freshvintage

My attempt to squeeze some antiquing into our family trip

Here's some of the lovely junk that I picked up during my vacation in April. My in-laws met us in Savannah, and we all drove back to Pennsylvania in our minivan: four adults, two kids and lots of luggage. This did not stop us from filling any available space in the van on the way home from Georgia. The cubbies and the green cart (pictured below) were not purchased on the road trip. Those were found a few days later while we were antiquing at some local shops. But I was still on vacation, so I am counting those in my pile of "vacation finds". And I didn't even take pictures of the stuff that my antique-dealing in-laws bought. They had to ship a few boxes back to Yakima!

I love this metal No Parking sign - it was hung along the streets of D.C. during Johnson's Inauguration. My dad was involved in politics long ago, so I am always attracted to stuff like this. I found this at Keepsake Corner in Selma, NC. (Hi, Amy!)

At the same shop, I found a pair of Peters' red children's skis and poles from their Juvenile Ski Line. Skis are always a huge seller in the winter. My grandfather, dad, brother and nephew are named Peter. And I have a Peter Heater.

Would you like to touch my Pet Coolie...

sign? I said, "my Pet Coolie sign", you pervert.

Coolie fruit drinks were made by Pet Diary, and came in little cartons that were served in school cafeterias. We didn't have Pet Diary in NJ growing up. Did you ever drink a Coolie? Chris bought this enamel sign at Reid's Country Sampler in Selma, NC.

Cubbies! I have no idea what they were used for, but I think there used to be a door on the front.

This Golden Seal blanket still has its original $1.95 price tag. The colors are right up my alley.

My father-in-law, Jim, told me that this green cart was used on the Railway Express Agency.

 I immediately pictured some poor soul dragging it along railroad tracks across a barren stretch of land, a la O Brother Where Art Thou. But, of course, I was wrong. Railway Express Agency was the train version of FedEx. This cart was used to move freight & packages to the trains for delivery. It was not actually used on the tracks, dummy.

There's been a lot of hub-bub lately about finding vintage dressforms. Well, I found one, too! Meet Sally Stitch. I adopted her from the enormous Blue Crow Antique Mall along the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Sally sat snugly between the kids in the back row of our minivan during the last 5 hours of the trip home. They hate her.

I found this mantel shelf at Blue Crow, too. My father-in-law kept telling me not to buy it because "they are a dime a dozen". Maybe in Yakima, Jim, but not in PA! That long white thing beneath it is a painted safe deposit box with a key.

How about this porcelain shower head!? Have you ever seen one before? It looks like a giant cabinet knob with tiny holes. The milk glass jars came straight from Mary Kay Andrew's booth at Seaside Sisters. I'm trying to decide if I should keep them or sell. I love the blue lids and art deco style.

I love this basketball chalkboard by Korney Board Aids (I know - weird name). I found this in Selma, NC at His n' Hers Antiques.

I grew up with a dad who was obsessed with basketball. We went to Sixers games and we watched college basketball, especially the Big Five teams from Philly. My Dad still has the Villanova NCAA Championship game from 1985 that he videotaped while we were on vacation in Florida. We just wanted to go to the pool and meet boys, but he insisted that we watch this local team upset Georgetown.

My sister, Erin, and I played basketball in grade school and in high school. But, guess what? We went to different high schools, so we played against each other. It was a big family occasion when our teams duked it out. In one of our first games, Erin drove up for a shot. I immediately put my hands in front of her eyes and screamed into her face. She was way taller than me, so it was the only thing I could do to prevent her from scoring. And I didn't touch her, so it wasn't a foul. She missed the shot, and was furious. She got all pissy, and her coach took her out of the game. Woo-woo!! I loved watching her face turn the same color as her red hair. She one-upped me when she went on to play in college and was really good and won championships and whatnot.

But, sometimes when we are at yard sales together and we both see something good at the same time, I cover her eyes and yell into her face. Aw yeah...I still got it!

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Here's a list of the stores that we enjoyed on our trip. There were a few others that we visited, but they might have been too expensive for us, or just weren't our style.  And believe me, I wish there were many, many more on this list. But, as my husband had to constantly remind me, this was a family trip, not an antique-buying trip. Buzzkill.

