freshvintage

Mini Vintage Fan, Cast Iron House Numbers & My Cash Register

Chris and I took a trip to the outlet stores & antique shops around Lancaster, PA a few weeks ago. On the way, we went to a barn sale where we really got to dig. Most of it was real junk, but I did find the wooden caddy and the two fans there. I paid five dollars for those three things.

Do you know what that adorable itsy bitsy baby fan was used for?

If you guessed "a car", then you are absolutely right!

It is a Trico Vacuum Fan that would clamp to a dashboard to defrost the windshield. It doesn't even have an electrical cord - it connects to the car engine using a vacuum tube that runs a little turbine in the fan.  Didn't know I was a car junkie, did you? Intake manifolds and struts make me so hot.

Kidding. I just watched this video, where I saw it in action. That man obviously loves his fan. He hauled an enormous air compressor into his living room to demonstrate an antique car fan to his YouTube audience. If that doesn't prove his love, then I don't know what possibly could. Other than some kind of video of him and the fan tube in a compromising position.

Moving on...

I bought these heavy cast iron house numbers at an antiques store in Strasburg, PA. I love their patina and the mix of black & white.

Here's the cash register that I blackberried you about a few weeks ago. Our super-duper neighbors watched the kids for a few hours while Chris and I went to an auction in Hockessin, Delaware. When we arrived, I scoped out the selection of antiques and made a mental note of what I wanted to bid on. The cash register was not listed on my mental note, but I was stunned that only one person was interested in it. I couldn't let it go for so little money, so I threw up my number. And then I won! I paid $25.

It was made in 1949 by National Cash Register, and is metal with a wood grain-painted finish. The base and drawer on the bottom are real wood. It is so heavy that even my P90x-graduate husband had trouble lifting it.

The age of the machine is based on the serial number engraved on the metal plate above the keys. This web page helped me figure that out.

It doesn't "DING!" when you hit the big black button, but the drawer does open. It even has the keys to the drawer. Nothing happens when I push the buttons, though. The numbers in the top window don't change.

Am I the only one who wants to rip all of those buttons off and make some jewelry? Or something?

Do you think I would make more money selling its parts, rather than selling it whole (and non-functioning)? I've done a little research, and it seems that the brass National Cash Registers are worth much more than the faux wood grain ones. This isn't a surprise.

It would be great on display at an antique store. But I don't have one of those. And I don't want to lug it to an antiques fair to sell. Maybe I'll try craigslist?

What would you do with it?

(And please don't say that you would make a YouTube video of the cash register and you in a compromising position. I would be so offended.)

Photos from the Brandywine View Antiques Fall Fling

So, how was the Brandywine View Fall Fling? Well, it rained half of the day, but we still had a great time!

I caught up with some of my blog readers and friends, including:

• Teresa: My neighbor and the doting wife of Tastykake Man.
• Mary T.: frequent commenter, antiquer, and my new source for local gossip.
• Gloria: Former Vintage Home partner, and one of my antiquing gurus.
• Robin: Fellow student at the antiques class I took a few years ago.
• Allison: One of the owners of Nannygoat Antiques in Narberth, PA.
• Catherine: aka Nutjob (also my new friend).
• Amanda: a local blogger who has a beautiful design blog called Purely Practical Lifestyle.

Here's a shot of some of our wares after we moved them onto the huge wrap-around porch (due to the rain). The cool architectural pieces along the wall and the chandelier were a nice backdrop. They were being sold by the shop owner, Lisa. We can't take credit for those, although we would love to.

We hid mimosas on the floor behind the picnic baskets.

I was finally able to use a glass-doored display case that I purchased a couple of years ago at an antiques store. My mother-in-law Mary was with me at the time. She told me to buy it, just in case I ever had any items that needed to be locked up in a shop or booth.

I'm glad I took her advice! The case was in okay condition, but I decided to spice it up a bit. Here's the BEFORE (that's blue painters tape on the glass):

And here is the AFTER:

I painted it aqua and glued vintage wallpaper to the back. The glass shelves came with the display case, but they were perched precariously on screws. I removed the screws and added proper brackets.

I also added a glass knob, because glass knobs make everything look better.

The worst part about the display case? I could have sold mine five times over. But I didn't want to sell it because I actually want to use it as a display case, dammit!  Here's your tip of the day: buy cool display cases and market them to antiques dealers. You will make millions. (Or maybe just hundreds.)

