Yours 'til Niagara Falls

Estate Sale Back Slider

I've done a little soul searching after my last estate sale bender wherein I actually purchased a dozen blown-out goose eggs.  I have, for the past few weeks, not even looking for the listings in the paper.  But yesterday I had a relapse.  Here are some of the treasures I brought home:

Ooohhh! I've always wanted one of these.  It still has the Kmart sticker on the bottom.  It plays "Around the World in 80 Days".  And my little tutu-ed friend is still twirling after all these years.

I had to bring this home.  It's a sweet child's suitcase.  The picture on the front is pristine.  The papers which are on the back and inside the case have no relation to the image on the front in motif or color.  It has a plastic handle.  I'd say that it dates from the very early 1950's.

I'm always interested in vintage children's books.  Sometimes it is the text and sometimes it is the pictures and, when I get lucky, it is both.  Here's what i snagged:

Brian Wildsmith's ABC dates from 1962.  I love the illustrations.  The only words in the book are labels for the pictures once in lowercase, once in uppercase, i.e. owl, OWL.  This should be a lot of fun to read aloud and discuss the pictures.

This book, with the self-explanitory title "Birds" was written by Jane Werner Watson and illustrated by one of my all-time favorites Eloise Wilkins.  I like it because it gives good information on the backyard birds a child would typically see.  This picture is great because it looks like the little girl is giving the gull communion.

This is a 1951 book by Richard Scarry (another all-time favorite)  entitled "The Great Big Car and Truck Book".  Dated in a charming way with milk trucks and coal delivery trucks. (I do know that strictly speaking book titles should be underlined, but I find it makes one think that it leads to a link.  Hence the ill-used quote marks.)

Now... for my best buy of the weekend:

This is a swell rotary phone which is a pretty aqua blue.  It still works, although I haven't heard the ring tone yet.  It is so satisfying to dial a number with a rotary phone.  I'll bet that to my kids, it looks as ancient as a candlestick-style phone looks to me.  It set me back one Yankee dollar.

I Need to Join "Estate Sales Anonymous"

Estate sales season has arrived in Western New York.  On my way home from work, I stopped at three different sales.  If the selection at these homes is any gauge, it's going to be a great season.

My haul:

-A Christmas carillon with angels, shepherds, three kings and creche.  And it spins! - A 1957 big book of questions and answers  along with a paisley print knitting bag. - A regulator clock with a pretty chime with a ceramic Dutch shoe.

But wait, there's more!

Rug making supplies for braid, latch hook, punch hooking, regular rug hooking and something called "French Embroidery". - About 25 dishes in the "Swiss Chalet" pattern made in the 1960's as give-a-way premiums at gas stations.

But here's by far, the weirdest thing I've ever purchased at an estate sale:

That's right! a baker's dozen of goose and duck eggs with their contents removed.  How I've lived without them for so long, I'll never know.  As long as I was at it I picked up the machine which is used to mark the eggs into sections in order to have symmetrical decorations.

The lady to whom these items originally belonged had the hobby of creating elaborate scenes in eggs, like a Faberge-style egg.

I should start a Museum of Visual Oddities.

Estate Sale Swag

There was an estate sale down the street.  The home was filthy and disorganized.  Pawing through the squalor, I was able to find a few treasures, a spelling book from 1941, an old silk stockings box and a piece of vintage floral print barkcloth.  The picket fence is vintage - used to surround tabletop Christmas trees. The coolest thing was, by far, a set of president figurines.  Way-back-when you could buy these figurines one at a time from the A&P grocery store.  Each week there would be a new president to buy.  When he was six or seven years old my brother Dan played with them every day.  One night at dinner, he said, "Ask me who the 17th president was!"  Someone asked, and Dan knew the answer.  As it turned out he knew all the presidents.    In order, out of order - didn't matter.  He knew which ones had beards, what years they served and so on.  I was really tickled to find the set.

Paper Passion

I went to three different estate sales this weekend.  As per usual, the loot I like the very best came from the sale in the most run-down area of town.  The lady who was acting as cashier at that sale was taking her good ol' time cashing out the lady in front of me, (exchanging life stories, etc) which serendipitously gave me time for a second perusal of the tables.  Then I saw the cache of unused greeting card from (I'm guessing here) the early 1950's.  The pics don't really capture how charming they are - many of them are embossed, glittered or on a textured paper.  I so love the graphics.  The sentiments inside are lovely, too.  The "picturesque Niagara" book is a souvenier photo book dated 1901.  Here's the story.  My daughter sold a car on Ebay.  My son delivered it to the lady in Ohio who bought it.  She was so thrilled with a clean, well-running car, she sent the book along with a thank-you note. The date 1901 makes me guess that it was originally purchased during the Pan-American Exhibition held in Buffalo, New York.  That, history buffs will remember, is where President McKinley was felled by an assasin's bullet resulting in Theodore Roosevelt's being sworn in as president. ( I love telling stories like that to my students.  They generally assume that I was an eyewitness to historical events like that.)

