The Antique Shoppe Editoral Page

	ON THE COVER - August Issue 2007 Charm of America's Cafeteria Often Captured on Postcards ...By Robert Reed One of my most vivid childhood memories is a pink clad waitress falling in full rush down a flight of stairs at the Blue Boar Cafeteria. The woman screamed, the patrons gasped, and the tray loaded with food crashed to the bottom of the steps.
	I frequently field questions from readers about what kind of wood a piece of older or antique furniture is made of. There seems to be a great deal of confusion among some collectors about what a certain type of oak is called and where it comes from. One reader told me that a veteran dealer informed him that "tiger eye" oak was so rare and expensive because less than 1% of all oak trees had that pattern. That actually turns out to be more or less partially true. The other part of that is that the other 99% of oak trees also has that pattern. I'll get to that in a minute.
	Cigar Store Figures Tobacco's Colorful Past....By Maureen Timm The history and origin of the East Coast Cigar Store Indian Statue dates back to England in 1617 when small wooden figures called "Virginie Men" were placed on countertops to represent tobacco companies. These "Virginians" (the local English renditions of Indians) were depicted as black men wearing headdresses and kilts made of tobacco leaves.
	South Beach Revisited....By Carol J. Perry Who hasn't heard of South Beach? It's the trendy Art Deco district of Miami Beach in Florida. It's a place bustling with Beachgoers, shoppers and people watchers by day, and it is filled with the sounds of music and laughter and the sightings of the "beautiful people” at night. Some call South Beach “America's Riviera." It has not always been so.
	Q. I am refinishing an old (antique?) harvest table and have run into a problem. The table is mostly nailed together with old cut nails. The top is even nailed to the frame through the top. The nails were countersunk and the holes filled with putty of a sort which is now gone but there is a dark, almost black stain around all the nails in both the skirt and top. Is there a way to get rid of the stains without bleaching the entire table? Should I dig them out and fill in with more putty?
	When you first hear the words sewer tile objects, they may sound very unappealing. Can you even imagine that such items can sell for several hundred dollars? If you have never heard of sewer tile items it isn't surprising. They were made during a short time from 1880 to roughly 1950 and usually only in Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania. However examples have come to auction made in St.Louis, Mo., Red Wing, Mn., Monmouth, Ill. and Cannelton, In.
	Early World War II Gum Cards....By Roy Nuhn Many of the events leading up to our country's involvement in World War II, from the late 1930s to 1941, were dramatically depicted on the newest American fad, gum cards.
	Q. I inherited this 3” high glass vase with the raised figure of a little girl. Somebody told me this is a “Mary Gregory” piece. It has unusual shades of red and gold. What can you tell me about it?

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