DOES THIS MEAN I'M AN ANTIQUE?

I just got home from my annual visit to the incredible -- and this year newly-revitalized -- Madison-Bouckville Antique Week here in Central New York. After spending several hours pouring over the displays featuring just about everything I've ever owned, the question paramount on my mind is: If these things are now antiques, does that make me one too?

The second thought that keeps coming to mind is how rich would I be now if I had never opened these items and could now sell them all for the asking prices they have them tagged?

(The Madison-Bouckville Antique Week festivities is about more than just shopping for bargains on old stuff -- you can also eat your way along Route 20) 

A trip to this antique capitol of the world is a blast into the past for me. I love looking at and reminiscing over all of those old toys I had as a kid, although the prices they are now asking for them blow me away. Even those old plastic cereal freebies that we had for a day before losing interest in them and then tossing them out are now big bucks. I did save some of my old toys for my own kids, and still cringe at the thought of the day we had my vintage Planet of the Apes treehouse set up on the living room floor when Gabby as a toddler fell and wiped the thing out. That's probably why the stuff is so pricey now -- we never appreciated the investment value of our toys back in the 60's and 70's like they do today. So we usually trashed the stuff.

(Get your stinking paws off my Planet of the Apes toy collection!)

Tallying up the prices I saw today marked on that Planet of the Apes collection comes to somewhere around $500. Playing with it as a child back in the 70's and then again with my kids in the 90's -- and maybe even another generation soon to come, since I managed to salvage the treehouse thanks to some glue and a couple of dowels -- is worth well more than that to me. So when the grandkids are old enough, I'm sure we'll get it out again. Hopefully they will be able to appreciate it.

I certainly would never think of selling the beloved apes ... we have many more years left to play with it! And that's worth a heck of a lot more than any $500.

People from out of town might not know how close we came to not having an antique event this year, nor just how great it was that so many people came together to keep it going. The organizers of the main weekend show bowed out after last summer's event and the field was sold, leaving the hometown dealers who count on it to bring them buyers wondering what they would do. But local merchants John Mansino and Jim Dutcher stepped up to the plate and hit a home run by organizing the Madison-Bouckville Promotions group of antique dealers and restaurants to keep this going. My hat's off to all of you for keeping the crowds coming to Route 20, and for keeping my trips of nostalgia alive!