Georgia

• Seaside Sisters, Tybee Island
• Wright Square Antique Mall, Savannah
• Paris Market & Brocante, Savannah (the only thing I bought was the metal number 4 in the top photo, but I LOVED this place.)

Selma, North Carolina (all within two blocks)

• His n' Hers Antiques
• Reid's Country Sampler
• Keepsake Corner

Virginia's Eastern Shore

• Antique Addicts, Exmore
• Blue Crow Antique Mall, Keller

Oscar, Wackers & My Ballsy Uncle

My vintage finds have been selling like hotcakes lately. Yay! But Lisa at Brandywine View Antiques is constantly bitching that I don't have enough stuff in the shop, so I went out to my local haunts and managed to find some more stock to keep the masses (and Lisa) happy.

The Good Form office chair probably had its upholstery changed at one point in its life. I have a similar chair in my office/guest room/studio, but mine is aqua. This type of chair sells pretty quickly at the shop, so I always pick them up when I see them. (And once, I literally picked one up and dropped it on my foot. That sucked).

So, this trash can. I implore you to find a cuter one. It's dirty. It's bordering on rusty. For christsake...it's a TRASH CAN! But it is aqua and white, so I love it. Oscar the Shabby Chic Grouch would kill to live here.

This McCoy white matte vase is staying in my collection. I already brought the Brownie Junior camera to the shop.

Chris laughed at me when I bought this paint-by-number. I like the orange and gray tones. For three bucks, I don't mind being mocked.

The redwork tea towel is embroidered with cocktail motif. Well, I suppose it could be iced tea, but I prefer to imagine that it is a pitcher of John Daly cocktails.

These tiny strawberry and floral wallpaper borders originally sold for a quarter each:

This apron was most likely worn by a newspaper vendor on the street. The Philadelphia Bulletin was in circulation from 1847 to 1982. My fondest memory of the Bulletin was when my Uncle Bill (RIP) landed on the front page in 1981 when he sued Major League Baseball because the league went on strike. He filed a class action lawsuit in a U.S. District Court on behalf of all fans against the MLB owners because Americans were being deprived of their favorite pasttime. He was a bus driver from Southwest Philly who loved baseball and was just plain pissed off. The strike ended a few weeks later, so is case didn't go anywhere. God, that man had balls.

These wooden boxes were purchased for no other reason than they had the word "wacker" on them. They are from Wacker Brewing Company in Lancaster, PA, which was in business between 1859 and 1956. God knows I wouldn't have bought them if they said "Smith Brewing Company". Bo-ring.

I brought these three boxes to the shop last week, and they were gone within a day. I found out that they sold when I received a text that said, "Your Lancaster boxes just wacked off"! Music to my ears. Luckily, I have a few more of these boxes in my garage, desperately waiting to be wacked off.

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.

Fresh from the Fall Fling

Here we are at the Brandywine View Antiques Fall Fling. Erin and I unexpectedly wore semi-matching aprons. I had the same apron at Clayson Farm sale, and Isabel told me that it was a Portuguese design. She is from Portugal, so she would know. By the way, I wore the same skirt, necklace and shirt to the Clayson sale, too. I do own other clothing, in case you were wondering.

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day. Sunday...not so much.  But beggars can't be choosers. We had a fun time and met lots of fun customers. Some of them even tried our favorite new drink, the Creamsicle -  Whipped Vodka with orange juice. Try it and let me know what you think. But don't blame me if you find yourself in rehab in a few weeks.

My creepy armless, legless doll in a high chair got a lot of attention. I can't imagine why.

This produce scale was made in the early 1900s by the Jacobs Brothers of NYC. Wouldn't it look cute in the corner of a kitchen?

Straight from the farm...

I set up three tables in the back of the tent, in an effort to clean out some of the older stuff that has been lingering in my garage. I stamped some vintage "Anniversary Sale" signs with the prices, and posted one on each table. It is something that I would definitely do again. Here's the one dollar table:

The five dollar table (the most popular):

And the ten dollar table:

Floral frogs:

Erin could have sold her farm table five times over. But she was just happy that it is out of her garage (and so is Doug).

