Exit 76 Antique Mall, Edinburgh, Indiana

Only around 30 miles South of Indianapolis on Interstate 65 sits the Exit 76 Antique Mall. It is not far off of the freeway, in an area with an outlet mall and lots of restaurants. Right off the bat the first thing you need to know is that you need to eat first. The antique mall does have a small snack area with a few vending machines, but it took us over four hours to walk this mall. We were pretty hungry after two, and definitely should have stopped off around the corner first and gotten a burger or something.

Exit 76 Antique Mall entrance

There was plenty of parking out front, and the first thing you notice from the outside is that this building is really large. We have been to plenty of antique malls that claim large numbers of vendors or booths, and many times they are exaggerated. Exit 76 claims 600 booths and cases, and we tend to agree. Upon entry we were struck by the spaciousness and cleanliness. It looked more like a Best Buy or a Sears than it did an antique mall. The floors were polished, the paint was crisp, and the aisles were wide. They provide miniature shopping carts, and at the front door are maps for easy navigation.

Keebler Cookie Jars Everywhere!

If you are looking for Keebler Cookie Jars, this is the place to find them. We counted 7 of them throughout the mall, both the earlier and newer ones, priced between $50 and $95. Of course, you can buy these all day on Etsy.com for $25 each and they barely even qualify as vintage. With so many available here one has to wonder if they ever sell any. Maybe they sell so well they keep a bunch of elves shackled in a basement sweatshop manufacturing them to keep the shelves full. Only the vendors know for sure.

Typical Pottery Case

There were at least a dozen cases devoted to American art pottery, with plenty of Roseville Pottery as would be expected. Also as usual, the prices were stratospheric. We did find a few pieces here and there that were priced close to retail, but there were definitely no deals to be found. Many booths and cases displayed a prominent X% off sign, but even with the discounts the prices for the Roseville were steep. We found few rare or difficult pieces either, most were late lines or common things like Donatello or Mostique. The Weller Pottery pieces were mostly common as well, lots of cameo and wild rose, but at least these were usually within the ballpark of retail prices. Once again, there were no deals to be had. We found only a single piece of rookwood, a tall and uninteresting productionware vase.

McCoy Teepee Cookie Jar

We were surprised to find this McCoy Teepee cookie jar in one booth. There are many reproductions out there but we felt confident this one was original. The $200 price seemed to be a good deal, as they do sell often in the $300 - $500 range. Upon close inspection we found the restoration, making the $200 a fair retail price for an attractive slightly restored piece.

Great Depression glass display

There were a good number of vendors with booths filled with glass that were doing it right, like the one above. The prices were all over the place depending on the vendor, and the selection and layout of the booths were nice. Although this one focused on depression pattern glass, there were others with other specialties such as Fenton. On a side note, we saw a tremendous amount of L.E. Smith moon and stars glass all over the place, and most of it was dirt cheap. It looks like that pattern may be falling out of vogue with collectors. We did find a few booths with a good amount of Viking and Blenko crackle glass as well. A better than average selection to be sure, and the prices of the Viking and Blenko were low enough that we actually brought a few pieces home with us.

$400? Really?

Of course, you don't have to be an expert in antiques to run a booth, and this vendor is the proof. Maybe if he tacks a few more extra zeros onto the $400 price for this Fiestaware tripod candlestick he can shut down his case permanently and retire to Belize.

Our loot

So, for four hours of searching we found 10 pieces to bring home. A little green Pilgrim pitcher (with sticker) a Viking Epic Persimmon divided nut tray, a Viking Bluenique Tundra swung vase, a small blue McCoy vase, a pink Brush footed bowl, a very nice Brush McCoy blue Onyx ovoid vase, a deep brown glossy Frankoma bud vase, a brilliant Dugan amethyst pulled loop rose vase, and two (marked) small Muncie Pottery vases in rose over lavender. We highly recommend that if you have the time and are in the area, give Exit 76 Antique Mall a chance. You never know what you might find!

Centerville Antique Mall, Centerville, Indiana

Today we travelled to the Centerville Antique Mall, in Centerville, Indiana. Centerville is quite a misnomer, since the town is located on the Eastern part of Indiana close to the border with Ohio. It is 2.5 miles off of I-70 but easy to find.

View from the Parking Lot of Centerville Antique Mall

The building looks much smaller on the outside than it does when you get inside. Right when you walk in on the right are maps you can take with you to navigate the mall, but experienced mall shoppers will have little trouble finding their way around without one. Right in the middle is a nice little restaurant, so if you get hungry or need a drink you are covered.

Wide Aisles for Display Cases... Hurrah!

