Friday Finds

I went to the mall today to fill in and re-arrange my booth.   I'd sold a table and a laundry cart while I was out of town and I knew that everything would be scattered all over.  The floor walkers do their best at putting things in good places and doing a little staging when they empty a cart or table for a customer, but there's only so much they could do.  Usually I can get in there in a day or two to fill the hole, but this time it had to sit that way for over a week.

I stopped at a sale or two on my way in to the mall.
At one of them, I found a few mid-century goodies and then saw some large pictures.  I bought 2 large framed crewel embroideries, a framed paint by number and a framed watercolor.  I negotiated with the husband and he asked if I was sure I wanted them.  His wife started laughing and told me she was already getting the "I told you so" look from him.  SHE thought they were junk and no one would want them!  She said "Those old things?" -- EXACTLY right!

The sweetest part was when the wife and her daughter helped me take them to the van and her daughter said that Grandma would be really happy that someone wanted her artwork!  It was really nice to think that something that might have been thrown away will now make a great addition to someone's mid-century decor.  One man's trash...

Here's what I found at that sale:

These beautiful sherry or liqueur glasses -- they're really delicate

The jewelry box belonged to the lady's mother

She threw in the Baptist Sunday School pins for free -- they'd been hers when she was a child. I remember getting similar ones for perfect attendance & being really excited about them!

8 Made-in-Japan lacquered paper trays.  They're really beautiful!

Here are 'those old things' -- I really like them! (I couldn't get Leo the cat to get out of the picture)

At another sale, the garage was so dark you could hardly see what you were buying.  I found a complete set of Pyrex Butterprint fridge dishes and was pretty excited -- until I got them home and unwrapped and realized that the two smallest ones had lime etching on the lids (ruined), the medium one had an etched lid AND the pattern was almost completely gone and only the large one was really sellable.  I know there will always be things I'll buy that I'll regret, but I hate when it happens.

At the dark, cave-like sale, I also found these:

A 'mammy' apron and a tea towel

3 boxes of unused assorted greeting cards from the 50s and 60s

A doctor's-bag-sized leather suitcase or briefcase

At the last sale I went to, I found these in 50 cents each box:

They're 4 plates, 4 bowls and 4 cups in the Monterrey Western Ware pattern from the 1950s or 60s.  I think they used to give them away as a bonus at the grocery store or in soap.  They're pretty collectable right now and these are in near mint condition!  I guess they redeem the bad Pyrex buy in the weekend shopping tally.

Now I have to decide if I'm going to drive up to Midland Antiques tomorrow.  My shopping buddy, Bargain Hunter, hasn't mentioned it -- I've barely had time to talk to anyone at work all week -- so she might be going with someone else, or skipping it.  I've got so much work to do here, I could use the day at home...

Treasures from the Little Prince

Yesterday, I reported on the frog-sale and promised pictures of the things I got from the fun yard sale that followed.  Here they are!

A collection of Civil War bullets and a button or two -- now I have something new to research!.

A pair of Holt Howard mouse salt and peppers and some other fun plastic shakers.  Penguins seem to be very hot right now.

Some cool flash cards -- some with illustrations

Asian pictures -- in need of a good cleaning!  The pictures are okay, but I really liked the red mats and white box frames (so mid-century)

A 1960s chinese checkers game.  A regular checker board is on the back

This enamelware double boiler is in GREAT shape!

An old desk lamp -- also in need of cleaning.  It doesn't work (though they told me it did) and I don't know if I'll have to rewire it or just replace the fluorescent bulb

Some cool old snack/lunch trays

An OLD Pepsi bottle and some paperweights. The pink bowl has a chip, so the seller threw it in for free. I really like the mid-century look of it, though

This is a short post and the pictures aren't great, but I've been really rushed!  We're going to a week-long conference where there will be lots of meetings and dinners (which means lots of wardrobe changes) and I've been letting my junking get in the way of my laundry and packing!  It's time to get to work.

 I went to Greenmead Flea Market today and brought home LOTS of vintage goodies.  I spent most of the afternoon sorting and finding basement space for all of it. That's a story for another day...

I hope you all had a great thrifting weekend!

Mid-century Sweetness!

Last week I drove to many sales and found all frogs, until the very end.  I had worked through the entire list of ones from the paper and craigslist and found almost nothing, but was making my way to the mall to fluff my booth.  At the end, I passed one pretty close to the mall and it turned out to be a prince!