Here's Erin with her Mrs. Smith's Pies sign that she bought at a yard sale. Yes, that Mrs. Smith's. The company was started in nearby Pottstown, PA in 1925. Needless to say - that sold pretty quickly.

Here is another one of my finds from Yakima (that my in-laws had to mail to me because I didn't have room in our suitcases).  It is a lollipop box from the 1950's.  I haven't seen one of these in probably 30 years. Last week, I saw one at a thrift store near me. And today, I just saw one Fiona and Twig's latest blog post. Weird.

It is one of those items that I didn't put a price on, because I really want to keep it for myself. But if someone offered $100, I just might change my mind. Here it is opened:

Wouldn't this be a great tin to display at Christmas time?

These two wine decanters were a big hit.

OK...maybe they aren't actually wine decanters. But if you come to my house, you just might find yourself pouring chardonnay from one of them. Yes, white wine would look so very appetizing in these his and her medical urinals.

My Day of White & Gray

I bet you are shocked to see all of these muted colors on my blog. It is certainly rare for me to NOT buy something green. Let alone stuff that is only white and gray. It is very Curious Sofa of me, isn't it?

I bought all of these on the same day a few weeks ago for a total of $30: white painted cubby box, Atlantic City yearbook from 1943, big ice chest, chippy frame, white footstool, white Polaroid...

...And the ivory and gray Adler Typewriter. This one was made in Germany in 1959. I love that the company also made motorcycles. Like, duh. They are so similar to typewriters.

The 1960's white Polaroid is called "The Swinger".  Awww yeah...

I thought the instruction booklet would offer tips on taking photos during an orgy, but I was disappointed.

Alas, I did find the original commercial for The Swinger. Guess what is in the commercial? A bunch of swingers romping on the beach!

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I stopped by Brandywine View Antiques after work to add a few things to our space and take some pictures. My mannequin is all prettied up with her summer dress. She's been wearing an apron for the past few months, so it is about time that she covered up that bare chest. What a ho.

I will be away for a few weeks in Yakima, so the space is packed with lots of good stuff.

The shop owner, Lisa, graciously let us use these two huge nest boxes stacked on top of each other to display some of our antiques. Doesn't it look cute?

By the way, if you are in the Philadelphia area on September 11 & 12, be sure to visit the shop for the Fall Fling Tent Sale. You can find more information on the new & improved Brandywine View Antiques website & blog. (And we now have a Facebook page. Please become a fan!) My sister Erin and I will be there both days, selling all of our fabulous finds. We sold at the Fall Fling last year, and it was a fun time. We were smart enough to buy a tent this year, so a little rain will not stop us.

We will have wine and vintage sex books, if that is any incentive. And we are ready to swing!

(Not really. I'm just trying to be funny.)

American Primitives Antiques Show at Clayson Farm

After seven years of listening to my in-laws talk about the Clayson Farms Antique Show, I finally get to join them there! I can safely say good-bye to the jealous pangs that I get every August.

The Clayson Farms Antique Show is on August 14th from 9am to 4pm in Yakima, WA. Are you going?? You totally should.

I've seen photos of past shows, and it looks like the vendors (including my in-laws) have all of my favorite styles of antiques: chippy, industrial, primitive, country, vintage, cottage, Americana.

Here's a peek into my in-laws' booth from last year:

(How freakin' cute is that miniature green & red porch swing on the left side of the photo?!)

 
AND, if you live on the other side of the mountains (Snohomish, Everett, Seattle, etc.) and you don't feel like driving all the way to Yakima, then you really should just take the bus. The Come Junk With Us bus! I kind of wish that I could take the bus to the sale, but it would be a little out of my way. Right now, they are offering a two-for-one sale: when you buy your ticket, a friend can ride for free.

I think it is a great deal - you can chill out on the bus, chat with new friends, have someone else pack your vintage finds into the bus, eat a delicious lunch and then take a little nap on the way home. You certainly couldn't nap if you drove yourself home. That would just be stupid.

Your ticket also includes a fabulous swag bag and door prizes on the bus. One of those prizes is from my very own library of vintage books. Hmmmm....I wonder what it will be??

Here are some of the other vendors who will be selling at Clayson Farm. I know that most of my readers won't make it to the show, but I am sure you will enjoy visiting their blogs & websites.

