Monday, March 17, 2014

Weekend Finds: This, That, T'other

Good morning!

Happy Paddy's day, kids! And here it is again-- top of the workaday week. How was your weekend? Me, I'm ambling into Monday jonesing for more coffee and trying to hold my eyelids open. However, as Monday is preceded by the weekend, and my weekend is all about estate sales, you know what that means! It's time for me to unveil some of my finds from the Saturday-that-was.

Wanna take a look?

THIS is easily my favorite thing:


Why, hello Shawnee pig cookie jar. This guy came from an estate sale just off of Hillsboro Pike in Green Hills. There was a beautifully hand lettered sign on the corner directing us to an enormous, new construction,  kind of chateau-ish house, where three men with interests in interior design were hosting a joint collector's sale. Items there included rich toile drapery, pretty pieces of glassware, and a pair of tickets to see Cher here in town at the end of the month. The latter was advertised on an also beautifully hand written sign, behind a little boombox pumping out Cher tunes, which read "Paid $1,000 Make Offer". I only wish I could! I ONLY WISH I COULD (sidenote: I might have to spend $75 on a pair of nosebleed tickets...just being honest). On a table next to some pottery I almost dropped on the gd floor ("This place is booby trapped," I said to my dad as my heart pounded in my chest, having caught the bauble at the last moment), were two Shawnee pigs, this one and another with a little bit of pink and blue paint left on him. I liked the paintless-but-for-eyelashes one best, and asked one of the sales people if they could do better than the asking price of $30 on the tag, which they could. Twenty bucks for one of these things! I see these pigs all the time at antique stores and the flea market, but I haven't seen one in the wild for under $60, so this was an extreme coup. And can you get over the flirty little expression on his face? Matthew misheard me refer to him by brand and inadvertantly made up the perfect moniker for this little guy, "Johnny Pig". I'm looking forward to displaying him in a place of pride in my kitchen!

These are photos from the estate sale listing-- look! There's Johnny Pig right there! I wish a) any of that Pyrex had been there on Saturday morning and b) the sconces on the left weren't $150.
The next sale had us back over on our side of town, to a tiny little house near Tom Joy Elementary. We hopped out of the car, parking on the street next to a ditch that was full of Krystal's boxes ("That's my kind of litter," my dad said as we stepped past it) and were greeted in the driveway by the welcome sight of a fifties' Westinghouse washer machine. A little rusty (almost identical to these two), but so cool looking and with the original paperwork from when the homeowner had bought it back in the day! Inside, the house was kind of spooky, but that's never much shaken us from the trail of good junk, and I was able to get this from one of the back bedrooms, which was full of children's toys from the fifties' through the seventies':

I resisted a framed photo of the ocean with the lyrics to "How Deep is Your Love" printed on the glass (not making this up) and found the above picture missing some of its plastic windows and propped up against a closet door. The round pieces are different NASA missions with the artwork from that space expedition's insignia...starting with the first manned craft in the late fifties' and ending with 1973 (the year the frame was manufactured). I love the faux wood grain, the raised print of the mission's date, and the center relief of the Earth...from spaaaaaace. Here's a closeup (though I didn't take a very good picture this morning):



This fifties' fiberglass lampshade was only $10, so I caved and bought it. Next time I see one of those great atomic-age bases without the shade...I'm gonna scoop it up and have a fabulous new lamp!


This "Bridge Set" of tablecloth and napkins was also at the sale for a dollar...and how can you resist! I found a little information on Indian Head cloth via this link, and the lack-of-zipcode definitely dates it to pre-1960. I just like the fact that it's a moss green with those dreamy little hand painted flowers and stars.



At a final estate sale in Hendersonville, I picked up a pair of lamps for my friend Kelsey, who was in the market for some. $15 for the pair! They're heavy as heck and have a maker's mark on the back that sets the copyright as 1958. Kelsey is happy to have some good looking lamps, and I am happy to be able to buy lamps even when there's a surplus of them in my own home. Here's a photo of one with a closeup...I like that the base kind of looks asymmetrical as the lamp extends from the cherub's head, not the center of the figure. 


