freshvintage

Jewelry Giveaway!

Take a look at my new necklace from Lisa Leonard Designs! She hand-stamped my kids' names onto silver discs, and added a freshwater pearl. I love it because it is so simple. Lisa is a mom of two little boys who started her own business creating jewelry out of her home. She writes all about it on her blog, It's the Little Things. I first heard about Lisa when she was featured on the Design Mom blog last year. And I just saw Lisa's announcement that she will be creating a special necklace for the attendees of Donna Downey's Inspired event in April.

And here's where you come in...Lisa has graciously agreed to give away a custom Family Tree necklace to a freshvintage reader! The family tree necklace is a hammered circle (1 1/4") strung from 18" sterling ball chain with a freshwater pearl beside. A whimsical tree is hand-stamped in the middle and the names of each member of your family are stamped around the edge. Lisa can fit up to 36 characters (including spaces) around the circle. If you haven't started your own family yet, this would make a wonderful Birthday or Mother's Day gift for a sister or friend. This is a $52 value!

All you have to do is leave a comment. Any comment. Yes, Tina Fey, you are eligible to win, too. You have until Sunday, March 2nd at 8pm EST to leave a comment. I'll announce a winner next week.

If you are interested in Lisa's jewelry designs, take a look at her blog. You can find her designs here and here. Even her business card is damn cute!

Thanks, Lisa!

The Results Are In!!

The Pommes Anna Pan went for $138.50! By the end of the auction, there were 81 watchers and 28 bids.

Congratulations to Nina and Amanda, who walk away with $69.25 each!

Stay tuned, everyone...I'll have another giveaway this week!

Auction Update, Finds & Vintage Home News

Here are the current stats on the Pommes Anna Pan auction:

Current bid: $71.02
Number of bids: 24
Number of watchers: 74

(Here's the original post about the pan.)

And now, on to my $54 worth of finds from this weekend...

Orange apron with green rick-rack and four wooden hangers:

Set of aqua Royal Traveller suitcases. They are pretty dirty, so I am going to give them a once-over with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser:

Vintage Cosco office chair with aqua vinyl seat. About an hour after I bought this, Erin called me from the Vintage Home Annex and told me that a customer bought the black one that I found last month. The same person also bought some suitcases from us. Eerie.

I got the next piece from an estate sale run by Sales by Helen. The last day of her sales are usually half-price, so I scrambled to the sale early this morning and swiped this up for a painfully low price. I had spotted a photo of it on her website last week, but I didn't think it would still be there on Sunday. Thank God for the snowstorm on Friday! This cabinet is mahogany and needs a little work. It is missing a few knobs and needs a new coat of paint.  If I was really adventurous, I would strip it. But I am entirely too lazy for that.

In other exciting news, Vintage Home has been featured on the Country Living website in editor-at-large Jane Dagmi's blog! Jane stopped by the store a few weeks ago and snapped some photos of the store. I'm so happy for Margie, Gloria and Leslie...it was so nice to see them get some recognition for all of their hard work. Unfortunately, Jane didn't get a chance to visit our space at the Vintage Home Annex (just a few doors down), but maybe she will be able to stop by when she is in the area again.

And in related news, the Annex is actually changing hands next week. It will no longer be run by the ladies from Vintage Home. Kristen, the former owner of Chaumiere in West Chester, PA is taking over the shop and bringing in her lovely antiques to sell on the first floor. We were so happy to hear that she is letting Erin and I keep our little space on the second floor. Thanks, Kristen! We're really grateful to Margie & Gloria from Vintage Home for taking a gamble with Erin and me (and for putting in a good word with Kristen). They taught us a lot about running a shop and selling antiques, and we will always appreciate their honest and friendly attitudes. Of course, they'll still be right down the street at Vintage Home, so we will keep in touch. We're sad to see Margie & Gloria go, but we are excited about this change...the Annex was only open on Sundays, but the new shop will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. That means we have to BUY MORE STUFF! I know, it is hard to believe that I would ever run out of stuff to sell. 

By the way, if you ever stop by the store, please let us know if you read the blog. Erin and I only work there a couple of Sundays a month, but we love to hear when someone reads the blog. Erin worked today and a few people mentioned that they read the WWJB post. Thankfully, they also mentioned that they laughed when they read it.

I have it on good authority that you will not go to hell if you laugh at that post. Go in peace.

Auction Update & WWJB

Here are the current stats on the Pommes Anna Pan auction:

Current bid: $50.01
Number of bids: 20
Number of watchers: 53

Have you ever heard of eBay Pulse?  For each category of items sold on eBay, you can view a list of the most popular searches and the most watched items in that category. Well, our little auction is on the Most Watched list for the Cookware & Bakeware category! I think we can attribute that to you, the freshvintage blog readers, who have added the auction to your own watch list. My personal record for watchers was 50, when I sold my nun doll on eBay a few years ago.