Up front are several aisles of display cases filled with mostly collectibles. The majority have a theme and that makes it very easy to locate the things you are interested in. The aisles are nice and wide, which makes browsing a real breeze. There were 2 major displays of Roseville Pottery, with scattered pieces of Rookwood Pottery, Weller Pottery, and the other pottery  manufacturers popular with collectors. We found no Lalique, no Galle, Daum, Legras, nothing really of the nice french stuff from the early 20th century. We did find a few pieces of Rainbow Glass and even a piece of Kanawha Glass which we bought. For the most part things were priced at or below market, and many of the sellers were running sales for 20% to 50% off which made it easy to find deals.

Avon Cape Cod

One display had a ton of Avon Cape Cod, which is still used by people today. Whatever you are missing could probably be found in this case, and even without the 10% off the prices were pretty cheap with most pieces under $10.00.

Ohio Pottery run Amok

Things took a turn for the worse when you look at the Ohio pottery. We almost had a stroke at the Roseville prices, but they were advertising 40% off. But even with the 40% off the prices were way out of whack. The large Roseville Freesia floor vase on the bottom right was tagged... get this... $1200! Even with 40% off you are still getting socked for $720 which is somewhere around $300 too much. The 8" Roseville Apple Blossom was marked $250 which ends up being $150, around $25 more than you can get one from any of a dozen online sources. None of the pieces could be considered rare, or very early. We all know this stuff used to sell well, and the vendor likely paid quite a bit for this back in the day, but the sooner he cuts his losses and moves on the better it will be for everyone. This looks like the leftovers of a successful booth when all the good stuff had been taken.

Fake Roseville

We only found one fake piece of Roseville Pottery, a clematis candlestick. Priced at $18.95, you can get them for $2.50 each if you buy them by the case on Alibaba.



More Roseville Pottery

The second case of Roseville Pottery also contained mostly common pieces, with some common Weller pieces and others. But the owner of "Case 9" had apparently done some research and the prices were actually reasonable. If you could find a piece you wanted for your collection in this case you could get away with a little under retail, which is a rare thing anymore. The $150 for the Mostique bowl was a little high, but it had a great design and was exceptionally crisp. We thought about picking it up because it was just that nice, but in the end we passed on it.

Anyone Need Some Glass?



Most of the decent glass had been apparently sucked up by one of three large booths, each with great organization and display. Across the vendors the prices seemed pretty consistent, with a great selection of Fenton, Indiana Glass, Fostoria, and all of the depression through mid-century glass antique malls are known for. In these "minimalls" within the mall we found all of it clean, undamaged, and reasonably priced.

Many of the booths and cases of course had no real pottery or glass, while many had a small selection or a few items. Many focused on furniture or other subjects of little interest to us such as vinyl records, toys, or books, but there were enough pieces scattered across them to make the treasure hunt fun. We did the whole mall in right about 2 hours. The staff was very friendly and helpful, and we would recommend this mall for the depression and mid-century glass selection, organization, and prices.



Carmel Old Town Antique Mall, Carmel, Indiana

Standing in the midst of the Carmel "Arts District" is the Carmel Old Town Antique Mall. It is surrounded by various shops and restaurants, and even on a sunny Sunday afternoon there was plenty of parking on the west side of the building. It has been open since 2002, and boasts 12,000 square feet across two floors. While that may seem like a lot, we were able to browse it in a little over an hour.

Carmel Old Town Antique Mall

The layout of the mall was very easy to navigate, and the booths and displays had an above average  adherence to a particular theme or market. This is unlike many malls where it appears a random selection of eclectic items is the norm rather than the exception. Another surprise was the lack of the typical masses of American Art Pottery such as Roseville, Rookwood, Weller, and McCoy. Although each of these manufacturers were represented, it was generally just a piece scattered here or there. One exception was a vendor who appeared to be trying to rid himself of some Roseville Pottery that had been collecting dust in his case for years.

Roseville Pottery "Super Sale"

In this case the appearances were deceiving. We were glad we did not see the original prices hidden under the red sale tags, because the prices on the red tags were very close to current market prices. For example, the small Sunflower vase on the bottom shelf (with no blue on the bottom) was "On Sale" for $410. The Ming Tree candlesticks were $70, which is not bad if you find a collector of the pattern (are the any?) and the pink Iris mini-jard was $90 which is what we would ask for it before accepting a best offer slightly lower. Alas, this is an all-too common sight in antique malls where they have to take a loss on pottery bought five years ago just to get it out of their inventory and put the shelf space to better use.

There were a good dozen vendors who had a good selection of vintage glass though, especially one large section which had hundreds.