These images are from some correspondence note personalized for someone named June.  As it happens, I know two girls named June, so I'm going to divvy them up.  There were quite a few of each design, so there's nough to share and some left over.  When I showed my ehemera to friend Becky, she asked "What will you use them for?"  That gave me pause.  My response was a stammered, "I dunno". What does one do with such treasures?

Last item, that Picturesque Niagara book:

Holiday Thrifting

Yesterday, before things got stirred up around here, I found a new Salvation Army thrift shop.  A little off the beaten path, and featuring a ton of holiday stuff.  I got a darling Santa .  His face reminds me of the knee-hugger elves.  The flocking is rubbed of in some places, but his stance makes up for everything he lacks.  The NOEL set is from Lipper and Mann.  They were made in Japan in the 1950's.  They can be candleholders and also have holes in the back to hang them on the wall.  Vintage swell.  They are gracing my daughter's home.  It's her first Christmas and she's starting from scratch.

Friday Estate Sale

A twenty-minute stop at an estate sale garnered me a whole lotta textile goods.  I picked up four very large formal damask white tablecloths.  One is really large and I don't think it was ever used.  New tablecloths cost a mint and don't always have the pretty drape I like.  I also snagged this cutie pie.  Applique'd and embroidered.  I like that it was done on a striped cloth.  The spottiness is due to a drippy iron. I also picked up a quartet of home made aprons.  The elephant print was irresistable.  The paisley border print was a scrap bag project.  The waistband an pocket are a few shades off, but it's still a keeper.  My favorite is the pink and white.  i didn't manage to show the scalloped hem.  I imagine that it was worn by a new bride.  Very dainty and probably very flattering for a petite figure.  The yellow gingham is especially well-made with a four inch deep hem and a cross stitch design paired with a pulled thread technique. It's a generous size, too.  

I bought this bag with crewel embroidery on it.  I love the soft green color, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why the handles are asymmetrical.  It doesn't work to loop one handle over the other in the manner of the knitted tote bag pattern.  It's a puzzlement.  The final item I bought is a Christmas book from 1943.  It's pretty somber.  No direct reference to the war, but the mood of the collected stories in it is subdued. All told, this excursion set me back 12 bucks.

Kind of Like a Dream...

I think most thrifters have had the same dream  You stop at an estate sale and, Lordy, Lordy, it is chock-full of things you love.  Things you've been looking for.  Things you need.  But the dream ends up in bitter disappointment when you wake up just as you are getting in line to pay for the treasures.  The sale I went to was about as close as I've ever been to the "dream sale".  I was not concentrating as I drove along to my destination.  When I pulled out of my revery, I found that I'd missed my turn.  That took me on an alternate route.  A few blocks later, I passed a house with a hand-lettered "Estate Sale - One Day Only".  I pulled into the drive and  - wowee - it was the home of a seamstress. $10.00 later, I needed help out to my car with the box of notions I bought.  Zippers, darning eggs, a couple of vintage patterns and more cotton bias binding and rickrack than is decent to own.  I also got some darling religious statues.  (In my family's tradition, the Infant of Prague statue is positioned facing the front door with a dime under it to fend off privations in that home.)  I also got an angelic band of cake decorations.

But, the biggest score by far is a 1966 first edition of Take Joy, the Tasha Tudor Christmas Book.  It is just beautiful. It still has the dustjacket for heaven's sake.  It is a gem.  The pictures make me want to weep.  I'll post more as the Season unfolds.  But for now:

Bits and Bobs

I stopped by an estate sale and a thrift store on Friday afternoon.  Among my thrifted treasures: Two Japanese luster plates purchased because I fell in love with the little birds on the border.  I also rescued two pieces of embroidery featuring lovely ladies. 

Cute Stacking Dishes

This is a sweet set of stacking dishes I picked up this weekend in Woodstock, New York.  There is a weekend flea market there that I get to once a year.  I always find a treasure there.  The lower bowl (body) would be filled with the main course.  The top (head) would be filled with rice.  The hat has vents to release the steam.  I love his little face. Coincidentally, the New York Times Sunday Magazine had a story written by a mother of teens who got Alice Waters (the woman who really started the "eating locally produced" food movement)  to come to her house and do a nutrition make-over.  There are pics of the family's refrigerator before and after  the change.  Oh Alice, how I need you!! There's a carrot soup recipe with the article which looks super.

Vintage Sweetness

I picked up these darling bridal-themed cards from the 1940's.  I love the graphics.

As cute as the pictures are, the thing that fascinated me most was the notation inside each card documenting what the bride received.  Examples: the mother of the bride gave her a bathmat, a neighbor gave two dishtowels and an aunt gave a set of six glasses.  The reason this blows my mind is that two weeks ago I went to a bridal shower.  I was warned by those in the know to never deviate from the bride's register.  Anything  not on the register is verboden.  You're lucky if you get away with spending less than a hundred bucks.  And you can't find cute cards like this, either.  P.S.  Thanks to all who take a peek at my blog.  Your comments mean the world to me.