The N series tractors were designed for farmers to work on using basic tools back in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. They are simple straight-forward easy to work on machines. And the support for them is incredible. If I need help figuring something out I can just ask. The Fergies are the same as the N series. Then comes the 100's series, 6xx, 7xx, and 8xx. Then comes the 1000's series from the 1960's and early 70's. All of them are about the same to work on. If you are not a mechanic type person you mite want to stay away from diesel tractors. The old gas engines are really easy to work on and understand. When I started looking for a tractor I wanted a Ford 3000. That was the only type of tractor I had ever driven. I didn't know anything about the old N series and wasn't considering one. But then one came along that was very affordable. I did some research on it and found out it was a great tractor. So I bought it. And I am glad I did. I love my 8N tractor. If you want a small tractor I would get an 8N tractor. They are easy to find, easy to work on, and very reliable. You can get an N tractor for $2000 to $3000 depending on the shape it is in and the attachments that come with it. There a few downsides to an N tractor. No live hydraulics and no live PTO. You can add live hydraulics but I have hardly missed having it. Also, you can get a front end loader for an N tractor, but it wasn't really designed for a loader. A FEL makes it hard to steer since it doesn't have power steering. You can add power steering. It causes extra wear on the front end because of the all the extra weight. A FEL makes it hard to get on/off the tractor. An N tractor won't pull a 3pt tiller. The tractor won't go slow enough for the tiller to work. It is geared to high. An N tractor won't pull real heavy implements. And it doesn't do round bales very well (too heavy). The horsepower is low for a tractor, about 28hp at the engine, 23hp at the drawbar. I have been using my 8n since January and haven't had any problems with it. It does all I need to do, mostly mowing. I can plow with it, and I moved some dirt with it. I love my 8N tractor. Pooh Bear

The Victorian style of gardening was dead, dead, dead right around 1900. It survived in public parks and railroad stations but most people had come to dislike it intensely. One of its chief features was the bedding-out of annuals, both flowering and foliage plants. I am now seeing some of these foliage plants, like coleus, so popular in the 1800s, popular again. Huge foliage plants such as cannas were also big with the Victorians and scorned after 1900. William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll began a revolution in English gardens. They advocated naturalistic planting styles and perennials. They also wrote books. Jekyll designed gardens for the very rich in England, never stirring from her hidden home at Munstead Wood, which I have had the great good fortune to visit. Jekyll was inspired by English cottage gardens but her gardens were planned for the upper class. Her books were very popular and well-to-do Americans bought them with enthusiasm. However, American gardeners soon found that English garden books do not translate very well in our climate. A whole new garden literature, most of it written by women gardeners, arose. These books were, I believe, the largest influence on American gardens from 1900 til WW2. They generally showed naturalistic groups of perennials in geometric beds. Borders were hugely popular, as well as the style described above, so often with a sundial at the center. Sorry for the long post!

I have 37 pieces of the same stemware. Appraised as *heavy 24k gold inlay. Surprisingly sold as depression ware during the 1930's when pure gold was about $12. per ounce. Definitely a period piece(s). As to valuation...your guess as good as mine. *As opposed to the later thin period gold plating.

Kim: I did some stair building and handrailing back in the day. I quit quoting them to people like yourself because every single time when the dreamers got the proposal, they woke up and said "No thank you" immediately. Your pictured stair is out of code as the glass guardrail doesn't have the proper gripable profile. The second pic is out for no rails at all. There are all kinds of really cool very dangerous pictures of stairs on the interwebby. Were I still in that business and you called me, I would ask if you're comfortable in the 50K range. If you said no, that would be the last time we spoke. Good luck, but remember, the contractor you want has heard this thousands of times, eats rejection as a snack, is highly skeptical of the leads he does run, and has a half-year wait for his services.