to find something like this they can't this came out of an old movie theater the gentleman I bought it from you runs a bunch of movie theaters and he bought a building that this was inside of so that is silent film era stuff and as we look through the inside there's other bits that could have come from the theater as well a nice old speaker grille and those that represent sort of pipe organs kind of neat I don't know what radio I think if you just had a speaker you could probably upholster that and put that on these are kind of fun I can hold it up and get some light through they need they need some serious cleaning but it is the moon and the stars on a Sun shaped lamp you can see it's pretty dirty that would have this would have likely been in you know on a wall sconce a decorative piece very whimsical and it could have been from the silent movie era as well there's another one looks like there's a couple in here there's two yeah these look like they've been sitting around for a while there's three of these can you see the moon right there I have to wash that I'm gonna wash one and I'll show you what it looks like once it's all cleaned up [Music] now it might seem like just a small little piece but having a few of these can make a really big impression if you're doing sort of a low presentation or bring you back that silent film era I mean look at that how cool is that little Sun and the stars those are just details that you don't see in a lot of modern fixtures and it's just a really fun frosted piece I'm gonna keep that around maybe I can put that into my new build this looks almost like a little work lamp but it it obviously screwed on it at some point a very very simple a little probably portable style lamp you can tell it's old look at the braided cord you can still buy that braided cord actually but it's not a common until this is original to the piece and that's all in really really actually that's like new look how shiny that is this thing is in great shape even if a person just needed the cord for an antique lamp that would give them the original authentic look but maybe that's meant to go I don't think it's it's not meant to do with these because the size is way off and a random speaker grille that will keep the side I love going through these little named knickknacks oh look are see a little ornamentation I think these are going the walls and hang uh you could hang things off of them so that would mount say boy hard to find a empty space of loll around here somewhere but that would mount on the wall like that and then you can hang lamps or lighting or other things off of it just so it looked a little nicer it's got the little finished rosette on it that's kind of neat what's this a random dial okay oh I might have something to do with it there's all these little bits and pieces I'm not sure exactly what they're for but you know they might have a use it somewhere cool and you can see the impression still left from where the canister was looks like they were laid flat and kind of stacked up maybe about that high you can see what size it was this probably had film in it for a really long time makes me wonder what happened to the film okay I'm gonna get to this piece here and some of you might recognize this right off the bat so what is this big heavy thing you might ask some of you probably already know and know honey if you're watching this isn't this isn't a comment on the state of our marriage right now but some people do use these as a practical joke these are actual leg irons from the old Fort Saskatchewan prison here in Alberta now they don't use leg irons like this anymore but you know I can see having that attached your foot would really not be much fun this is where there's a demonstration going wrong and I actually locked myself on how do you explain this to your wife when you get home what happened to you today I got leg irons strapped to myself okay so that goes around your ankle and then you've got this massive I guess we go around the back so that you would drag it what an awful thing I mean truly and yeah this thing I had no idea what it weighs it's awfully heavy I guess it would have to be now they reproduce these there are replicas out there but essentially that's like a big concrete or cement ball attached to the team going through it and it really now I know what this is because they had a kind of hanging from their roof when I went and looked at their stuff I'm gonna see if I can find a hook around here to hang it and show you guys it looks like all assembled before electricity during Victorian times you may have something like this in your entranceway or above your dining room table a very fancy and ornate chandelier you can see it's got cut crystal so when you light it up with the oil Lantern to get your wick going now just give a nice glow this beautiful sort of floral design and it's in a remarkable condition too considering its age now oil lamps have been a little less on the collectible side lately but something like this will still always hold its own now some people can you can Electrify them and you can make it so it you know if you have a heritage home and you want to work on electricity you can run a wire into it this one has never been modified and that's actually what's kind of rare about it most of the ones you see out there have had some modern electricity put into it this one is untouched and we're gonna leave it that way because it is a historical piece that's quite nice it's kind of neat to Manning Bowman you never know what was used in a theater or in a home but a lot of this stuff did come from movie theaters nice little art deco really early electric clock nice brass finish on it so plug it in it looks like it's in good order cable looks good it'll plug in and see if it works now when I was there I just kind of threw a bunch of stuff I thought was cool into this bin this piece right here is what they call a ham clock or Canadian neon Ray would make them too it's not quite a double bubble clock but it is a glass advertising clock this one advertising a restaurant that was called the bagel tree looks to be in good shape the second hand has detached and it looks as though somebody has tried to glue it on there at some point but you know it is a functioning clock you put the lights in the back here in that lights up real good you can actually get different sort of faces people reproduce them Orange Crush coca-cola etc that you put in there that one's just kind of neat as it is and it's in good condition other than that secondhand so well-well hang it up it looks like the the threaded portion is okay so it's just that one one piece right there might need some reattachment well just hang that on the wall with its friends you can see I've got a few of these advertising