Thursday, September 11, 2014

Not So Recent Finds

I can't believe I let so much time go by without updating! I sadly haven't found anything of note lately. We had out of town guests staying with us two weeks in a row. One was my former roommate, who has no interest in vintage or collectibles. The other was a friend who loves vintage stuff, but even after hitting an antique mall and two different thrift stores, we came home with nothing. Since I can't post about recent finds, I thought I would post some finds I found earlier that I haven't yet posted about.





We hit up a citywide yard sale this summer that is pretty much hit or miss for me. I'll find some amazing stuff one year and then go years without finding anything. The first sale we stopped at yielding this Pyrex coffee pot in super good shape for $1. I already have a couple of these that are in pretty bad shape and missing the bottom piece. This one had some candle wax stuck in it, but one trip to the freezer and it came clean.


 

The same sale also had this little baby for another $1. It doesn't have any markings on it, so I have no clue who made it or even how old it is. I'm guessing it's probably from the 60s. As an added bonus, it was free of wax!

 
I have a Master's in Historic Preservation and have a lot of respect for the Ohio Historical Society, so this was a no brainer for me, especially for 50 cents. My great-aunt actually lives in Columbus and does volunteer work for the OHS. When she heard about this, she got super excited, so this is probably going to her next weekend.

 
This was my bad buy/maybe okay buy. The same couple had the other stuff I listed up top, but they also had some more expensive stuff. I guess they own or owned an antique booth. It was really random too. They had a few $1 tables and a bunch of pennants priced between $10-20 each, but mine was 50 cents. I thought the price on this said $2.50, which I thought was super cheap. Turns out it was priced at $7.50 and me being a wimp, didn't want to say anything so I just bought it. I've seen the same tins priced at $20 and up, so I guess it was an okay price. Still way more than I wanted to spend though.

 
I also got this for $1. Two years ago, my roommate went through a phase where he wanted our house decorated for the holidays. Instead of just putting up my pink Disney Princesses tree like I usually do (LOL), he bought a ton of old candles and put them all around our house plus a bunch of other stuff. We technically didn't need this, but I'm hoping to put out a display of vintage Christmas boxes this year.

 
This was my "I'm so desperate, I have to buy it" stage of the community yard sale. It came from a sale full of baby items and newer items, and it was the only thing vintage. I don't college Glasbake, but for 50 cents, I'm sure I can figure out something to do with it.





 
All three of these came from the same "rummage/charity sale." It was at a real estate agency, but all the proceeds went to charity. They had tables covering the front yard and all along the sidewalk. The roommate picked up the waffle maker, and I grabbed the Pyrex. We asked the lady in charge how much, she said to pay what we wanted, I grabbed the little stack of bowls and gave her a $5. This led to her sighing quite loudly and generally just acting like a witch.


This is one of my greatest pet peeves at sales. If you're not happy with what I offer, then tell me what you want, or better yet, price your damn stuff. Another woman working the sale was whining and moaning because some guy offered her $10 for a chair in the yard. This thing was in such bad shape that she's lucky anyone wanted it. The guy said he wanted to reupholster it, which we all know isn't cheap, and she just gave him a look and rolled her eyes. I seriously almost dropped my stuff and left at that point.


I'm hoping to maybe, possibly hit up a flea market this weekend before the season dies down, but it depends on the rain that keeps threatening to pop up. Hopefully I'll find some new treasures soon!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

A Few Random Flea Market Finds

My old college roommate came for a visit last weekend, and since she's not a vintage lover, we didn't get the chance to go out and do any shopping. Well, we did swing by a Goodwill to rent a carpet shampooer and I did grab a Pyrex dish, but it was such a bad, bad, bad experience that I think I might share what happened for a later post. Instead, I'll post about some quick flea market finds I snagged at the I-23 Flea Market a few weeks ago.

 
Though I absolutely despise onions, I love French onion soup. The only problem is that I like it the real way, where you cook the onions down for hours and bake the soup in the oven with cheese and croutons. I found two of these Capri Bake 'n Store dishes for $1 each from a dealer going out of business. The funny thing is that I almost bought a set of small bean pots (not vintage) at another flea market a few weeks later because I forgot I bought these. I can't believe I'm the only one who does that LOL.


