Clinton CT

For my first blog post to help those new to antiques figure out where to start, I’m going to share one of my favorite places! Clinton Antique Center in Clinton, CT on Boston Post Road. When you first drive up, you will always see unique items displayed outside. They have a large parking lot attached so parking is never an issue, which is a huge plus!! (I don’t like having to pay for parking when I don’t even know if I am going to find something in a store). Be warned though, for a newbie it could be a little overwhelming. Wooden furniture is stacked on top of each other right inside the door. It is a packed warehouse-type setting with individual booths. The booths range from porcelain dolls to records to kitchenware to tin cans, and everything in between. There are little things, and then there are bigger things. You really have to look from top to bottom if you want to ensure you don’t miss something awesome, and you may need to dig through a box or move something out of the way so that you can see it all. But to me that is the best part! While I might not buy everything I find, I love seeing the history. Some people might call it junk, but there is definitely a sense of preservation at this shop. In a way, it is a museum.

So if you are willing to give this kind of treasure hunting a try, here are a couple of small inexpensive ($3-$10) items to look for…

Flower frogs and cheese graters – yes, flower frogs and cheese graters. A flower frog is a glass device (sometimes made of bronze, lead or pottery as well) that holds the stems of flowers at the bottom of a vase in order for the flowers to stay in a certain arrangement. Cheese graters are exactly what you think they are. You can get just one or you could get a couple to use in a group/collection setting. See the attached pictures for how I use my flower frogs and cheese graters. Or you could actually use them for their original purposes!!

To find out the exact location and store hours: http://clinton.patch.com/listings/clinton-antique-center, or find them on Facebook!

My flower frogs - two are from Clinton Antique Center

I use my flower frogs to hold pens and markers!

I display my collection of cheese graters in the kitchen; two are from the Clinton Antique Center.

The top one has a candle inside of it, which helps to make a warm glow!

Strategic Blogging

Hi everyone,

As you read in the About section, this blog is an assignment for a social media class. In the class, we are learning about communities and specifically how communities can use social media to help their campaigns grow. Those campaigns might simply look like a neighborhood wanting to put on a block party or a young professionals group trying to attract more members. The community this blog identifies with is the Antique collector and enthusiast community. In the past few weeks, we’ve learned how to listen to communities – to get to know them – who they are, what they talk about, and what they care about. Then last week, we read about how to use the POS method in order to execute a social strategy within the communities. POS stands for people, objectives, and strategies. I think that the antique community could benefit from an energizing! This blog is designed as part of a social strategy to continue to grow the antique community and enable the community to become more engaged. I will post about where to find antiques along the shoreline — the shops, the goods, the deals — in effort to help those new to the antique community to better understand antiques along the shoreline! I hope you enjoy my gallivantings!

About

“This blog has been created as part of the educational coursework for ICM 522 – Introduction to Social Media in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University. The postings on my site are solely my own and do not reflect the views of Quinnipiac University or any of its employees nor do they offer any professional, legal or medical advice.”