In the Mail Today: Mid-Century Clip-On Bird Ornaments!

Look what came in the mail today -- these 1950s clip-on bird ornaments.  These aren't classy and beautiful like their mercury glass 'elder sisters' from the early 1900s, but are totally kitschy plastic birds!  They have a spring inside and they open and close like a clothespin.  People used to put them on their Chrstmas trees in winter and their outside trees & bushes in the summer.  I saw some on Etsy a while back and that particular lot was priced well beyond my budget, so I've been watching for them ever since.

These little guys definitely need a trip to the bird bath, but other than that, they're great!  I plan to keep some, share some with some special family members (you know who you are -- I hope) and sell the rest.   Mid-century kitsch is so much fun!

Fall Friday Finds

I was just lamenting that I hadn't been to any good sales lately -- none of the kind where you do the happy dance all the way to the car.  I still haven't, but today's sales were a little better!

Fall has come to Michigan.  The trees are all turning and leaves are falling.  It was chilly and damp when I left this morning to go to some late-season garage sales in a nearby town.  One had been listed on Craigslist and the seller had used words like 'destashing', 'mid-century' and 'anthropomorphic condiment dishes', so I knew I had to go.

She lived in a condo and her garage was barely wide enough for a car, but she had tables with 2 aisleways set up in there.  It was a tight fit for the 5 or 6 people who where there when I was.  Still, I got some good buys -- mainly old photos from the 1930s and 1950s.  The anthropomorphic condiment dishes?  Well, I was hoping they were Holt Howard, but they weren't.  They were just big vegetable & fruit heads and were $25 each -- not what I wanted.

An Argus camera with full flash equipment & original box, plus more photos . 
These are from the early 1950s and included Christmas and kiddie football pics.

A photo album with pictures from the 1930s -- mostly from a trip to the Catskills

Her condo development was supposed to be having a community garage sale, but I only found 2 other sellers.  At one of them I bought an old fiberglass & metal mail bin.  It has 'North Campus Library Annex' painted on it and, since we have several universities around here, I wondered if the old man I bought it from had stolen it.  I was afraid to ask him its history, though, because he was very crabby and a little scary.

After the condo complex, I went to a couple more sales in a couple more towns (it seems nothing in our part of Michigan is really close together) and ended up filling the car!

One thing I was happy to find was a tall unit of 4 shutters (door-height) hinged together.  I've been looking for shutters like this for over a year, because they're great for creating an instant wall in the booth.  You can also turn them slats-facing-up and hang things on them with S hooks.  These are perfect because they're painted a soft green that will look good with my booth walls.  One of them is broken, but I don't care about that.  I might even repair it...

All in all, it was a good shopping day, even if I didn't do the happy dance.

Here are some of my fun finds:

An old sled

A fifties stepped end table & a shabby red chair

Driving-range sized baskets

A framed cutwork & embroidered 'Welcome' motto

A silhouette jar and some sweet 1920s button on cards

A pyrex casserole, Moon & Stars compote and a Stetson 'Scots Clan' cream & sugar (sweet!) 

STRANGE BUY OF THE DAY:
This  little golf bag holder with plastic golf club drink stirrers. 

BEST BUY OF THE DAY:
A McCoy large jardiniere.  It has a small (and short) hairline crack at the top. Other than that it's perfect!

SECOND BEST BUY OF THE DAY:
A wooden box with etched mirror and a bakelite knob

FAVORITE BUY OF THE DAY:
A pair of mid-century wall pockets with elves.  Honestly, who would want to hang these on their walls and put plants in them?

 I hope you had a fun junking week!  I'll have to check all your blogs to see what you found.

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! 

To buy or not to buy...

Selling on Etsy and at an antique mall (and the buying that goes with it) has definitely been a learning curve.  Each new experience teaches me something.  Like the one I had today...

I have lots of people ask me about selling on Etsy, and I often help them out with it.  I had been writing my email or cell phone number over and over, so I finally had some business cards made up that had all the important information.  The mall lets us put cards up in a central area for customers to take, so I mine there, too.  Because of this, I get lots of calls from people who want to sell things to me.

