Historic Journals
A Life Changing Experience At The City Dump
It was a life changing experience for me, at 10-years-old, to find out everything was free at the city dump. It was a life changing revelation to me when my mom brought home a rusty old 28 inch bike that had been thrown in the city dump. In addition to the bike, was a big…
Read MoreOur Non-Profit Apprentice Programs Are Key
We Do Not Count Our Success In Monetary Value We count our success in our people, and their success, and their dedication to our customers. Hand Crafting American Family Heirloom Furnishings, And Historic Fine Art Restorations For Humanities Cultural Advancement Since 1913 Helping others, help us, help them, has always been our first goal, before…
Read MoreForeign Roots, Guts And A Great Work Ethic Were In My Blood
At the end of the day, there is no amount of experience, nor any type of formal education, that could exceed the value of what my dad taught me early on. He was born an orphan in 1906, and due to the fact that his mother died at his birth; it left his immigrant father…
Read MoreDon’t Waste Your Money On “Buyer Beware” Knock Offs
The restoration of historic vintage cars, trucks, old gas pumps, vending machines, historic signs and much more commemorating America’s industrial revolution of the 20th century, has become an enormous, multi-billion dollar market in the 21st century. It is a hobby with great returns to investors/collectors both young and old that enjoy collecting worldwide. Of course,…
Read MoreInside Our World Class Restoration Shop: H.J. Nick’s Historic Journal
Our On-Site, World Class Restoration Shop is unique in that we are, as a flagship business, a fine art hand crafted door, furniture, and hand forged hardware manufacturer. This means that by extension, our Retro-Shop has direct access to, as needed, to be able to re-manufacture any item in the same hand and materials of…
Read MoreA Student Of Everything: H.J. Nick’s Historic Journal
I was just 16-years-old, driving a garbage truck route, with my “Swamper”. (This was a big muscled up dude the picked up the 55 gallon drums and dumped them into the front bucket of the truck. At this point, we would both sort through, looking out for anything fixable or reusable among the so-called “junk”.…
Read MoreOur Qualifications: The Oldest, Largest And Most Experienced
H.J. Nick at age 15 in 1962. Our world class research department, headed by world renowned, award winning artist, H.J. Nick, has an unmatched level of hands on experience in the vintage collectibles and antique restorations marketplace. We have developed an expert research department that digs deep to tell the story of every item we…
Read MoreCollecting The Right Petroliana: H.J. Nick’s Historic Journal
Yesterday, I was reminded of how simple finding the right petroliana to collect really is. A man called in and said he was walking down the rail road tracks in his little town, and saw something sticking out of the ground about a half inch. He stopped, dug it up, and it was a properly…
Read MorePorcelain Vintage Signs: Knowledge Is Power
Those who know what they are doing can amass a fortune collecting these American iconic advertisements, as well as many hour of enjoyment that can be shared with other collectors and discussing the hobby. Here are a few rules to use as guidance for the beginning collector of porcelain vintage signs: The first rule of…
Read MoreRoad Art: The American Industrial Revolution By H.J. Nick
When MGM built a new hotel in casino in a historic district of Springfield, Massachusetts, they had to meet a very specific building guidelines, in that their building had to match with the surrounding architecture, most of which was built in the 1800’s or even earlier. Our experts were able to deliver to them a…
Read MoreVintage Visible Gas Pumps: What To Buy?
In recent years, as petroliana collecting has reached and exponentially higher level of popularity; the demand for vintage visible gas pumps has increased dramatically. As happens when any previously niche collectible item reaches the mainstream, the level of misinformation, as well as fakes and frauds goes through the roof. This is usually caused by self-appointed…
Read MoreThe Travels H.J. Nick: Adventure On Route 66
The following is a true story about the travels of ArtFactory.com’s award winning artist, H.J. Nick, and an adventure on old Route 66 in his younger days. This trip down Route 66 would eventually serve as inspiration for one of his most famous designs, our Route 66 Hand Carved Entrance, also known as The Ultimate…
Read MoreWhen Holes Were Drilled Into A Porcelain Or Tin Sign For Neon Application Does Not Effect Its Value
Many sign collectors have concern that who, where, or specifically when, the hole were drilled into a sign for neon application will affect the value. However, the key reason that this not the case is because in the Early 20th century, neon signs were rarely, if ever mass produced. At this point in history, many…
Read MoreIntroduction To H.J. Nick’s Historic Journal
we have THE WORLD’S LARGEST MAN CAVE, on site at our Scottsdale, Arizona showroom. It can be toured absolutely free of charge during business hours, and EVERY ITEM IS FOR SALE. Located in five air Plane hangers, with our main building on 2 acres, on the west taxiway of the Scottsdale Airport. We offer the…
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