freshvintage

Yakima Finds, Blue Satin Coats and Intercourse on a Pillow

If you will be in the Philadelphia area this weekend, be sure to visit the Fall Fling at Brandywine View Antiques on Sept 11th & 12th. Erin and I will be there with our tent, our vintage finds and maybe a few cocktails under our table skirts. We just heard that Chaddsford Winery will be there on Saturday with Sangria Slushies! Yum.

So, when I last wrote, I promised to show you what I bought in Yakima. I know...it's been a few weeks, and I am still talking about this trip!

I couldn't fit everything in our suitcases, so I had to leave a few items behind. My in-laws are the new owners of the big yellowware bowl that I found at the Clayson Farm sale. I just couldn't make it work.

It just wouldn't be right of me to keep the red cross fabric banner. It is going to Sue from Vintage Rescue Squad.

Here's my favorite find of the trip: a pillow embroidered with "Yakima". It flows much better than "Williamstown", the town I grew up in. And I guess it is better than "Intercourse" or "Blue Ball" (both in PA). Those might raise some eyebrows when the old lady next door comes over for tea.

By the way, I just spent entirely too much time on a website of t-shirts with funny town names.

A pottery floral frog, pink painted ice cream scoop, and a cast iron letter holder. I paid $8.25 for these three.

Have you ever seen a Tiny-Tot Furniture Puzzle, made from "The Famous Redwoods of California"?

It starts out like this:

When you take it apart...Voila! There are benches and chairs and tables and a little bed. So cute.

I found a few of these old school books from the 1890s that were carefully covered in fabric. They look much cuter than the brown paper supermarket bags that we used to cover our books with.

All of my little finds fit into a mini suitcase that I bought at an estate sale with my mother-in-law. The sale was inside a strip mall store with big front windows. We got there extra early to get numbers, so we were the first group to get into the sale. They only let about 20 people in at one time, so everyone else was staring through the window at us. Salivating. Those damn lazy people should've woken up earlier!

I shoved that little suitcase into Chris' luggage just before we left Yakima. I was hoping that he wouldn't notice that it was a tad heavier. He did.

At a different yard sale, my MIL scored these little spice drawers. It isn't in the best shape - one drawer was stripped of its paint.

But it was FOUR DOLLARS! Look at the patina:

My niece, Ally, is very proud of this find. I was yard-saling with my MIL and Sari (my SIL). We were doing a lot of drive-bys, since there were at least 50 yard sales in Yakima that day. We almost drove by this sale (too many clothes), when I yelled, "Stop!". I spotted the red lawn chair among the old lady pantsuits and popcorn poppers. We got out of the car and asked about the price of the chair.

"It is free. Just take it."  Music to our ears (but not so much my ears, since this chair would not fit in my suitcase). It has a missing bolt, and a couple of holes here and there, so the homeowner just wanted it gone. Sari is the proud owner of this chair now.

We just received a package in the mail today with one other item that we had to leave behind. Chris' parents were nice enough to send us this:

Chris' varsity jacket from West Valley High School, class of '91. When he first found it at their house, it was still in the dry-cleaning bag with a ticket dated 1992. It is almost 20 years old. Okay, not quite vintage, but close enough. I'm sure he will be wearing it to all of the neighborhood events from now on. It will be a nice replacement for the incredibly cheesy (and tight) satin Seattle Seahawks jacket that he occasionally wears as a gag.

My brother-in-law, Doug, found the jacket in a coat donation box at his work. He was donating his old coat to the needy, and spotted this Seahawks jacket already in the donation box. He knew Chris would love it, since he is from Washington, so he took it out of the box. Yeah - I know....who the hell would do that? But I think it was actually a charitable thing to do. Some poor man in Philadelphia would have ended up walking the streets with a satin Seahawks coat. He probably would have gotten the crap beat out of him.

Santa's Lemons, Horse People and Vintage Pennants

I am a few weeks behind in keeping you updated on my finds. But I am sure you don't mind. Cool junk is cool junk, no matter when I bought it.

The chippy gray & green cupboard in the middle of the photo above is made from an old fruit crate. Someone added a door and a bent nail that acts as a knob.

