Last week, I took Thursday night off, which really means that I didn't get anything ready to take to the mall. Instead of fluffing the booth, I hit a few sales to the south of our town. It was a chilly, rainy day and the yard sales are almost all gone, so it was lots of windshield time with very little shopping. I went to an estate sale where everything was super-high, except for the unpriced stuff in the basement (always a good place to dig).
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| A great old camera -- lovely for display |
I filled up a bin with Christmas stuff from several piles in a corner. The sellers priced the whole bin at $5! I was pretty happy then, but even happier when I put this little beauty together at home:
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| This is a 'Crystal Pine' tree from the 1940s. It's layers of clear plastic 'boughs' separated by plastic tube dividers. It's wonderful! |
Next stop was a Craigslist sale about a 1/2 hour away. It was a woman (in her 50s) and her mother (70s) who had a very interesting ad. The opening lines were about how they were both avid collectors and were having a sale so that they wouldn't be on TV in an upcoming episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive. I can relate.
They had 3 portable car-port tents in their tiny front yard with everything sorted by category & organized (nice), but most of what they had was priced like an antique mall (not nice). There were a few goodies that just jumped out at me, though:
This sweet set of Royal Sealy kitties, Made in Japan, from the 1950s:
This Made in Japan Santa. I love his happy look, but can't figure out what he was made for. He has slits all around his back and sides and little holes in his hat (like salt & pepper shaker holes). Not enough room underneath for a light bulb and no place for the cord and too big a hole in the bottom for a stopper. He almost looks like one of those napkin lady dolls, but that doesn't make sense on a Santa. Any ideas?
This was under a table in the kitchen tent -- I was so excited and did the happy dance through the raindrops all the way to the car!
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A Pyrex red with gold holly. AND the serving rack AND a lid!
I'd seen these in books, but not in person -- I'll definitely be keeping this one! |
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| I had thought these were casseroles -- it's actually a 404 bowl. |
Last stop was Treasure Mart in Ann Arbor, an 3-story resale shop that has really fast turnover and usually has great items. I was disappointed to see that their prices are getting higher -- almost as high as mall prices. they have a 10% discount per month on anything over $5, but there were very few things therethat were even one month old. I did find a few good buys, though:
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| A custard glass plate with ruffled edge |
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| Metlox Californial Ivy divided relish and a Vernon Kilns salt & pepper set |
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| A Monmouth Pottery Western Stoneware bean pot. I really had to dig to find out about this one. Monmouth Pottery was in Illinois and Western Stoneware was one of their main lines. I like its art deco look. |
I've been picking up so much more American pottery than I used to (Franciscan, Vernon Kilns, Metlox, Monmouth, Paden City). I'm going to have to learn more about it!