Here are a few more shots of our junk:

 

 

 

Some of our water-resistant junk that we didn't have room for on the porch:

Here are a few photos of the Brandywine View Antiques shop:

Thanks to all who came to shop!

Pink Wine, Vintage Wallpaper & The Battle of the Allisons

My in-laws just left after a week-long visit. You know what that means...local sightseeing along with lots of antiquing. We visited Gettysburg, PA for a couple of days and stopped in nearby New Oxford to fulfill our antiques-shopping obligation.

We also had a lovely Easter dinner at my sister Megan's house. This was the first time that the Allisons have spent Easter on the East Coast. Frankly, Chris and I were a little worried. The conversations at my family's holiday dinners tend to steer towards subjects like poop and public drunkeness. (Hopefully, never the twain shall meet.)

My family welcomed them with open arms, especially when they saw my in-laws' contribution to Easter dinner: a can of wine. Yes, the paint-in-a-can comes in a blush! It is called Pail Pink. I'm not usually a pink wine drinker, but I like this one because it isn't too sweet.

Among my non-wine purchases this week were a Redmon picnic basket, a very heavy German Christmas tree stand, an square ironstone bowl, a old drawer, fancy muffin tin, vintage wallpaper rolls, glass spice jars, and a never-used pink and white striped blanket.

The blanket is a brand called Golden Key, a subsidiary of A&P Supermarket (which was at one time known as Great American Tea Company). The original paper label is sewn into the corner:

The vintage price tags in the square ironstone bowl are a recent purchase from eBay and the glass spice jars were from a local thrift store. The German Christmas tree stand pictured above ($12) and muffin tin ($4) were found at the New Oxford Antique Mall. When Erin and I sold our junk at the Kimberton Antiques Show last year, we sold all of the muffin tins that we brought with us. I snatch them up whenever I see them at a good price. One of my favorite muffin tins sits on my dresser and corrals all of my jewelry.

I finally found vintage wallpaper! This is a first for me. Two rolls are the same pattern and appear to be complete. I don't think these are very old (1960s?), but I love the pattern. The roll on the bottom of the photo is definitely older. Maybe from the 1930s.

After spending two days learning about the Battle of Gettysburg, the Allisons had their own battle when my father-in-law Jim spotted this beautiful pitcher and bowl at the Pennsbury-Chadds Ford Antiques Mall. It has aqua-colored flowers, no chips or cracks and was a steal at $40. The Allisons usually sell these for at least $100 in their booth at an antiques mall in Cle Elum, WA. My mother-in-law Mary didn't want to buy it because it was heavy, breakable and the cost of shipping it home to Yakima would substantially eat into their profits. Jim bought it anyway.

After a few days of Mary's subtle, yet acerbic, ribbing, Jim threw in the towel and agreed to leave it at our house. When they left for home this morning, Jim was practically kissing Mary's feet and sobbing in apology. It was quite a turnaround from his attitude at the antiques store when he first bought it.

I am convinced that Mary has powers beyond this world. She is like Officer Parkman from Heroes who uses mind control to make people do things against their will.

I told them I would sell it at my next sale (whenever that is) and send them the profits. But I'm digging the way it looks in our living room/office:

Thanksgiving in Portland/Yakima, Part 1

I had a great vacation! Not only did I spend some quality time with Chris' fun family, I visited the shops of two fellow bloggers. Here I am (on the right) with Amy from Poppy & Ivy in Portland:

 

Amy has assembled a great mix of new & vintage items. And everything was just up my alley. In the back of the shop, she has a display of products that were just hysterical, including bacon-flavored breath mints and corn dog-scented air fresheners. I bought this shopping tote (once again, you've caught me buying religious goods in an effort to get a free pass into heaven):

 

I bought a few other irreverent goodies for the white elephant exchange at my extended family's annual Christmas party. That's the one where someone inevitably brings a beautifully wrapped can of beans or a gift that we received from one of my dad's ex-girlfriends five years ago.

We also let the kids pick out something from Amy's shop to keep them occupied before we hit our next stop, The Kennedy School. It is a restaurant/brewery/hotel housed in an old elementary school. What a cool place.

Finn & Maeve chose felt pirate hats and "masters of disguise" from Amy's shop. They wore them everywhere during our entire trip.

Here they are at Maryhill Winery:

Chris and I visited this winery last year without kids and absolutely loved it. This year, we were driving right by it on the trip from Portland to Yakima, so it only made sense to stop there again. But we had the kids with us this time. The ratio of glass bottles to clumsy children was way too high.

