I went to an antique mega mall today. This “collectible” stood out!

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confabulatrix@reddit

Never heard of Longaberger baskets till today!

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Atlas7-k@reddit

I gleefully await you googling their former headquarters in Newark, OH.

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confabulatrix@reddit

Never heard of Longaberger baskets till today!haha i had to google them to see what they were and saw the wonderful headquarters!

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ltlcrab@reddit

I also never heard of Longaberger. I grew up in Arizona and even my mother never had any of those baskets. I’m 74.

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Listen_Lanky@reddit (OP)

https://share.google/toZ8km3XHskbxRnqV

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paciolionthegulf@reddit

Not surprised about the Longaberger (that had fad written all over it), but I've been amazed at how unloved the fancy wedding china has become over my lifetime.

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I "could have" sold my wedding china and crystal when my husband and were downsizing, but it would have taken too much effort. It had already been in storage (safely stored in individual sleeves, etcetera) for over 10 years, so we made the executive decision that if a local friend who entertained regularly, wanted it, it was hers. Best decision we made.

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D_Richards@reddit

I have my parents china and silverware still boxed up in the basement from when they gave it to us 15 years ago. We’ve not used it once.

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Heavymetal73@reddit

If it has real silver you might have value there.

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gcwardii@reddit

I got my aunt’s set, so my older daughter took my set, because my mother-in-law’s set is in the basement for my younger daughter. I don’t know who’s going to take my mother’s set!

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Mangolandia@reddit

😂

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maddog2271@reddit

This is the way. My wife and I inherited our China…nothing special in terms of value but it belonged to my great grandmother. We use it usually 2-4x a year. When we are done with it I am giving to my daughter and if she doesn’t want it then I don’t care. It came to me for free, and it can leave me for free.

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FawnLeib0witz@reddit

No one wants that. I go to a lot of estate sales and china never sells. Kind of sad.

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Komaisnotsalty@reddit

I live in the middle of nowhere. The closest antique mall is 90 minutes from me but it's a fave when I go that way.

There's just so much to see, it takes hours to wander through.

What never fails to blow my mind though is one vendor sells antique photos and frames and he has a cardboard box overflowing with abandoned Edwardian and Victorian era photos, just all tossed in there in a heap.

Black and white (or sepia) photos of strangers no one knows, lost to time, and I find it a bit haunting. It's hard for me not to imagine these people, back in the day, getting dressed in their Sunday best for what would have been a very expensive event, and very new at the time

There's photos of all kinds: wedding photos, death photos, gatherings, all sorts of things. And not a single name, everyone dead and gone and forgotten.

I love antiques so very much but sometimes it's a bit haunting in the way I wish objects could talk and tell us their stories.

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KNT-cepion@reddit

My mom has a Longaberger basket or two. My aunt has several.

Apparently Longaberger made a dinnerware set and my aunt found one for my mom to have. Bowls, plates, serving bowls and glasses with a sort of basket weave accent.

I mean, it’s a perfectly serviceable dinnerware set. Well made and everything, but if it was sitting in a shop I would certainly walk by it without even a glance.

All this and more are headed my and my sister’s way eventually. What are we going to do with my aunt’s 19th century cake stand collection? 😩

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pip783@reddit

I have the red and white dinner set! Bought second hand about 25 years ago, this made in America set has held up great thru microwave and dishwashers. Would I buy again? Probably not, but see no reason to discard now.

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KNT-cepion@reddit

Mom’s has blue accents! It’s certainly well made. Nice weighty pieces.

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maddog2271@reddit

I second the advice to contact an estate auction if you have the 19th century cake stands…those could be valuable and just sell them for “whatever they give you”. Maybe keep one if you actually make cakes and have a use. My dear friend A just downsized her home and in the final stretches the she me that she called a couple estate guys and let them come in and she accepted whatever offer they made to remove the stuff she didn’t want. Got rid of like 90% of all that stuff, and only kept what her two children indicated they liked. I plan to follow in her footsteps.

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KNT-cepion@reddit

This is the avenue we’ll likely need to take for a good chunk of the estate.

She’s had discussions with my husband and about the very special pieces that she’d like to have stay in the family. Pieces that have that have significant family meaning and that sort of thing.

Right now she’s trying to find out who particularly wants what to have a definitive record of such for when the sad occasion arrives. Hopefully that’s not for a very long time!

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Dlistedbitch@reddit

Ngl a 19th century cake stand collection sounds awesome

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KNT-cepion@reddit

It’s certainly cool but unfortunately my space limited. :(

This lady is quite the collector. She spends endless hours researching antiques of all sorts and relentlessly hunts those things down.

It’s a very satisfying hobby for her, but she also has a rather large home to accommodate it all.

