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!

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!

Community Yard Sales = Lots of Fun

Community yard sales have been something of a miss for me lately. It's all baby stuff, clothing, and other random junk that I don't need or want. This year was a lot better! My dad called to remind me of a community yard sale not too far away from them and asked if I wanted to go. While I didn't fill the car, we still did pretty well.


The first sale we stopped at had a lot of fresh veggies, which led to the dad buying tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and who knows what else. I don't know if it's like this everywhere, but a lot of sales around us have a lot of new stuff. This one had tons of razors, shampoo, body wash, deodorant, and other brand new things. I'm guessing it's extreme couponers trying to make some extra cash? I did buy four Glade candles from the sale because she had them marked $2, I liked the scent, and I just paid over $3 for a Glade candle in the store. I also picked up these two books for 25 cents each (sorry but they aren't my pics, I totally forgot to snap some!):

 
Danny and the Dinosaur I had as a kid, and I loved the illustrations in the other one. I also picked up a copy of Howdy Doody Meets Santa for a quarter that I had my dad take to his flea market booth. Funny story about the Baby's Christmas book! My dad asked me if I was trying to tell them something since I'm a single woman buying a baby book. I had to break the news that if I was secretly pregnant, I would be buying a lot more than just one book!


From there, we headed to the actual town with the sale. The first spot was a real honey hole. Years ago, my parents went to auctions in the building, and the people who owned it now had a big sale. Turns out that they have a booth at an antique mall, and some of their prices definitely reflected that. 

 

 

These salt and pepper shakers are the perfect shades of pink and turquoise! I took one look and fell in love. Not too crazy about paying $2 for the set at a yard sale of all places, but I can deal with it.

 

This guy is about 12 inches tall and still has his Made in Japan sticker on his butt. He was $3, which my roommate thought was about $3 too much. He really and truly hated my new little friend, but he'll probably hate him a lot more when I put him out on the mantle this year!

 
How pretty are these?? They look big, but they're actually the small ones. I paid $3 for the whole box, but I thought that was a good deal since the box is in near perfect condition. Can you believe that this is the first time that I ever bought a box of Shiny Brites? Last up is this beauty:

 
The same sale had some items inside with higher price tags attached, i.e. $15 for a jadeite plate, $35 for a Coca-Cola phone. I spotted it as soon as I walked in, but some other woman picked it up, looked at the price, snapped about it, and put it back down. The price she didn't want to pay? $6! It has some scraps, but it's the first piece of aqua Butterprint I've ever found in the wild. Funny thing is that the same woman then followed me around the shop waiting to see if I would put it down again. Nope!


My dad found some vintage Elvis magazines at the same sale for $1 and then spotted a John Lenon book inside. He asked for a price, and the woman running the sale flipped out. She started talking about how all the books inside were her reference books and not for sale. Really? It was a biography of Lenon, how is that a reference book for a reseller? It ticked me off too because she had a whole shelf of books that apparently weren't for sale and other shelves filled with merchandise for her antique mall that were unpriced and not for sale.


At another sale, I found a stack of Corelle bowls in the Spring Blossom pattern for 50 cents each. When I got home, I realized that only four had that pattern and the other four were different. Oops.

 

A few years ago, I started collecting these Wilton cake pans to hang on my kitchen wall. My roommate and ex made me an amazing Winnie the Pooh cake from one, the ex and I made my roommate a Care Bear one for his birthday, and the roommate and I made the ex a Garfield one. A few months after I started collecting, the price on these went through the roof. I've seen them priced at $10+ at some thrift stores. I got the Big Bird and the Cookie Monster cake pans for $1 each. The Cookie Monster one even had his original decorating booklet!

 

The seller said that she used them both for her daughter's first birthday party and then just forgot about them. I'm glad she decided to clean out her kitchen.

 

I also picked up this XBOX 360 set from her for $2. We absolutely loved DJ Hero, but the keys aren't in the greatest condition because I bought it used. The ex bought DJ Hero 2 for me from a flea market last year, but we misplaced the copy. Now I have a new copy and an extra controller just in case the roommate ever decides to play with me!

 

I currently own seven billion shot glasses and have no space for them, but I couldn't resist this vintage Las Vegas design for 50 cents. I have maybe a dozen or so out on display in my kitchen and two completely filled boxes of wrapped glasses. The ex and I both collected and bought a bunch whenever we took a trip together, so he just helped foster my bad habit LOL.

 

I've seen all three Chipmunks movies in the theater, had the soundtrack to the last film downloaded on my phone, and still love and watch the original cartoon. Every time I see these Ty Beanie Babies in the store, I have a hard time walking away. I got them both for $2.

 

I am a Hello Kitty nut! I have almost all the kitchen appliances: toaster, toaster oven, coffee maker, waffle iron, juicer, etc. I even have a bread box, and the complete bathroom set from the shower curtain and toilet seat cover to the toothbrush holder and soap dispenser. The same lady who had the Chipmunks had this lunchbox for $1. I had no clue they made these plastic designs in 2011.

We also made it to a few other sales that were pretty much misses. Both my dad and I bought a book from a "name your price sale". He wanted a James Patterson paperback, she told him to give her a price, he said 50 cents, and she looked super pained. If you want to set prices, set your prices! I had him had her another 50 cents for a book for me.


There was a Brownie troop selling treats that were a little expensive. Is $1 really the going rate for a piece of peanut butter fudge? It was the size of a brownie but still. They also had lemonade, and both me and the roommate got a cup. They didn't say anything when the little girl handed me a half-filled cup, but when they did the same thing to the roomie, her parents made her fill it up. I also got a delicious pulled chicken sandwich, and my dad and roomie got the biggest hot dogs I've ever seen in my life!


Our last stop was at a church sale that looked like someone with multiple personality disorder did the pricing. You'd see 5 cent mugs right next to a plate with a $5 price tag on it. They had two boxes of Shiny Brite ornaments, but they wanted $1 for each ornament. They also had a porch swing outside that was exactly like the one my parents have but in a different color. They bought theirs for $100 on sale last summer, and the church wanted $75 for one that was several years old. Really?


It was an amazingly busy day! After the sales, we drove 45 minutes to the flea market where my parents have a booth, came back, went to two different indoor flea markets, stopped by a Chinese restaurant, and swung by a thrift store. I'm looking forward to spending even more time with the pops this weekend, and I'll post some more of my finds later this week!