The family was selling many items from their mom, who had passed away about 3 years ago.  She must have been a lover of mid-century or just a lady who couldn't throw anything away, because they had some very nice stuff.

Odds & ends -- Melmac, chartreuse china, bakelite handled pickle forks

Some cool 1960s ivy painted glasses and a tiny pitcher

A covered casserole with great decoration

A very unusual tall triangle lucite pitcher -- with a handle at the bottom and turquoise & yellow plaid side.  

A kitty cookie jar -- no maker's mark or identifier

I showed this to you yesterday, but it deserves a second mention in the mid-century sweetness post because it's so totally sweet:  a dark turquoise beverage set with hand-blown stir stick & 4 little glasses.  There's no maker's mark, but the shape of the pitcher and handle placement is so much like Blendo that I think it must be West Virginia Glass.

Here are the day's best mid-century finds -- a Metlox Poppytrail Swordfish vase (art pottery designed and signed by Romanelli) and 2 Poppytrail spiral candleholders.  They're so fine!  The only flaw is a VERY tiny flea bite on the end of the swordfish's nose (bill? sword? -- whatever it's called).  I just love these!

Another great find was this glass ceiling light cover with cowboys on bucking broncos.  It's also in near-mint condition with no color loss.  It had hung in the seller's brother's bedroom the whole time they were growing up, was taken down and immediately packed away.  Lucky for me!

Lots of Little Sales

I haven't been to a great sale in a very long time.  On Thursdays after work (usually around 2:00) I go to some local garage sales, but they've always been really picked over so all the good finds and great deals are gone.  I usually try to find some good ones on Fridays before I go to the mall, but even those have been more frogs than princes.

That said, I did go to an interesting sale last Saturday.  It was advertised as 'Cleaning out grandma & grandpa's place, lots of household and linens and barn stuff.  Much of it will be free'.  Seriously -- who can pass up a sale that advertises FREE?

It was about 45 minutes from my house, down lots of country back roads.  It was really a pretty drive on a sunny day and I got there about 20 minutes before it was open.  I saw a lady in the garage and she said she was open and I should come on in.  No kidding -- most of it was free!  Nothing was spectacular and some bordered on junk, but I did get a couple of metal utility carts and a chest of drawers that need to be painted, a mid-century coffee table, small side table, some linens and many games.  There were two great finds:  a mid-century wall shelf unit (one of the geometric ones) and a Hasko Mystic Board.  My van was completely packed (one of the men there had to help me arrange it all to get everything in) and I only spent $12!  That's fun!

Unfortunately, Mr. KV helped me unload it before I remembered to take pictures.  Here's the Mystic Board, though.

It's like a Ouija board and is from the 1940s.
I'd never heard of them, but it's an interesting piece

Here are some other treasures I've picked up in the past few weeks.

Collie bookends.  They've been mended, but are still cool

A hodge-podge of glasses and cups

Linens and Cookbooks

A tidbit tray made from china (I've often wondered if the manufacturers made these or if kits were sold for do-it-your-selfers, as they're obviously made from plates & bowls)

Irmi child's step chair

Pyrex!

Child's tinware

Vintage birthday candle holders in their original boxes

A MARVELOUS mid-century drink set.
It even has a blown-glass stirrer!

Some of these treasures went to the mall and others to Etsy -- some are already sold!   It's a good thing, too, because there are gallons and gallons of gas represented in those few pictures.  I'm really looking forward to the end of garage sale season, so I can go back to estate sales without feeling like I'm missing something by not hitting the road and going from yard sale to yard sale.

Miles and Miles of Frogs

I went out to the mall today for my usual Friday fluff of the booth -- it really needed it!  I'd sold a cart earlier in the week and the employee had mistakenly emptied and taken the wrong table up front.  When they brought it back it was just put in place of the cart, but nothing returned to where it had started.  The booth was trashed!

Since the mall is about 19 miles from my house, I went to garage sales out there  and farther out.  I went into parts of southeast Michigan today that I'd never seen before!  I drove for LOTS of miles on dirt roads and saw alot of this:

For those of you who live in other states (or countries) and who thought you'd misread the previous line -- yes, I did say dirt roads!  We've lived all over the midwest and I've never seen as many dirt roads as we have in Michigan, including lots of them with big, new houses on them.   The roads get really rutted and washboard-like in the summer and the dust is everywhere.  The old Kitschy Vintage van really got rattled and dirty today!