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Triviajunkie95@reddit

Contact an estate sale company. Seriously.

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TXtogo@reddit

I have no idea what this is. Now I have to google it because I’m sure I’ve never seen it

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LissaBryan@reddit

Part of the draw was the Americana. Longaberger baskets were handmade in a small town in Ohio and each was signed by its maker. The jobs were well-paid. The owner of the company, Dave, was huge when it comes to giving back to the community. The little town actually became a big tourist draw because of it with all kinds of cute little shops and bed & breakfasts and pretty Victorian houses. (Speaking of which, i work in the historical field in Ohio and I know of several historical sites he bought and paid to renovate when they were in danger of being torn down.)

Then he died and the business was inherited by his kids who decided yeah, they were rich, but they could be really rich if they moved production to China. They stopped supporting the community. There were a few other decisions that sealed the company's doom, but once the baskets were just cheap shit from Asia, people didn't really want them. The HQs closed. The little town died.

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LocalStatistician538@reddit

According to their website just now, "At Longaberger, we celebrate our heritage by continuing to handcraft pieces that stand the test of time. All of our baskets are proudly woven in Dresden, Ohio, and designed to be enjoyed today, cherished tomorrow, and passed down for years to come."

So they're still woven in Dresden, Ohio? Maybe robots are doing it now?

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TwinsiesBlue@reddit

They collected them, they didn’t just buy one. I’m 53 and I can tell you never saw them being used, just a bunch of baskets displayed.

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ConcertinaTerpsichor@reddit

Great carrier for knitting or embroidery projects.

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Few-Pineapple-5632@reddit

I used one as a diaper changing basket that I could carry. I had twins via emergency c-section so changing them on the floor was necessary.

I didn’t actually pay full price for it, my boomer mother did.

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Woodbutcher1234@reddit

We have 1 that my wife bought out of guilt at a friend's party. It's been used for 20 years as a bread basket given that the liner that faded in about a year has no detrimental effect on our 90's decor.

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Eulers_Constant_e@reddit

I’m the same age and I still use mine! To be fair, I was never into them or collected them. But my mom and my sister were devoted fans. They insisted I take a girls trip one weekend to visit the basket building. It was like a bus tour. They played several games on the bus ride there and I kept winning, receiving a basket as the prize each time. I’ve also inherited a few from my mom.

I have two on my kitchen counter that we call the snack baskets. I always filled them with healthy snacks like apples and mandarins and raisins and nuts, and my kids were little they knew they could take a snack from the snack basket anytime they wanted. Mind you, I never bought these baskets or cared much about them either way, but my oldest moved out recently and one of the first things she did was buy a “snack basket” off eBay for her kitchen counter.

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jenorama_CA@reddit

A couple of years ago around Christmas my best gay complained that his favorite cookie bowl broke. So off to the local antique mall I went for a real deal PYREX bowl like I had grown up using (my mom’s, it’s still at my dad’s). I found the perfect one, confirmed PYREX (iykyk) and paid $50 for it. He loves it and it’s his favorite bowl and one day his daughter will inherit it.

I had to look up these longaberger baskets tho. Why were these so hot?

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cursethedarkness@reddit

As I explained Longaberger to my cousin once—midwestern housewife status symbol.

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LissaBryan@reddit

They also sold pottery for a while. All of my dishes are Longaberger. Pretty well-made stuff, too! Over 25 years of my very clumsy handling, I've only broke a couple of pieces.

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Heavy_Calligrapher71@reddit

They were a popular MLM in the Midwest. People hosted parties, things were pitched as collectible and limited run. That being said, they are very well-made and were handmade in Ohio. They are great baskets! But how many baskets do you really need? And a lot of the design aesthetic now reads as dated.

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jenorama_CA@reddit

These seem like something my BFF would have been into back in the day. She was into the country aesthetic back in the day.

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No_Lawfulness_5667@reddit

I think it was a project/challenge.

My friend has been giving new life to the porcelain dolls she picks up and thrift stores. If she agrees I'll post what she's been doing.

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ernurse748@reddit

Last year the hubby and I went to a Vintage Flea. All of the clothes for sale there were straight outa my closet, circa 1988; Liz Claiborne, Benetton sweatshirts, letterman’s jackets from 1985…

Vintage to me meant “Mad Men”. Oh well.

And most of those Longaberger baskets hold up well. My mom has some that are being used for storage and they are in “like new” condition.

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WarmVelvetyMuppetSex@reddit

I use several pieces in my office and they're in amazing condition.

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HalfaEnchilada@reddit

I've got about 100 pieces of Precious Moments figurines that I would love to get rid of, but I'm waiting until the gifters wont notice they are gone.

