An Ohio reader’s e-mail begins: “As a soon to be 30-year dealer, I want to weigh in on [the issue of the death of antiques shows]. Our area is currently watching the demise of one of its premier shows. It is not the dealers or buyers that are to blame. It is the show promoter.

“An antiques show or flea market is not rocket science, so why is it so difficult for some promoters to ‘get it together?’ There is a saying in the show car trade: don’t go to a car show that is not run by a ‘car guy.’ This is also true in the antiques trade….

You know that feeling that you get when you walk into an auction and there is so much stuff to look at? Stuff you collect or would like to resell. It's like an overly excited feeling that you try to keep from showing while you try to decide where to start.

It is a feeling that you must hurry to get that perfect seat, your number and make sure you have your pen and paper ready.

It's a feeling that you must turn everything over and examine it carefully but don't want the next person see you write down the lot number.

We asked Harry Rinker for his five-year outlook on the antiques & collectibles market. (He cringes when we ask him this stuff as he insists his crystal ball is no better than the next person's.) Regardless, here is his response:

“It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times….” the opening line from Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities, applies.

Very few styles or brands of tableware can compete with the timeless simplicity and colorful elegance found in Fiesta. First introduced to the American public in early 1936, it was created by Frederick Hurten Rhead for the Homer Laughlin Co. Made of pottery, its beauty was found in its solid colors and curved forms with most pieces being adorned with a set of concentric rings. Production continued for nearly 25 years and then, in 1959, Fiesta was restyled.

I recently purchased some Shiny Brite Glass Christmas Ornaments at an estate sale. I'm 50 years old and remember them on our Christmas Tree as a small child. I've come across Shiny Brite ornaments before, but these were in incredible condition and unique colors. So I began researching.

Victorian Scrapbooks are filled with treasures but very few are still intact. Most are with torn bindings, loose pages and other defects. However many times the contents of the book itself are still in excellent condition. The trick is getting these little beauties off the pages without damaging them. Let me teach you how.

Get Ready, Get Set

With the explosion of online social networking groups like Facebook and Twitter I’d like to take a little time to talk about the value of offline networking groups.

Several years ago, a close friend was going through a difficult time in her life. I live in Maryland, and she was over 500 miles away. There were phone calls and letters, but I would have liked to have been there with her. I gave her a pretty Victorian pin with blue forget-me-nots, just her style, to remind her that I was always there for her in spirit. My friend later told me that she wore it to all her therapy appointments, and displayed it on her dresser at all other times.

We asked Harry Rinker what field events he has planned this Fall. Here is his response:

This fall I plan to visit a number of antiques malls and possibly a show or two. In truth, I have not been in the field as much as I would have liked during the past three years. I live one and one-half hours drive south of Brimfield, and I have yet to attend one of the Brimfield Extravaganzas since moving to Connecticut.

Have you ever wasted an entire afternoon researching an item and getting nowhere? Or bought a reference book that didn't have the information you needed? It's very frustrating to squander time and money that way. But I don't consider those things as being wasted. It's just that they didn't pay off at the moment.