I brought it onto my deck to hose off the inside, and I saw a familiar face peeking out. The shelf on the inside of the cupboard must have been from a different fruit crate - one that held lemons. Why did the fruit company think that Santa would be the perfect person to advertise lemons? Don't quite understand that one.

This print is titled "The Fastest Stallions in the World". This should sell pretty quickly since there are a lot of horse people around these parts. I bought a horse print a few years ago and sold it in the blink of an eye. And by horse people, I don't mean half-horse, half-human. I mean people who like to ride horses.

I bought all of these vintage coloring books from Marjorie's sale that I mentioned in my last post.

This one had a ribbon closure and included paints and crayons (still intact):

They are all in this fancy suitcase called a "Trip-Taker":

The pennants in the suitcase will join the collection that I am taking to the shop to sell. Maybe I'll display them on a length of twine with some clothespins?

I have one pennant on display in our kitchen. I bought it a few years ago when we moved into this house. It is from 1915 and it celebrates the 65th anniversary of our neighboring town, Kennett Square, PA. It hangs next to my Amish bonnet and a photograph of the 1935 graduating class of the local high school.

And last but not least, I recently acquired a ten volume set of the "Sexual Education Series" by Dr. David Keller, copyright 1928. This series contains such classics as "The Sexual Life of Men and Women After Forty", "Sex and Society",  and "Sexual Diseases and Abnormalities of Adult Life". I can smell your jealousy.

These little red books contain enough fodder for ten blog posts. Here's a quote to get you started, from the book titled "Young Woman's Sexual Education":

At the parties and dances she should absolutely avoid any form of drink with alcohol in it. She should learn to say NO and mean it. Some young men consider it a good joke to go to a party and put liquor into the punch on the sly. The right kind of young girl will cut all such people from her society in the future. [...] An older man hearing of such things should quietly first talk the matter over in a quiet way with the boy or his father and if that did not stop the practice, then he should isolate his family from such practice just the same as he would if they had small pox.

Or maybe the older man should spike the punch with small pox, and then no one would have to worry about ever possibly having any fun.

Patriotic Pimps, Suave Amish Men and Dolls with Fetishes

Can you believe I found a vintage white felt hat with a grosgrain American flag ribbon? On July 3rd? For a buck! Crazy, huh?  My son wore it all weekend. My little patriotic pimp.

This is only half of the stuff that I found this weekend. I scored big at the yard sale of an antique dealer named Marjorie. She gave me permission to be an early bird on Saturday morning, after I emailed her on Friday and asked for a little more information about the "vintage items" that she mentioned in her craigslist yard sale ad. See...it NEVER hurts to email someone and ask for specifics. The least they can do is ignore your email. Or tell you to suck it.

Anyway, Marjorie sold me the hat, the quilt, the white bread box, three ironstone bowls and a few more things that will be in future posts.

She has these sales a couple times a year to purge all of the extra little things from auction box lots, and to get rid of the antiques that won't sell at her shop. She had a lot of quilt patterns, which she said would appeal to the Amish women that usually come to her sales. My ears perked up when she mentioned one Amish man that frequents her sales, whom she nicknamed the "Metrosexual Mennonite". She said "I swear he has his eyebrows done! They are always perfect."

Alas, I didn't stay long enough to see him. But in my mind, I imagined him showing up at Majorie's sale wearing a murse and holding a fresh-from-the-cow vanilla latte. And I bet the horses pulling his buggy have Aveda Texturizing Creme in their manes.

I should stop making those jokes. I don't want to beat a dead horse. Even if its hooves are beautifully manicured.

New topic. Isn't this metal box so perfectly chippy?!

It holds six metal spice tins, each stenciled with the name of the spice. Some of them even have their spices still in it. I love the green paint, but it would be worth much more if it wasn't painted on the outside.

And for my favorite find of the weekend: this medicine cabinet that I bought at a monthly flea market in the parking lot of an antiques mall. It has a big glass knob on the drawer and an old, mottled mirror. Just as I was paying for it, a BMW backed up into the bumper of a pickup truck that was parked nearby. The dealer yelled "That's my truck!" Yikes. Luckily, there wasn't any damage to her truck, so she didn't need to bump up the price of the cabinet to cover her increased insurance rates.

I bought all of the floral frogs from the same dealer for $3. The colored ones have a few chips, but they still look good.

This fancy gold-painted table set me back $15 at a yard sale:

I love the claw-and-ball feet and all of the fancy curves. I am not a fan of gold, so I am thinking about painting it ivory. Or a really glossy black. Or maybe a muted aqua? What do you think?

 

So, this doll. She is creepy in a cute way, right? But she is nothing compared to the dolls that freshvintage-reader Kelly found at a yard sale and shared on my Facebook fan page. THANKS SO MUCH FOR RUINING MY WEEKEND WITH THOSE FREAKY-ASS DOLLS, KEL!! For the love of God...if you plan on having sweet dreams tonight, don't click on this link.

UPDATE: If you can't see Kelly's photos, click on this link to my Facebook page.

I am wondering if my sweet armless, legless dolly is worth anything. Can any of you doll-lovers out there help me identify her? Here are her stats:

• Composition head (I think)
• No hair, but it looks like she had a wig at some point
• Green eyes that sleep
• No markings on back of head or anywhere else
• Body length: 11 inches (a toddler body?)
• Head circumference: 16.5 inches
• Voice box in the body that still works
• She had rubber arms and legs before they were gnawed off by a goat
• That last stat is just a hypothesis

Oh - and her mouth is open and the inside of it appears to be floating.  In fact, it looks like there is a red felt gag ball in her mouth. With teeth.

Is it weird for a doll to have a gag ball? I mean, I'm not judging or anything. Maybe she's just into that.

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I'm in 30 newspapers this week! I was interviewed by Marni Jameson for her syndicated column, At Home with Marni. The article is about decorating with your passions and features my apple crate labels (the same ones from Country Home). It appears in The San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post, New Orleans' Times-Picayune and The Hartford Courant, among many other papers. Thanks to Heidi for letting me know that it was published.

Here's the link to the article in the San Jose Mercury News.

Church, Clowns & Pigeons

Last Saturday, Chris, the kids and I went to a few local yard sales, a church flea market and two estate clean-out shops - all in northern Delaware.

Here is the church that had the sale (it was actually in the building across the street). This church was built in 1820 but it replaced a log church built around 1703. Pretty neat, huh? There's a Homegoods and a McDonald's only a quarter mile away, which totally adds to the historical ambiance.

Now that my family has recovered from the shock of seeing a photograph of a church on my blog, I will commence with the vintage finds...

I spent about $40 in total on Saturday - a tad more than I normally would have spent for all of this stuff, but I was itchy to buy after a long, snowy winter.

My husband specifically told me that I have to give him credit for finding this aluminum Holiday ice chest at the church sale. It even has the tray. On the left side of the open lid, you can see the outline of the beer opener that it came with. I'm sure we have one around the house to replace it.

Here is a close up of a pair of huge curtain panels that I found at a yard sale. They have a bark-cloth feel, but the back of the fabric looks like the plastic diaper covers that I used to wear as a baby. Weird, but it blocks the light and you can't even tell from the front. I might keep these to use in my guest room/office/studio.

I picked up this step stool at the same yard sale. I love that the top flips open to reveal the orange underside.

You can see in the second photo above that I bought a stack of old photos and ephemera. The photo album is filled with your run-of-the-mill family photos: people swimming in a lake, newborn babies, men with their dogs...

People dressed as clowns.

Ya know - the same totally normal stuff everyone finds in their family's albums.

And some lucky lad in the Bozo family had an extra special hobby.

He was a homing pigeon fancier. 

This book is filled with diplomas and certificates from homing pigeon races, run by the International Federation of American Homing Pigeon Fanciers.

You know that pigeon boy was getting laid left and right. He couldn't escape from the bird-loving throngs of she-clowns.

Enough said.

Typewriters, Racks and Rods

If you are a freshvintage fan on Facebook, you may have seen these photos when I posted them a few weeks ago:

These were taken at an estate sale in a nice neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware. And I use the word "estate" the same way you would refer to a hooker as a "lady of the evening".

I don't think anyone had lived there for at least 20 years. It was a sad story. Something about the elderly owner not being able to keep up with the housework (textbook definition of "understatement"). There was a 15-foot-long hole in the roof, for god's sake!

I somehow managed to find a few things that weren't covered in black mold or mouse poop. These typewriters don't work, but they were two bucks each.

This one is a Olivetti Underwood Lettera 32 from the mid-1960s...the SAME model that recently sold for $254,500! Maybe I should mention that that particular Lettera 32 was owned by author Cormac McCarthy. If mine was in good working condition and had the vinyl zipper case, it would probably be worth $75-$125 on eBay.

This rusty Underwood Leader Portable is from the 1950s. If you are looking for information about typewriters, you should check out the Typewriter Museum website. I found info on both of these typewriters there.

I also scored this spinning display rack. I don't know what it originally displayed, but it must have been some type of personalized novelty. Maybe license plates?

The bottom half of the three-feet-high rack has strips of paper that say "Reserved For" boys' names.  I assume that the top half was once reserved for girls' names. And I guess that whatever was sold on this rack was priced at 49 cents:

You can get an idea of its age by the names that are listed. Most of them are names that you would not find in the latest Social Security Administration's List of Top Ten Boys' Names. Dwight, Lyle, Wally, Virgil, Val...

 

...Rod, Rusty, Skip. I have a special attachment to the name Rod: it is my husband's go-to name whenever he feels like making shit up. Like, if my kids ask him, "Who are you meeting at the racetrack, Daddy?", his answer is invariably "Rod". Or, if one of my sisters calls when I am out at yard sales, he will simply say, "Colleen's not home. She's with Rod". There is no Rod. He doesn't know anyone named Rod.

And the name has been adopted by other family members during the past few years. When we went to Walt Disney World in December, our whole group of 19 went to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. This is one of those events where the host picks people out of the audience to participate in the show. Four people from our group, including me, were selected after we stood up and wildly flailed our arms. My brother-in-law Doug (from New Jersey) was also picked. We walked onto the stage with the huge crowd watching and we each had to say our name and hometown. When it was Doug's turn, he boomed into the mic:

"Hi, I'm Rod from Yakima, Washington".

I guess I should be happy that Rod is the family favorite. It could be worse.

Barn Sale Bounty

A few weeks ago, I went to the moving sale of a woman who used to have frequent antique sales on her property near Media, PA. As soon as I walked into her barn, I couldn't stop smiling. If I had a bigger SUV, I would have bought it all. Everything was just my style, and the prices just couldn't be beat. I am just sorry that she is leaving the business, or else I would continue to buy from her!

These were the first two things I fell in love with (and the only large pieces that would fit in my car) -  a waist-high wooden cubby shelf thingy and a tall flower display cart.

Can't you picture it on a street corner overflowing with colorful flowers? (I assume it was made for flowers or plants. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know.)

It has wooden wheels and six shelves, each smaller than the next. It is sitting on my front porch right now, but I plan to sell it at our next sale (which is yet to be determined).

I might add a beadboard back to the shabby aqua cubbies.

This sale didn't stop at the barn. Her garage and the first floor of her home were filled with the kind of vintage goodness that you typically read about on my blog. But cheaper and better than any yard sale I've ever been to.

This pink & white bedspread was three bucks. I found the piece of fabric at the bottom of a box of aprons that I bought. The colors are a little reminiscent of Cath Kidston, no?

I have enough antique lace and vintage trim to circle the globe twice.

Here's a box of colorful vintage embroidered trim. Three bucks.

... and a box of 130 assorted rhinestone buttons. Five bucks.

...and a box of 26 vintage aprons. Three bucks.

There were a few Christmas aprons in the mix:

And a few embroidered ones:

I couldn't resist buying a box of vintage baby clothes for two dollars. I am like a meth addict. I need to be on Celebrity Junk Rehab with Dr. Drew, where I talk about my tragic yard-sale-filled childhood and why I hoard  antiques in an effort to guarantee love and affection from my mother because she had five kids in five years and it is the only way to get her attention.

Or something like that. Anyway, here are some totally cute baby dresses and knitted sweaters:

All told, I paid about one hundred dollars for everything in this post, the bulk of which obviously went towards the big pieces.

BUT - finding all of this fabulous vintage stuff wasn't even the best part of the sale. I know....what the hell could possibly have been better than finding all of this cool stuff?

