1440 Main Street

Prom & Bridal Show

bobh — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:36:09 +0000

The 2012 Prom and Bridal Show will take place this Sunday, January 15th in Ferdinand. Stop by the Ferdinand Antique Emporium for a great selection of ideas for bridesmaid gifts and other items to make your most important day even more special.

Jim Beam Bottles

Site Administrator — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:30:40 +0000

The Ferdinand Antique Emporium boasts a collection of over 400 Jim Beam bottles that originally were owned by a liquor store owner. Many are in excellent condition. If you are a collector, you will not want to miss this collection as there is a good possibility that we have one that you have yet to see.

Christmas Facts

Site Administrator — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:39:15 +0000

Christmas related facts that will arouse your interest :

During the auspicious Christmas time many of the pet owners think their pet as human beings. It is noticed that almost 56 percent of Americans sing to their pets.

During Yuletide season people sell foil and make considerable money at Reynolds. It is a fact that more than 3000 tons of foils are used yearly to wrap the Turkeys.

If you are interested to go for a Christmas shopping, then it’s a word to remember. Statistics reveal that you are going to be elbowed thrice if not more while shopping.

Most of us have made it a tradition to send Christmas cards to our friends. If we consider Americans, then it is true that they send 28 cards on average annually to their near and dear ones. Most of the Americans will also receive 28 cards yearly as well.

Scraps of Christmas can make problems for you many times. The Christmas scraps are responsible for 400,000 cases of disease and sickness after the Christmas time.

Listen to the song “Twelve Days of Christmas” and count the number of gifts in the song. You will realize that gifts were exchanged 364 times. Thus the gifts are exchanged everyday of the year.

Oliver Cornwell, the leader, stopped the celebration of Christmas during 1647- 1660. According to him it was immoral to celebrate the holiest day of the year. It was a criminal offence. He or she could find him or her behind the bars if he/she was found guilty of celebrating Christmas.

The customary Christmas dinner in England included a pig head with mustard sauce. However, this is not followed anymore In England.

It was obligatory to visit the church during Christmas day. The tradition of fasting still continues. No vehicle is allowed to be used in any Christmas service.

According to an old wives’ tale if you bake bread on the Christmas Eve then it will be fresh forever. It’s yet to be known that how many people actually believe in this story and how many of them have ever tried it.

Father Christmas has two addresses, Edinburg and the North Pole. If someone writes a letter and wants to send it to “Toyland” or “Snow land”, then that particular letter goes to Edinburg. But, if someone sends the letter to “The North Pole”, then it has to go to the North Pole because there is a place called North Pole.

The American Puritans wanted to make the festival of Thanksgiving Day the prime festival instead of Christmas.

The first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday was Alabama in 1836.

Noel is the word which is used in place of Christmas in France. The word was derived from the French phrase “les bonnes nouvelles” which means “the good news” and it refers to the gospel.

In the Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a harbinger of good luck! There once lived a woman so poor, says a Ukrainian folk tale, that she could not afford Christmas decorations for her family. One Christmas morning, she awoke to find that spiders had trimmed her children’s tree with their webs. When the morning sun shone on them, the webs turned to silver and gold. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees.

At Christmas, it is traditional to exchange kisses beneath the mistletoe tree. In ancient Scandinavia, mistletoe was associated with peace and friendship. That may account for the custom of “kissing beneath the mistletoe”.

‘Klaxon’ is a name that does not belong to one of Santa’s reindeer. A klaxon is actually a powerful electric horn. Its name comes from a German word meaning “shriek”.

In many households, part of the fun of eating Christmas pudding is finding a trinket that predicts your fortune for the coming year. For instance, finding a coin means you will become wealthy. A ring means you will get married; while a button predicts bachelorhood. The idea of hiding something in the pudding comes from the tradition in the Middle Ages of hiding a bean in a cake that was served on Twelfth Night. Whoever found the bean became “king” for the rest of the night.

Frumenty was a spiced porridge, enjoyed by both rich and poor. It was a forerunner of modern Christmas puddings. It is linked in legend to the Celtic god Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of all the good things of the earth.

In Greek legend, malicious creatures called Kallikantzaroi sometimes play troublesome pranks at Christmas time. In order to get rid of them, salt or an old shoe is burnt. The pungent burning stench drives off, or at least helps discourage, the Kallikantzaroi. Other techniques include hanging a pig’s jawbone by the door and keeping a large fire so they can’t sneak down the chimney.

The poinsettia is a traditional Christmas flower. In Mexico (its original birthplace), the poinsettia is known as the “Flower of the Holy Night”.