I went to lots of froggy sales -- all with signs that read HUGE SALE (4 card tables and an old door on sawhorses) or BARN SALE (even people who don't have a barn advertised this).  One was listed in the paper as a 'picker paradise' and literally was items spaced far apart on 6 tables.  No picking there!  All of the sales were far apart, too.  I have a friend who lives closer in to the city and can hit 30 garage sales in a morning and only drive 6 miles, but it's nothing for me to put 60 miles on the car going to sales around our area.

The last sale I went to was unadvertised and just a sign at the crossroads on the way back to the mall.  It turned out to be a true barn sale with a real barn, some good picking through really dirty stuff and good prices.  Here are the few things I ended up with today:

Some old canning jars and milk bottles

Galvanized coal scuttle

A small (4") souvenir ashtray from the 1950s -- some general store in Fredericksburg, VA (because I'm a sucker for vintage souvenirs!)

A perfect, working (though dirty) Fisher Price pull toy

The treasure of the day (drum roll here...)

A 1960s microscope kit -- complete with instructions and slides!

It's all in here!

 One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was a constant stream of text messages back and forth with my friend Kally who was going to a WONDERFUL estate sale in the Minneapolis area.  We had looked at estatesales.net together last night (via the wonders of the the phone and internet) and scoped out everything she'd want to look for.  The sale was really big and jam-packed with great vintage items.  She and her friend got there at 8:30 for the 9:00 sale and she was number 95!  She got in about a half hour after it started an then the texts started flying -- in the end she got some real treasures.  She has another sale in mind for tomorrow.  If she keeps doing that, her husband won't let her talk to me any more!

Tomorrow I'm going to Williamston Antique's July sale & flea market with my friend Bargain Hunter.  It should be a fun time!

Thrift Shoppers Anonymous?

A friend pointed out to me yesterday that I hadn't posted in a while.  When I looked at the date of my last post, I could hardly believe it!  June 14 -- more than 2 weeks ago! 

I've been so busy, but have really missed writing here (and catching up on all of your  posts).   I took a week off of work because our vacation year ends on June 30 and I still had 6 days left (they'd be gone if I didn't take them).   The most wonderful part was that I stayed home and tackled several projects I'd been putting off. 

I got so much work done!  One day I reorganized my booth (with some very valuable advice from my friend Sandy -- the Booth Whisperer).  It needed an major overhaul, so I brought some things home, took some new stuff in and seriously rearranged.  I'd gotten tired of looking at the items that weren't selling and if I'm sick of them, I'm sure the shoppers are, too.  The mall was getting ready to have their 10 year anniversary sale and I gave 20% off just to move some things out.  Sandy encouraged me to bring in a metal cabinet and put it in the middle (I never would have thought of that), as well as a really cool industrial cart I had at home.   Here's what the booth looked like when we were finished:

  I spent a day and a half ironing -- do you believe it?  I ironed 20-25 dish towels, 4 sets of cloth napkins, at least 20 aprons and about 15 tablecloths.   Then I took a little suitcase I'd bought for display and the industrial cart and filled them with dish towels and tablecloths. 

I love this little Knickerbocker bear from the 50s and the way he looks with the dishtowels

  I really need to get a hanging rack to display the aprons.  A friend who lives in Minnesota is going to cut out the base for me (as soon as I draw up the plans and send them to him).  He's a great woodworker and does such careful, beautiful work that I'm sure my hanging rack will be the Sistine Chapel of display-ware!

I haven't been shopping much at all, as working on my 'storage' space (that's a fancy term for piles of stuff) has allowed me to see all the great things I'd bought but forgotten about.  So, other than a few trips to the local thrift and some stops at garage sales, which were almost not worth the gas, I've been keeping my money in my wallet.

At the sales last week I picked up this nice enamel farm table and Santa with one reindeer:

I think Santa needs some work -- like all good Christmas things, he's 'some assembly required'

It's hard to slow down on shopping!   I've finally realized that being a thrift shopper is like being a compulsive gambler:  you're always sure that the next great bargain is at the next sale!  I think there needs to be a Thrift Shoppers Anonymous, because finding great stuff is addictive.   Now I've got to close...my estatesales.net and auctionzip emails just hit my inbox...