The Rescue Story

I took off from work this week, so I've been trolling any and all thrift stores, antique stores and flea markets that still have at least one vendor with a pulse. My husband, Chris, and I drove 90 minutes to the Mondays-only Perkiomenville Auction & Flea Market. We've been there a few times before. I found this cute aqua bistro chair there, along with the mirror, Pyrex bowl, 1930 Kodak camera and red stool. The rest I found at various sales during the past few weeks.

I think the mirror was originally a long skinny window. At some point, someone added a narrow shelf to the top and a couple of hooks to the bottom corners:

I've bought and sold stools similar to this one in the past. It is always a favorite:

That wooden box under the aqua folding chair used to look like this:

But after a few minutes of scrubbing off the layers of muck, I was able to see the painted letters: "From Wm. H. Ottemiller, Co.  York, PA".  A quick Google search lead me to a 1913 trade magazine called "The Iron Age", which mentioned the construction of the new William Ottemiller building for the manufacture of hardware.

The Pyrex blue polka dot bowl joins the other two that I bought separately over the last few years. I've been holding onto the orange and yellow bowls in the hopes of finding the other two bowls in the set: blue and green. The green one seems to be the hardest to find (although there are a few on ebay). This Pyrex pattern is actually called "New Dot", and you can read all about it on the Pyrex Love website.

On Sunday, I went to the holiday open house at Cottage Home, the lovely store of my friend, Gloria, and her daughter, Alison. On the way there, I saw a sign that said "Barn Sale". I know. That is the equivalent of a sign that reads "Buy one baggie of meth, get one free" to a junkie. (Wait - does meth even come in baggies?)

Anyway, the owner of the barn does clean-outs of local estates. He had just cleaned out the home of a woman who was obviously a doll hoarder. There had to be at least 300 dolls in their original boxes. All types - Barbie, porcelain, antique and toy baby dolls. Maeve was with me, which meant that I had to buy her something in order to buy myself some digging time. She found a 1992 Romantic Bride Barbie still in the box for two bucks. 

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find anything non-doll-ish under the piles and piles of dolls. Then I spotted this sign by the barn door:

It's a sign that probably hung on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Two bucks! I am keeping it.

And then, at the flea market, I found a bunch of these adorable coasters, also straight from the Jersey Shore, circa 1955:

Each packet is a little postcard! The back has a place for a stamp and an address. I am in love with them because they bring me back to my days at the beach.

I've mentioned in the past that I spent my childhood summers in Brigantine, New Jersey, which is the island town just north of Atlantic City. We spent those summers in the house that my dad's parents bought in 1955 for like five dollars. My dad grew up in Philadelphia, but spent his summers in Brigantine. When he was old enough, he became a "mascot" (a junior lifeguard) and eventually, a real lifeguard. Like any lifeguard worth his salt, my dad has a story about how he saved people from drowning.

Our family refers to this as The Rescue Story. It is a totally true story where my dad and a few other lifeguards rescued lots and lots of people after a huge wave knocked them out. It was a big deal and he was commended by local politicians.

My dad loves to tell The Rescue Story. And with each telling comes a new detail that we never heard before. Like, there were 50 people in the water instead of the original number of 25. And of those 50, seven were women in labor. He delivered all of the babies while simultaneously dragging swimmers from the angry ocean. After the seventh baby was delivered, a giant squid appeared from nowhere and attempted to pull the babies out to sea. My dad wrestled the squid and plucked off each of its tentacles. Just when he thought the nightmare was over, a megalodon with a taste for tourists swam up and tried to eat everyone in one bite. My dad punched it in the face and the prehistoric beast cowered and swam back to the depths of the ocean. 

The next day, my dad bought one of those souvenir coaster postcards. He addressed it to "That Big Pussy Shark at the Bottom of the Atlantic" and popped it in the mail to let all of the ocean know that he was the new sheriff in town.

So, if you ever meet my dad, make sure you ask him about The Rescue Story. You never know what you are going to hear.

Comments

[Hope G]

oh. my. gawd. that made me laugh so hard I snorted. thanks for sharing that and I just love your new treasures!

[Chrissy P.]

I think your dad also assisted in rescuing me as a newborn from a monster hurricane. I think there was 27 feet of water and he swam me off the island.....or something like that. All while everyone else stood around keeping their beer from getting seawater in it.

[Gina at Vintage Junk in My Trunk]

Love the sign and the beach coasters. Oh, and the story is pretty good too!

[Karen]

Your dad sounds just like my dad! Great story! And I live your finds! Not much I've found this fall in Oregon!

[Michele]

Love this post Colleen! And I would buy those coaster for my NJ shop, they would love them here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[laurie magpie ethel]

Classic, classic story ...love how the story keeps having extra embellishments added to it. Gave me my chuckle of the day...

[Kori]

LOVE LOVE LOVE your stash!!! Everything you got is awesome! I don't know much about you (newish to blogging and still finding faves to read), but if you EVER consider selling any packs of your coasters, please let me know. My husband is from NJ (moved from there to CA as a boy and now we live in WA) and summered at the shore every year. I try to collect NJ things as a reminder of his childhood and these would be awesome with the NJ tablecloth we have...for looks only, of course!! ;)

P.S. Your comparison of barn sale sign to meth baggies on a BOGO program is HILARIOUS!! I laughed 'til I cried!! :D

[steff]

I live about 10 minutes from the Perkie sale (as we call it) but I don't really like it so I haven't been there for a couple of years! glad you found some good junk, though. I just don't like an auction where I can't sit down and have to hang out with a bunch of old scraggly men and follow them around.

[Stephanie]

I had the blue spotted bowl once... I cried when I broke it. Just a little tho.

[MaryKayAndrews]

By any chance, was Annette Funicello one of the women your dad rescued? Or maybe Connie Francis?

[Jenn Milsaps]

that was the best story :) thanks for sharing! (and I love the treasures)

[Lindsey Turner]

great finds! I just stumbled upon your blog and am really enjoying it! I don't know if you like to read other blogs about thrifty finds but I have a blog called Thrift and Shout (thriftandshout.blogspot.com) and I wanted to invite you to come check it out! Thanks! -Lindsey Turner

[Katie]

Colleen,
Love looking at your finds. Love the beach sign and the coasters. Thanks for doing what you do!

[stacey]

I just found your blog & I actually live near the Brandywine shop! I can't wait to check it out:) I LOVE all your vintage treasures- those Pyrex bowls are amazing.

[Mary Hamer]

Hi Colleen! I know you are probably crazy busy, but I just wanted you to know that I nominated you for the "Sylish Blogger Award" on my blog! Hop on by and check it out!
xoxo
mary
http://www.piecesofhomedesigns.blogspot.com

[Dana]

Just stopped by to let you know that your Dad shoveled 50 feet of snow in Chicago during "The Great Snowstorm of '67."

But for his brave show of unrelenting determination to clear the driveway, the car bringing my mom and me (the newborn) home from the hospital would never have arrived.

Thank you to your Dad!
(or, was it my Uncle?)

You gotta love stories that grow as the years progress :)
Dana

[Nicole]

absolutely love the vintage sign and step stool!!

xoxo,
Nicole
publicsmiles.blogspot.com

[Alicia]

Those Jersey shore coasters are adorable and I must find some to own!

[suzanne]

I live in West Chester and shop at Cottage Home all the time! Great store. Where is the barn that you refer to that has the barn sales?

[antique kansas city]

It brings back memories of black and white and simple just like when i visited antique kansas city I reminisced the old days with my dad.I love your collections truly fascinating and adorable.