Antique Curio
Cindy Howell

Defined Tag: General Antiques.

The antique oak curio cabinet I own is filled with all kinds of curio stuff dating back from when my kids were growing up. No doubt I have creative children who were always into making nice little origami flowers or beautifully decorated scrapbooks from the moment they were little up to high school graduation day.

So what went into the curio cabinet?

Lots of stuff, from sculptures, drawings, rag dolls, pinch pots, navigation compasses, and clay figurines would get dumped in that curio cabinet. But since they left the house though, it seemed odd to keep the cabinet filled with their childhood art projects. For a while, it was nice to have the cabinet filled with stuff that reminded us of how much we missed them. Realization soon set in however, that just as they had to move on with their lives, so did we.

It took a while before we decided what to put into that cabinet. We had some antique mantle clocks and some antique silverware; these were too big and enough for one shelf only. We needed some small objects, but we were not big collectors of small antique curios. So, I made it a point to buy many of those little antique curio objects that you can find in the bazaars, while on my travels abroad. Soon, I had amassed a decent collection.

The first item of antique curio that I got for that cabinet was an antique wrist watch. I have a thing for antique time keeping pieces, be they mantle clocks, wrist watches, or grandfather clocks. So, when I found a lovely antique pocket watch in a local watch store, I was pretty happy to place that in the curio oak cabinet.

In addition to 5 compasses which my daughter collected, I also found a fine, ornamental antique compass, about 100 years old. Although it wasn't working anymore, it was very decorative, and was the perfect companion to all the other watches and more modern compasses lying in that cabinet. It probably belonged on a ship before, I just have no idea which ship.

I also brought part of my antique doll collection to that cabinet, and added some photographs of my grandparents, some old model airplanes which my father put together, and a few die cast toy cars that were around 60 years old.

I hope to be able to fill that cabinet with other antique curios, like antique rings and vases, plus some beautifully sculpted native handicraft that I got from the Philippines. My children's belongings get divided between my bedside table and one of my cupboards. After all, what's a curio cabinet without antique curios!

Cindy Howell has a collection of antique dolls from all around the world, and serves as one of the contributors for Antique Joint. Besides dolls, she is also a fan of antique artwork.