On a recent buying trip to Atlantic City, NJ, with a few pulls of a slot machine handle thrown in for good luck, I went to one of my favorite buying haunts. My best friend in antiques crime and I return every year in search of the perfect find. We are antiques junkies. Norman is our dealer. He stows much of his stash away during the summer to prepare for Atlantique City, a notable and pricey show the City hosts each year at the Convention Center. Trust me, Norman may hide things, but my friend Michael and I leave with a trunk full of great finds ever time we visit nonetheless.
On our last visit, I spied an item immediately. Barware has become hot, so I had been on the lookout. To that point, most of my finds were online. When I hit Norman's and spotted a Nautical Helmet that doubled as an ice bucket, I knew I'd hit the antiques motherload.
Barware can be broken down into several different categories: swizzle sticks, ice buckets, cocktail shakers, shot glasses, regular liquor glasses, bottle openers, old bottles, decorative bottles (mostly new such as those made for Polish Vodka, but still highly collectible). If you really let you imagination run wild, you'll find other categories such as artwork, ashtrays, liquor lights/signs, recipe books, and even jewelry. The beauty of collecting barware is that almost every genre is a crossover; that is, it appeals to collectors for more than one reason. Swizzle sticks (discussed later), for example, are collectible as barware, but they are also collectible individually. Some people collect swizzle sticks from airlines or cruise ships, particularly those that have gone out of business. Others favor Playboy or nightclub swizzle sticks. Either way, you have multiple avenues for resale, if you so choose in the future.
Likewise, money follows suit. You can spend as much or as little as you want. A box of rare swizzle sticks can be had from ebay for about $7.50 for about 70 varied items. A few steps up from that, a 7-piece Czechoslovakian bar set runs about $80-85. It includes an 11" cocktail shaker, 4 glasses, 3" tall of smoke, silver and gold, a 6 " ice bucket and a bitters bottle. Another 7-piece Czech set (decanter, 8 1/2'' tray, 10 '' decanter and five glasses as 4 '' values at $125-130, according to Czechoslovakian Glass & Collectibles Book I by Dale and Diane Bara and Helen M. Rose. Again, this is a crossover items. Many people collect Czech glass, and this is just one more form. The key, of course, these prices only