Greenmead Fall Flea Market

I was able to go to one of my favorite events last week -- Greenmead Antiques Flea Market in Livonia, Michigan.  It only happens two Sundays a year and it's a don't-miss opportunity to find some great stuff.

A beautiful, sunny day!

I always get there early (by 9:30, at least, for the 10:00 start).  At $2 admission, it's a bargain!

I've usually filled my granny cart and also had some large items to go back to pick up.  This time, though, I filled my granny cart, made a trip to the car to empty it, went back and filled it again and then STILL had big items to pick up.  Three trips to the car -- WOW!

Here are some of the neat things that I found:

Two old bed-spring pieces.  I'm going to mount these to the wall and hang things off of them.

Felt Christmas tree skirt -- it needs a tiny bit of mending

The green breadbox is pretty shabby, but I liked the polka dots.  The chalkware kitty bank is shabby, too/  I couldn't believe I found a red Pyrex 401 bowl in great condition!   The black salt & pepper are pretty cool, too.  

Do you see the pink Pyrex fridgie?  SO excited about that one!  My son and his wife have already claimed the 1970s giant glasses -- I knew someone would love those...

I know I don't need any more Christmas tins, but Santa (who you can hardly see) is very friendly looking.  And I can NEVER resist souvenir pennants or cameras!  Can you see the mid-century Coronet thermos jug -- it's so cool!

Franciscan Desert Rose salt & pepper, Christmas aprons & more dish towels

Love these tablecloths (the songbirds are a dish towel).  I got the rooster & hen cloth for $1 because it's so stained.  I'll see if lots of soaking will work on it...

I wish I knew who manufactured the big soup mug with the lid.  It's ringed like Bauer, but I don't think it is Bauer.

I just had to have these funky corn dishes.  They're hard plastic (celluloid?) and very thin -- I think they're popcorn dishes

This is a Westinghouse roaster base or cabinet.  I think it would look cool set up as a bar

Lots of storage room for bottles & glasses inside

The suitcase is a project piece.  It's been completely stripped inside, so I get to line it!  

Here is one of my favorite things from Greenmead... I bought it to sell (and still might), but I love it so much that I'm tempted to keep it:

This is a pretty big picture -- maybe 18x24.  It's a 40s or 50s photo of a girl blowing bubbles and she just looks so joyful

 And the BIG STAR is this globe -- it's a Repogle game globe from the 1960s.  I was very excited to find it and when I asked the vendor if he could take any less for it, he dropped it by a lot.  I was doing the happy dance away as fast as I could, before he changed his mind.

 If you live near southeast Michigan, try to go to Greenmead sometime...you won't be disappointed!

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!

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!