Well, when one of the lovely girls who was working there noticed that I was buying so much stuff, she asked me what I was going to do with it. I told her that I am a dealer, and I also write about my junk on my blog. I handed her my card.

She looked at it and said, "I think I've read your blog. Didn't you write about...". And then she pointed to her nether region. I knew immediately that she was referring to our most beloved family heirloom: my grandfather-in-law's Peter Heater. 

"Yes! That's me!"

I am officially famous now, and I have a crocheted cock sock to thank for it.

Jam, Eggs, Majorettes and Hillbillies

I am so far behind in sharing my finds. I've been rolling around in the $260 of virtual paypal money that I scored from those Batman Legos on eBay. It was less than my original estimate, but you will not hear me complaining. Instead of buying Finn a new set of (cheaper) Legos or a Nintendo DS game, we agreed that a subscription to the Lego Brickmasters club would be an excellent idea. For $39.99 plus shipping, he gets a new "exclusive" Lego set every two months for a year. Now we are all happy! (And a little richer.)

Anyway, here are some finds from a few weeks ago. My big bargain that day was the 4 antique yellow egg baskets that I practically stole for two dollars.

The little blue book is a reader called Terry and Billy. It has the sweetest illustrations in it - particularly of the furniture. I mean, c'mon...kids are cute, but black painted chairs and matching twin beds are waaaay cuter.

Here is one of a birthday party in the dining room:

And one of the children's bedroom:

This wooden shelf was a store display for M. Polaner Jellies & Preserves, which was just a small-ish family business before it was bought out by a big company in the 80s. What a cool way to show off a little collection.

I found another one of these orange McCoy pitchers. I already have the same exact one on a shelf in my kitchen (you can see it in one of the photos in this post). And this is my favorite: a jadite scalloped flower pot by Fire King.

It is filled with mini ornaments, with some shapes that I've never seen before.

Everything in the first photo is sitting atop this chippy white bench, which is now occupying my front porch.

If you have a wonderful mother-in-law like I do, then you would be used to receiving random packages of vintage goodies in the mail. Like a big envelope filled with vintage dress forms from the 1940s & 1950s. Including a majorette pattern.

I know...adorable!

 

I found this 1890 ironstone platter at a very scary garage sale for a buck. Picture the 175-year-old stone house from Marley & Me filled with hillbillies selling an inordinate amount of bedside commodes. Do you have that image in your head? Good. Now add a pit bull.

When I walked into the garage, I repeatedly looked behind me to make sure that no one was sneaking up with a sharpened hedge clipper.

P.S. The house used in Marley & Me is ten minutes from the scary yard sale house.

 

Click with the Crowd

Summer was a dud for me when it came to junking, but things are slowly starting to turn around.

I found these two pairs of vintage sunglasses at a yard sale in Brigantine, NJ (the beach town where my dad lives). I was shocked to find them. I never find cool vintage stuff at yard sales in Brigantine. They are  usually rife with pink and gray seashell-themed artwork from the eighties.

I never thought I'd find a fire company souvenir glass so appealing. The fact that I paid a quarter didn't hurt. It is a Hazel Atlas milk glass tumbler with an image of roses. It is from a local fire company in Media, PA.

Here's an aqua Whitman's tin with a quilted pattern. And a little rust, but I don't mind - Whitman's was a Philadelphia candy company that's been around since 1842 (before it was bought by Russell Stover).

This is a little handmade booklet about the size of an autograph book. "Memory Verses" is handwritten on the cover. The creator cut out verses and pasted them onto each page of the book. Many of the pictures feature children, which is why it caught my eye.

I bought two other advertising booklets at the same yard sale: Click with the Crowd and As One Girl to Another, both from the 1940s.

Any guess as to the topic covered in As One Girl to Another? 

If you guessed Aunt Flo, you are absolutely right! It is essentially one big ad for Kotex. My mom always referred to every brand of pad as Kotex, no matter what it said on the box.

When each of my three sisters and I first "got the pip", my mom read the Period. book with us. I remember being so afraid of her ginormous flapping sanitary napkins and accompanying elastic belt with the clips. I think she used that belt much longer than she needed to. Long after the invention of the sticky maxi-pad.

I'm sure she will contest that fact in the comments below, but don't believe her. She lies.

