Videodisc? Where was I in the 80's?

If you are like me you totally missed the Videodisc craze that swept the nation.  Or did it? 

I recently got a call about this precursor to the Beta/Video tape/DVD and to be honest I did not know what the woman was talking about!  All I could "see" from here description via phone wasn't coming across quite right until I got on the computer and did a Google search.  Wikipedia defines a video disc as "a general term for a laser- or stylus-readable random-access circular disc that contains both audio and video signals recorded in an analog form. Typically, it is a reference to any such media that predates the mainstream popularity of the DVD format."  Basically it is a movie on a record. 
Another name is Capacitance Electronic Discs or CED's, a consumer video format on a grooved vinyl disc.
There is a market for these discs and the players by collectors of early technology,  you just have to be willing to do some research. 


Did you miss this wave of technology?


Happy Treasuring,
VictorianCobweb

Happy Independance Day!

Happy 4th of July!  

Lake Texoma from Denison Dam

About 7 a.m. Saturday June 27th I stopped at one of the two small pull offs on the Denison, Texas Dam on Lake Texoma.  This is looking west toward where the weekends Estate Sale is being held.  The site is just beautiful!

 

If you look close you will see a flag pole just right of the house there in the center - well that flag pole is where I was - you cannot see the house for all the trees but I had the most awesome view of the lake from my second story perch.  

 

 

 

This is looking to the east - it was soo beautiful and my pics do not do the view justice!  Just down on this side is the locks were all the water is let out.  

 

  

  

This is just to the west - part of the dam works.  

 

The lake was very busy this morning, with all the fishing guides, skiers, and everyone just enjoying the beautiful lake!  

Take the time today to enjoy the beauty that is around you!

Chiggers - No Purchase Necessary!

This next sale has been really great to work on despite the presence of the infamous Southern Chigger! (if anyone knows of a good chigger repellent - something that doesn't make you smell like a refinery -  please share)  The site of this sale is the beautiful Lake Texoma on the Texas side by the Denison Dam.  The views from the property are just awesome.  It has been a bit grown up hence the presense of the chiggers and we have since mowed and trimmed so you won't be bothered with the pesky little creatures unless you embark through the bamboo and brush.     The family greenhouse, for their floral shop in Denison, was on this property since 1911.   So you know that there are some goodies here and believe me this place was full from top to bottom!

ESTATE SALE

673 Lakeview Dr.

Denison, TX

75020

June 26-28

9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The living estate sale of Ms. Martha Wagner.

This 2-story house on Lake Texoma is full of vintage and antique furniture and collectibles.

Antique acorn bed, pine china cabinet, antique prayer rug, antique oak furniture, white wicker, drop leaf table, antique dressers-tiger oak & birds eye maple, antique wardrobe, local memorabilia, 1920's & 30's Denison annuals, over 1000 books- antique & new, occupied Japan, lots of smalls, vintage toys & games, old correspondence, stamp collection, grandfather clock, pewter flatware, primitives, samplers, art work-antique & new, pottery, book shelves, desks, sofas, misc. furniture, 100's of cookbooks, china, flatware, crystal punch bowl from Germany, kitchen items, cut glass, colored glass, National Geographic's all starting with 1930-1990's, old stationary, western toy chest, lamps, rugs, antique lures, old florist supplies, vintage magazines, miniatures, stoneware, enamelware, antique radio, dry sink, antique pump organ, antique phone, vintage Christmas, wine dispenser, Metropolitan Museum of Art books, art books, vintage ladies lingerie, crafts- quilting-sewing-yarn-knitting-crotchet-needlework-patterns, rocks & fossils, shells, washer & dryer, old canning jars, lots of flower pots, vintage clothing, occasional chairs,

garage is FULL!!!

PLUS MUCH MUCH MORE!!!!!903.815.1650

Driving Directions

Click on image for larger

Antique Show Time

Ralph Willard's Tower Antique Show will be at Fair Park June 5th, 6th, & 7th admission is $6 and good for all three days.

This is one of the best antiques shows that comes to Dallas, it's a bit on the high end side, but well worth the trip.

There is loads to do at Fair Park - the Science Museum, Aquarium, IMax, the gardens ( and this time of year the gardens are going to be just beautiful).........so pack up the spouse and kids and make a day of it. 

Treasure Happy,
VictorianCobweb

Estate Sale at Little Red Log Cabin at Paradise Cove

ESTATE SALE

534 Paradise Cove Road

Pottsboro, Texas 75076

May 22, 23 & 24

9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

(Pics are at bottom of page)

Charming country log cabin filled with quality treasures!

American oak & tiger oak antique furniture-circa 1890-1910, Antique vanity w/bifold mirrors, wooden high chair, pie safe, wardrobes, several chest of drawers, pine trestle dining table, pine dry sink, antique Hoosier, book case w/glass doors, antique side chairs, antique spinning wheel, antique cherry drop leaf breakfast table, Colonial Jr. Portland cast iron kitchen stove- works, small secretary, black writing table w/chair, large work desk, several accent tables, campaign style pine desk, 60th anniversary Howard Miller Grandfather Clock, small cast iron cookstove-American Boiler & Fdry. Co. Milan Mich., antique RCA Radiola, willow wood furniture, hutches, dressers, students desk, buffet, sofa, lounge chairs, recliners, sleeper sofa, 1920's decoy ducks, wooden wagon seat, kitchen items- handmade & antique iron & wood, old wooden fruit crates- large & small, lamps- antiques & 1960's style, many collectible- roosters, chickens, salt & pepper shakers, etc., Spode- American Songbirds plates by Ray Harm, china, pottery- new & old, enamel/graniteware, lanterns, iron cookware, Guardian Service cookware, old tins, old scales, 1930's & 40's magazines, kitchen appliances, pine and wrought iron plate holders, iron ice hooks, old records, pine prayer alter, baskets, black Americana collectibles, Aladdin lamps, linens, dollies, quilts, pictures, artwork, sewing machine, silver plate serving pcs., G E profile washer & dryer, 2 claw foot bath tubs, old saws, fishing equipment-rods, reels, tackle, etc., boat w/1975 Chrysler motor, animal mail boxes, trunks, bird houses, dolls, large stuffed animals, coffe tables, Christmas items- vintage & some new, yard tools, tools, PLUS MUCH MORE!!!2 CAR GARAGE IS FULL!!!!

