Smiling Bear Antiques

07/20/2024

Smiling Bear, as wildcrocus on eBay, sold this beautiful 1970’s Suntara 5 Piece Desk Set… very quickly! It is quite uncommon to find a set with so many useful pieces, and the address index was unused.

05/29/2024

Our granddaughter found the large dark hole-eyed piggy bank for us many years ago. Late 1800’s and fragile, hole-eyed pigs are quite scarce, so I was thrilled to recently find another large one at the I-29 Antique Mall near Sioux Falls…a mate for the brown one! Since it has a bit of damage, the price was right. I am guessing we all—or most of us—have our choice little collections.

05/05/2024

I am quite old enough now for this basket, which I made years ago for an older brother, to be considered vintage 1995, or so. A Cherokee style basket, it might even sell in an Antiques Mall!

02/08/2024

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01/03/2024

We will be selling these two vintage airbrushed Jackson China demitasse / espresso cups on eBay… but thought it wise to give them the taste test first. 🙂 Our EspressMo coffee (made with a Moka Pot) was just what the little cups ordered. Yumm topped with whipped cream and our wild chokecherry syrup—Happy New Year!

11/22/2023

This C.E. Metzger 1888 Atomizer Perfume Bottle lingered at Smiling Bear Antiques when we had the retail shop, possibly because it does not have the atomizer sprayer. Nonetheless, it is beautiful to look at, clearly an antique, and I have thought it would be quite a nice vase for one flower! On eBay now, it will sell.

(:) However, the live flower in the first photo does not convey. :) ~ To our knowledge this bottle does not contain uranium, as it does not glow under blacklight. There are no seams and the bottom shows that the bottle was blown, whether by machine or mouth.

10/12/2023

Guests who stayed in Chokecherry Hideout found a couple of antiques to buy from Smiling Bear. The ammo box was displayed on the ‘plant shelf’ and the rockingham glazed piggy bank was displayed in the cabinet amongst other objects for sale. Sometimes it is just pure fun to be able to have a souvenir from the home-base of your vacation!

09/23/2023

Read all the way till the end. Gods handiwork again!

The woolly bear caterpillar has long been associated with winter weather folklore. But why? And what does he turn into come spring? Find out!

09/22/2023

The first photo shows two hugger bears that we had in our previous Smiling Bear Antiques shop, but never sold because our younger granddaughter adopted them. 🙂 The second photo shows our octagon stained glass window with the sun shining through, producing a glistening sheen on several bird figurines, the larger of which has been procured as a birthday gift by our older granddaughter who collects bird figurines. Indeed, ˈäb-jikts of the past worthily display in the present day when imagination is inspired by them.

09/21/2023

Yesterday our guests in Eloosive Moose, when time to leave, knocked on our front door to request purchasing the taxidermy pheasant which was resting on a high display shelf in their cabin—and since it did have a price tag attached, it was time for us to say goodbye to the feathered guy that we ourselves enjoyed buying, at an antique mall in Bismarck, North Dakota.

09/12/2023

We are beginning the process of adding Smiling Bear Antiques items to our online store. Individual items may be reposted to this page now and then. Perhaps you will find an interesting ˈäbjekt for your enjoyment or to give as a gift! Be sure to click 'View Full Details' if you get to that option and want to learn more about an item.

Smiling Bear Antiques offers many hard to find ˈäbjekts, attention given to quality. Novelties and souvenirs from the past make present-day gifts and mementos.

09/12/2023

Leaving Keystone today, two miles out on Old Hill City Road we stopped at Holy Terror Antiques, our first time to see their new place. We were very pleasantly delighted, both at the beautiful displays and that Sam and Archie-the-bulldog made inseparable friends!