We went in anyway, and were told by the nice wine man that they had crayons and coloring books! I've fallen in love with Maryhill all over again.

On Black Friday, I visited Flutterby in Yakima with my mother-in-law, Mary, and my sister-in-law, Sari. The shop is owned by sisters Kim & Claudette. We had a great time chatting with them. Yet another cute shop with a fun combo of old & new. Definitely a must-see if you are in Yakima. Here's Kim:

   

And here's one of the rooms in their shop. It is obvious that they spent a lot of time preparing their displays for Christmas. I love that big wooden chicken or egg thing. Is it an incubator?

Stay tuned for Part 2. I'll share some photos from my visit with the Allison family. And maybe I'll even tell you the story about how my father-in-law had to go to the emergency room at midnight on our first night in Yakima because his neck was horribly swollen. Turned out he had a somewhat-rare salivary gland infection, which I referred to as a "goiter" for the remainder of our trip. As in, "Finn & Maeve, go kiss your Pop-Pop's goiter good night".

I guess I don't need to save that story until the next post since I just told it.

Pert N' Perky

We just ended a fun-filled week-long visit from my in-laws. This is the first time my husband has seen his mother on Mother's Day since he moved here from Seattle nine years ago. It is always nice when they visit, because I become a tourist in my own neighborhood...we went to Winterthur (the DuPont Family's measly 175-room country estate), the Herr's Potato Chip Factory and the 1704 Brinton House. And the best part? They are antique dealers, so we have the perfect excuse for visiting lots of antique stores & yard sales while they are here.

We went to an estate sale in Wilmington, DE that I read about on craigslist. It was a small house, but we were able to find a few goodies, including the blue & white chenille bedspread and the blue tin picnic basket. My husband, Chris, gets full credit for finding the tin basket.  He went to the basement first, and when I walked down the steps a few minutes later, I found him holding the basket. "You like this, right?" I jumped his bones right then and there. The ten piles of vintage Playboy Magazines certainly helped set the mood.

I won these little hand-painted shop signs on eBay last week. I don't think you would find the green sign in stores today. It says "Child's Pert N' Perky Dresses".  It just doesn't sound right.

My favorite find of the week...five old ledgers from a general store in Bridgeport, PA. I bought these in a great antiques store called Royal Port Antiques in Salem, NJ. The store is owned by the nicest couple, Suzanne and Michael Cooke. In 2003, they bought and renovated a huge abandoned warehouse and turned it into Royal Port, which specializes in Early American antiques and architectural pieces.

Do you remember my brush with movie stardom when I sold an umbrella to a Movie Props Guy at Renningers? That's peanuts compared to the Cookes. Did you ever see M. Night Shyamalan's The Village?  Many of the houses in the movie were furnished with pieces from their shop. They also provided furniture for M. Night's new movie, The Happening. This one isn't a movie, but it is just as cool...Urban Outfitters, Inc. has a new home & garden brand called Terrain. It is basically an Anthropologie store with plants instead of clothes (Joy talked about it here). And, lucky me, the first Terrain store just opened about 20 minutes away. It is a sight to behold. Anyway, the Terrain designers just bought some pieces from Royal Port to use for their funky displays. Bottom line...go to Royal Port Antiques if you are ever in the Philadelphia area!

I talked to the Cookes about my blog, and convinced them that they need to start their own. I'm sure they've got tons of cool stories to share. Get on it, Michael!

UPDATED: My bullying worked! They started a blog!

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On a totally separate topic, I'd like to thank a few swell people who said some really nice things about me. I know, I know...some of them said these things months ago, but better late than never. Thanks to all of you!

Stash Studios

Reclaiming Miss Havisham

Sandra from Find and Go Seek

Special thanks to JUNKMARKET's Sue & Ki, and their manager, Tim, for interviewing me for their American Junk Club newsletter. It is really an honor for me. I've been following their junking adventures ever since the first time they were in Country Home. I don't have a link because the newsletter is available to club members only, but here's where you can sign up: American Junk Club.

Budget-Buster Weekend

I went to my mom's house in Hammonton, NJ for the annual sidewalk/yard sales along the main street. And, one of the big antique malls in town is going out of business because the owners unexpectedly lost their lease. It is a shame because I always found nice things there for a decent price. Shame for the sellers. Good for me.  Mostly everything was 50% off because they have to get out so quickly. I wish I had a pickup truck because I would have bought some big pieces of furniture. Like a mahogany china cabinet for $40.