• Kim from Flutterby 
• Joy from Antie Joy
• Sue from Bella Shabby
• Janet Sears with the Second Saturdayz market
• Julie from  Kindred Roses
• Lisa  from The Country Chicken
• Karen from Purple Cow Antiques
• Pam from Bugaboo Vintage Design

Please leave a comment if you are planning to go to the show. I'm not sure where Jim & Mary's (my in-laws) spaces are yet, but hopefully you can find us. And one more thing...my husband and brother-in-law kindly ask that you please buy everything in the booth so that they don't have to carry anything back to the truck. Thank you very much.

Antiquing Orgy, Part II: The Mother Lode

I'm sure you've already read Part I, Photos from the Trenches. Without further ado, here is everything I bought during my three-day Antiquing Orgy in Kutztown and Adamstown, PA with Nannygoat Allison, Vintage Rescue Squad Sue, Sue's sister, Michelle, and her husband, John, and my sister Erin. 

I surprised myself a few times as I was digging stuff out of my garage to take these photos. "Oooooo. I totally forgot about that!" Which usually means that I bought waaaay too much.

Two pantry jars and a small Eskimo fan:

Quilted pillow and an aqua Dominion fan:

This old berry crate has two shelves that hold eight pints on each.

How about this big factory bin from the Hershey Baking Company? It would be perfect for holding blankets or firewood. If you buy it from me, you can tell all of your friends that it once held enormous pieces of chocolate or caramel or something. But you would be lying, because J.S. Hershey Baking Company was actually a bread bakery founded in 1889 in York, PA. Not the chocolate company. But we'll keep that our little secret.

Sue and I both snagged a pair of these timecard holders. They originally hung in a sewing factory. Another vintage blogger named Tamarah just wrote about buying timecard holders at a sale in her home country of Australia. Just proves that it doesn't matter what continent you live on - good junk is good junk.

And don't let me forget that pull-down school map (above). That's the third one that I've bought in the past month. Someone stop me.

Green Clover toy truck and turquoise metal tool drawers.

I know - the truck is a little shabby. But the pink front seat sucked me in.

A light green-painted box that someone stored house numbers in:

Here's my factory rack that I showed you on my freshvintage Facebook page. I'm still not sure what it was used for. The seller said shoes, but I'm not so sure. Any ideas?

It has stenciled numbers down both sides. There's my industrial stool in the background (also from the sewing factory).

After I took the photos of everything I bought, I realized that I forgot my typewriter and this aqua wicker table.

And then I stupidly forgot this table, too. It was handpainted by a local Chester County, PA artist. He magically makes it look like it was painted 100 years ago.

It looks nice in my family room, so I might keep it.

Wait! One more thing! In the very first photo, you can see part of my collection of salmon-colored mixing bowls by Watt in the Loops pattern. I bought the tiniest one at Shupp's Grove last week (mold #4). I only need one more piece to complete my collection: the mold #7 bowl (it would fit right in the middle of that photo). I have eight pieces now: bowls, lidded casserole dishes and a pie plate. You can find out who bought me my first Watt bowl in this post. (You also need to read about the flashcards in that post. I still laugh every time I see them).

That's everything! I think. I will probably remember something else that I bought after I publish this post.

UPDATE: Read Part III, where I share stories of friendship, fun and fights to the death.

Antiquing Orgy, Part I: Photos from the Trenches

I am still rounding up the photos of my finds from my three-day antiquing orgy (that damn Sue already beat me to it). In the mean time, here are some shots from the trenches...

What a cute and cuddly squeaky-toy doll! She has those little t-rex arms, just like Giada De Laurentis.

The night I saw this, I had a few more nightmares than usual.

And wait - can you believe it? I'm not the only freak who would buy doll parts!

We stepped back in time with this Fisher Price toy display at Renninger's in Kutztown. How many of those toys did you have?

Here's Allison from Nannygoat Antiques, ready to leave Shupp's Grove and move on to the flea market outside of Adams Antiques:

And when we arrived at Adams Antiques, poor Allison tripped over a curb and her flip flop broke. She didn't have any extra shoes (and why the hell would she?). A nice antique dealer selling at the flea market in the parking lot busted out his electrical tape and wrapped it around her foot and flip-flop. AND, he let her keep the roll of tape. THAT is service!