West of Pottsboro, signs will start at American bank in Pottsboro.

903.815.1650

Driving Directions

Click on picture for larger:

Hidden Treasures

This just proves that you never know what treasures you will find if you just look, even in the most obvious places you can find wonderful treasures that can be worth a cool fortune or just a fun addition to a collection.  Case in point is this Oklahoma man who found  what might possibly contain an original Dr. Pepper recipe.......(article reprinted courtesy of Yahoo News).  Read on about this fascinating treasure and what it could be worth...........

 

Dr Pepper artifact may reveal soft drink's origin

AP – This Monday, April 13, 2009 photo shows a recipe titled 'D Peppers Pepsin Bitters' in a ledger book from …

• Play Video Video:Be a Pepper FOX News

By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer Jamie Stengle, Associated Press Writer – Mon May 4, 7:51 am ET

DALLAS – Poking through antiques stores while traveling through the Texas Panhandle, Bill Waters stumbled across a tattered old ledger book filled with formulas.
He bought it for $200, suspecting he could resell it for five times that. Turns out, his inkling about the book's value was more spot on than he knew. The Tulsa, Okla., man eventually discovered the book came from the Waco, Texas, drugstore where Dr Pepper was invented and includes a recipe titled "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters."
"I began feeling like I had a national treasure," said Waters, 59.
Dr Pepper's manufacturer says the recipe is not the secret formula for the modern day soft drink, but the 8 1/2-by-15 1/2 inch book is expected to sell between $50,000 to $75,000 when it goes up for auction at Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries on May 13.
"It probably has specks of the original concoction on its pages," Waters said.
Waters discovered the book, its yellowed pages stained brown on the edges, underneath a wooden medicine bottle crate in a Shamrock antiques store last summer. A couple months after buying it, he took a closer look as he prepared to sell it on eBay.
He noticed there were several sheets with letterheads hinting at its past, like a page from a prescription pad from a Waco store titled "W.B. Morrison & Co. Old Corner Drug Store." An Internet search revealed Dr Pepper, first served in 1885, was invented at the Old Corner Drug Store in Waco by a pharmacist named Charles Alderton. Wade Morrison was a store owner.
Faded letters on the book's fraying brown cover say "Castles Formulas." John Castles was a partner of Morrison's for a time and was a druggist at that location as early as 1880, said Mary Beth Webster, collections manager at the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute in Waco.
As he gathered more information, Waters took a slower turn through the book's more than 360 pages, which are filled with formulas for everything from piano polish to a hair restorer to a cough syrup. He eventually spotted the "D Peppers Pepsin Bitters" formula.
"It took three or four days before I actually realized what I had there," Waters said.
The recipe written in cursive in the ledger book is hard to make out, but ingredients seem to include mandrake root, sweet flag root and syrup.
It isn't a recipe for a soft drink, says Greg Artkop, a spokesman for the Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group. He said it's likely instead a recipe for a bitter digestive that bears the Dr Pepper name.
He said the recipe certainly bears no resemblance to any Dr Pepper recipes the company knows of. The drink's 23-flavor blend is a closely guarded secret, only known by three Dr Pepper employees, he said.
Michael Riley, chief cataloger and historian for Heritage Auction Galleries, said they think it's an early recipe for Dr Pepper.
"We just feel like it's the earliest version of it," he said.
He hasn't, however, tested that theory by trying to mix up a batch. Neither has Waters; he's thought about it but would need to find someone to decipher all the handwriting.
Jack McKinney, executive director of the Waco museum, surmised that Alderton might have been giving customers something for their stomachs and added some Dr Pepper syrup to make it taste better.
"I don't guess there's any definitive answer. It's got to be the only one of its kind," Riley said.
McKinney said the ledger book was bound to be popular with Dr Pepper collectors because it's from the time the drink was invented.
Riley said the book was probably started around 1880 and used through the 1890s. It's not known who wrote the Dr Pepper recipe in the book, but they don't think it was the handwriting of Alderton or Morrison. Some of the formulas have Alderton's name after them.
At first, Alderton's drink inspired by the smells in the drugstore was called "a Waco." "People would come in and say, 'Shoot me a Waco,'" Riley said.
Soon renamed Dr Pepper, the drink caught on and other stores in town began selling it. Eventually, Alderton got out of the Dr Pepper business and Morrison and a man named Robert Lazenby started a bottling company in 1891.
Flipping through the pages of the ledger book takes one back to a time when drugstores were neighborhood hubs, selling everything from health remedies to beauty products mixed up by the stores' chemists. And among the formulas being mixed up in drugstores were treats for the soda fountain. A two-page spread in Waters' book has recipes for "Soda Water Syrups," including pineapple, lemon and strawberry.
"There were very few national brands," Riley said. "Their lifeblood was all their formulas."
___
On the Net:
Heritage Auction Galleries, http://www.ha.com
Dr Pepper Museum, http://www.drpeppermuseum.com


Happy Treasureing,
VictorianCobweb