Illinois Antique Mall Finds

Antique Malls reflect regional differences or so it seems to me. On our Illinois trip the material in the malls changed as soon as we crossed the Wisconsin Border. First there are a lot more toys with a lot more farm related toys and collectibles. There are a lot more US coins but most are low grade silver coins many of which would be sold for silver or spent if they were mine. There are also a lot more books but again most were of little or no interest to me regardless of price. I did manage to pick up two nice POW books at very fair prices in a Roscoe mall. Military medals and badges were rarely seen. For example a WWII US Victory medal for $20. and an unnamed Legion of Merit pendant only for $50 made me hope that these would not be the best I would get to see on this trip. I saw a few badges that were from Kane County that were nice and the Lincoln Fire Department that looked like they were made yesterday but nothing I needed for my collection. There were some nice military wings in a Decatur mall but none had any makers marks so I left them for someone who knows more about those things than I do. I guess a long time collector like myself has a harder time finding stuff to buy. Therefore before I start sounding too negative let me show off some of the items I did buy. In the scan below are the items that I found to be interesting and priced right; a Red Cross Volunteer Nurses Aide pin, a Jane Addams School of Practical Nursing (Cleveland, O.) graduates pin, a German, Frankfurt a/M 1932 International Socialized Labor Conference pin, an Army National Guard and Reserve Staff Specialist officers insignia, a ten years service pin from St. Mary’s Hospital (Decatur, Il.) and best of all a St. John’s Military Academy Strotz Medal for General Science with real gold attachments. That is the first addition to my St. John’s collection in many years! Maybe I’ll discuss St. John’s in a future installment