We found a lovely, large house with enough rooms, once renovated, and set about opening a museum both for Avon collectors and also for wireless collectors so we could share our love of collecting.
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| Oil Fuel Tank |
After many weeks of hard work we had a fairly decent space on which to build our dream. The oil tank was dragged out using the car and lots of manual work and put into the shed, to be connected back up by a registered plumber later. We discovered a huge wet patch on the corner of the room and that turned out to be a badly designed guttering system which allowed all the rainwater from the not inconsiderable roof to drain directly into the soil at the front of the house. After six years and a re-jigging of the pipework, it has finally dried out. However, at the time, we had a lot of items to display so made a false wall over the wet patch.
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| False Wall over Damp |
The walls went up slowly, the floor was lifted and a solid base installed. The ceiling took longer as this was the first time we had installed such a thing.
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| Ceiling and walls going up |
Eventually the room was completed and I asked the local mayor if he would allow us to have a small museum in the village. I did not think he really understood what I meant but a couple of days later he was taking a group of tourists around our village and an American voice called out "Hi, I believe you are opening a museum, when can I visit?" Yes, he had understood my pigeon French and he obviously approved.
Finally, the downstairs was complete. We bought a new staircase and by sheer brute force and ignorance, got it in place, hubby hanging from the upstairs room and me pushing it for all I was worth from the bottom. We decided to pay to have the staircase delivered as it would be large - only to find it was flat-packed and we could have saved quite a lot by collecting it ourselves a piece at a time.
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| The new staircase |
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| Me in the museum |
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| One wall of the completed museum |
The Magpies Collectors' Club.
This was started in 1994. After I had produced a small colour Avon Price Guide for UK collectors. There were only American Guides at the time and when left a little money by a relative I decided I would write my own. My husband took the photographs of my large collection of Avon and I spent three years researching and pricing items for the guide. The book was well received and consequently sold out, through collectors' magazines and by word of mouth. Several people who had bought the Price Guide asked me if I would consider running a club for collectors as there were none available for this hobby in the UK. After a lot of thought I started the club, expecting a small, dedicated collector group to join. Within a couple of years the membership had grown to 300. One of the first club members wrote to me, thanking me for "a book for Magpies like us" and the club was born.
As we moved over to France I realised I had sold out of my book, a limited run of 1,000 copies and decided that I would write another, newer version. Again, this was received well and although I have some copies left at the museum, the majority sold.
New Price Guide
The book is A5 size with 73 colour plates each containing numerous items, with a description, year of sale and a mint, boxed price guide. For this book I took the photographs myself.
The central part of the book is all full colour plates of Avon, with three rows on each plate. To find information and value (not selling price) simply note the plate number, pick top, middle or bottom row and count along. Consult the corresponding page in the Price Guide to find the information. Prices are given on an alphabetical scale, "A" being up to £5, "B" £5-£10 and so forth. It is easy to use in most languages and there is a French translation of the introduction and index on request.
The actual book is 'perfect bound' which means it is simply glued together and, as with all books, care should be taken not to open to pages fully as pages may slip out.
Museums
Once both museums were completed and all our collections on show, we asked the Mayor if he would open it officially to the public. Around half the village attended the opening ceremony, a hundred or more, and two little children held a ribbon across the doorway so the Mayor could cut it and declare it open. We had been teaching the Mayor to speak English (and he helped us with out French) and the crowd asked him to repeat all he had said in English. He declined. I then made a rather stunted speech in my very best French and people started to enter the museum. This was in May 2005. The year after we moved to France and around three years after we bought the house.
The two museums are free to visit but we have a charity box and any donations are passed to Cancer charities, originally to Breakthrough, supported by Avon Ltd and later to the French Cancer Research people. We do not expect to receive a lot of money as our village is popular for walkers and they often don't carry cash. On average we collect around £70 a year. We have had visitors from all over France, and other countries, and in January next year we are expecting a group of people from the French Motor Caravan Club - roughly 60 people. As the museums are quite small we usually ask that only around 6 people at a time visit each part, then swap over. The remainder are offered an English cup of tea and a biscuit whilst they wait. This group will be holding their rally at our Village Hall and will come over to us in small groups. I am quite looking forward to the day and practising my French.
Avon Bottles
I am always happy to give valuations for Avon bottles and the French people are gradually starting to collect them. I also keep a large amount of miniature perfumes (not Avon) which I swap for French Avon items. Avon is beginning to appear at the boot sales here and one or two items were only produced in France so I didn't have them in my collection - I do now!
Some pictures of my Avon collectables with information and values. (Value for mint condition in original mint condition box).