I think everyone who likes old stuff or who has old stuff has seen Antiques Roadshow, Pawn Stars or American Pickers.  AND they all think they have the next hidden treasure!  They seem not to notice the part where the Pickers tell the seller they have to 'leave some meat on the bone' so they can sell it at a profit!  Anyway, most of the calls I get are for fancy glassware, upscale Victorian items or expensive appraised jewelry, none of which are my thing.  So I always thank the caller and politely decline.

Secretly, I'm relieved that they have things I don't want -- how's that for being a smart business woman!  I'm so afraid of cheating someone, though, or offending them or hurting their feelings, that I've been a nervous wreck just thinking about these meetings.  Last week I got a call from a lady who had 50s kitchenware.  Really?  I couldn't pass that up and went to see her today after work. 

The kitchenware she had was, indeed, from the 1950s.  It was NOS (New Old Stock) from the gift shop of her grandfather's motel up north.  It had never sold and he couldn't throw it away, though her grandmother begged him to.  The seller told me she wanted to get rid of it because 'it's just gathering dust' (I'll add:  and grease and grime, too)!    I have to tell you that I prayed my way to her house, asking for wisdom and that I a) wouldn't offend her and b) wouldn't get taken and spend more than I should because I felt sorry for her or was embarrassed!

I liked what I saw and I offered her what I thought was a fair price for her and me and purposely left some wiggle room for her to sweeten it (so she'd feel like she got me to pay more).  She came back with a significantly higher amount, which I countered by upping mine a little.  Well, I bought 4 pieces. The lesson I learned is this  -- start lower!  If the seller is going to come back with the moon & stars anyway, you may as well start lower so you only have to go up a little at a time!  That's for next time...

Here's what I bought -- what do you think?

Enesco 'Made in Japan' Humpty Dumpty oil shaker (from a vinegar & oil set), a Humpty Dumpty Cookie Jar and a Humpty Dumpty Teapot -- all never used & all grimy

A Stanfordware corn teapot -- never used and really dirty!

 On the way home from her house (which was about 15 miles away  -- on my gas, which PROVES that I'm a smart businesswoman!), I stopped at 2 or 3 garage sales and picked up these things:

An Argus camera & case

A little (4") white dog figurine that, though damaged, was just too cute to pass up.  Thankfully, he was priced right!

A sewing machine drawer with some interesting old-man-added features

So, that's my adventure in private buying!  I went, I saw, I bought and I lived to tell about it!  Do you think I did okay?

Aloha! Would You Have Bought This?

I went to an estate sale last week just because it was close to home -- something that doesn't happen very often.  Almost everything there was new(er) and not very interesting to me.  Still, you never know what you'll find in a dark corner of the basement or garage.

I found this:

It was in the darkest corner of a long workbench in the garage, back behind piles of old extension cords, jars of nuts & bolts and empty broken boxes.  At first I thought it was a planter but, regardless of what it was, I knew I had to have it as soon as I dug it out!  It was really dirty. the wiring was loose and covered in cobwebs & dust, and it didn't work when I plugged it in. 

Do you know what it is?  Would you have bought it? 

Mr. KV thought I was nuts to bring it home (hint:  he wouldn't have bought it).  It's a 1958 Lane & Company Hawaiian Leaf TV Lamp.  I did a little research to see what I could find out and found this website, devoted entirely to TV lamps.  Apparently, I got a great deal!   If you go to the tvlamps page, scroll down about 15 pictures and you'll see my beauty.  Here's the rating they give it:
value:  rarity:  

It cleaned up beautifully and is in MINT condition!

The wiring just needed a little TLC and a new bulb

Beautiful, isn't it?

 I haven't figured out if it's going to into the booth, on etsy or ebay or into my living room.  In the meantime, I'm posting it on Junker Newbie's Would You Buy It Wednesday.

What do you think?