VINTAGE MERMAID & MERMAID REPRODUCTIONS

Vintage fish, seahorses, and mermaids are highly collectible.  These much sought after mythical creatures are more populart than ever.  You can find them on auction sites, websites, and blogs.  Also popular, are reproductions.  Experienced collectors know what they are looking for and what to look for when buying these collectibles.  However, newbies are not as wise and can easily mistake vintage reproductions for actual vintage collectibles.

Prices have gone to the moon for these vintage wall plaques and vintage figurines.  I would recommend for anyone to shop around before buying anything.  Search engines are the best way to find an array of items for sale.  Then you can compare quality, prices, and also find out about the sellers.  Of course if you pay through Paypal, that is a pretty sure way to get your money back if you are ripped off.

Reproductions I am seeing many places and what disturbs me is I am seeing reproductions sold as the real thing when I know for a fact some of them are not actual vintage.  I do know that difference because I have made vintage mermaid, vintage fish, and vintage seahorse reproductions for years. You can click here   (my website) to see some of my reproductions and here to see 10 pages of my retro mermaids.I can spot retro mermaids a mile away.  I can give you a few pointers but you have to learn some things yourself.  First of all, not all, but most vintage fish, mermaids, and seahorses had no jewelry.  Maybe you might find an occasional rhinestone or porcelain flowers.  Usually, the porcelain flowers were a part of the plaque or figurine – fired onto the item in a kiln, not glued on.  Also, look at the backs.  If you have bought vintage nauticals, you know how the backs of chalkware sea creatures look – most of the time nasty or discolored and slightly  porous from age.   The backs of the ceramic items have a  yellow tint to them also from age.  Now, there are some actual vintage mermaids with tons of rhinestones, flowers, and vintage jewelry for sale.  They are in actuality vintage BUT they were not made by the companies that vintage collectors are looking for.  There were ceramic mold manufacturers who made ceramic mermaid molds for the ceramic hobbyist.  THAT is where some of these mermaids originate from.  So, they are vintage, but home-made by an individual who was taking ceramic classes or maybe even taught ceramics and had her own ceramic shop.  Either way, they are still vintage.

Now, I am going to paint a couple of scenarios for you to consider.   Let’s say I am selling a vintage mermaid reproduction, and I am an unethical seller and I want top dollar for her.  So, I am going to make you think she is vintage. I would never do this but I want to give you an idea as to how I could pull this off.  First of all, I would word my auction or wherever I am selling my vintage mermaids, something like:  BEAUTIFUL MERMAID FOR SALE.  IN EXCELLENT CONDITION “WITH NO CHIPS OR CRACKS.”  I am not going to put ideas in your minds, but when you read that description, what does that lead you to believe?  On the other hand, if I listed one of my vintage reproductions for sale, and I have done this many times, sometimes I did forget to say she is not vintage BUT when I tell you (which I always did) “I” painted her seafoam green, highlighted her with gold and used Swarovski rhinestones to embellish her.  Also, look at the beautiful vintage jewelry I glued onto her head for a headpiece.  Now, DOES THAT TELL SHE IS NOT VINTAGE?  Of course it does.  I just told you “I” painted her, I did this to her and I did that to her.  Many times I mention I cast her from a vintage ceramic mermaid mold that I own.  To me, that is clearly telling you SHE IS NOT VINTAGE – I MADE HER!!!  Consider carefully what you are buying before you buy and know the seller you are buying from.  If you purchase a mermaid and suspect she is not vintage, send pictures of her and the back of her to some experts in the field of collecting and see what they tell you.

I am not trying to hurt anyone or discourage anyone.  Collecting vintage fish, vintage mermaids, and vintage seahorses is a lot of fun.  Don’t stop.  Just be careful.  Happy collecting! Please visit my website:  www.thevintagemermaid.com to see my retro mermaid art, my store, and some other mermaid artisans’ beautiful mermaid art.

December has been a busy time for me at home

and at the Vintage Mermaid.  I have been doing

what everyone else has been doing – shopping

and standing in long lines.  Plus, I have been

really busy drawing mermaids for some of the

new mermaid art I will be offering at The Vintage

Mermaid.  I am working hard with new ideas.  I

will be doing some new types of vintage mermaid

art and at the same time, I am trying to keep

the costs down for my customers – new and old.

