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.