Louis Prang, a Bavarian-born lithographer who came to the USA from Germany in the 19th century, popularized the sending of printed Christmas cards. He invented a way of reproducing color oil paintings, the “chromolithograph technique”, and created a card with the message “Merry Christmas” as a way of showing it off.

The “Urn of Fate” is part of the Christmas celebrations in many Italian households. The Urn of Fate is brought out on Christmas Eve. It holds a wrapped present for everyone. The mother tries her luck first, then the others in turn. If you get a present with your name on it, you keep it; otherwise, you put it back and try again.

In Sweden, a common Christmas decoration is the Julbukk, a small figurine of a goat. It is usually made of straw. Scandinavian Christmas festivities feature a variety of straw decorations in the form of stars, angels, hearts and other shapes, as well as the Julbukk.

What is Art?

Site Administrator — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:40:17 +0000

In the old days, before steel was cast for production, a wooden mold was made. We have several of these molds on display in the Antique Emporium. Come check it out!!!

So You Wanna Go Antiquing… The Top 5 Antique Destinations in Dubois County

Site Administrator — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:42:02 +0000

You are driving down the interstate and see a sign for antiques. Of course you have to take the exit and find out what treasures await you! We have many antique stores in the area all have something special to offer. Here is a run down of the top five according to the author’s experience in the Dubois County area.

5. Traderbaker’s Vendor Mall – Jasper, IN
Technically, this is not an antique mall, but a flea market. Still, you can find some antiques here. Customer service is non existent and they actually have signs that say they will not call vendors.

4. Tickled Pink Memorabilia Mall – Ireland, IN
Lots and lots of stuff. There is so much for the eye to look at all at affordable prices. Located off of Highway 56 in Ireland.

Tickled Pink Memorabilia Mall
2474 N 500 W
Jasper IN 47546
(812) 634-7860

3. Anything Collectible & More – Huntingburg, IN
As the name suggests, this place has anything you can collect and then some.

2. Downtown Emporium – Huntingburg, IN
Wonderful gems filled with awesome surprises… It’s always a pleasant experience to shop at the Downtown Emporium in Huntingburg’s historical district.

1. Ferdinand Antique Emporium – Ferdinand, IN
OK, so maybe the author is biased, but the Ferdinand Antique Emporium has everything those other stores have and will bend over backwards to make people (both vendors and customers) happy.

Furniture maker receives new national award

Site Administrator — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:43:09 +0000

FERDINAND — A local businessman will be at the nation’s Capitol this Fourth of July to receive a national award for his work.
Keith Fritz, the man behind Keith Fritz Fine Furniture, will be honored with the first-ever William Thorton Award for Excellence in Craftsmanship from MADE: In America, a nonprofit educational organization based in Washington, D.C.

“I’m real excited,” Fritz said. “It’s a great opportunity for our company.”

Fritz, 34, and his 11 employees, all local craftsmen, build custom, luxury furniture by hand from unusual and exotic woods for elite clients across the United States. He is best known for his dining tables, but also makes occasional tables, desks, mirrors and other products. His clients have included former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as well as congressmen, media moguls and Hollywood stars.

“Our clients don’t want something that’s made in a factory,” Fritz said. “They want something that is custom tailored for them using the finest materials.”

Fritz was originally nominated for the annual BEST: Made in America Award and submitted his application in early April. But his work didn’t quite fit the award’s categories. His submission prompted the creation of the William Thorton Award.
“Essentially, our criteria for the other awards focused on manufacturing as opposed to craft,” said Jame DeLorbe, chairman and CEO of MADE: In America. “After reading Keith’s submission materials, it struck me that he is more like a modern-day 18th-century furniture maker. It helped us to realize that we should create a program and an award that will be focused on craft producers like Keith.”

Earning the award will provide Fritz with a national stage to showcase his work. The award comes with invitations to design competitions, show houses and other events.
“It’s kind of like Miss America for manufacturing,” Fritz said. “It’s not just the award. It’s an entire year’s worth of shows, events, marketing, publicity. It will be a great boost to our company and our community the entire year.”

Fritz said his company already is growing and the recognition will help it grow even more.

“We’ve done as much business this year as we did in all of 2009 and probably by August will have completed as much as we did all last year,” he said. “We’re very lucky. We’re growing.”

Fritz, who previously considered becoming a priest and attended Saint Meinrad Seminary, started his company in 1999 and operates out of the mixed-use building he owns in Ferdinand at 1440 Main St. His work can be seen in eight showrooms across the country including in Washington, D.C.,, Chicago, New York, Boston and Dallas.

“I think the crux of the story is Keith’s singular dedication and commitment to designing and creating a product here in America in a way that provides jobs, enriches a community and that serves as (an) exemplary model for how to reinvent the furniture industry here in the U.S.,” DeLorbe said.