The Sinking Canoe Antiques

08/29/2026

08/29/2026

A small vintage collection of Ed-U-Cards “Cowboys and Indians” playing cards, originally produced from 1940s onward.

Individually, these little cards are not going to finance your retirement. But grouped together, they become something much better: a colourful piece of vintage graphic design with plenty of Western charm .They work beautifully as a decorative object: nostalgic without being too precious, graphic enough to hang almost anywhere, and much more interesting together than sitting forgotten at the bottom of a drawer.

08/28/2026

These are among the latest arrivals at the shop.
Antique water pumps are not particularly difficult to find on the Prairies—but usually they are cast iron. These two are something quite different: wonderfully primitive folk pieces, made largely from a single piece of wood, one still carrying its old light green and red paint, and both retaining much of their original iron hardware.

Wooden pumps of this type were used through much of the 19th century and into the early 1900s, before cast-iron pumps gradually replaced them. The old wooden ones were then simply abandoned, left to rot—or very often burned. Which is exactly why surviving examples are much harder to find today.
And yes, they would look wonderful in a garden.

But personally, I would do something completely different.
I would use one indoors, almost as a piece of sculpture on a primitive base ,an unexpected piece in a living room or a kitchen ...I would only clean it carefully and give the wood a deep wax: enough to make it warm and rich again, but never shiny.

Sometimes the best place for an old farm object is very far from the farm.
the natural wood is SOLD

08/27/2026

"Toreador ,en garde!"

08/26/2026

Have you got a rebel daughter?

Maybe one with a little Jessica from The Merchant of Venice in her?

Jessica was Shylock’s daughter. She fell in love with Lorenzo, disguised herself as a boy, climbed out of the house, ran away with him… and, just to make the evening more memorable, took Dad’s money and jewels along for the adventure.

So perhaps this beautiful original engraving of Jessica (from the French series Galerie des Femmes de Shakespeare, published in Paris by H. L. Delloye 1839) would make the perfect Christmas gift
For the daughter: a gentle suggestion that rebellion has already been tried.
For the future partner: a small historical warning.
Of course, if your daughter is one of those suspiciously quiet-looking girls, this may be a dangerous suggestion.
And before you hang Jessica on the wall… perhaps hide the jewels.
And for the parents? Proof that difficult daughters were not invented by your family. 😏

08/25/2026

Rude, but useful.....

08/24/2026

Come find us here 👇
https://www.youtube.com/

08/24/2026

We’ve made our way to YouTube.

More antiques, more vintage, more stories, more questionable decisions — and considerably more time to explain why we brought that home.

The Sinking Canoe is now on YouTube.

08/23/2026

Two vintage solid metal chairs :“How hard can upholstery be?”
Eight seconds later: two chairs, six fabrics, stuffing everywhere and absolutely no improvement whatsoever. 😂
Some projects are simply better suited to their next owner.