Welcome to McCulloh's Antiques & Collectibles

Mercersburg, Pa.  Est. 1996

Quality Antiques at down home, small town prices.

  We update our site every week so there is always something new.

My wife Staci and I own an Antique Shop located just a half mile west of Mercersburg, Pa.on Pa. Rt. 16  About US       click here for our    Site Map

Check out  Rob's Oldschool Cycles  A division of McCulloh's Antiques

Our showroom hours are Saturdays and Sundays 9am until 4pm with evenings and weekdays by appointment. Or shop 24/7-365 on this site.

(We buy Mercersburg Bank Notes) 

             In our showroom you will find a wide variety of Antiques and glassware including.

Victorian Art Glass, Opalescent glass, Early American Pressed and Pattern Glass, Elegant, and Depression Glass, by Boston Sandwich, New England, Jefferson, Heisey, Northwood, Hobbs, Fenton, Imperial, Jeanette, Pittsburgh Glass, Indiana, Hocking, Macbeth-Evens, U.S. Glass Co. and many other glass companies.

Also

18th,19th and 20th Century Furniture, Primitives, Tools, Tins, Crocks, Advertising, Cast Iron, Civil War Relics, Rail Road items, Postcards, Lighting, Lanterns, Dinnerware & China, Pottery, Silver, Coins, Toys , Games, Books, Bottles, Kitchen Collectibles, Mercersburg Collectibles, Art and much, much more. On our links pages you will find Links to other Antique shops and search engines, some local links from the Mercersburg area and free website submission tools.

Directions to our retail location at 12246 Buchanan Trail West, Mercersburg, Pa.

(please note: This is the location of our retail shop, not our Business mailing address)

From Interstate-81 use Pa. exit 5 (Greencastle), Go west on Rt. 16 aprox. 10 miles to                           Mercersburg. We are located just west of Mercersburg on the left about a half mile.

From Interstate - 70 Take I-81 North from Hagerstown Md. to Greencastle, Pa. and follow the Interstate-81 directions above to Mercersburg.

From the Pa turnpike use the Willow hill exit, take Rt 75 south to Mercersburg. Turn right on Rt. 16 go about half a mile we are on the left.

From Pa rt. 30 Take Rt 75 south from the flashing lights at Fort Loudon, follow 75 south to Mercersburg, Take Rt. 16 west about a half a mile we are on the left.

There are several other Good Antique Shops and Malls within a 30 mile radius of our shop. We carry their flyers and will be glad to help you with directions from our shop.   

(click picture to enlarge)

We are always interested in Early Harley-Davidson items, especially sidecar related items. Dealer giveaways, advertising items, earley photographs & Postcards, Parts, oil cans, signs and more.  We buy Indian motorcycle items too.              

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We are very fond of lacy period salt cellars, Feel free to contact us if you have any for sale.

We Buy Lacy Salts.

   Circa 1825 - 1850    
Lacy    Salts

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We Buy Lacy Salts.

We  BUY, SELL & TRADE Fine Antiques and currently have Mercersburgs largest Antique retail shop.  If you collect American Pickle Castors, Lacy Period Salts, Railroad Lanterns, Early Kerosene Lanterns, Griswold Cast Iron or Primitives, stop by and visit our retail shop.  We have may more items that we do not have listed on this site.

Have Antiques you would like to  sell?  We also sell items on consignment.  If you are within driving distance of our shop and would like us to sell your items for you, e-mail us for an appointment.  All items must be brought to our shop, we do not pick up or deliver.  We charge 20% after your item sells.  If your item does not sell, you are not charged a cent.  All items must be in good condition and we reserve the right to decline to except any item.  We do list top quality consignment items on this site at no additional charge. However, we reserve the right to decide what items we will list on this site. 

add this to your site, click the link below

http://www.digitalpoint.com

If you enjoy our site please feel free to share this link with a friend so they can stop by and view our site too.  They will thank you for it if they find that special item they have been looking for.  http://www.mccullohantiques.com

God Bless America !!!

subtropic_charters.htm

The mindless ramblings of an Antique Dealer that spends way too much time working on his Antique Shop's web site.

