Collecting Americana

For anyone interested in collecting Americana, there is a wide variety of folk art and objects to explore.

All of us express our passions partly through what we love, buy and display. Sometimes it’s fine art. Other times it’s odd objects with little value.  And it can be everything in between. My little collection of Americana happens to be floral Hubley painted doorstops. I began with a single piece I saw in an antique shop and expanded as I discovered a micro market for them on eBay. Everyone has their special “stuff.”

Top New York decorator Ellie Cullman collects Americana, displayed in her family’s house which was renovated and modernized a few years ago. Americana is a catch term all for U.S. made folk and primitive art, country pieces and objects — the type of estate pieces found at country markets, auctions, by thrifting or curb cruising. The distinctions of pieces Mrs. Cullman has collection include their quality, of course, and their vibrant color. A display of graniteware — also commonly called Agate or Enamelware — [top] is positively vibrant. I’ve seen a good deal of turquoise and blue graniteware but not the vivid red and yellow. Wonderful! And it’s interesting to know that graniteware is so highly collectible that the National Graniteware Society was founded founded in 1986 to further interest in this special 19th century kitchen and dinnerware that is still reproduced today.

Weathervanes are something of an Americana staple as I noted in my post on Collector’s Day at the Auction. Perhaps that’s because the forms are often as whimsical as the gilded prancing horose, which is mounted as a sculpture. I also adore decanters just for their own sake. But none of the collectibles pulls at my heart in the same way as the wonderfully red-colored, grain painted antique chest of drawers on which they are all displayed.

Antique and vintage game boards and game wheels have great color and interesting geometric shapes. Displaying a collection in an informal sitting room feels just right. And the color really pops against the linen-white walls, particularly since all the furniture below the beadboard chair rail is so neutral in comparison — even with an impressive pair of side tables flanking the sofa.

(Source: Connecticut Cottages and Gardens)

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