clocks and advertising Stein's they're always kind of fun things to look at so I'll eventually get some light bulbs put in it for now that'll keep it safe and out of the way there's also this Lantern inside now it has a big reflector built on the back and that it makes me I don't think it's railway it is Deitz though - lamp Dietz D beacon - lamp it's a curious piece because it's built almost like a camping lantern but with that big reflector you'd think it's more for the front of like a stagecoach or you know a wagon or something along those lines peculiar item and kind of cool and then a couple other little electric clocks in here - no any of those are working yet but that's you know maybe I'll have some time now to kind of clean this up might actually look good if I just take the paint all the way off and just get it back to that nice sort of aluminum that's underneath there watch this oh screen news associated well these are little film cans that would have had let's see FDR trailer so Franklin Delano Roosevelt maybe could be you know old newsreels that were came in those and they play it before a theater it's a fun thing about buying stuff that comes out of an old movie theater you never know what's gonna be in there can imagine these might have been in like projection rooms it's too bad that glass is cracked mind you I think it's the same diameter as that clock but kind of a nice West clocks canadian-made one little piece 3r deco looking and some random bottles which I'm not a collector of bottles myself so I don't get as excited as our friend Bob does nice old master lock it's got the key another razor it's early a safety razor doesn't have the it looks like it might be nickel-plated brass is what it looks like not in the greatest condition at all but it might be good for parts and this is a arrest for satire and of course the Saturn being the type of iron that you heat up on your stove and when you heat it up your iron and it was red-hot after coming off your stove you'd be ironing your clothes with it and you need somewhere to put it so that would sit on your counter and you put your iron on top so it wouldn't wreck your surface so it's an iron rest and that's a nice ornate one - there are people who collect these based on what images they have that looks like a nice crown let's see Pottstown Pennsylvania made its way up here to Canada well no there's an old thermostat this is a thermostat for your heater for your house here's how you set it and then it has a little thermometer on there you could use it as just a thermometer too but if you're doing a restoration of an old home you want it to look correct that's kind of thing you won't have this box is nothing but rolls for that pianola some of these actually I think most of these are completely different than what you'd see in a more modern or a different player piano so these rolls are not going to work in anything but that piano but some of these let's see what music we got probably of the old ledger in old Madrid the Barber of Seville I always think like Looney Tunes or some of these old classical songs they got used in so many cartoons a lot of classical music that's a good box when there's got to be 10 20 34 it's got to be about 60 of them in there so that's a healthy box full and then it looks like there's maybe parts it all have to be very careful to keep these together because that might be something important for that machine will keep that box aside until I know what it's used for and if you ever see these in your grandma's attic your grandparents place it looks like a suitcase but it's not it's opened up I'll show you what it is some of you probably already know what it is open up and show you it's a gramophone portable gramophone Graf Enola the idea was you have your little crank here it would go in the side right out of the way so you can see it goes in the side no idea if this thing works or not this is what you take out on a picnic and okay well we'll crank it a little bit and we'll see if we actually get look at that and it still works so it's got a needle on it see 580 78 surround okay apparently I don't have any seventy-eights kicking around which is crazy usually I do but judging from the condition of this I would say it's a working piece still lots of fun for collectors there's a spot right there to put your extra needles and look it has the needles in it still so this thing probably got put away that's the break right there so that'll stop it from going and to take your crank out you just go in the opposite direction like that and there you go and there was two of them now this one you can tell you don't need electricity or power or anything it will work anywhere that one's a little different so same concept looks like a suitcase opens in a different direction this also plays 78 records and look at that secret little compartment there that's where you'd put them that's where your records go fun this one's made by Columbia yeah Graf Enola that's what they called this model and it's electric so where the other one was hand crank this would have been one of the very first electric models that came out but look I guess the idea was you'd plug it in and then this kind of gives it a bit a bit of a kickstart to get it going and then the electric motor would take over I'm not gonna attempt plug it in because the cable does not look super great but a nice rare early piece of electric music history so a lot of cool finds like vanity gramophones but the top two items that came in for me this week will probably the United Artists silent film era movie can that's just so cool and where you're gonna find something like that it's really really neat and of course the old ball and chain so when somebody says ah bet you got to go talk to the old volunteen well I guess I couldn't give my Olsson now I could talk to this I could use this excuse when I can't buy something all the old ball-and-chain says I can't get it I'll refer to this like for wisdom but that is a really neat piece you just don't come across an antique ball-and-chain very often so some really neat stuff today really excited about the finds and it just goes to show you never know what someone's going to have in their garages basements or attics so thanks for watching today's episode guys make sure to subscribe if you haven't already you can check this out on instagram at curiosity inc yeg we're also on facebook under curiosity incorporated and stay tuned for more episodes we'll see y'all soon and bye for now [Music]

Channel: Curiosity Incorporated

Views: 48,220

Rating: 4.9759789 out of 5

Keywords: iMovie, Antiques, collectibles, movies, silent film, ball and chain, making money

Id: 5M_nnFZS26Q

Length: 21min 25sec (1285 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 18 2020