These two Fire King dishes came from another inside dealer. It was two women who had so much crap laying around that I almost walked right by. One charged me $1 for the largest and then threw in the smaller one. Sadly, when I was trying to organize all my Pyrex and bakeware last week, I discovered a big chip in the largest casserole. I don't think it was there when I bought it, so I probably did it myself.



This is quite possibly the worst picture ever taken of my front porch. The shelf is probably as close as I'll ever get to a rolling cart. The prices around here for one are just out of control. That one came from a thrift store like two years ago. My ex and I picked it up for $2 and went to pay. While standing in front of the cashier, he pulled the tag off and handed it to her to make things easier. If he didn't hand her the tag, he would have had to do some crazy gymnastics to get the edge to her (the aisles are super small). Even though she saw him do it, she flipped out and lectured us on how you never, ever take off the tags and how she's not even supposed to sell it to us now. She even called over a manager to tell us the same damn thing. Since it was the only thing I planned to buy, I offered to just put it back and leave. Suddenly, it was okay and they let us buy it.


The stepladder came from the aforementioned I-23 Flea Market. I have another older Cosco stool that I got years ago sitting in my dining room. The dealer charged me $5 for this one, and it luckily fit in the trunk of my dad's car. I have big plans to restore it, but I had big plans for the other one too and never got around to it. Sadly, my other one is that cool red color, but whoever owned it tried to paint it brown for some reason, and I'm not sure what to do.




I know newer Pyrex isn't that exciting, but this dish was only $2. We can always use more casserole dishes and faux mixing bowls, but this one ended up becoming a water dish for my cats. Hey, they have a vintage Pyrex casserole with stand as their food dish, so why not a water dish? LOL

 
Funny story about the donkey. I was literally just saying in the car that I kept seeing vintage donkey planters online and really wanted one. An hour later, I came across this little guy at the flea market. He came from the same dealer who had the Pyrex, and he also cost $2. He's currently on the coffee table holding our remotes and some other miscellaneous items.


A few years ago at a completely different other sale, my dad picked up one of those vintage donkey figurines with saddlebags as the salt and pepper shakers. I wanted it, and he wanted a Coca-Cola tray I found cheap, so we traded. He then fell in love with my planter and keeps talking about it, so I either need to find him one for Christmas or give him one of mine. Decisions, decisions.


Sadly, the same dealer had a collection of holiday blow molds. They were newer ones, but he was selling them 2 for $20, and he had some adorable Christmas ones. My dad's trunk is big but not that big, so they had to stay behind.


Hopefully the rain finally passes through southwestern Ohio this weekend so I can hit some yard sales and maybe do a flea market. If so, you can bet I'll be back to post some recent finds!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

World's Longest Yard Sale Finds

I had a tooth taken out this week, and since I couldn't do any work-work, I thought it was the perfect time to finally post my finds from the World's Longest Yard Sale last weekend. Our first stop was at a sale miles before the real one started. The woman worked at a daycare center and put out a lot of their stuff. 



 
Everything here was $1 a piece. The Fisher Price school is just like the one I had when I was a kid, except mine had a missing door. The shelf is already hanging in our bathroom, and the vase was a roommate pick. The lady actually giggled and said she wasn't even going to put it out because she didn't think anyone would buy it, but he loved the colors.


 
I'm always on the lookout for vintage Tupperware, and both these pieces came from a sale at a church. It was part church sale/part flea market with individual vendors set up, and both came from one of those vendors. The funny thing is that my mom sold Tupperware back in the day, and when I came walking back to the car she said, "how much did you have to pay for the ham keeper?" Yeah, I had no clue what the biggest one was. I just knew it was big and we needed some big containers. The ham keeper was $3 (I think, or $3.50) and the pie holder was $2.50. The base snaps off, which makes it super easy to store!


 
Two more pans for my collection! The woman was closing up for the day and had these priced at $5 each early in the day. By the time we got there, she let me have them both for $1.




