Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Yankee Trader, Denver Colorado

Today I'm joining Diane of A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words in "Second Time Around Tuesday."

We are supposed to display our second hand treasures, but I'd like to show a whole store of antiques and memorabilia that I discovered on a recent trip I made to Denver, Colorado where I was visiting my son, daughter-in-law and baby grandson.

Located at 4000 Tennyson St. in Denver, Colorado, Yankee Trader is an antique and memorabilia store that was fascinating to visit!

Here are some photos of the front window displays. All photos will enlarge if you click on them so you can see more detail.

Originally a Ben Franklin Five and Dime Store, owners Mike and Sherilyn Thompson have made Yankee Trader a department store of antiques in the 5,000 square foot historic building. The Yankee Trader is heaven for collectors and has a particularly extensive array of toys ranging from the 1800's to the 1970's, encompassing everything from die-cast vehicles, mechanical toys, western themed toys, to vintage board games. There is an entire wall of shelves, top to bottom, filled with all types of cars and trucks, including bright red firetrucks. You could spend weeks at Yankee Trader and still not see everything, but I tried to take a few representative photos of some of their collection. It is very large and stocked from floor to ceiling with fun items of yester-year.

The 1930's green metal Little Orphan Annie toy stove in the window was selling for $ 225, and the vintage fire truck pedal car was marked $650!

The 1960's Ideal Kissy Doll was $160, the JKF needlepoint was $50.

Some original metal advertising signs and automoblia items.

Everything in this display was Coca Cola related. The tin trays on the bottom were commanding high prices -- the 1927 soda jerk tray on the left was $800 and the 1940 fishing girl ray on the right was $350!

I won the exact same adorable antique Willie and Millie F&F Mold and Die Works, Dayton Ohio, salt and pepper shakers last year from Lisa Retostyle blog! It was a surprise to see another pair in perfect condition!

There were cases and cases of antique toys, cars, dolls, doll houses, erector sets, tinker toys, pedal cars, cap guns, train sets, etc., etc.

Everything was well categorized and carefully arranged and displayed in locked, numbered cabinets or glass display cases. If you wanted to examine anything Mike or Sherilyn would be happy to open the case for you.

Yankee Trader is open seven days a week; Monday through Saturday from 10am - 5:30pm and Sunday from 11am - 5pm. They also participate in First Fridays Denver Art Walk on Tennyson Street when they stay open later.

All kinds of cute cookie jars!

It was fun examining the vintage food tins, some of which I remembered. Are you old enough to remember Log Cabin syrup served in a log cabin tin can? What about Durkee spice tins?

Beautiful glassware arranged by color.

This box of Pez containers made me smile! I wish I had the ones I had as a child, but I have saved some of my children's favorite Pez containers.

This display made me feel old -- there were Herman Hermits and The Monkees trading cards in it, similar to the ones I once owned, and other items from what I thought was not such a distant past, but are probably rare finds today.

Lots of antique sporting equipment. I know my husband would have liked looking at the baseball gloves.

The store had so many old books! This was just one wall of them. I could have spent hours browsing through them. Next time I visit North Denver I'll plan a longer visit to do just that. Can you see any books that you would have wanted to buy?

There were separate holiday memorabilia display cases. Above some of the Halloween collectibles, and below some of the Christmas.

I remember we had the same pointed ear Jack Frost plastic figurines when I was a child, and the choir boys too! I used to take them off the tree and play with them.

More Christmas items. I loved the mercury glass ornaments.

There was a lot of beautiful antique Fenton Glass in this display and an expensive Heisey Glass"winger scroll" set that was selling for $665!

Look at all the wonderful John Deere replica tractor and farm machine collectibles!

This collection will make my son feel old -- it was full of "Star Wars" figurines, GI Joe, "He Man"figurines, and Transformer cars from the late 70's early 80's. I guess nostalgia sells no matter what age you are! I have some of these very toys stored away in my attic and garage as I didn't have the heart to throw or give them away. Who knew they'd become so valuable?

This was a whole room full of military antiques of all kinds.

There were also endless showcases of antique jewelry to choose from, filled with rhinestone jewelry of all colors of the rainbow, Austrian crystals, silver and turquoise, etc.

Walking through the aisles of Yankee Trader was like taking a trip down memory lane! It did not have bargain thrift store type prices, but that made me realize all the more that common and familiar objects from the past can become very valuable as long as nostalgia and their scarcity become factors.

I didn't buy anything on this trip, but next time I visit Denver I'll try to allow more time to browse the Yankee Trader Store and I'm sure something will come back to New York with me!
Please visit other "Second Time Around" blog posts through Diane's blog today and enjoy some wonderful vintage treasures!

29 comments:

Gracie said...

Thanks for sharing. My husband has lots of metallic toys, they were old whrn he was a little boy, but he wil never sell them, eben if they will pay him a little fortune!

Ciao Chow Linda said...

I love visiting shops like that, but invariably find my best buys at garage sales, where the prices are generally more reasonable. Thanks for the armchair tour.

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

What a perfect business for an old Ben Franklin's. I love it!!

Joyce said...