Racks and Racks of Vintage Glass

It was well organized by both color and manufacturer, lots of Fenton Glass, lots of Carnival glass, several nearly full sets of depression glass, and even some Northwood and Pilgrim.  The prices were high retail, but when you have a location like this at a high traffic location and a wide selection you can get away with it. The odd thing about this booth though was that it had no Viking glass. In fact, we did not see a single piece in the whole mall. It seems like just yesterday Viking glass was everywhere, and now... Poof! Have people given up selling it, or are people scooping it all up?

Nicely Organized Depression Pattern Glass

The depression glass prices was what one would expect from an antique mall, $15-$20 for common pieces.

Small Pilgrim Crackle Glass

Another odd find was several vendors with nice displays of small crackle glass pieces from Pilgrim, Blenko, and others. We rarely see one or two pieces here and there, but there were several displays of a dozen or more. Priced $15 - $30 each, they could certainly make a nice colorful collection for display, and we picked up a few for just that purpose.

View from top of the stairs

Set in a fairly affluent area, this mall has good traffic and a clientele looking for decorative items rather than collectibles. Hence the focus on eye-catching wares as opposed to the rare. We recommend that if you are in the area, spend an hour here and see what you can find, and then head across the street for some good fish tacos and a glass of wine.

Midland Arts & Antiques Market, Indianapolis, Indiana

Today we went to the Midland Arts & Antiques Market in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is located on the very near east side of the city, just off of I-65 and I-70. They feature well over 100 vendors in both booths and displays, and have all of the typical wares one would expect for a large antique mall. The building was originally a multi-story door and sash company, composed of red brick and in general disrepair on the exterior.




Midland Arts and Antique Market exterior

The interior is also quite dilapidated, and the organization is almost like a maze. You can easily get lost is the twists and turns, and often find yourself looking at the same booth several times as you wind your way throughout. Two sets of stairs take you to the second floor where an additional 50 vendors are similarly arranged. What was missing from this large facility was any sort of food court, so eat first and bring your own drinks.





Interior of the Midland Arts and Antiques Market

It seems as if this would be the perfect spot for a younger crowd looking for "Shabby Chic", as the vast majority of merchandise is being marketed towards the decorative market as opposed to actual antique collectors. This means deals can be found by the sharp eye, but it took us nearly 3 hours to find 4 under priced pieces of vintage art pottery. We got a nice piece of Burley-Winter Pottery, and a nice piece of Zanesville Pottery, both overlooked due to the lack of identifying marks.



Van Briggle set for sale

This set of Van Briggle was probably made in the 1970's, and was in very nice condition. Unfortunately, it will probably sit here forever. As far a decorative set for shabby chic it was rather plain and uninteresting, and the cost for the set was $140. Perhaps a collector who desired these might might pay that if they really really wanted it, but these pieces are common and all available on Ebay for half of this price.



Nice display of 1920's Ohio Pottery

Here is someone with a small selection of early Ohio Pottery, pieces ranging from the Roseville Pottery Mostique to Burly-Winter and Zanesville Stoneware. Each piece was priced either right at or just below current market, and we bought one of them ourselves. The $95 for the Mostique was a bit high, but the look could certainly appeal to decorators, so although a collector could get it for half that by using patience, it will probably still sell.

2007 called and it wants its prices back.

There was a time when antique malls were filled with cases just like this one. Nice pieces of Roseville Pottery well-displayed and well-described, pulling in big money and fast sales for the vendors.  Those days are long past. Most of the cases you find like this one find the vendor so upside down on their investments that they cannot lower their prices without losing money. The prices on these pieces were a little high even for 2007, but for 2015 they are a complete joke. For example, the Cosmos 650-5 is priced at a whopping $345, and things got worse from there. We always feel a great sadness when we find a case like this, knowing that they may only sell a piece or two per year, and the profits probably don't even pay the rent for the space. We have many of these pieces for sale on our website at nearly 1/3 of the price.



A couple of fake Roseville wall pockets

It's just not an antique mall without a few fakes, and here are the finds of the day. A fake Roseville Luffa wall pocket priced at $125 and a fake Roseville Peony wall pocket priced at $150. The unwary might see the Luffa piece and snatch it up thinking they got a bargain, but all they would get is a poor copy by Chinese factories. A real Peony wall pocket might go for $125 on a good day, and here we have a copy priced higher than the original! At least at that price it might never sell.

Scattered throughout the mall you can find plenty of McCoy and Haeger, almost always overpriced, and a good amount of studio pottery no one will buy because they have no idea who made it. We did find a few scattered pieces of Lalique, but they all were priced above what Ebay vendors charge. The bottom line is, if you are looking for decorative items there are plenty to be found, often a good prices. But if you are looking for deals on vintage or antique art pottery or glass you may decide to save yourself the visit.