Weekend Finds: Everything Under the Sun Edition

Good morning!

Guys. I BOUGHT SO MUCH STUFF THIS WEEKEND. Surprisingly, none of it falls in the lamps/sofas/framed pictures category I so often let myself loose on, but when I got home with my hauls on Friday afternoon, a recently returned from work Matthew was like "Whoa! You cleaned up!" And did I. I showed you two of the houses I visited yesterday on my fourth of July estate sale tour; now here's the stuff I scored from each house!

First off, Pappy and I were thrown for a loop when we got to the Michael Taylor sale in the gorgeous 1918 mansion from yesterday. At the front step, a younger man in one of the salespeople's monogrammed work shirts was looking eagerly in our direction, which I thought probably meant he was about to tell us there was nothing for sale in the house, and everything was out in the (much smaller) guest house. It's happened to me about a dozen times before, so I asked, "Hey, are there things inside the house for sale?". The guy said, "Sure, there's lots of stuff. I just wanted to give you guys this, since you're one of the first 200 people to come to the sale, you get two one dollar gold pieces, just to say happy Fourth of July." And honest-to-goodness he handed us two gold coins apiece, US money! "This Michael Taylor guy IS THE MAN," my dad said, as we both looked wide eyed at our quarry as if he'd handed us a $200 instead of $2. We made money by going to the sale!

Inside, don't worry, I kept my coins but was quick to spend my folding money on this cloak, which was hanging on a coatrack in that beautiful formal parlor:

"Lisa, what are you going to do with a cloak?" you're asking. Folks, what am I not going to do with a cloak. I plan on wearing this out the first nip of cold weather we get! It's not a costume piece, but a heavy, insulated, for-real wool cloak from probably the fifties' or sixties', with a lining of blue velvet for extra measure. The label has an Italian name, and I spent at least five minutes at my mom's house before I went back home showing her how it swirls, and how you can throw it dramatically over your shoulder. [affecting a colonial accent] "Quickly, my horses!" is the best phrase I could think of while sweeping urgently out of the room in a cloak. My dad, looking it over, "This is like...this is like a George Washington cape. This is what Barnabas Collins wears on Dark Shadows!" Thank you, Dad; you get me.

More of the many moods of this cloak. Excuse my weird expression, I had only been awake for about 20 minutes and needed to get to work shortly after taking these photos yesterday:

"Children of the night....what music they make...." So, again, if you see someone skulking around downtown Nashville in a flowing outergarment, with great purpose of direction, in about three months, you know it'll be me.

At the same sale, I found this leather and wool purse in an upstairs bedroom that I openly remarked reminded me of some unbelievable bedroom Meryl Streep or Diane Keaton would have in one of these romantic comedies they've been making lately-- it was all huge, downy white comforter, four poster bed, and enormous, light-letting windows on three sides of the room. I wonder if it had been a sunroom or a reading room at one point in the house's history, because that place got some serious, outdoor light. It was marked $5 on one side of the tag, and $25 on the other, which I found out when I got downstairs-- luckily, they let me have it for $5. Inside, I was happy to find a maker's tag that explains why the wool pattern was so particularly good-- the bag was made by Pendleton, and if anybody knows wools, it would be them. As their bags start at about $100 and go on up, I say $5 is an excellent bargain.

Speaking of southwestern textiles, I grabbed these....whatever you would call them...at the sixties' house for I think $4 total. What would you use these for? I'm thinking about taking them to work and pinning them up in my cubicle, but the way it faces the sun, it's not good practice to take anything you'd worry about being slightly faded out. Maybe use these for a western-themed dinner? I'll think it over!

These tiny handkerchieves were meant for a child to put in their equally tiny pocketbook, so the little thirties' child could learn the importance of always having a clean handkerchief. As Rhett Butler put it to a weeping Scarlett, " Never, at any crisis of your life, have I known you to have a handkerchief." Well, he can't levy that charge at me, as I've been working diligently towards always having a clean one in my purse for about the last year. How much classier is it than balled up Kleenexes?

This camera was at the same sale, and while I keep telling myself not to buy more cameras for my sixty-something strong collection...well, I keep buyin' 'em anyway. What was I supposed to do! I didn't even have this one! It's a Polaroid Land Camera Model 80-A, which was in production from 1957-1959. I love that the most comprehensive information on this camera was on this JFK assassination conspiracy website, as it was the camera Mary Moorman used as she shot still photos of the Dallas presidential motorcade. You learn something new every day! The lines are clean and it was only $15, so I snapped it up. 

This book was from the mansion house and has tons of oral history interviews with jazz pioneers (Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, Coleman Hawkins, and others among them)-- the cd was from a house in Brentwood-ish. What was interesting about that stop? The lady had tons and tons AND TONS of Joan Jett memorabilia. Every record, multiple signed portraits, and taken-on-a-camera, developed-at-Walgreens concert photos. I was bummed as heck I didn't get their in time to score the three or four Jett concert t-shirts, but didn't go home empty handed, as you can see-- this is the Lita Ford self titled debut with karaoke favorite "Kiss Me Deadly" on it (not to be confused with the same titled Ralph Meeker noir [which is excellent] or the pre-solo-career Billy Idol with Generation X song [which is actually a little better than the Ford song if I'm being honest]).

Back at the mansion, four TinTin books in English! I love Hergé's comic book adventurer. How about these covers and titles?

Last but not least, in the attic of the mansion, which was filled with children's books and toys, I noticed a rubbermaid container under one of the shelves that was filled with these Indonesian marionettes. Aren't they wonderful! I wrestled with my better judgement for a good five minutes before taking them home. The heart wants what the heart wants!

I have two more of these from an estate sale a couple years ago in Inglewood, and am shocked to say I don't think I've put them on the blog! Maybe I'll do a post on them next week...the things I sneak in the house without telling you guys about. There are four total dolls, and two extra bodies for costume changes, but one doll is hard to keep the head on, so I left it out of this group portrait. Do you see how the arms are spindly and segmented, the hands facing palms out, and the clothes feature gorgeous batik prints? I think it was something like $28 for the whole box, but I think it ended up being a pretty good deal-- these same dolls online are anywhere from that much apiece to way on up, depending on the design. 

My favorite is this short necked, grouchy little figure here:

Each doll had a spindle underneath the skirt that sits on a round pedestal when you want to display them:

My other two are more like the figure in the middle, with a large, intricately carved headdress, as is the one whose head won't stay on, so in total I have four like the one in the middle, and two of the strange-eyebrowed, suspicious eyed ones on either side. I keep thinking how well these would look displayed all together-- some day, when I have room, huh?

The one on the right's costume is exactly what I would be wearing-- turban, fitted jacket with princess sleeves, skirt, wild print:

Don't worry, I took a whole lot of stuff to Goodwill this weekend, so I won't have to pitch a tent and live in the yard for the overcrowded-with-tchotchkes state of my home, haha.

So! What did you get this weekend? Anything good? What kinds of things have you unexpectedly added to your treasure chest lately? Does the person with the most stuff when they die win, because I am so ahead of the game! Have you seen dolls like the little Indonesian ones out in the world before? How would you wear a serious honest-to-Goodness cloak? Let's discuss!

That's all for today, but I will see you back here tomorrow with more vintage Chatty Cathying. :) Have a great Tuesday! Talk soon.