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Last week, I blogged about our visit from the set designers of the upcoming Mark Wahlberg film Wonderland. Set in the Seventies, the Wonderland decorators bought vintage beer advertising & barware, a taxidermy salmon, wooden signs, and an old porch glider (among other things).

This week, we were visited by the set designers for the upcoming Columbia Pictures film “Little Women” directed by Greta Gerwig (“Ladybird”). These ladies are staging Victorian interiors, a 19th century publishing house, an art studio, a NYC street scene, and formal garden party. They filled their car with quilts, baskets, industrial spools of yarn, ironstone, a tin paint box, old paint brushes, and wooden crates. They’re sending a truck for milk cans & furniture; the prop crew is coming back this week to look at old type, printers trays, leather books, and clothing; and we’re discussing rental of some higher end pieces for the garden scenes.

All of these folks have been great to work with–they are enthusiastic, friendly, focused, and very open to suggestions! They left us with a “want list” of things they need by the start of filming in October so we will be on the hunt to see what we can come up with in the next month or so.

And by the way, we just read that the actors who were in talks to star in the film included Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, and Saoirse Ronan, so if we do rent some of our garden pieces, our customers may be able to buy a Victorian chair that Meryl Streep sat in!  We’ll keep you posted!

 Over the years, set designers staging films in the New England area have come to us for set decor & props. The very first film to feature pieces from Butler’s was Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad.” In that film, most of the objects from our shop (barrels, crates, rope, nautical pulleys, tools)  were used in dock scenes.  The next set that will be sprinkled with our stuff is the upcoming Netflix film “Wonderland” starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg. “Wonderland” is based on the TV show “Spenser for Hire,” a 1980s TV crime drama about a Boston private investigator.

Designers have been in and out of the shop over the past several days picking out crusty 1970s decor including a taxidermy salmon, vintage Budweiser & Pabst signs, old liquor bottles, industrial lights, vintage table lamps, a wooden sign from the Seabrook dog track, and an old porch glider. With thanks to our iphone cameras, we were able to get everything selected, pulled, and packed for today’s pick-up. According to the crew that we met today, filming starts this fall and the correct pronunciation of the shooting location is “Dorchesta.”  There’s no release date yet but we will patiently wait to see Marky Mark, of the Funky Bunch, sitting in a bar decorated with vintage beer signs from our shop!

If you’ve been in our shop lately, you know that we buy and sell a lot of antique taxidermy. There are state and federal regulations with regard to buying, selling, and possessing taxidermy so it’s important to understand the laws in your state before buying “stuffed animals.” In the state of New Hampshire, the general rule is that taxidermy is allowed as long as the animals were not obtained illegally and are not protected. This is a current list of  New Hampshire’s Endangered Species. Creatures protect by federal laws include birds that are part of  The Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Other protected birds include birds of prey, like eagles and owls. In fact, possession of taxidermy eagles and owls is illegal in many states even if the piece was created before the laws were enacted. In the case of our owl, we contacted the New Hampshire Department of Fish & Game for permission to display her in the shop.

 

Our last three Tuesdays have been spent at one amazing, overgrown, uninhabited home in Southern New Hampshire. The former owner was a collector of anything big, heavy, weird, and quirky! We’ve brought home truly unusual pieces including outdoor sculptures & statues, an array of taxidermy, architectural salvage, old signs, weathervanes & cupolas, and some industrial pieces. Fortunately, we have had help from our strapping, young offspring and their friends because nothing from this estate weighed less than 100 pounds! So, thanks to Billie, Jackson, Beau, and Jake, our quest to keep our inventory as interesting as possible continues! If you’re in the neighborhood and you’ve never seen a buffalo up close, stop by!

For those of you who are familiar with our record business, you know that we stock all of the used vinyl in the Bullmoose Music store in Portsmouth. Bullmoose decided to make some changes and asked us to cut the used vinyl inventory by 50%. After much hard work, we have finished consolidating our inventory in Portsmouth which means that there is a vinyl bonanza in Northwood! We managed to squeeze one of our Portsmouth racks into the RS Butler’s record room so we are officially swimming in LPs! Everything has been reorganized, rejuvenated, and repriced! Don has added new sections of $3 records and completely expanded the inventory.

We will continue to keep our space at Bullmoose fully stocked (though certain genres & artists will not be represented) so don’t dismay! And as always, if there’s anything special you are looking for, give us a call or send us an email! Hope to see you soon!

Several years ago a lovely 92 year old lady named Helen called us to evaluate a record collection that had belonged to her recently deceased husband. Don & I went on the call together. We both remember driving up to her mid-century split home (grey shingles with purple trim) and thinking “this is the kind of place that would have classic mid-century decor.” And bingo! Avocado kitchen, chrome laminate kitchen table, and a living room & bedroom full of pristine mid-century furniture. We spent the better part of the morning looking at records and visiting with Helen. We bought her husband’s Jazz collection along with her mother’s antique featherweight sewing machine.  At that time, Helen wasn’t sure where her life was going to take her so she wasn’t ready to part with her furniture but she promised us she’d call if she ever decided to sell.

Last week, our phone rang. It wasn’t Helen. It was her niece and her grandniece who had flown out from Wyoming when Helen suddenly became ill. They arrived in time to bring her back to her home where she died shortly after. As they started the process of sorting through Helen’s things, they came upon a note that Helen thad written on the back of our business card.  It simply said, call Colleen & Don–they want to buy my furniture.

And so we went back to Helen’s house last week (to meet two equally lovely women) and we bought Helen’s furniture. Such is the “happy-sad” business of antiques dealers. But we were honored to meet Helen, and we are very happy to be able to find new homes for her treasured Heywood Wakefield. So if you’re looking for well-loved pieces that have a story, you know where to go!

Peace & love to Helen.