I gave myself a budget of $150 for the weekend. As you have probably figured out from reading my blog, I normally don't spend that much in one day. The only other time I spent over a hundred dollars was when another antiques store went out of business.

I'm pretty happy with the results. Here's the whole kit and kaboodle:

I realized after I took the above picture that I had left these in my trunk:

That's a Wolverine Child's Play Kitchen Tin Cupboard. Isn't it cute? I think that one might go on ebay.

I told Chris that I wanted to hang the iron window grate (below) on the wall in the kitchen. He flat-out refused. I'm just going to hang it anyway. I bet he won't even notice. 

I love those baby books. They are both from 1945 and have their original boxes. Last year, I bought a similar unused baby book at a yard sale for a dollar and sold it on ebay for $45!

I like that this cake cover/plate is embossed with the word "CAKE". God forbid you put a pie in there. And there's yet another picnic basket. I'm addicted to them. This one is a Redman basket, and it has the original plastic service for four.  And I just couldn't resist the metal pie safe/bread box thingy...

I bought 11 packs of these little vintage cards. I think they are from the 1940's. Each pack has 12 cards with envelopes.

This was one of my favorite finds...three boxes of birthday candle holders. Two boxes have boys and one has girls. Didn't Country Home or Country Living just do an article about vintage birthday candles?

Do you know anyone who lives in Radnor, PA or went to Radnor High School?  I have fifteen of these vintage felt pennants!

This box has little rubber stamps for all the letters and numbers:

Pencil box: Step one...

Step two: It unsnaps and folds open to reveal this handy list of state capitals and measurements guide...

Step three: Pull the little blue tab and it opens into a little blotter with two drawers.

Someone left a comment on my listing at sk*rt saying that she'd like to know how much I spend on the stuff I find. Ask and you shall receive...

Item	Cost
Wood tea cart	6.00
Baby book (unused)	8.00
15 Radnor pennants	3.00
White pie safe/bread box	3.00
11 packs of cards 1940's (12 ea)	12.00
Green chair	15.00
Black iron window grate	25.00
Aluminum water cooler	5.00
Child's Wolverine tin cupboard	9.00
Cake cover with glass plate	5.00
Small glass fridge container	1.00
Baby dress	1.00
Floral tablecloth	6.00
Rubber stamp kit	2.50
3 birthday candle holders	10.50
Picnic basket w/plates & utensils	7.50
Baby book (used)	6.00
Oval picture frame	2.00
3 sets dollhouse pots/pans	3.00
Pencil box	1.25
Garter belt	1.00
Aqua linen tablecloth	4.00
Red egg beater	1.50
Black egg beater	1.50
Wood trim piece with circles	10.00
Blue metal shelf	4.00
Grand Total	153.75

I only blew by budget by $3.75. That's one less latte I'll buy this week.

PS: Unfortunately, that barn in the background of my pictures is not mine. It just happens to be directly behind our house. Our development was built on former farmlands and the original barn and farmhouse are still standing. The farmer just sold the farmhouse to someone new, and I have to start schmoozing...I smell a barn sale in my future!

Yakimania

Sadly, I did not get much in the way of vintage finds while I was visiting Washington. I had to make room in my luggage for these:

This is the result of our day of wine-tasting in Prosser and Zillah with Chris' parents and his sister, Sari (and a few bottles from our one-day trip to Hood River, Oregon earlier in the week) . His other sister, Sue, was kind enough to watch the kids while we were out for the day.

There are actually a few bottles missing from that picture. I can't even tell you what kind of wine I bought at the last three wineries we visited. It could have been Boone's Farm with a fancy label for all I knew. I was just too buzzed to care. Toward the end of the day, I remember slurring my words and complaining to one of the winery employees about the annoying liquor laws in Pennsylvania. (We can't buy wine or beer at the grocery store. We go to the "beer distributor" for cases of beer, the "packaged goods" store for a six-pack and the "wine and spirits" store for wine. And we can't even get wine shipped to our state from any winery.) I'm sure I sounded like a valley girl.  After we drank some of the wine and gave most of the bottles to friends in Seattle, we ended up bringing five of them home with us. 

