Weekend Finds

Good morning!

The 8 AM sunshine found me running out into unusually temperate weather this morning with an armful of estate sale goods to photograph for you (and posterity) in the omg-I-only-have-five-minutes-before-we-are-DEFINITELY-going-to-be-late time window. "Bab, do you have my coffee?!" I hollered (sweet, patient, more of a morning person beloved of me man that he is, he did), snapping the last few iPhone pics at the actual speed of light, slugging a shoulderbag full of gym clothes and my handbag into the car, and zooming off to work, giddy with the accomplishment of having eaten breakfast, pulled myself together in a presentable fashion, staged an impromptu photo shoot, AND left the house relatively on time. That said, I don't think these snaps turned out too bad! Gloat, gloat, gloat.

Wanna see what I got?



Hi-ya, handsomes!



These two lookers were in a rubbermaid container under a table full of Christmas decorations at a sale off White Bridge Road, mixed in with a bunch of empty picture frames. "How much do you want for these old pictures of my boyfriends?" I asked the clerk, expecting a "Oh, those are [actual anathema to my ears] very collectible...let me see..." and a two digit price tag I'd have to suck up in spite of my better instincts. "All the pictures are a dollar," she says. You could've knocked me over with a feather. Notice that Glenn Ford, though habitually very good looking, is even more smolderingly attractive than usual in this studio shot, almost Tyrone Power-like, and that Humphrey Bogart is smiling. Smiling! You almost wouldn't recognize him. I'm so happy they came in their original little frames as well.

A friend told me these are poppies. Why don't I know more about varieties of flowers?

Against my will almost, I'm getting really into flower-print 30's dishes. I bought a set of dinner and salad plates, tea cups and saucers in a pink flower print at a now-closed Goodwill in Brentwood two or three years back for $20 (unheard of! I was really putting myself over the rollers on whether or not they were a "good buy"). After some googling, I found out the company had gone out of business after WWII, and the plates themselves were marked as being from 1935! Earlier this year, I found more tea cups and saucers in a similar print (though a different flower) from the same company and with a 1937 marking. This one (and a matching one I bought at the same sale) is from 1937 as well. I just don't know how people take such good care of these things! I have plates from 2007 that are just ready for the dustbin, and these are seventy years older! $3 apiece = less than Goodwill. Killer deal.

We love it so, so much.

This Enid Collins purse was actually coming out of a box of purses the seller was just setting out when I pulled up to a sale in 100 Oaks. An ebay dealer and I stood like cartoon vultures as the woman placed each item on the card table. I saw a couple glints of the embellishments as it came out of the box and I swooped. I think I actually swooped! Enid Collins for $4? Girl, that bag is mine, though. In spite of the anti-clutter manifesto I wrote yesterday (btw, thank you for all your comments and suggestions!), I can never have too many of these. And what a bag! All the stones look to be intact, and it's a "secret message" Democratic donkey bag! I didn't even get that part of it until I saw the title on the side:

 

I choose you, Enid Collins!

Last but not least, the really killer find:



Doesn't look like much yet, but wait for it...



Wait for it....




Almost there...



BAM!

I could not BELIEVE I found this glove and purse set, early fifties'/late forties', practically new, at the same sale as the Enid Collins bag, for $3. I hate to keep mentioning prices in an act of unbridled gaucherie, but THREE DOLLARS?! You can see why I have such a hard time buying things for "vintage retail" on ebay or etsy. It's so hard to justify heavy purchases, even when the price is actually fair for what they're selling, when one is used to swap meet prices. These accessories are going out on the town with a green with brown-and-grey fur Marlene Dietrich jacket I have with the boxiest shoulders you've ever seen, the first cool day we get. I could just actually die they're so cute.


Last but not least, I told Bab, "Snap one of me while we're at it!" Here's my 8 am, pre-coffee, overly-brightly-lit self in today's outfit:

Not the most flattering pose, but I told you we were on the run!

How did you guys fare at the sales this weekend? Did you  have any "hot streaks" or killer finds? Let a girl know!

See you for photo Friday (how is it already Friday?!) tomorrow.