 
All four of these came from the same sale. The Pyrex custard cups are newer but will let me feel better about displaying my older ones, and all four were $3. The pink aluminum creamer and sugar dish were 50 cents, and the crock pot (which my roommate bought) was $3. I saw one of these mushroom dishes in a thrift store and couldn't find a maker's mark. Turns out that it was made by Corning. I'll have to swing by the thrift and see if the others are still there! There's something about the 70s colors that I love.



 
Can you tell my roommate loves Mickey Mouse? I think he paid 50 cents for the book, and I know the plastic lunchbox was $5 and has its original thermos and the metal one was $10. Funny thing is that I collect lunchboxes and the lady with the plastic one also had a Voltron one that I loved. She wanted $15 for it, and it didn't even have its thermos!






 
The Shiny Brites at the top are the same one the woman wanted $5 for, which I thought was too high. Her husband offered them to me for $3, and she whined and complained that it was too low for something that old and that the box was worth more than that. We could still hear her snapping at him when we left. The Corning meat platter/dish thing was $5, but I never, ever see this with the metal piece still on it.


I'm not sure who makes the white mixing bowl. It's not Pyrex, but it does go with a mixer and came with the smaller bowl for $4, which my roommate couldn't resist. I have a similar one that I use as a water dish for my menagerie, and he still gets upset when he sees it on the floor. I collect the Spring Blossom pattern, so there was no way I was leaving behind this little creamer for 50 cents. The green chip and dip set was another roommate buy. We keep seeing them in thrift stores, but they're always missing one piece or another. He got all three pieces for $5.




I also picked up three vintage board games with all the pieces. The Alvin and the Chipmunks game at the top is from the 80s and was 50 cents. The other two were on a table at a big parking lot sale with no one around. We kept checking back and no one was ever there. We checked one last time before leaving and the seller was finally back in his booth. He said the games were $6 each, I asked if he'd take $10 for two, and he grumbled a bit before agreeing. The Popomatic Alvin and the Chipmunks game is all mine (big surprise!), and the other is for the roommate. I wish now that I had grabbed his Miami Vice game too!







 

I bought the Corning piece for $2 because it's small but super deep, which will make it great for dips. The Tupper Silent Partner poker chips were $1 and are the most amazing shade of pink, which just so happens to be my favorite color! I snagged these three magazines from the 70s/80s to look at the ads off of a free table. And I have two funny stories about the others.


Literally an hour after my roommate got his chip and dip set, we came across this one. It came with the large bowl, four smaller matching bowls, and a bracket for $3, so you know it came home with me. Sadly, the silver flaked off all over our hands, so I'm not sure I'll actually use it. As for the pink Three Way Dispenser, I pointed it out to my roommate. He bent down to look at it, saw a $7 tag on it, and was deciding what to do. The seller said he'd take $2 for it. Before the roomie could even stand up, I had my money out and was paying for it. He claims it should be his because it was in his hands, I say not only did he snooze and loose but that I'm the one with a pink kitchen LOL.


 
A vintage hamper has been on my wishlist forever. This one was only $10 and is in almost perfect condition. It literally looks like no one ever used it. Plus, it's a Redman! It took up way too much space in the car, especially since I bought it at an early stop, but I love it oh so much. We came across another one later on for $3, but it was a fairly ugly shade of blue and the inside was pretty disgusting. 


 
And of course I had to find some Pyrex. A dealer had two sets of the bowls priced at $15 for each set. I wandered around for a bit, came back, and asked if he'd take less. He said yes and then just stared at me for 30 to 60 seconds before finally saying $12. The roommate really hates the pattern and kept calling them ugly, but I kind of like it. I also found the opal Pyrex at a barn sale for $2! The dealer had Fire King and Glasbake stuff priced higher than that.

 
This was probably the find of the day. My roommate started collecting this pattern after finding a few pieces for $5 each at a thrift store. The dealer had the top two smaller dishes priced at $5 for the set and one of the larger dishes for $5, so it was $10 for three pieces. When he went to pay, my dad popped up and, ever the flea market guy, asked for a discount. The dealer dropped the price to $8 and threw in the dish on the bottom. He ended up getting four pieces of Fire King Candle Glow for $8! I'm a little jealous that I can't find such great deals on Spring Blossom!