Thrift Haul: The Glass Menagerie

My booth is open beginning tomorrow, April 1st!! They called this morning telling me I could start a month early so come check out B12 @ Memory Lane Antiques on April's Fool's Day!

Most of this stuff will be for sale.

The theme today is glass. So much glass. I've already cracked one of them. So the fissures begin...Tennessee Williams would approve.

Yesterday I went to St. Thomas to pick up the lynchpin of my booth. It's a side table that fits the exact dimensions of my space, so it'll be perfect for displaying goods. Since I was going to be in town, I thought I'd make the most out of it, so I arranged for two more pick-ups off Kijiji and mapped out my route to three thrift stores. I also went to the post office there to ship an item I sold on Ebay. 

Kijiji

Vintage radio cabinet. Originally, I thought the cabinet was solid and the center medallion was inlay but knowing that it was probably a radio cabinet is fine too. Specificity is always good; storage is even better. One of the wheels is broken so I'm thinking about taking them all off. Also thinking about replacing the mesh with something else but I haven't figured it out yet.

A collection of Hemingway's books.

Half-moon wood table. This guy was great, when he asked me what my schedule was like, I told him I'd be in St. Thomas between 3-5, but he said he was working so he'd just leave the table on his front porch. I love that the honor system is still a thing in smaller towns.

Salvation Army

Today was 50% everything in the store. I'm usually never successful at Sally Ann but I couldn't have lucked out better.

Two rolls of Ralph Lauren wallpaper. Gorgeous print and color, don't know if I'll keep myself or sell these. Probably sell.

2 Wedgwood Greek glasses in Jeanette Blue. 

4 Atomic tumblers. They weren't together but I wanted to sell them as a set.

 However, now one of them is cracked so I'll have to find a replacement.

1960's chip and dip set. I see these everywhere but they were priced incredibly low so I couldn't pass on them. The gold leaf is still going strong.

Cute plastic turquoise measuring cups and a glass Pyrex measurement cup.

Tortoiseshell-like acrylic Avon comb with case.

2 mugs from The Treasure Chest, New Mexico. LOVE these. As you will get to know me, I love anything Southwest, anything desert. 

Striped apron. Possibly keep this.

Bibles for Missions

The St. Thomas BFM is HUGE. And it has sections that are almost set up like vendors in antique malls and they're certainly priced that way. 

3 pastel Cutler glasses (blue one is cracked, so I'm now using it as a pen holder on my desk)

Fl.128oz milk jug. 

Baret Ware tray in Nosegay. Made in England. 

Spice rack.

2 paintings of what look like amoeba, but done in the style of Munch meets midcentury modern. It's unfortunate that they're not signed. They've been mounted and framed in St. Thomas so I imagine the artist is local. Very tempted to keep these but they'd look great hanging in my space. TBD.

Goodwill

Wedgwood Greek bar set. One cocktail shaker and six glasses.

8 plaid highball glasses that I will be selling in groups of four. 

Come check out my booth!

- J

Thrift Haul: A Good Day at Goodwill

There's a Goodwill by my post office and bank, so whenever I'm nearby, I can't help but pop in. I had to go to the post office today because I sold some things on Ebay. Check out my store, new items added weekly!

Club Monaco silk and sequin blouse $35

Club Monaco splatter silk blouse $28

Wilfred Le Fou silk pajama blouse $35

And it was a good day at Goodwill. I found some things for myself, for my booth, and some I'm not sure about yet. Either way, I spent a total of $24. Not bad. Again, the cashier forgot to ring through an item. I have a lot of luck with this.

My favorite find of the day, a brand new vintage Oaxacan rug tapestry. I know that sounds like an oxymoron - brand new vintage - but I looked into the company; Oaxaca Loom Exports was a textile company based out of Bakersfield, CA from 1986-1999. This rug still has the tag attached. It's 100% cotton, attached to a birch sapling wood, and Made in Mexico. Amazingly thick and sturdy and soft. Don't know if I'll be selling this anytime soon.

I think Blixa likes it. (She looks so evil in this photo)

Some hand-painted decorative wood plates with floral motifs. Also a maybe. I personally quite like them but I just don't think they would sell very well. Maybe if I'm ever in a dearth of stock for the booth.

For myself: kitchen utensil holder and a handmade wooden spoon made in the USSR (actually, for hubby). I also got a paper towel rack that I'm gonna use for displaying cuffs and an octagonal mirror base for displaying jewelry in my booth. One of these things was not rung through.

