Collectique

It is all too common these days on a holiday weekend I am heading home from a few days in Maine that traffic on 95 South is at a standstill at the York toll.  Whatever happened to the good old days when Maine was still a somewhat undiscovered summer paradise?  My daily Boston commuter traffic is nothing compared to the 4 lanes of traffic not moving that is commonplace on a late Sunday afternoon in Southern Maine (mostly Massachusetts tags I must admit..)

One of my ways of combating the frustration that comes with sitting in this kind of traffic is finding alternate routes that may move slowly but at least they move.  Plus as a bonus along these alternate routes I discover the coolest places. One of these finds is Collectique at 1616 Post Road (Route 1) in Wells.  There are a ton of antique/vintage shops on Route 1 in Wells and this is just one of them.

Collectique
1616 Post Road
Wells, Maine

Collectiques is an old Victorian home that has been “converted” into a shop – I use the word converted VERY loosely.  All of its rooms are basically intact as if the house is just waiting for this phase of its existence to be over so a new family can move in, renovate and love it.  Currently, the front lawn and porch are loaded with bargains and it just continues from there through room after room of this very large house.  In one word I would describe Collectiques as rambling (in the best possible way). 



Bargains on the lawn & porch



It is owned by Alex who is a professional picker by trade and uses this shop to sell his “over stock”.  Alex is very low tech and even doesn’t own a computer or TV so, no website for Collectiques.  Alex is a wealth of knowledge so I highly recommend asking him about any of the items in his shop…I guarantee you will learn more than you ever thought possible.

As for the merchandise, if you are looking for Mad Men-esque products this is your place – lots of mid-century modern and lots of opportunities for repurposing projects - i.e. paint & new hardware to bring that piece of furniture with great bones back to life.



Where else are you going to find a 18" tall
Johnny Walker Red Lamp???

Upstairs in one of the former bedrooms is a whole room of “church lady” hats, gloves & handbags….so cool! 

Awesome selection of vintage hats & accessories

 Collectiques also has a fair collection of vintage hardware.  I have been looking for glass knobs for my built-in china cabinet and he had several options for me (one step closer to my second finished room…).

Notice the glass handles...this was taken prior to me determining
they were the missing piece I needed for my china cabinet

He also has a fair amount of hotel silver – for those who don’t know hotel silver is silver plated flatware, pitchers, bowls, plates, etc. that are often marked with the names of the hotels the pieces came from.  For more info on hotel silver Paris Hotel Boutique has some wonderful info.  To me the interesting thing about hotel silver is that you can almost feel the history in the pieces when you pick one up.  You can just imagine ladies lunching at the Algonquin or the Roosevelt hotels in NYC pouring tea and eating treats with these wares.  For some reason I find this visual much more present in my mind than when I’m just eyeing some pretty dish with no traceable history.  As a bonus hotel silver is just pretty!

Collectiques really is an interesting collection of goods – you may not find anything that makes you take it home but you will have a good time looking!