In this Mercersburg antique shop you will find an assortment of antiques and collectibles.  We have a special love of early American glassware and collect early American pressed glass  lacy period salt cellars by Boston Sandwich Glass Company, Pittsburgh Glass, New England Glass company or the Jersey Glass company.  We also love to find fine Victorian pickle castors by Pairpoint, Meridian, Barbour Brothers, or James W. Tufts to name just a few.  We also have collections of early kerosene lamps and lanterns, railroad lanterns, locks and tools.  We have a case of civil war relics both dug and non dug for those of you that like civil war items and also other military items.  If you collect tins crocks or other kitchen collectibles there is a special section just for those items. If Opalescent glass is your thing, we carry examples by Fenton, Northwood, Jefferson and many other makers.  There is a room full of tools to choose from and several cases of bottles including milk bottles, soda, beer, whiskey, medicine and other household bottles.   We have a section for postcards and have cards from all over the world to choose from.  This section is divided off by states and also by category.  We have a collection of C. Laughlin Real photo post cards set aside for those who collect his work. If you enjoy primitives we always look for early hand made tools, home made items such as furniture and quilts. Enamel ware seems to be popular these days, we have many, many pieces to pick from. Many people stop by and ask for early toys made by companies such as Hubley, Tonka, Matchbox, Dinky, Schuco, Manoil, Daisy, Marx, and Kilgore to name a few. Early tin windup toys seem to bring the highest premiums and early farm toys seem to sell the fastest.  Pottery and Stone ware seems to be on the rise as we can hardly ever touch a Cowden & Wilcox decorated crock or Jug at a sale any more.  John Bell pottery has just went through the roof the last couple of years and its not uncommon to see his work bring prices in the thousands. Even pieces that are cracked or have larger chips seem to bring several hundred these days. Butter churns, Wash boards, Butchering Kettles,  Trunks, silver, pewter, clocks, tin, advertising items, opalescent glass, depression glass, toys, paper items and much more.  We also try and have items from our surrounding towns for people to look at.  We sell items from Mercersburg, Greencastle, Chambersburg, Hagerstown, Waynesboro, Clearspring, Gettysburg, Shippensburg, Carlise, McConnellsburg, Needmore, Burnt Cabins, Cowans Gap, Harrisburg, Upton, Ft. Loudon,  Lemasters, St.Thomas,  and many other town in both Pennsylvania and Maryland.  The items we sell in our Antique shop we buy at Public sales and auction houses, Flea markets, other antique shops and antique malls, yard sales and of course people bring item into our antique shop to sell to us.  We also sell items for other people on a consignment bases.   With these items we do not have much room to negotiate as we only get a small commission and do all wheeling and dealing out of our commission. We are very antique dealer friendly so if you are an antique dealer and have a valid tax number let us know when you get here as there are some items we can give you special prices on.  We love history and enjoy talking with our customers about early American history and the items that have been produced from it.  There is always something we can learn from our customers and we hope that we also can teach others about antiques.  We have from time to time spoke in our local schools about the civil war and also colonial times. Military items from the American revolution are getting harder to find these days. We have taken displays into schools so that the children could see the items early American used in their every day lives. Antiques can be a good investment, very useful and great decorating items. Good Antique furniture made from Oak or Walnut gives a home such a warm feeling and Cherry usually says elegance and class. Tin enameled or porcelain advertising signs do a lot to accent a recroom, den or family room. Lets not forget the outside of the house as this is the first place people see when they come to visit you.  Flower beds with Wooden wagon wheels, cast Iron Kettles for flower pots, Horse drawn plows are all popular and even outhouses are being used as tool sheds to decorate larger flower gardens. A few gas station collectibles or racing items on the walls of your garage sets it off nicely when you show people that old Harley Davidson or hot rod you have been working on restoring all winter. Ladies if you have a sewing room you just have to have a few old quilts hanging on the walls and maybe an old singer treadle sewing machine.  Try an old divided coca cola crate as a shadow box to display your thimble collection.  You can use antique tooth pick holders to display those hat pins you grandmother left you. Early fruit jars are great for storing buttons and other small items.  They can also be used in your kitchen to store coffee beans, flower, powdered sugar, or anything you would put in a canister. While we are in the kitchen how about putting some old spice tins or coffee tins on a plate shelf over your cupboards or using crocks to hold cooking utensils. Again here is a place that tin soda advertising signs look good.  Decorate an open wall with griswold cast iron skillets and use them to cook that good tender loin or bacon.  It always seems to taste better when cooked in an old cast iron skillet doesn't it. My wife uses a wine rack to display her rolling pin collection. A antique chestnut dry sink in the dining room reminds us of a time when people didn't have the luxury of running water in their homes. For those of you that like that frontier primitive look, try hanging an old double barrel shot gun or Pennsylvania long rifle over the fireplace or front door. Nail kegs make good paper cans for your bathroom, den or office. Speaking of that office, impress your clients with a comfortable atmosphere instead of the normal sterile look of metal desks and computers.  Try using a larger antique oak desk and chair.   Maybe a Student lamp for lighting and some glass paper wieghts.  A tin tobbacco lunch pail makes a great pencil box.  A computer work station can be hidden in an old wardrobe or armoire.  If you would like to make your office look a little bigger try adding a few mirrors. If you like to change with the seasons a very easy way to keep your decor in time with the seasons is the pictures on your walls.  One thing my wife has done in our dining room is to use Currier & Ives Calendar prints like the ones that were used by The Travelers Insurance companies in the 1960's and 70's.  She keeps four different prints in each frame and just changes the one on top with the season.   This can be done in minutes and works very well.  By keeping all the seasons in the frame she never has to remember where they are at.  The cost for this is just a few dollars and the price of the frames you choose. Most of the art work through out the rest of our house does not change as often as most of it is done by a friend of ours that is  an artist by the name of Mark Twain Noe. He does some wonderful wildlife and landscape scenes. Themes work well with decorating. In our Jacuzzi room we use an old whiskey keg as a table and old plank bottom chairs to sit on. We made an old sailboats steering wheel into a chandelier covered the walls with early hemlock barn boards. A lobster trap and a few small crab trap buoys give it that old waterfront feel. Deep sea fishing rods, Some fish net and a few sea shells complete the decor.  I bet this is what an early 1900's Florida seaside fishing shack looked like. One of the best things about decorating with Antiques is that if you decide you are ready for a change after a couple of years, the items you are ready to let go have usually gone up in value and you can sell them at a profit and use the money to buy different antiques.  Think of it as an investment and put a little thought into what you are buying and in the end it will pay off better than you may think. Don't forget also if you want people to feel relaxed in your home or office to ad a little sound.  Nothing can be more soothing than the slow tick tock of an old clock. a Tall case clock or better known as the grandfather clock gives your office or living room the feel of class and integrity.  Mantle clocks and wall clocks also work well for this and take up much less room.  They are also much less of a strain on the wallet. We hope you enjoy our web site and return to visit us often. Here at McCulloh's Antiques in Mercersburg, Pa. Antiques is much more than just a business.   We love antiques and enjoy sharing with others. We no longer sell on e-bay as this site keeps us very busy, but we do still buy on there and find it to be a very useful tool for pricing items and also on occasion identification. 

