Two ?Minnesota Market Warriors? scout out antiques in Red Wing ...

Part of an edited painting depicting Red Wing, inside Pottery Place.

RED WING, MINNESOTA. It?s a Mississippi River town synonymous with shoes and pottery. And antiques.

The sprawling Pottery Place complex.

On a day trip here this past winter, my husband and I shopped at Pottery Place Historic Center, the old Red Wing Pottery factory which today houses antiques and specialty shops, eateries and a pottery museum.

An antique store display of Red Wing pottery, I assume. It was too high to reach.

Because we were only in town for a few hours, part of that time at a park watching for eagles, we toured just a?minuscule?section of Pottery Place. You could easily spend half a day here. Truly. Randy and I didn?t even get downtown except to drive through on our way to Covill Park.

One of my more unique finds, a souvenir Minnesota-shaped ashtray displayed on a plate.

Now we don?t necessarily buy a lot of antiques or collectibles at antique stores, preferring to find ours at garage and yard sales or thrift stores. But that doesn?t stop us from window shopping, or scouting for others.

I had no clue what this was, but Randy identified it as an egg scale. If I would have looked a little closer?

You might call us ?Minnesota Market Warriors,? referencing the public television show by that name, minus the ?Minnesota.? The five cast members search for merchandise at flea markets with those items then sold at auction. It?s a competition. But, for the viewer, the show also presents history and market lessons.

On this particular Saturday, Randy would have won the competition. He found a Watt Ware pitcher stamped REDWOOD COUNTY, Farm Bureau Service Co., WABASSO, MINNESOTA. Score. Several extended family members collect Watt Ware from Redwood County, my home county.

The Watt Ware pitcher from Wabasso which we purchased on behalf of extended family.

Not being able to afford this pitcher ourselves, we called the potential buyers and were given the go ahead to purchase the piece, marked 20 percent off if paid for via cash or a check. After locating an ATM, the purchase was made.

Now, if we had been thinking, we would have auctioned off the pitcher to the highest bidder or charged a finder?s fee. But turns out one of the family members owns the exact same pitcher, gifted to her by our mother.

Jokingly, I told her, ?OK, then, $XXX will be deducted from your inheritance.?

Yeah, just call me Miller Gaffney, the persistent Market Warriors Southerner who always haggles for a bargain and holds her purse strings tight.

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BONUS PHOTOS from Pottery Place:

Love this Pottery Place sign.

A hallway on the first floor of Pottery Place.

One of the first things I spotted inside an entry, this lovely water feature around the corner from the Red Wing cityscape painting above.

Lovely spice jars and salt-and-pepper shakers all neat and tidy in rows in an antique shop.

The two antique shops we visited, Pottery Place Antiques and 3rd Floor Antiques, were on the second and third floors, up that stairway.

I was a little freaked when I encountered this fur among the vintage hats.

? Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

All of the above images have been edited, some with a ?cartoon? application to create a yesteryear appearance.

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Source: http://mnprairieroots.com/2013/05/21/two-minnesota-market-warriors-scout-out-antiques-in-red-wing/

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