By far, my favorite winery was one that we visited while Chris and I were allowed to escape for one night (without kids) to Hood River. We stopped at Maryhill Winery, which is a mile down the road from the Maryhill Museum. They are both on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Here's a photo of the museum from the Oregon side:

Talk about the middle of nowhere! You can't imbibe too much at the Maryhill Winery...one wrong move on the way home, and you'll end up in the river. But, boy, all of their wines were just delicious. The stunning view didn't hurt, either. With all of this wine talk, you probably think I'm a wine snob. I'm not by any means! Wine-tasting is one of my favorite parts of visiting my in-laws. It is fun to pretend like I really taste the charcoal, loganberries and chocolate in a tiny sip of pinot noir. And I love listening to my father-in-law, Jim, ask the same question at every winery, "Now, what is the residual sugar in this wine?" Who cares?! Just drink it!

Oh - and I missed Deb by just one day. She was in Prosser on Thursday giving the Hogue Winery tasting room an extreme makeover. We were in Prosser on Friday. It would have been great to meet her!

My mother-in-law, Mary, did bring me to a few antique stores and yard sales in Yakima. I love that they have yard sales on Fridays out there. We rarely have them on Fridays here. Another difference I noticed is that people have no qualms about selling their underwear at yard sales. UNDERWEAR! What the hell?  I'm not talking cute Victoria's Secret panties with the tags still on. No...I'm talking big used satiny white granny panties. And a few threadbare boxers thrown in for good measure.

Thankfully, I packed well and did not need to buy used panties for a quarter.  Here are the few things that I bought that were small enough to carry home:

Mary was nice enough to buy me the vintage red & white tablecloth at one of the antique stores, and I bought the green-handled melon baller, the pink/white tablecloth with matching napkins and the invalid feeder. Yes, that's the white ceramic thing. The small silver tray was an excellent yard sale find given to me by my sister-in-law, Sue, for display in Maeve's bedroom. It is hard to see, but it is engraved with the letter M.

We stopped by one of the shops where Mary and Jim sell their antiques. It is called Antiques, Etc. If you are ever in Yakima, you have to go there! The little cottage is PACKED with stuff. Five rooms on the main floor, the entire basement, the front porch, and the front and back yards. It is mostly antiques, but there are a few new country primitives things, too. They have every type of antique you can possibly think of...from outhouses to birdhouses. I only wish that I had a place like this to sell my stuff!

Take a look at those original built-in cabinets. Hey - that stack of picnic baskets looks awfully familiar!

Here is the owner, Marie (trying to hide from me):

 

Unfortunately, Antiques, Etc. does not have a website. If you ever get a chance to stop there, make sure you mention that you saw the store on my blog. Marie will get a kick out of it. But she might ask you to explain what a blog is. 

Weekly Recap

Here's a quick look at some of my finds for this week:

I bought the suitcase, white planter and the Pyrex dishes at my favorite thift store, Nana's Attic.  The green Haeger planter was from Powerhouse Antiques in Collegeville, PA. I love the bright green color. Powerhouse is one of those annoying antique malls that is only open on Sundays. The booth owners have to be present in order to sell their stuff. It seems like every time you pick up an item, the owner gives you a complete history of it and all its possible uses and then tells you that they can give you a great deal on it. It gets really old by the third booth.

I also found this at this pale pink wooden hat/band box with decals at Powerhouse. It is pretty big - 14" high by 15" in diameter.

My best find of the week (or maybe the year) is this old quilt. I nearly died when I saw the price was only four dollars! The woman at Nana's Attic said that she had just put it out a few minutes before I got there. The backing is a pretty aqua and white fabric and the binding is hand-sewn.

    

Antiquing in Lancaster County

My in-laws visited us from Yakima, Washington over the Thanksgiving holiday.  They are retired teachers and active antique dealers. Every time they visit, my mother-in-law, Mary, and I spend most of our time devising ways to sneak out of the house and visit the local antique shops, preferably without husbands and kids.  We negotiated a couple of deals. On the day before Thanksgiving, we all went to a huge antiques mall in Lancaster County called Cackleberry Farms. We brought the kids with us because the aisles are wide enough to push strollers around without bumping into anything.  It has over 80 dealers that sell everything you can imagine. On Sunday, Chris and his Dad went out to a bar to watch football. This, in turn, meant that Mary and I would be "allowed" to go out without the kids on Monday. Unfortunately, Monday is not a good day for antiquing. We did manage to find one store that was open: White Horse Mill Antiques in White Horse, PA (Lancaster County again). This is the middle of Amish country. We had to slow down at every turn to avoid the horse and buggies.  It took a while to find, but this store was worth the drive. This place was heaven to Mary...three creaky floors worth of wooden and tin primitives, pie safes and huge corner cupboards. Nearly everything was more than 75 years old (no Smurfs in sight).  This is the shop:

And these are the farmlands that surround the old mill: