Thursday, June 14, 2012

Fun at an Unexpected Rummage Sale!

As I was driving to work today, I passed a sign for a rummage sale at a local church and it was starting in 15 minutes!  I almost didn't go, because I only had a dollar or two and they usually don't take checks.  But I turned around and went anyway, figuring I'd either have enough money, get them to hold my stuff or talk them into taking my check.  Lucky me! -- the lady taking the money knew me from the Seniors group at our church (where I work) and she said she'd be happy to take my check.  They were already letting people in early, so 15 minutes later I was on my way to work with some fun finds.
An unquilted, hand pieced quilt top, 4 Paden City art deco plates, a blue ironstone pitcher and a few other goodies
A Pyrex Verde cinderella bowl, 2 deviled egg plates and a juice carafe
A large yellow Pyrex fridge dish (sadly, no lid) and a 403 Woodland mixing bowl
A very cool white iron 3-tiered plant stand

 Here are some other treasures I've picked up at sales in the past week or two, but haven't shared with you:
Some great roly poly Mad Men glasses!
Two SunSweet prune juice bottles, no lids -- I think these would be great for cut flowers!
A cheese dome & plate, Griffiths spice jar set, an 1950s 'beauty' tin and a home-made cat potholder
A casino ice bucket, 'Tempo' cream & sugar by Mieko in Japan and a 1960s AM radio (it works!)
A copper & cream 3-level food carrier.  How funny this is -- I'd never seen one before this summer and have now bought 3 of them in 4 weeks.  I wonder where they've been hiding them?
  I hope you have fun shopping this week and find lots of good junk stuff!   There are so many yard sales and so little time!

Friday, June 8, 2012

Frogs, Franciscan and Charles Lindbergh

Since I went back to work at my day job, I never get to do any good shopping on Thursdays.  I have to wait until I get off of work in the mid-afternoon and by then all the good junk finds have been snapped up by the earlier shoppers.  Once in a while I stop at a few sales on my way home anyway.

Yesterday, there was a sub sale right by where I work and my friend Bargain Hunter let me know that one of the houses had old Fisher Price.  So I headed for the sub, but not with very high hopes. 

As I expected, there were MANY frogs ...there were lots of sales with baby & kid stuff (I skipped those) and the rest was pretty picked over.  The FP stuff that Bargain Hunter saw was actually newer than what I look for, but I did get 4 records for the record player for free (always good because the records get lost and are often missing). 

I stopped at one sale, though, because I saw a HUGE 'Everything MUST Go' sign.  There was a real estate SOLD sign in the front yard and the homeowner looked exhausted.  I think this was the last effort before moving.  On one table she had these little treasures:
Gladding McBean ribbed butter dish (only about 6-7" long) and G-McB 'Patio' salt and pepper shakers.  Gladding McBean was bought by Franciscan, who continued producing pottery in their name
A turquoise Franciscan footed tray.  I don't know what this would have been used for, though.
 I was very excited to get them for next to nothing!  I just LOVE Franciscan-ware (especially the solid colors) -- what a bargain!

After several more froggy sales, I headed home.  I hit one more sale that I passed on my way and almost didn't stop.  I'm so glad that I did!  Though almost everything was new, there were 3 or 4 old plates on a table.  I picked one up and the owner said 'YOU know what you're looking at!  YOU'RE the first person who's noticed that all day.  Everyone else just wanted the Beanie Babies'.  I was so afraid he'd want too much for it, but he gave me a great, tiny price.  I think he was just happy that someone appreciated it as much as he did.  What was it?  Here it is:
A 1927 Limoges plate commemorating Lucky Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris. 
I did the happy dance right in front of him and his wife -- I didn't even try to act cool about it.  I LOVE this plate and am sure I'm going to keep it.

See?  There can be a prince (or two) even when you're surrounded by frogs! 

Monday, June 4, 2012

Two Great Days of Vintage Shopping!

Last weekend was an amazing 2 days of flea market shopping at two of my favorite venues:  Midland Antique Festival (1000 dealers on 80 acres) and Greenmead Summer Flea Market.  There were so many treasures to be found!

My friend Bargain Hunter and I left early in the morning on a wet and windy Saturday to go to Midland.  When we got there, it was in the 50s (but felt colder) and we were glad we had our hoodies!  The grassy areas were soaked and there were squish grass-puddles everywhere.  Some of the booths had straw over the puddles -- it was supposed to give the shopper a dry place to walk, but it only hid the puddles and turned them into bad surprises.  A few booths even had wood planks to walk on!
Soon the sun came out, though, and made everything brighter! 