Now on to my finds for the week...

Yes, another metal card drawer. I know that a few of you were asking about the red drawer, but I think I'm keeping that one. Sorry. I also bought a hexagon Haeger planter and a metal cash box.

It's definitely not from the colonial era, but this sampler would look cute in a nursery:

 

In honor of Lent, I picked up the Last Supper print. Actually, it was the old frame that caught my eye. And the tablecloth.

That is one cute tablecloth. Rumor has it that Jesus scored it at a wicked estate sale in Jerusalem. When he got home and unloaded all of the junk from his donkey's back, he busted out his red thread and embroidered the apostles' names along the bottom edge, in lieu of placecards. 

Henceforth and heretoforthwith, I've answered the age-old question: What Would Jesus Buy?

I had sixteen years of Catholic school. I'm allowed to say stuff like that.

Pommes Anna Auction

I polished it up all nice and purty for the eBay listing:

(Here's the before picture.)

Follow along with the auction to see the how much money Nina and Amanda are going to win. I started the auction at $9.99 to drum up some interest, and we already have a bid!

Ho Potatoes

Nina was the first person with the correct (and most specific) guess! It is a hammered copper Pommes (potatoes) Anna pan. Did I know that when I bought it at Goodeals for eight dollars? Ummm...that would be a Hell No.

I had never seen anything like it before. Before I even picked it up, I told myself that if it had a mark, then I would take a gamble and buy it. With some kind of mark, it would be much easier to research and might possibly be worth more than eight bucks. I picked it up and was sold when I saw that magical five-letter word: "Paris". 

As soon as I got home, I googled "E. Dehillerin".  I've never been to France, and I'm not a gourmet cook, so I didn't know that E. Dehillerin is a famous French cookware shop that's been around since 1820. I have a feeling that many of my highly intelligent readers have heard of it. The same readers who know how to pronounce fancy terms like "mise en place" and "ménage à trois".

The sole purpose of this pan is to make the French dish called Pommes Anna, which is layers of carefully arranged, thinly sliced potatoes with clarified butter. Using a pommes anna pan, you're able to easily brown the potatoes on both sides by simply flipping the pan over. The dish was created by a 19th century chef named Adolphe Duglere. And the best part? He dedicated the dish to a courtesan named Anna Deslions. Hey, any dish named after a whore must be delicious!

I couldn't find this pan on eBay. But I learned that Mauviel is the only company that makes them. This one must have been purchased directly from Dehillerin, since it doesn't have the Mauviel mark. There are a few other Mauviel/Dehillerin copper pots and pans on eBay that had a final price between $40 and $296! If you do a search for completed listings, you can see that every single one of the pans has sold. That is just crazy. 

Of course, you can also buy a brand new pommes anna pan. Dehillerin sells the same 6.3" pan for 74 Euros ($108). I found the same 6.3" pan under a different brand name on Amazon for $194. Williams-Sonoma sells the 8.5" pan for $275. The wonderful Sur La Table sells the 9.5" pan for $413.

So, we know that Nina won a prize. Who had the wackiest answer? There were so many! It was a tough decision, but I chose Amanda for her comment, "My Grandpa had one of those. You put toenail clippings in it." Yum.

Now, on to the prize. I'm going to polish up this baby and sell it on eBay....and our prizewinners are going to split the final amount! So, they could win $20 each...or maybe even $100 each! If the pan sells for more than $1000, I reserve the right to cancel the whole contest pretend that this never happened.

I kid, I kid.

Congratulations and good luck, Nina and Amanda! I'll post a link to the auction after I list the pan so we can all follow the progress.

PS. If you didn't win this game, I have another great giveaway coming up in a few weeks. And you won't need to be a gourmet or a comedian to win!

What the Hell Is It? (with PRIZES!)

So, I still don't know what the hell this is. Everyone seems so convinced that their answer is the right one, I don't know who to believe! Some of you should be running for president.

Well, guess what? We're playing again and I know the answer this time.

This thing is seven inches in diameter, and it has a very specific use. That's all I'm going to say.  And the first person who leaves a comment with the very specific answer will win an unprecedented, never-before-seen-on-any-blog prize. A prize so exciting that even the losers will be excited for the winner. I know - it doesn't seem humanly possible.  But it is true....I have a heart of stone, and even I would be excited for the winner.

And guess what? The person who has the wackiest guess will also win a prize!  You could be totally wrong, but if you have a funny answer, you're getting the same exciting prize.

Start guessing!  I want to hear from all of you lurkers, too. Even if you have NO IDEA what it is, just give it a try. The first person with the most specific correct answer will win a prize. And the wackiest answer will win a prize.  I'll leave the comments open until Sunday night at 8pm EST.

