Carter’s Price Guide to Antiques… and home of pretty shiny things!

I don’t consider myself to be a materialistic person, nor do I have expensive tastes. That is probably just as well as, despite a “higher” education, I have not found a pot of gold at the end of the “user pays” rainbow; in fact, it was more a cesspit of student debt that I am still paying back in my thirties! But I digress….

What has led me to despair at my own poverty was playing with a new electronic resource – Carter’s Price Guide to Antiques.  Amongst the colourful online pages of antiques and collectables are whole sections devoted to antique jewellery. What stories these pieces could tell! How did a “Georgian enamel and seed pearl mourning ring from the late 18th century” ever make it to Sotheby’s Australia? Why was an “Art Deco 18ct white gold necklace with a centrally oval solid white opal” sold at auction rather than being placed by some handsome Mr Darcy type of a man around my neck? Could it be the $AUD 7,000 that it sold for?

Most of my possessions are old and second-hand, so maybe if I look through this site I may spot something worth selling? Something that I could sell so I could get just one glittering jewel around my neck or on my finger? It could work for me or you, considering Carter’s is an Australian product with plenty of New Zealand content. Time to sort through dusty boxes and see if you can trade up to pretty shiny things!

You can use this online resource and another like minded one, Price it! through the library catalogue and at the Source using your library card number and PIN. Enjoy your fossicking!

Family grocer, 1902

Mr. Cook established himself in business in 1890, and he now fulfils orders from all parts of New Zealand. He has a branch establishment at Cheviot, and also a butter factory, where he makes clover-brand butter, which has gained four first prizes at agricultural and pastoral shows in Canterbury. For the year ending December, 1901, the output was sixty tons, all made from pasteurised milk.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District] The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1903, Christchurch. NZETC

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We have digitised a rather splendid 1902 publication Tourists’ guide to Canterbury.

I will share some of the interesting ads and pictures from it in a series of posts – there’s lots of information about local businesses and places in 1902.