Genuine Antiques - Made in China

When I am lucky, or desperate, I work at a large rambling shop in my new hometown. If you are looking for stuff, Burnt Mountain Trading Company in Jasper, Georgia,  has some.  We have jewelry, scarves, pots, pans, plants, soap, lotions, oil paintings, my silly things, antiques, new and old ones, $3400 aluminum elk,  6 foot tall black bear, antlers made into tables, lamps, chandeliers, wall sconces, and dishes.  We got bears on toilet paper holders, soap dishes, and carved into furniture.  We got wind chimes and birdhouses and sparkly things to hang in the yard, and dish towels, buckets, barrels and more.  We got dog paintings, dog cards, dog greeting cards, dogs sitting, running, standing in a field looking at each other or ducks. We got a lot of paintings of chickens, sheep, deer, cows and cowboys. We got stuff.  Some of it is really nice stuff and some of it is junk.  Having been in the junk business for more years than I have ever been married, I know junk when I see it.  For many years I found it more profitable to sell good junk rather than to sell cheap junk. This was when an antique was l00 years old and nothing from China was considered anything but junk. You turned your dishes over and read the marker.  Now if you pick up some cute little dish or funny metal sign or country novelty, you can pretty much be guaranteed to see "Made in China" stamped on the bottom of it.  Even the little red, white and blue, "Made in America" signs are made in China.  You can buy fake antique signs, North Georgia black bears, antler lamps, rough wood tables and pottery of any kind bearing that stamp.  If the knives aren't Case, they are made in Pakistan.  If the dishes aren't marked with a 50 year old image from England, Germany or weren't given away in Winn Dixie or purchased with Green Stamps, then they are probably from China. Even the little Davy Crockett Coon Skin Caps, Made in China.  I personally have no problem with buying junk nor selling it but I miss the days where people came into a shop like the one in which I work and looked for an antique and found one.  I resent being the oldest thing in here. Now most folks don't want old, they want new and they want Pottery Barn and Kirklands.  They buy the same prints in our store you can get in the mall or some outlet. They want China. And I don't mean the kind from Bavaria. .