by David Flint
Stephentown Historical Society members and guests brought a diverse collection of “old stuff” and whats-its to their meeting Monday evening at the Heritage Center. 
On hand to identify and evaluate the treasures and oddities were Tom Carpentier and Bill Shannon from Red Barn Antiques in New Lebanon. Carpentier pulled no punches in assigning values to the objects which included an early 20th century rat trap, hand painted chinaware, silver settings, a cast iron nutcracker, a stereopticon with slides from the First World War and an ancient bellows. Most of the objects, even some that he recognized as beautifully crafted, he assigned little or no commercial value, whether because of defects, no utilitarian value or just lack of collector interest in the current market. Commercial value and the value assigned by the owner, are of course very different things. Carpentier was most impressed by a 19th century small clock with a beveled glass face that came with a leather case and would have been installed in a high class coach. Topping that in value, however, was a magnificent silk kimono brought back by a GI from Japan after the Second World War. This, Carpentier thought, might fetch between four and five thousand dollars.