Sometimes at auction, you see something that you just have to have...this is the story of my Art Deco mantel...hidden behind a pile of 70s pine furniture, I see a carved corner...I see a blue mirror...what is that? OMG! It is a funky deco mantel...OK...I have to have to it...and so I prepare to wait...waiting is a dangerous thing to do at an auction. You know that commercial...bet you can't eat just one...well, at auction, it is: bet you won't buy nothing while you wait...so 5 tables and a coat rack later, my mantel comes up. The auctioneer knows me...and teases..."So Anthropologie...do I hear $3000?"
But when last call comes, it is mine! My husband has to trek up to the auction house Saturday to pick it up because my van is now filled with the evening's purchases and the tables and the coat rack!
On the back of the mantel in faded writing is "Crystal Palace." That was all I needed to start the research. I found a Crystal Palace in Philadelphia, and I am fairly certain this was probably in that theatre.


This is from a web site that came up in my google search...The venue at 334 South has had a few since the turn of the 20th century. It was Crystal Palace and New Palace Theatre in the 1940s. In the ’50s, actors Anne and Logan Ramsey turned it into Theatre of the Living Arts, a repertory house whose reputation was furthered in the ’60s by director Andre Gregory. It became a movie theater; Ray Murray started projecting films there in 1972 and managed the place until he and his partners took over in 1981 and re-christened it the TLA. In 1987, Electric Factory Concerts got the property and Murray’s TLA Entertainment leased them the name for free as long as it stayed a theater. (Philebrity.com)
Now I also found out that the place was renovated last year which could account for this piece ending up at auction. Here are some close shots of the detail on the piece...
It is fun though to have one of those pieces that can attract someone's attention when he or she walks in the door...I slowly had to fill in around the piece with merchandise...I do not have one of those shops where you can zip in and out. I try to have treasures everywhere...you have to look...of course, that requires a certain perspective...after all, in this business it is all about the hunt! If you love things on shelves or in display cabinets, you will not like my shop. If you love the sensual...the visual...the escape, then you will enjoy your time here!