Church Mouse Bride USA 1977 UK 1980 White glass, pink ears on plastic top, lace veil. £10-£15
Church Mouse Groom USA 1979 White painted glass base, white plastic top £15-£20
Australian version of Church Bride, white painted glass, same value
Garden Girl Pink USA 1978 Pink painted base with matching plastic top £20
Proud Groom USA 1978 White painted glass base, plastic top £25
Bridal Moments USA 1976 as above
Wedding Flower Maiden USA 1979 as above, part of wedding set £20
Garden Girl Yellow USA 1975 Frosted glass base, yellow plastic top £20
(Most of the above held cologne)
Scottish Lass 1975 Red and Blue painted glass base with blue plastic top £20
Spanish Senorita 1975 Red and Pink painted glass base, pink plastic top £20
Dutch Maid 1977 Blue, red and yellow painted base, cream plastic top £20
American Belle/Southern Belle 1976 Yellow, green and pink painted base with yellow plastic top £20
Sevilla 1986 Black glass base with cream plastic top. Hold red plastic fan £20-£25
Sevilla (Japanese) all white version of above £40
Balinese Temple Dancer 1994 White with red plastic parts £15
There is also a male version of the above, slightly taller but similar in appearance £20-£25
Japanese Lady 1985 Lilac glass base with matching plastic top. Holds golden fan £15-£20
Dutch Girl 1974 Blue painted glass base with cream plastic top £15-£20
(Most of the above held cologne)
Vintage Taxi/Checker Cab 1977-79 Yellow painted glass with black plastic boot. Paper stick-on decals came in box £25
Vantastic 1979 Burgundy colour glass with stick on decals £25
Haynes Apperson/Veteran Car 1973-74 £25
Sterling Six 1968 Came in four different shades of brown - Avon's first 'fancy' decanter. One with very smooth top is rarest £25-£35
Thomas Flyer 1974 White painted with red and blue plastic seats, white tyre cover. £30
Red VW 1972-73 Some were red glass, others painted red with matching plastic boot £25
Black VW 1970-71 Black glass with matching plastic boot £20
Blue VW 1973 Blue painted over clear glass with matching plastic boot £30
'37 Cord 1974 Cream painted glass with black top part £30
Chrysler Town and Country 1976 Red painted over clear glass £25-£30
Avon collectors are looking for glass or china items in interesting shapes, as above. Plain bottles are not very collectable and have little or no value. Many items not marked "Avon" are similar to those sold in High Street shops and will not become collectable.
Collect items which you like, do not buy for instant riches - it is unlikely to happen. Some items appear to other categories of collectors, like thimbles, bells, powder compacts etc. Bubble Bath containers (Soakies) are becoming collectable in their own right and Avon has produced many different varieties of these, including Mickey Mouse, ET, Snoopy, Paddington and various Spacemen figures.
Less than half the products bought from Avon have pefect boxes, mainly due to the packing and delivery procedures and a good box will command a premium. Avon is collected empty except for the real perfume, which should be full. Aftershaves and Colognes have been know to explode when old. Candle holders are more collectable than the actual candles.
Children's toys are popular but must be marked Avon and should be in new, mint condition, if they are not, do not buy them.
Soap must be boxed, absolutely perfect, without a blemish - if damaged, use in the bath unless exceptionally rare.
Paperwork and ephemera is very collectable and the oldest Avon I have in my own collection is a letter from Avon (then CPC - California Perfume Company) and a price list and card dated 1912.
Awards. The Albee figurines are the most collectable awards, followed by jewellery awards (must be marked with the Avon logo). Lucite (a composition item) is very sought after as they are one-offs, and not many exist. These items are used for the photographs you see in your Avon Brochures and can cost Avon between $25,000 and £75,000 from drawing board to finished item. Thee items are sometimes donated by Avon USA to collectors' clubs in America to raffle for club funds and can change hands for large sums of money. They are always accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Avon. I am luck enough to have two of these items and another I am not sure of. Avon clothing is quite popular but difficult to display so should be worn with pride!
Helpful Hints
Any fluff which congregates in waxy containers (ie candles and pomanders) can be cleaned using a small piece of Blu-tack (other brands available).
Soap can be protected with clingfilm (Obviously don't wash it!!!)
Handling containers wearing woolly gloves will clean them quite well.
A whole shelf of Avon can be dusted by using a hand-held hair dryer, blowing all the dust along to one end of the shelf.
Avon is harder to clean if kept in a room where there are smokers, as cigarette smoke makes the bottles sticky.
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