If you have your own antique web site, take a look at some of the web site tools listed on our links pages.  They have helped us a lot.  We also trade reciprocal links with other antique related web sites.  There are many good ways to increase your traffic on your antique web site.   This intern will increase your sales. One of the first things you should do is list your site with every search engine that allows free business listings.  Secondly we would recommend making sure you have the best keywords in the text to draw the interest of the search engines so you can get higher rankings.   Search engine ranking is not always the ticket to higher sales.  Having high quality antiques at reasonable prices is what will keep customers coming back and if you give the good service they will be return customers for life. We like try new key words all the time to increase sales. We use words like Antiques, Tinware, Cast Iron, Pickle Castor, Primitives, Glassware, Enamel, Railroad, Silver, Bottles, collecting, collectors but have found that phrases like; hand made tools, early American glassware, American Indian artifacts, Early American Pressed Glass, will drive more traffic to your site than just using individual words. Trade reciprocal   links with as many quality sites as you can, more links means more traffic.   The search engines also look at links to decide your ranking.  Links to you from sites with similar content as your site will do you more good than a site that deals with a totally different topic.  Search engines also like to see new content on a web site.  You should update your site at least once per month.  We update our site every week so the search engine deems this of more interest to their surfers.   Another good way to drive traffic to your site is to visit chat rooms or discussion boards.  Try to answer questions posted about the type of items you sell (i.e. depression glass, tobacco tins, early American pottery) and whenever possible refer to your website for further information.  You will be surprised at how many visitors this dives to your site.  That is also targeted traffic and much more valuable for higher sales. If you happen to run a discussion board or chat room about Antiques, send us the URL for your page and we will check it out.   We have learned a lot from SEO newsletters.  These you will receive when you use any of the free listing tool shown on our "Antique Related Services" page. If you have a real shop not just a web site antique business like we have, make sure to give directions and your open hours.  Another good way to prompt walk in traffic is to list on your site links to area attractions, hotels and places to eat.  This gives people a reason to come to your area and while they are there why not stop by your shop and look around.  We get many walk in customers that saw our site and came to Mercersburg to see us. When you have your own website you can expect to get hundreds of e-mails per day and many of them will just be spam.  You will also get many request for information.  Even if your site is just for sales you should try and reply to most of your e-mails for information.  The person may never buy a thing from you but if you help them ID an item and they are happy, maybe they will tell their friends about your site.  Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get. After all a good reputation sells, but remember also that if you create a bad reputation it will in turn kill sales much faster. Another way we prompt people to recomend us to a friend is a little request or suggestion.  We place a signiture as it is know at the bottom of all our outgoing mail.  This can be done with most e-mail programs and simply says " If you enjoy Antiques visit our site at www.mccullohantiques.com and please feel free to tell a friend about us."  This seems to work a lot as we have recieved many e-mail that started by " My friend gave me your sit's URL and I saw....".   Its free to do so why not ad a signiture to all your outgoing mail. We also recomend you use an anti-spyware and a anti virus program atleast once per week and keep them updated.  With the increase in e-mails to your busines you also have a higher chance of geting a virus or spyware on your computer.