Vintage Lubiana Kristall hand-painted teacup and saucer. Made in Italy. (UPDATE: I have a set of 4 now!)

4 polka dot highball glasses. Made in Brasil. Also don't know anything about these.

If anyone has any more info on vintage glassware, particularly the styles I bought, please let me know! Thanks!

- J

Easter Weekend Antiquing

SATURDAY

Memory Lane Antiques on Hyde Park will always be a special place to me because it was my first. A friend of mine in high school knew I had a penchant for costume jewelry, and at the time, she was the only one of us who had free reign of her parents' car (an 80s Oldsmobile station wagon with wood panelling, no less). She was always thrifting, always exploring, always showing up with jewelry and clothes that were better than ours.

Shortly before prom, she decided to share her secret with me, so she took me to a nondescript flat boxy white building that was unbeknownst to me, right around the corner from the house we had just moved into two months prior. The area was still in the nascent stages of development so the place stood out. The building was snow white and tiled like an igloo and it shared real estate with a patio furniture store and a fitness center; on the other side of the fence was a ramshackle Thrifty car rental/used car dealership; and it's parking lot was potholed and mostly gravel.

We sauntered in and proceeded to fog up glass display cases and fumble with old necklace stands. She walked away with a cherry red 3-strand tiered necklace and I with a new obsession.

To celebrate my new business dealings with them, I'll post the things I coveted and bought (both for me and for my booth) when I was there this past Saturday.

Loved these lynx and arctic fox skulls $68/head.

Old antique hooked rugs. I adored how colorful and muted they were at the same time $36

Always on the hunt for turquoise and sterling rings $35

A counterfeit Balenciaga City bag in seafoam green for $89. Such a big disappointment. One quick Google search and all the indicators of a fake bag unveiled themselves to me. There are so many of these on Ebay too, caveat emptor!

A very decently priced vintage mail sorter w/ free delivery in London. $225

And then there's the things I took away with me:

Old toolbox for $8 and one of the rugs for $18. It was half the price of the other one because the edges were frayed.

I went with this turquoise and sterling ring for $40. The woman at the store thought it was overpriced for the size (and she gave me a store discount because she felt bad for me) but the geometric style is more me and it's very rare finding rings that fit my (hairy) baby fingers. My middle finger is a 5 1/4 and I'd have to guess this ring is a 5 1/2 because once I got home and I wasn't all hot and sweaty from walking around, it no longer fit. I'll have to get it resized. 

SUNDAY

Today I also picked up this cute little turquoise dresser off Kijiji that I'll be putting up in my booth (#B12! May 1!) sometime soon.

It needs a bit of love but I think it'll look great after I clean it up a bit.

MONDAY

Today was chaos wrapped in a bow. I had too much caffeine the night before and was up until 7am, rolling around in bed, watching the darkness slowly dissipate. I finally fell asleep and was woken up by Blixa at 8:10. 

My Easter Monday haul:

Kijiji

Guy #1

Oscar de la Renta stainless steel jewelry tray with Lucite tortoiseshell handles and chromed caps. This will be going in the booth. It's listed on Ebay here and here, for US$69.99 and US$128, respectively. The tray has "Intrusion" stamped on the bottom so it must've been used as a perfume tray, especially since the bottle also has tortoiseshell on it.

Guy #2

Three small industrial metal boxes for $10 were brimming with nails, hooks, screws, and metal bits and bobs. I might keep the boxes, I might sell them. Either way, I needed hangers and S-hooks.

Talize

Talize had a storewide 50% sale today and it was hectic. I didn't stay long, there were way too many people. 

6 copper and brass teacups. No saucers, unfortunately.

Value Village

Value was probably my biggest success because not only did I have a 30% off coupon, but the cashier didn't ring in two of my items. Major score.

2 wool throw blankets on the left, one untagged, one tagged "Handwoven Cottage Craft Tweeds: Made in Canada New Brunswick." 2 scarves on the right; the top on a silk floral Liz Claiborne and the one on the bottom, a Lyle & Scott lambswool. 

This is the one she forgot to ring in, probably because I had so much wool.

A vintage roll top bread box that is still in really good condition. These sell incredibly well on Etsy and it's currently listed on Ebay here and here, for US$55 and US$79, respectively.

And the last thing she forgot to ring in, a classic Coach wristlet. I'll be listing this on Ebay in the beginning of April.

And that, my friends, is the end of a Christian holiday I do not celebrate. But, I do love the tasty chocolates it inspired, so I hope everyone had a Happy Mini Egg weekend!

- J