Great share today. I could spend hours in a store like this because it all brings back memories. I love the old Pez. They remind me of my Pez Museum post a few weeks back. Now the old fire truck was a favorite of my cousin Rocco. Thanks for sharing your fun day and yes do go back on your next visit to Denver.
Joyce

Candy said...

Looks like a great shop. There is never enough time to just stroll through, touch, imagine, dream. That is what I feel inside an antique mall. Rows, stacks, shelves of life...past life. It just calls out for another look.

2nd time around is fun,
Candy

Unknown said...

Hi Pat,
This looks like the kind of store you could spend all day in...and it is very neatly arranged!

Thanks for sharing and for linking to 2nd Time Around!

KayC. said...

I would be standing in front of the books to see if they had any Louisa May Alcott books! I miss going to stores like this one. It is a treasure hunt! So much fun!

bj said...

Neat post...
Happy day.

black eyed susans kitchen said...

I like to walk through Antique markets on rainy days. Every now and then a treasure will be found, but for the most part, I do my treasure hunting at yard sales. Pat, you really were very busy on this trip. Thanks for the pictures...Denver is turning into a very appealing place for me. You are such a good tour guide!
♥, Susan

dianasfaria.com said...

I'll take the cranberry opalescent set of glasses please! oh yeah, & one of those cookie jars might be nice too!

nanny said...

Looks like I could spend days in this store,,,wow

Junie Moon said...

Stores like this are so fascinating. My husband and I like to wander through them, too. Makes for a great trip down memory lane. I do indeed remember log cabin tin cans and Durkee spice tins. Gosh, I'm old.

Vee said...

Oh my! Look at all that stuff! It's too bad that so much of it is under lock and key. But at those prices...ouchie! I saw a lot of things that looked familiar from my childhood and my children's, too. Looks as if you had fun!

(It's so great to hear Tim Janis's music being played on playlists here and there. You know that he is a local boy and we think mighty highly of him.)

Happy To Be/ Gl♥ria said...

Oh Girl this was a fun shopping trip for me...Oh but I could do some damage at that store...so many things I really loved and some I also have ha ha!! thanks so much...May you have a great Tuesday my friend...hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

Judy said...

Wow...I could spend a lot of time in a place like that! All those things that I once gave up without a second thought...are now treasures (from my old 8-tracks to my wooden tennis racket). Those are the best places to visit on vacation...when one has lots of time!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Fun store, Pat! I think those penguins would have come back in my suitcase! They were cutie pies.

XO,

Sheila :-)

Anonymous said...

I can't believe how many of these comments echo the same things I thought. It is like being back home in my Mom's or my Grandmom's house.After I came home from Belize, my last missionary trip, I decided to simplify my life and got rid of a lot of things. Old family things went to my family of course. My father was an antique dealer and still have many of his things.
What a wonderful trip. Thanks
Peg

Rhonda Hartis Smith said...

I have Willie & Millie S & P shakers too! I could spend eons of time in this place, I love it!

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

Oh my...I think I need to open a store and mark-up everything I buy at yard sales 700%. :-)

LOVE your pictures...as you know, I'm always up for a romp through a good second hand store! I could have spent hours in this place.

Lynn said...

If I had gone in there last week, I would still be there! How did you decide what to buy?
Thank you for taking all the pictures for those of us who didn't get to go!!

Lorrie said...

Pat you're right, this was a walk down memory lane. What a neat store this is. This is neat post!

Betsy Brock said...

What a wonderful looking store! I could spend and hour or two in there! LOL!

The new pic of mommy and baby on your sidebar is beautiful!

Unknown said...

The only thing I know about Yankee is the yankee doodle song haha!! I'd love to go there Pat, big hugs for the week..love/M

Barb said...

Hi Pat,

Wow- there is a lot to see in that store. Thank you so much for sharing. Hubby has been going back and forth to the Denver area but stores are not on his mind. Maybe someday the two of us will make it there.

hugs,
Barb

P.S. Leo is a charmer!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Ooh.
I'll take one of those cookie jars. And some Christmas stuff, please.

Lisa's RetroStyle said...

Wow Pat! I'm sure I could have spent hours in there, just looking. What fun:D The prices are quite amazing. Coming from the midwest (where vintage and antique have always been affordable) I was shocked when I moved to Denver. I spent many hours down on south Broadway (what we always called Denver's antique row) looking in the shops, but rarely bought anything. Just too expensive. Especially when I knew that on a trip home I could load up for a fraction of the price. Why didn't I become a dealer when I lived out there?!
Thanks for the mention:D (btw...the link is broken).
I'm off the visit the other players of "2nd time around Tuesday". I hadn't heard of it before. Sounds like one I should be playing:D

Sue said...

A great cheap way to enjoy an antique store....and i saw a Coke tray that I have...very fun...thanks for the tour..

Anonymous said...

Oh my what a shop! My daughter would've loved the strawberry jars, and me well I loved the jack frost figures as I really like elf/fairy stuff.

Yes isn't it amazing that older stuff collectable. Just be worried when they say something is antique and you remember getting one! LOL Then you know you are old!

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

What a fun store! I feel like I was shopping right there with you. I think I spotted a row of old blue-backed Hardy Boys mysteries on the bookshelves. My brother used to have those. :-)