My wife and I got into the antique business kind of by accident.  We are part owners in a family Excavating & Paving business were I have worked sense I was 8 years old.  When I was a small child my father was installing a sewer system on a farm when we found the original site of Fort Loudon.  For several years every summer we donated our equipment to the William Penn Museum to excavate the site.  As a child the things we were digging out of the ground were fascinating to say the least.  From that time one I collected anything we could find on construction site in the ground.  Bottles, Marbles, Coins, crocks, horse shoes, buttons, it all was treasure to me.  As I got older (15) I bought and restored as my first car a 1955 chevy which I still drive to this day (only on very nice days).  Starting when I was 18 I also enjoyed restoring old Harley Davidson Motorcycles.   After getting married at age 20, my wife and I started collecting glassware after learning more about my Grandmothers collections and how rare some of her glass was.  Anyone who collects anything for a long period of time will tell you that after a while you need to thin your collection out a little to make room for more.  This is what happened to us.  We had an empty building and decided to open a small antique shop to sell some of our overflow.  WOW, did we get an eye opening.  As we sold off the extras from our collection, we reinvested the profit back into more inventory for the shop and widened our areas of collecting. To this day we still put all our profits into the business in some way, either books and price guides, building updates and improvements, new show cases and lighting, updating the alarm and security systems or more inventory. Always keeping to the rule, we would only buy items we wouldn't mind having if they didn't sell.  The more we learned the more we bought.  The more we bought the more we sold and so and so on till we found out we were addicted to finding and buying antiques.  The rarer the better. Its kinda like eating potato chips, after that first bite you just have to have more and more  Well I guess there are much worse addictions so we won't fight it.   It gives us a wonderful opportunity to meet people and we can do it together.   That's the best part of it all, spending time together.  We plan our vacations so that we can hit antique shop and malls on our way past.  We take weekends just the two of us and go looking for antiques.   We get to see lots of this beautiful country by hitting the antique shops that may be off the beaten path.  We learn about history and how different communities grew over the years.  Some days I set back and think how lucky I am to be able to do this.   Isn't life great!

Well I guess I have rambled on enough about Antiques and Collecting them, having an antique web site and how to increase traffic to it,  and the fact that I am lucky enough to get to spend so much time with my lovely wife doing what we love, so I will shut up and let you enjoy your visit to the McCulloh's Antiques & Collectibles web site run from here in Historic Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. 

Have a great day, Rob.