More later.  Just wanted to post a little tonight.

I have been so busy with my website.  You should see the beautiful template  I just added!! A godaddy.com rep gave me rave reviews.  I am tickled.  Things are beginning to fall into place.  Html is alien to me.  I understand a little but just enough to get me into trouble;)  But, as I keep playing around, I continue to learn.  In fact, I am finding html so interesting, I have enrolled in a class and it is really fun.  Perhaps I will get carried away and build myself limitless mermaid websites.

I am working towards rebuilding my retro vintage mermaid business.  I was engaged in this business for about 6 years on an auction site and did quite well.  But, I started homeschooling my granddaughter which consumed so much of my time that I no longer had the time that it required to continue making retro mermaids.   Doing something that you really enjoy is not just the money.  It is a joy and fulfilling.  There are numerous vintage mermaid collectors on the scene and many of them do like the retro mermaids as well as the vintage mermaid collectables.  Retro vintage mermaids are highly sought after because first of all, they are much less expensive and secondly you can have them custom made to suit your personal taste.  Also, they don’t have the  chips, cracks, and flaws that some many vintage mermaids have.

In the meantime, I am selling through another online store.  I am putting some of my own mermaid designs as well as vintage mermaid designs on t-shirts and many, many other gift items.  You can find my gift items here at:   www.zazzle.com/thevintagemermaid.  If you choose to buy some of my items, I am thrilled.  But, if you are into making your own personalized items with your own personal pictures, while you are there you can sign into create, and have a blast!

Please visit my website  www.thevintagemermaid.com.  You can check into my store from there.  You really need to see my template!  Humor me;)

Oh, I will include a couple of pictures of my latest creations added to my store.

It has been a long while since I have graciated my own blog with my company:)  Many things have taken place in my life since my last post.  But, I am back to stay.  I have many comments to sift through.  Thank you for all of the wonderful compliments.  I will reply to each and every one as soon as possible.

I now have a website:   www.thevintagemermaid.com.  It looks quite nice but I am still tweaking it.  Visit me.  You can click on the link that will take you into my store.  I have several stores there:  The Vintage Mermaid, Fairy Fay, The Vintage Pin Up Girl, and TeeZone2.  I guess the names pretty well tell you what types of items are sold in each store.  There are many vintage mermaid pictures that I use to create beautiful mugs, steins, tee shirts, shoes, tote bags, mouse pads, BlackBerry Cases, other iPhone cases and much more.  Also, you will find really cool mens’, womens’, and childrens’/toddlers’ clothes.   AND I will let you in on a little secret.  If you should decide you are feeling artsy yourself, you can go from my store into the create area and design your own personalized items!! Perhaps you want your pet or grandchild or something else on a mug, t-shirt, apron, or whatever your heart desires.  You can make it by yourself!!  I hope to “sea” you there!  

I listed more mermaids in my store: some vintage mermaids, some are vintage mermaid reproductions, and some vintage fish.  I am now  very busy making custom mermaids.  So many orders to fill.  Not much time to blog this evening.  Plus, I can’t stay away from my windows – the snow flakes are dancing softly to the ground.  How beautiful.  Snow is a “luxury” in my state.

Thanks to  everyone for the wonderful emails I have received and some orders too:)  I will be getting busy on those in the next week.  I am swamped right at the moment.  Bear with me.  I am getting my sites together more and more and will be offering more items for sale and have more info for you.

That is all for now: don’t forget to stop and smell the roses!

More about my vintage mermaids and vintage mermaid reproductions.  I stay busy doing custom-designed mermaids for my customers.  These works of art originate from actual vintage molds from my treasured collection.  Some are composed of chalkware – others ceramic bisque.  Either turn out beautiful.  I use the best products to make them – glazes, paint, lacquer.  I generally glue vintage jewelry onto their heads as a beautiful headpiece.  However, I also make them plain.  It also depends on a customer’s taste.  I can also with a special technique that I use, make the look and feel like porcelain.  ***Please note:  I use the best glue that money can buy to glue items onto my mermaids.  Also, I use a special sealer that prevents glue from flaking off.***CLICK ON THE LINK TO MY STORE – MERMAID TALES

[gallery]Pictures of some of my vintage mermaids and vintage mermaid reproductions. Also, some mermaid images from my vintage postcards.