Sue and her sister Michelle, showing off their finds:

Me & Sue:

Michelle's husband, John, rounding up the troops with his vintage helmet.

A game of Barney Miller anyone?

Wheelin' and dealin' Sue:

I think we were totally posing for this "impromptu" photo that my sister, Erin, took. I can tell by the stupid grin on my face.

How awesome is this sign? My friend Mike from Royal Port Antiques in Salem, NJ  sold this at Renninger's in Kutztown. It is going into someone's house! I would love to peek into the windows and see what other cool stuff those homeowners are displaying.

OF COURSE I had to take a photo of a sign that says "Great Rack":

This is a new blogger that we met. She was busy getting a perm when we met her, so she didn't have time to take pictures and share stories and show us her flea market finds. Frankly, she was a little standoffish.

Want to know what I bought? Read Antiquing Orgy, Part II: The Mother Lode.

freshvintage at Brandywine View Antiques

Guess what? You now find freshvintage at Brandywine View Antiques in Chadds Ford, PA!

We are upstairs in this little room right here:

Do you remember when my sister, Erin, and I sold our fine junk at the Fall Fling at Brandywine View in September? Well, now we have our own space on the second floor of this big, beautiful antiques store.

Here's my silly little sister showing off our empty space BEFORE:

And here it is AFTER:

We just moved in last week, and I already had to restock once. Yay!

That's just our corner of the store...there is so much more to see. You'll find three floors packed to the gills with antiques for every decorating style. And then there is the enormous porch that wraps around the whole shop:

Erin and I don't have to work at the store, but we will be stopping by every so often to say hi to our peeps. We might even be planning a little event to celebrate. You can bet that there will be some sort of wine involved. And cheese. Or maybe just wine. Sign up for our mailing list (on the freshvintagestyle.com homepage) to see when this is all going on. I've only sent two newsletters in the past three years, so you don't need to be worried about spam from me.

As I mentioned in this post, there are so many things to do and places to see in the Brandywine Valley. It makes for a great day trip, especially with the kids.  

PLEASE let me know if you stopped by the store - I would love to know what you think!

Brandywine View Antiques
1301 Brintons Bridge Road & Baltimore Pike (Rt 1)
Chadds Ford, PA 19317 

(Next to The Gables Restaurant)
Here's a map

Hours
Friday through Sunday: 10am to 5:30pm
Thursday & Monday: 10 am to 5pm

Lisa Vonderstuck, Proprietor
610-388-6060

DTs, Restaurant Ware and The Music Man

I was suffering from the delirium tremens for the past few weeks. It had been almost two months since I'd hit a yard sale or thrift store or flea market. That is too much for any human to endure.

Last weekend, I finally found some relief. I visited a couple of shops in Delaware that are filled with junk from estate clean-outs.

Isn't this green child's chair cute? It is great for kids who are too old for high-chairs and too small to sit in a regular chair. And it perfectly matches the green enamel colander that I bought at the same store.

I bought a set of 4 restaurant ware mugs.

These were made by Victor Insulator Co. in Victor, NY. The company made electrical insulators, but decided in the 1940s to manufacture heavy-duty coffee mugs. The mugs were initially used on Naval ships because they were sturdy and wouldn't fall over easily. Eventually, Victor started selling the mugs to restaurants.

They are all stamped with "Victor" on the bottom:

Here's a blue & white striped tea towel with its paper "Soviet Union" label still intact.

The 90-year-old hardware store down the street recently went out of business. I don't know why they were selling this old hat, but I couldn't pass it up for a buck. Every time I put it on my head, I can't help but belt out, "You've got trouble! Right here in River City! That's Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool"! (From one of my favorite musicals that my mom would force us to watch: The Music Man. Watch the song now.)

I found this sign there, too. It was considerably more than a buck, but I didn't care. It might have been posted on the outskirts of town to let people know that they were entering this little mushroom-growing mecca. Or maybe it hung on the tiny train station that is no longer in use. Either way, I feel like I have a piece of history hanging on my kitchen wall.

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Did you enter the Lisa Leonard jewelry giveaway on my other blog, freshblogtips? There really aren't a whole lot of entries, so you should get over there and leave a comment. Now!