The other booklet, Click with the Crowd, sponsored by Mum deodorant, offers oh-so-helpful tips on making friends. Mostly by not stinking. And making sure your girdle is washed.

I scanned this invaluable six-page document into PDF format for you. Please - if you care about your daughters at all - share it with them as they return to school and endeavor to make new friends. It contains vital information, like "Use a deodorant between your toes and on sanitary napkins" [pg. 3] and "It's a good habit to shampoo your hair once every ten days" [pg. 2].

You can thank me later!

Fill It Up for Five Bucks

A few weeks ago, I visited a antiques sale inside a huge warehouse. On the first day of the sale, I bought the enormous 1906 Webster's Dictionary and a breadbox with a glass knob. I spotted a few other things I liked, but they were priced a little higher than I was willing to pay. 

I returned the next day and discovered that I could fill a big shopping bag with anything that would fit in it for five bucks. They were really trying to get rid of everything.

Guess what? Both of these fans fit into one bag! Or at least the nice woman running the sale said that we could pretend they did. We didn't actually try it. They were priced at $10 each the previous day (which is still a good deal). Everything else in this post fit into another bag. All told, I spent $15 for the breadbox and dictionary on the first day of the sale, and another $10 for two bags of stuff on the second day.

The back of the dictionary has a reference to all of the illustrations found throughout the book.

This long metal container once stored old maps or artwork. I threw this into my $5 bag.

The old photo and Amish bonnet went into my $5 bag as well.

These 8x10 band leader photos from Washington, D.C. went in there, too:

As did the postcard packs from San Francisco:

And the stack of Wee Wisdom and Jack & Jill magazines from the 1940's:

Some of my purchases have already been put to good use. The breadbox can now be found on my kitchen counter. It looks like someone sanded all of the paint off of it, so it is nice and shiny now. I love the way it blends in with our stainless steel appliances.

No, I'm not using it to hide wine. Just bread.

And the Amish bonnet is the newest addition to the dress-up box in the kid's play room.

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To my American readers, I hope you have an enjoyable Fourth of July weekend!  My mom has an extra-special Famous Friday post to celebrate the holiday.

Video Vintage Finds: Dress Patterns & A Pink Beer Cooler!

You have a choice this week: my vintage finds on video...

freshvintage: vintage finds 23 Jan 2009 from colleen allison on Vimeo.

Or my vintage finds in photos:

Nearly everything is from the same Villanova estate sale that Dona from Antekin wrote about on her blog a few days ago. I didn't get there until Saturday, when everything was 50% off.

The sewing patterns were for sale individually, but I got a great deal when I offered to take all 100+ of them for $15. (Actually, I only thought there were about 40 of them when I offered to take them all). I should make at least $100 when I sell these on eBay as one big lot.

Little girl patterns...

 

Maternity patterns...

The quilt was a thrift store find on the way home from the estate sale. I like the pattern and colors, even though the fabric is pretty worn in some spots. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the plaid blanket that was used instead of batting:

Here's an aqua & white checkered apron, pink plastic child hangers, Dolly Goes Round the World book, and brown pom-pom fringe...

The 1962 pink Coleman ice chest was the first thing I picked up at the estate sale. I arrived at the sale on the third day and the house was packed with people. When I saw the cooler, I asked the same questions I always ask myself: Why hasn't anyone bought this totally awesome pink cooler for five bucks? What the hell is wrong with it? Is it so hideously ugly that no one else even looked twice at it? Does it smell like dead bodies inside?

I found it in the garage with a big kerosene heater sitting on top of it. Maybe no one else noticed it. Maybe it is just my dumb luck.

I never thought I could say "I love you" to an ice chest. But I am saying it: I love you, pink ice chest. And I love the inner tray that your previous owner didn't lose or break. I love that I am having a Tupperware* party on Friday night with all of my neighborhood girlfriends, and you will keep all of our beer and white wine bottles nice and chilly.

 

*And when I say Tupperware party, I really mean a different type of home party that I can't really discuss on this blog for fear of getting five hundred more hate mails. We'll just leave it at that. Use your imagination.

Speaking of hate mail, check out my other blog, freshblogtips.com, where I have just revealed the subject of my email. It wasn't the Baby Jesus after all!