The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Community

Related Photos

Discussion

January 5, 2009

Oh, if we knew then what we know now about value of old stuff

The Way We Were

By Wally Wachter

If we only had the foresight when we were young to predict today’s demand for items of the past and to store the useless items we sold every week to the junkman it would be like finding sunken treasures or winning the millionaire lottery.

The popularity for “brand new antiques” is growing among the nostalgic as the legitimate old pieces are becoming rarer and rarer at flea markets and garage sales.

Bedroom items we took for granted when we were kids also have joined the memorabilia of the past.

Brass and metal beds were the most common and most affordable when we were young. When the trend to beautifully designed wooden bedroom sets began to develop, homemakers dreamed of the time when they could go modern and replace the brass and iron with solid wood head boards and foot boards.

We, as kids, also dreamed of that day because the brass and iron brought a prime reward of pennies from the junk dealers who canvassed the neighborhoods weekly.

The wooden bed steps, usually homemade, which helped little children climb into beds which were much higher from the floor than today’s models, were featured in two recent sales catalogs that I leafed through. The night stands which contained a porcelain wash basin and water pitcher are still being manufactured today.

Our modern kitchens, complete with all the latest appliances — dish washers, microwave ovens, bread-kneading mixers, blenders, food choppers etc. — still yearn for a touch of the past.

There are ice cream makers. Shaped like old churns, we used to have to make our own. But these have been modernized with electricity.

Even radios are available to help our hunger for nostalgia.

Living rooms back in our early days always had smoking stands with built-in ash trays and humidor compartments for storing cigars and pipe tobaccos.

Circulating ceiling fans have become modern appliances in many of our homes today, but they also are a reflection of the past.

Wally Wachter is a retired Herald managing editor.

Text Only
Community
  • Check out The Exhibit

    Current and past art students at Sharpsville Area High School will show their wares this weekend in the school’s second student-organized art show.

    May 17, 2012

  • hillview garden Art show highlights new GC gardens

    Elementary kids in Grove City adopted Grove City Community Gardens to highlight at their spring art show, and were given a unique garden of their own by a noted sculptor.

    May 10, 2012 1 Photo

  • Scouts to fete Knecht, Mastrian

    French Creek Council, Boy Scouts of America, will honor Will Knecht and John “Chip” Mastrian with its 24th Annual Distinguished Citizen Award at a banquet May 22 in The Corinthian, Sharon.

    May 8, 2012

  • Academy as popular as ever

    Hermitage School District Summer Academy is offering more courses than last year and has already equaled last year’s course enrollments.

    May 8, 2012

  • Chorale family affair

    Christine and Terry Bowman met in the Sharon High marching band, and music has been an integral part of their life together.

    May 3, 2012

  • Songwriter’s isolation blooms into ‘Marigold’

    Rick Hornyak had just moved to San Antonio and, separated from his friends in Austin, looked inward.

    April 26, 2012

  • Local girl has way with poetry

    Marissa Works came from nowhere to win a poetry recitation competition at Hickory High School.

    April 24, 2012

  • bmwomen Women's work

    Calling the Masury-Brookfield Woman’s Club a social organization is just half of it.

    April 22, 2012 1 Photo

  • Local band’s music reflects ‘sense of place’

    Terry Dach described his new recording as “organic,” but immediately turned to James Willaman for a definition of the term in a musical sense.
    “Does that mean we did it ourselves?” Dach asked.

    April 12, 2012

  • Old school

    Generations of students learned to read and write in the Hutchinson School, a one-room schoolhouse on Mitchell Road in Shenango Township. Today, historians hope those students’ descendants step forward to furnish and refurbish the small, red brick school to its former glory.

    April 8, 2012