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UseACoasterJeez@reddit

If you need a new patio or something, crush them & use them for the concrete aggregate. You'll still have & admire them every day!

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HalfaEnchilada@reddit

Great idea! I dont have any patio space and I can't think of where I could use concrete aggregate but is it wrong that I think id enjoy seeing them crushed into smithereens. Precious Smithereens.

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No_Lawfulness_5667@reddit

There's a guy, on youtube, the Crafsman who repurposed several Precious Moments into alien hunters in space.

So that's an idea.

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HalfaEnchilada@reddit

I love this! I wonder if he accepts donations for his creations!

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eejm@reddit

As much as Precious Moments figurines creep me out, I find this genius!

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maddog2271@reddit

But how are you to know the moment isn’t precious when there is not some kitschy piece of junk to mark the occasion? /s

My mom was actually pretty good about that stuff but my god the amount of crap in her house. She has a few things I am going to keep but 99% of it is going in the trash as soon as she is gone. I love her very much but my god the stuff…and like I say, she isn’t even bad. I refuse to do this to my daughter.

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Sir_Osis_Brewer@reddit

This is the conversation my wife and I have with our daughter. She won’t have to deal with all the stuff from us because we are already getting rid of it. And therefore things we do have, we have told her we shall be dead and it won’t matter to us what she does with it.

Cleaned out my parents already, working on the in laws and my brother and I are working with my sister. Both the last two have hoarding issues. Fire might be the solution.

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romybuela@reddit

I was looking at the Estate sales website in my area and found a listing that had albums from Joan Jett, Talking Heads, the Clash, the Ramones and my soul just quietly died.

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Cdn65@reddit

We all eventually get there.

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Obwyn@reddit

All of those "collectibles" are pretty much worthless. No one wants all that crap and clutter collecting dust anymore.

I don't even really want any of the furniture that's been coming down through my family. I already have a house full of furniture. I don't need to add a bunch of antique furniture that I really don't have a use for. I definitely don't want any of the knickknacks my parents and grandparents accumulated.

Hummels, P. B. Moss prints/paintings, various flavors of Lennox figurines (esp the Disney Princesses), Longaberger baskets, close to a dozen different sets of fine china, Pfaltsgraf dish sets (my parents had pretty much everything ever made in the Heirloom pattern along with with the Christmas version that they'd swap out out around Thanksgiving and then pack it away around New Years every year...), etc.

My parents (and especially grandparents) were huge P.B. Moss fans and had a stupid number of prints and several originals for hers (some signed.) My sister might take a couple of them and I made it clear that I don't want any of them. I always found her faces to be particularly weird and creepy and none of it is my style anyway. My parents had 40+ and my grandparents had even more than that (which mostly were split between my mom and her sister when they passed.) My dad has been getting rid of them since my mom passed away a couple years ago. I don't think he ever was really a big fan of them either.

https://www.pbuckleymoss.com/shop/ for anyone not familiar...

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hillcrust@reddit

Ngl - I like the 2 ice skating ones.

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Solid-Wish-1724@reddit

Me too and the animal ones are nice. Never heard of this artist.

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mizuaqua@reddit

A neighbor recently posted about an estate sale for her MIL who’s moved away and downsized. I was expecting a lot of the aforementioned stuff, but when I looked at the items for sale is when I realized GenX is indeed Old:

Mother Love Bone show flyer, the opening band is Alice In Chains

The Melvins ticket stubs

X-Files action figures

Quake 4 game CD-ROMs

Collection of books on the occult, for the practitioner.

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mrrgwood@reddit

Was the Mother Love Bone ticket from the Kent Skate King in 1988?

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mizuaqua@reddit

It's was at Oz on 131 Taylor Ave. No year on the poster.

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darthbreezy@reddit

I want to Updoot but come on - 42!!!!!!

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Mangolandia@reddit

Precious Moments figurines would like a word

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Listen_Lanky@reddit (OP)

Oh, yes- Should have mentioned an honorable mention to Precious Moments, too!

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ZweitenMal@reddit

There’s a whole niche hobby of remodeling these into completely different characters!

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D_Richards@reddit

My wife just showed me an Instagram account the other day where a person repaints the Precious Moments figurines as goth. It’s pretty awesome!

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sybil-unrest@reddit

Get out of my garage. (I just love how my in-laws dump all their unwanted crap in my garage. My own parents know where the dump is.)

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Fairycharmd@reddit

I have been buying my Longaberger baskets at flea markets for YEARS now. Much to the annoyance of my mother and my grandmother and one of my aunts who all paid full price for theirs.

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Oxjrnine@reddit

I used to know an older guy who would get the boxes of junk that church donations didn’t want. He would then have yard sales.

