DAVIDSON, Sask. – It started with trading matchbooks at grade school and evolved into a 42-year business in antiques and collectibles for Bing Dobson.
This summer the resident of Lumsden, Sask., bid farewell to the rosemaled chests, piano lamps and see-no-evil monkeys of his Cobweb Corner store at an auction in the Davidson rink.
Dealing on a few select items in the future is still possible but not likely to refill his empty store, he said.
Dobson has a special fondness for early Indian handicrafts that were often traded away to the Hudson Bay Co. in exchange for food and supplies.
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“It’s really good when you consider how they were made under adverse conditions,” he said.
“A lot of these skills are lost.”
Dobson and his wife Henrietta, members of antique associations, travelled extensively to antique shows and auctions across the country in search of odd, old and precious treasures from the past.
More than 1,000 pieces were bid on at the unreserved auction, with Dobson expecting more than $150,000 in sales.
“We will determine what they’re worth by what it sells for; that is the true value of it,” said Dobson, noting some pay twice the appraised value and others walk away with bargains.
To budding collectors, he recommends spending $100 on one special antique rather than buying 10 items at $10 apiece.
“You will do much better buying that,” he said.
Filing past tagged items at the auction, he points out a 1920s dental cabinet, an 1880 English oak sideboard, a curved glass china shelf dated to 1890 and a hand-painted lampshade. A chest of narrow drawers featuring tortoise shells towers above adjacent shooting games and candy dishes.
Such a fine cabinet would be filled with various treasures and documents, said Dobson. The term cabinet meeting originated in the 1580s when the host would show guests what was in his cabinet.
Explaining the name chosen for a large 1775 Mule chest, he deadpans: “You needed to be a mule to lift it.”
Old collided with new with the advent of the internet, changing the antique business forever, said Henrietta.
“People could see how many were out there,” she said.
Internet sales were strong and opened up markets well beyond their geographical location.
The Antiques Roadshow, which Bing was once asked to join as an appraiser, has also played a role in increasing the visibility of all things old and sometimes valuable.
Among his special finds was a 1800s painting by Cornelius Krieghoff found in a house during a renovation, with a value in excess of $10,000.
His memorable customers included an opera singer and an American actor. Bing said many antique collectors are people who grew up with antiques or who collect them for nostalgic reasons to revisit another time in their lives.
He noted the number of males who are fascinated by memorabilia like Imperial, White Rose and Canadian Oil signs. The signs were colourful and distinctive to catch people’s attention in the country’s early years when many could not read, said Dobson.
He recalled one woman with 400 dolls who never owned a single one as a child.
Tramp art, wooden weavings that bordered numerous paintings, were created by those desperate to make a few dollars during the Depression years.
The Dobsons’ advice to aspiring collectors is not to fix or change the original piece, noting paints, knobs, stones and other add-ons can hurt its value and alter the original look.
Bing said the business of antiques is about reputation and longevity.
“If people don’t believe what you’re telling them, you’re beat,” he said.