                                  

And in case you thought you could get through a Weekend Finds post without a photo of yours truly, here's a snap Matthew took at lunch out at Nuvo Burrito the other day (MY. FAVORITE. RESTAURANT. I could eat the Berkley burrito they have there every day, forever). The dress I'm wearing is probably a seventies' hostess gown, but I think with a belt, a cardigan, tights, and boots it's appropriate enough to wear to work (or at least I took the liberty of making that decision for the fashion world). I should have saved it for today; look at all that green in the print!

                  

Speaking of Matthew, I left my phone on the kitchen table this weekend and when I picked it back up some hours later, someone....SOMEONE had set this photo to both the lock screen and the background:

                            

Isn't he cute? I love how his brow actually knits together when concerned.

So anyway! That's what I ended up with this weekend-- not much, but I feel like I've been better about buying "things I actually want/can use" versus "everything vintage they even have at a sale because look what a deal" (I'm trying to improve on that!). How about you? Did you find anything fabulous while out and about? What's the best thing you've picked up for practically a song lately? How much SHOULD one spend on Cher tickets when she's taken the time and effort to grace our fair city with her presence? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll see you back here tomorrow with more vintage tips and quips. Have a great Monday, be good! Til then.

           

15 comments:

  1. Too bad that Pyrex wasn't there, but your piggie is a pretty awesome find. Makes the loss a little less painful I imagine. ; )

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    1. Thanks!! And yes, finding the pigster was definitely a coup! I still have him in a place of pride on my kitchen table. :)

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  2. True confessions time...the Mister and I scooped up all that turquoise Pyrex at 7:10 a.m. on Thursday. I will have you know that we paid a PRETTY PENNY for it. Their price matched EBay's highest prices for a minty-mint set and even the Mister, a wily negotiator if ever there was one, couldn't get them down very far. It's in the booth at a price that makes me embarrassed that I put it out there. We will see how fast it sells...However, we are going to see Cher for free thanks to the Mister's work, so maybe that balances it out? I love Cher!

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    1. Or was it Friday? Regardless, it was very early.

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    2. AAAAH, CHER AND PYREX?! You are doubly blessed!! You know your booth looks freakin' awesome with all that gorgeous turquoise, and it'll sell sell sell, I bet. I just wish those guys had more stuff (and ah, were less savvy about prices, dang their eyes), as everything there was great!

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  3. That's (a twin to ) G-ma's cookie jar! It is IMPOSSIBLE to steal cookies from the Pig without alerting the authorities. He will clink and give you away everytime.

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    1. HAHA, I can remember the house-shaped cookie jar my mom had when I was little and how I went through some Kane in Kung Fu like training as a kid trying to lift it soundlessly. Good to know Johnny Pig, in this case, is impervious to clandestine cookie sneak attacks!

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  4. I am into that pig cookie jar. When you posted it on instagram, i for sure thought the lashes were 3D...like fake or flocked lashes...as if someone had gotten a little froggy and stuck their falsies to their cookie jar...you know like people do. Now upon second look, this makes WAY more sense.

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    1. HA, it is weird, though, that there is naught but those lashes in the way of paint on him!

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  5. Wow! That fab price on that shade! Congrats! I rarely see them for less that $35 here!

    xoxo
    -Janey

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    1. Thanks! I've been trying to get better about hoarding, but come ON, right? $10?! I think it says something about how the wave of "popular" collecting is changing...in the heat of Mad Men mania five years ago, that thing wouldn't have lasted five minutes, and there it was on the second day! I don't get why the sales people didn't plop it on one of the (many) shadeless lamps at the same sale and just upped the price $10, it's a gorgeous shade.

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  6. What a fantastic deal on the fiberglass lamp shade! $10!!?!? Yes please!

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    1. AMEN, now I just need the exact right, crazy fifties', lime green base to put it on!

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  7. I love those lamps!

    "That's my kind of litter" - haaaa!

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    1. Can you see how the apple (or Krystal box) didn't fall far from the tree?

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