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.