PS. Let's put things into perspective...the prize is not a new car or a timeshare in Cabo. For Christ's sake, you're reading a blog written by a crazy lady who buys stuff for a quarter at yard sales! But it is still a fun prize.

Digital SLRs for Dummy

Here it is - the new love of my life...the Nikon D40.

I really wanted to take good pictures of my kids and my vintage finds, so I knew a Digital SLR (single-lens reflex) was in my future. A few weeks ago, I headed over the border to tax-free Delaware (10 minutes away) and paid $499 for it at a Ritz Camera store.  I had read so many good reviews about the D40, but it was nice to actually talk to an expert at the store about it. I know nothing about fancy cameras or lenses or aperture or f-stops. He explained to me some really simple things about digital SLRs that I just didn't know.

1. There are no automatic zoom in/out buttons like there are on my standard digital camera. You have to turn the lens to zoom in and out.
2. You can't view anything through the LCD screen until after you take the picture. When you take the picture, you have to do it the old-fashioned way: through the viewfinder. Some higher-end DSLR cameras offer "live view", so you can see the picture on the screen before you take it, but the D40 doesn't have this.
3. There is a dummy setting on most digital SLRs so that they act like standard point and shoot cameras. On the D40, there is a setting with a green camera icon. The camera store manager called this "Green and Go". I was really worried that I would have to learn a whole bunch of complicated settings with this camera, but I was wrong!

The camera came with a Nikkor 18-55mm lens. After I explained to the manager that I take most of my pictures indoors, because of my kids and my blog, he recommended that I look into buying a 50 mm f/1.8 lens. Then I had to go into the whole awkward explanation of my blog: "Well, I take pictures and write about the junk I find at yard sales". If that doesn't get me an odd stare, I don't know what will. I left the store without that extra lens, because I didn't know what the hell he was talking about and because it was an additional $150 and I wasn't in the mood to get divorced that day.

All I really wanted was for my photos to look as good as Jennifer Pebbles' photos on her blog. I've had photo envy of Jennifer for months. After I bought the D40, I went to her blog and read that she uses a 50mm 1.4 lens for her photos. I realized that I needed that magical lens. I would simply die without it. The 1.4 lens was a little pricey (around $350), so settled for the 1.8 lens that the camera store manager originally recommended. I ordered it the next day from the Ritz Camera website. Please don't ask me the difference between the 1.4 and 1.8 lenses...I have no friggin' idea. I just know that I love this camera. Here's why...

Jumping Finn (I never would be able to take this with my regular digital camera):


[He hasn't quite figured out how to button his pants, so pardon the belly button]

The rare, quiet Maeve:

The classic, scheming Maeve:

Happy Finn:

Part of my ever-growing globe collection:

 

There are probably some settings that I could have used that would make these photos look even better. I'll get there eventually. So, how about you...do you own a Digital SLR? What kind? Do you have any recommendations or tips to share? Or, are you thinking about buying one? Maybe we can figure out some answers together.

$67 Worth of Crap

I spent a lot of money this week. Sixty-seven dollars for everything in this post. Definitely more than I would usually spend in a week, but there were a few things that I just couldn't pass up. Like that little folding table. I don't know if it is a salesman's sample or if it was made for dolls. Does anyone know how to tell? I'm thinking that it was a sample...it looks like there was once a large label attached to the top of the table, but it has since been (poorly) removed.

I also scored big with some pottery, including this white matte rectangular planter with green interior:

Two of the pieces are Floraline...

And two are McCoy (including the small white pedestal vase)...

I found the pewter platter at Goodeals. It sat in the store for nine weeks, which means that I got it for 90% off the original price of $20. Whenever I get a deal like that, I question myself...why the hell hasn't anyone bought this in the last nine weeks? I don't remember seeing it on any of my weekly visits, so maybe it was hiding behind some other junk for the past nine weeks. Yeah, sure. Or maybe it is yet another hideous piece of crap to add to my crap collection.

Anywho, I found a similar piece of crap with the same marks that is selling for $350! Now, I don't think someone would actually pay that much for my platter, but it is nice to dream. I found a couple of auctions on eBay for similar Finstain (Fin Stain?) pewter plates and steins...they sold for $10-$50.  Does anyone know anything about pewter? The other marks are "GF" in a shield with a man shoveling, and a circle with a castle in it.

Here's something that I'd been eyeing at Goodeal's for the last three weeks. I spotted it there today and could no longer resist. When I opened it up, it had all of the dividers with the metal tabs. After I brought it home, I put all the tabs in alphabetical order and noticed the stamp on the first divider. It says "Longwood Fire Company". I thought that was pretty cool, since I bought this metal drawer unit at the annual Longwood Fire Company yard sale last year.

By the way, I bought a new camera! Can you tell? I am in love with it. I want to have its babies.  I'll tell you all about it in my next post.