Butlers Estates, Antiques & Fine Metals

10/18/2026

10/13/2026

Before kids dreamed of spaceships, they dreamed of Zeppelins.
Meet the Little Giant Zeppelin, a pressed-steel pull toy from the late 1920s–1930s, when giant airships captured imaginations and a string could turn the living room floor into an adventure.
That weathered finish tells a story. Every dent and faded decal makes you wonder how many little hands pulled it along and where they imagined they were going.
Once a childhood toy. Now a little piece of history at Butlers Antiques. ✨

10/09/2026

🎃 Before Halloween became a night for candy, it was a night when people believed the dead could return…
Would you have dared to step outside? 👻
Halloween’s roots reach back to Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. People believed the boundary between the living and the dead grew thin, allowing spirits to cross into our world. Bonfires blazed as communities gathered to face the coming darkness. 🔥
Over centuries, these traditions mingled with Christian observances. The evening before All Saints’ Day became known as All Hallows’ Eve eventually, Halloween.
Irish and Scottish immigrants brought their customs to America, where carved turnips gave way to pumpkins. Old traditions of visiting homes for food and performing for treats helped shape today’s trick-or-treating. 🕯️
Behind every glowing jack-o’-lantern is a history of remembrance, superstition, and our enduring fascination with what waits in the dark.

10/07/2026

It ain't no lie.... we buy buy buy jewelry

10/05/2026

🍆

09/29/2026

Once, this little cigarette case was polished and perfect. Now its illustration is faded, its surface is worn, and parts of its story have disappeared with time.

But look at her. Still sitting at her dressing table. Still elegant. Still beautiful.

Maybe that’s what makes old things feel so human. Life leaves its marks on all of us, and beauty doesn’t vanish because of them. Sometimes, the marks are what make us look a little closer. ✨

Whats something imperfect you find beauty in ?

09/20/2026

JURY

09/17/2026

Before Pokémon cards… before fidget spinners… there were POGs. 🔥
But the story actually starts decades before the 1990s craze.
The name POG came from a Hawaiian juice drink made with Passionfruit, Orange & Guava. Kids in Hawaii played a game using the round cardboard caps from milk and juice bottles, stacking them up and trying to flip them over by throwing a heavier disc, later known as a slammer.
Then the early ’90s happened… and POGs absolutely exploded. 💥
Suddenly these little cardboard discs were EVERYWHERE. Schools, toy stores, comic shops, flea markets, you name it. There were sports POGs, cartoons, superheroes, holograms, skulls, celebrities, advertising pieces and thousands of wild designs.
Kids traded them like currency, collected tubes full of them, and battled at recess… until some schools actually banned POGs because games were getting a little too serious. 😂
Like many ’90s crazes, the boom didn’t last forever. By the late 1990s, POG mania had largely faded, but millions of them survived in closets, attics and old childhood collections.
And today?....
Collectors are digging through them all over again. 👀
Because while most POGs are still inexpensive, certain rare sets, limited releases, unusual slammers, early pieces and hard-to-find designs can be surprisingly collectible.
So before you throw out that tube of old POGs…
You might want to look through it first.
Who remembers playing POGs at recess? 👇

09/09/2026

A spectacular piece of Philadelphia-area art history… hiding in plain sight.
This monumental bronze fountain was created by Jim Ponter (1923–2007), a Pennsylvania-born realist sculptor whose career was deeply connected to Philadelphia. Ponter studied sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, worked for roughly 20 years creating illustrations and editorial artwork for the legendary Philadelphia Bulletin, and later spent more than three decades at the Franklin Mint, eventually becoming its Chief Sculptor.
And then there were pieces like this.
Standing approximately 4+ feet tall and weighing well over 100 pounds, this signed bronze garden fountain captures a young woman balancing gracefully atop a massive sea turtle, surrounded by shells and details of the ocean floor. The movement of her body, windswept hair, enormous turtle and contrasting patinas turn the entire sculpture into a scene that almost feels alive.
Ponter was known for his realism and extraordinarily detailed figurative work, but his large bronze garden sculptures and fountains were placed in private gardens around the country. Making pieces of this scale particularly fascinating to encounter today.
His legacy also includes monumental public sculpture in Pennsylvania, including the larger-than-life Coal Miners' Statue in Minersville, which Ponter himself described as a “labor of love.”
From PAFA… to the Philadelphia Bulletin… to Chief Sculptor of the Franklin Mint… and ultimately to spectacular bronzes like this.
Nearly a century after Jim Ponter was born, his fingerprints remain all over Pennsylvania art history.
And this may be one of the most impressive Ponter bronzes we’ve ever had the opportunity to handle.
Would you put this in your garden?