A few times I visited and he had the most valuable stuff in the trash. He was elderly but knew how to use a computer. If this was going to be a hobby or source of income he should consider putting a little effort to recognize that he just trashed a few hundred dollars of mid century Canadian melamine dish wear (similar to Danish melamine), but kept a teddy bear from the dollar store.

Those antique malls are filled with garbage because every one who cleans out Granny’s house doesn’t take a minute to use Google lens to realize her 1978 Orange portable tv is worth ten times the entire box or her Royal Dalton figurines. But it’s what got sent to the land fill.

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buffcleb@reddit

is that a Ford Philco BW tv? we had a green one. threw it out around 1994

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TheJokersChild@reddit

Think it is. Aunt & uncle had a 25" Philco-Ford console. Think lightning got it.

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Duke-of-Glenmont@reddit

Many, not all, Longaberger baskets are very useful. I am literally looking at 5 of them in my house being used for blanket storage, waste baskets and remote control storage

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Prudent_Baker_2851@reddit

Oh yeah, nothing against them other than their MLM sales method. They look nicely made. It's just such an odd, random thing to become a faddish, must-have home decor item. They were flying so high for awhile that they built a unique corporate HQ building. No one's sure what to do with it now.

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slrp484@reddit

Baskets are useful. They don't need to cost a fortune.

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Duke-of-Glenmont@reddit

Hell, that was the stupidity of people in the 90’s. Just like dumbasses with Stanley cups.

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TheJokersChild@reddit

Only hockey teams should collect Stanley Cups.

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metallicaset@reddit

My wife belongs to a business networking group. One of the businesses initially started out as an estate auction company but now all the owner does is take in the surplus of unsold estate auctions and sells it online. He has several warehouses full of unsold stuff from estate auctions. He’s busy and overwhelmed. Makes great money but works 12-16 hour days dealing with the surplus shipments he receives almost daily.

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samebatchannel@reddit

Their hq in Ohio looks like one of their baskets

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theotherjmays@reddit

The “basket building” is no longer their headquarters. It looks like it was foreclosed on in 2016.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/s/IrhZ0rSB3I

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evolved_unicorn@reddit

So, you're saying that the handbasket went to hell?

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Ocean-side-dog@reddit

I bought a bunch with liners at a church Christmas event last year, used them to make gift baskets for family friends and kept some for myself. Friend worried I spent too much money and was I sure I didn't want it back? 50 cents in colors that matched her decor not mine? I think I'm good. She's bragged about it ever since.

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Catgirl1972@reddit

We just started renting out a booth at a local antique mall, mostly to try to get rid of some of our parents’ stuff, but we’ve put some of our own things in there, too. So far we’ve sold 2 items.

I am so glad I never got sucked into Longaberger. I really liked baskets around the time that was popular, and I am sure if I’d ever been invited to a party I could have been easily lured down that rabbit hole.

And Madame Alexander dolls…uggh. When I was a kid, my grandmother gave me a ton of those things. She and my mother were sure they’d be worth a fortune someday. They thought I’d be able to sell them to pay for college. I wasn’t allowed to play with them, of course, or even display them. They all just stayed stacked up in their blue boxes on shelves in my room. Then by the time we tried to sell them, we got like a couple hundred for the whole lot. Probably less than what my grandmother spent on all of them in the first place.

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leeloo72@reddit

OMG same here. I dreaded getting those dolls. I opened those last because I knew the size and shape of the box. Got enough to pay for Invisalign so that was something I guess.

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Triviajunkie95@reddit

Currently $5 each or less if sold in bulk. Just sad but true.

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KitchenWitch021@reddit

Thrift/ consignment store I like to go to always gets in Longaberger baskets. They are scattered all over the store.

Tons of Rae Dunn stuff too. It ends up getting clearanced and they still have a hard time getting rid of it. I consigned some items before and they didn’t want my porcelain dolls I’ve had since I was a kid. Still in the box, they said dolls do not sell.

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Triviajunkie95@reddit

Pretty much anything marketed as “collectible” doesn’t have much value.

Anything you wouldn’t spend money on now (porcelain dolls, beanie babies, etc) neither would anyone else.

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Prudent_Baker_2851@reddit

Not sure how this happened, but I didn't learn about Longaberger baskets until the company was more or less defunct. I don't recall knowing anyone who got sucked into the sales side of that particular pyramid scheme, nor do I know anyone who owns any of the baskets. Ohio and Tennessee aren't that far apart, but that fad seems to have missed my area. Either way, I can't see my parents going for something like that. They have their wedding china and some Christmas-themed stuff that's been in the family for a long time, but no overabundance of baskets, Hummels, or Precious Moments figurines.

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