I bought some nice things to add to the booth and to list on Etsy:
A wall shelf shaped like a book with a red art deco inside
A Harmony House platter with a gray, turquoise and white line design
Some nice linens.  I'm keeping the plate (I have a cream & sugar to match), the Harlequin egg cup and the chicken tea towel (of course!)
Some tinware and utensils.  The canister has a butterscotch bakelite knob
An Anchor Hocking holly punch set
Then there's always the to-me-from-me treasure or two.  I did the happy dance all the way out of the booth on this one: 
A tinware laundry soap pitcher!  I've had these on my wish list for ages
A Dots and Squares Pyrex salad bowl set.  It turns out this was a one-time promotional offering from Pyrex and came with the salad fork and spoon -- still with this set!
A medium Pyrex fridgie in red (also on my wish list) and a cute little bowl with a dutch fired on design
One of Bargain Hunter's blog-friends, Marie, went all the way to Midland from Windsor, Ontario and she met BH there to say hi.  I love how our blogs connect us and introduce us to people we never would have known otherwise!  BH and I had a nice time chatting with Marie and checking out the bargains she found (a cute toy sewing machine and a lovely quilt). 

There were some crazy things there, too!  Here's one of the oddest things we saw at Midland:  A shopping cart with a motor (look closely at the blue cart). 
 By the time we were finished, my granny cart was overflowing! 'Granny' was groaning as I wheeled her to the car:

Sunday was Greenmead (a flea market at the historical village of a town nearby).  There were about 100 dealers there and lots of variety to choose from.  I thought the prices were a little higher than last year and a couple of my favorite dealers weren't there, but it was still great fun.  It was  still really windy, but the day was sparkling bright and beautiful!   You can't ask for better junkin' weather than 70 and sunny!

I got there about 20 minutes before they opened and stood in line with everyone else -- the line was really long (longer than usual, I think).  I chatted (well, mostly listened to, I think) with a man who collects and sells pipes and pipe accessories.  He was there to look for smoking stands and the old faux-pewter 'Our Daily Bread' plates.  He said they make perfect pipe ashtrays because of the height of the sides and because the wording and design on the inside holds the pipes up.  He goes to national and regional pipe collectors' shows and sells.  There's always something new to learn about in vintage! 

Once again, Granny was filled to the brim with lots of great buys! 
A penguin ice bucket, melmac cream & sugar and a pottery tabletop set and carrier
Cool blue and white glassware
More linens!
I love, love, love the farm scene on the big pitcher and the art deco design on the little one is nice, too
Here's the to-me-from-me...
Two Pyrex dots bowls (now I just need two more) and a very fun, very kitschy flamingo thermometer!  That one is already in my living room
I hope you had a great junkin' weekend and found some treasures! 

Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee!

Today, June 2, 2012, is Queen Elizabeth II's jubilee -- marking 60 years on the throne.  I know that all my UK followers are well aware of the big celebrations planned, but doubt that many here in the US even noticed.

I think I've mentioned before (a few times, at least) that I love all things British, but especially the Queen!  I've been collecting Royal Family 'souvenirs' for many years, and most particularly Coronation items.  Mr KV laughs that every time a package arrives at our house, the Queen's picture is somewhere on it (I think he exaggerates...)   I have lots of tins -- between biscuit tins and tea tins, there is just such a variety available.  I have lots of other interesting things, though, too. 

I thought, in honor of the Queen's jubilee, that I'd share some of them with you.
This might be my favorite piece -- a teapot with red & blue bakelite handles. 
A hinged tin
Another tin (I always try to turn Prince Philip to the wall)
Lots of tins, a tray and some other, more unusual things:
A spoon with a bakelite handle (the bowl is embossed with the ERII)
A Coronation souvenir penknife
A Welsh lady salt or pepper (with the Coronation date on the back)  I've never been able to locate the other shaker -- I don't even know what it would look like
The London Coronation highlights is a very cool little souvenir pamphlet. 
The tin has the princesses on it.  The snapshot postcard is one of my favorite pieces -- it looks just like a family snap, with the Queen, Princess Anne, her horse and the Corgis
A Coronation plate -- a present from my friend Bargain Hunter (she gave me Christmas cookies on it)
Another favorite -- a home-made, hand colored and embroidered pillow
A Coronation Book of Common Prayer and box.  It has a hard patent leather cover embossed with ER 1953
Several books -- I especially like 'Princess Elizabeth, Wife and Mother' and 'Princess Elizabeth's Wedding Day'
An unusual changeable date desk calendar
Coronation paper dolls & coloring book -- uncut and uncolored!
Another coloring book -- also uncolored
Lastly, another favorite -- a scrapbook put together by a little girl in Surrey.  It looks like it may have been a school project
 Thanks for looking at my collection!
(If any of my British friends want to pick up a little jubilee souvenir to add to the collection I'll HAPPILY reimburse you for your cost and shipping!   I hope you got to celebrate today!)

God Save the Queen!