Why 'My Mink Betty'?

Why 'My Mink Betty'?
I'm not your common, everyday twenty-something year old and when I graduated from High School I got an equally uncommon gift. My parents found for me a beautiful 1940's mink stole at a garage sale. It had belonged to the woman's Great Aunt Betty who had married late in life to a man with money and had only allowed him to buy her this one luxury. The unusually styled stole has the name, Betty L. Jones, embroidered in the satin lining so that's what I call her. They never had children of their own and the mink was passed to Aunt Betty's niece and on to her daughter. Until it got to me, no one since Aunt Betty had worn it. Now Betty the mink and I go to the theater together on special occasions and I hope that someday I can take her to the Symphony or the Ballet. Although Betty hadn't been worn or loved for many years she was waiting for someone to love her again as are most other things I look for when thrifting.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Adventures of Scorpion Girl and Lizard Lady

Most Estate Sales do half price on Sunday when I'm usually at church so I don't often make it. You're not supposed to skip church for garage sales even if you went to another church's rummage sale the day before. That doesn't count. I know 'cause I looked it up.

We usually go Garage Sailing one day a weekend and this last weekend we went out Friday. We did really well so Mom didn't want to go out on Saturday. I couldn't resist checking Craigslist anyway. I found a listing for an Estate Sale advertising $5.00 a bag on Saturday. I immediately ran to my mother's room and threw open the door:

Me: MOM!
Mom: Whaaat? I'm asleep. (groggily)
Me: There's an Estate Sale for you.
Mom: I'm not up. I'm asleep.
Me: It's half price.
Mom: I don't care. I'm asleep. We went yesterday. I'm out of money.
Me: $5.00 a bag after 2:00. We can find $5.00 somewhere can't we?
Mom: Crap. Now I have to get up.

So we went out to this estate sale in the country (well... there were cows) and not only was it $5.00 a bag it was $10.00 a box and furniture was $1.00. They had tables and tables of glassware and pottery. I immediately grabbed the biggest box I could find and started filling it.

The owner of the estate had apparently been some kind of dealer and had left behind boxes of things that hadn't sold. I don't know that what we got was terribly valuable but it was certainly fun to fill the box and worth $10.00.


This is the entire contents of the box. My mad packing skills came in very handy for this. I don't even know how I got it all in there.

These are the things I find most fun:


Blue spice canisters, a box of Wahoo Bark, and a bottle of Sozodont. Sozodont was an early oral hygiene product. It was invented in 1859 and was popular before dentists started to realize that it was too alkaline and was actually destroying teeth.



This little lady is a bookend made by Ucagco in Japan. I know nothing else about her except that she is adorable.


The plate and the pink coaster are for our little corner of Hawaii. Which will soon be guarded by Scorpion Girl and Lizard Lady! Look for their new movie coming in Spring 2011: "The Adventures of Scorpion Girl and Lizard Lady in the Country! (Well... there were cows.)"


Pretty pink and aqua Melmac dinnerware and a Fostoria brand plastic gravy boat. Not the same company as the glass works as far as I know.


This little West Bend canister is similar to a four piece set that I couldn't afford a few days ago. I love how cute and pink it is and the tea canisters are always my favorites; they're just the right size.


We aren't sure what the dish with the grapes is but we like it. The funky looking brown planter is probably the ugliest piece of McCoy ever made, but it IS McCoy.

Here's the pretty glassware. The teacup and the plate underneath it are a lovely daffodil yellow. That shade is hard to find.

We just couldn't turn down furniture for $1.00. We bought a dining table and two coffee tables.
All of them are in Mid-Century Modern style.

The dining table has a formica top, cool wrought iron legs and gold tone accents. My mother says her parents had one similar to it when she was growing up. It's probably in the laundry room at Gramma's today.

Note to self: Snoop in Gramma's laundry room.


Aren't the lines in this table just great? We love it. The other was different but disappeared to my brother's house before I could take a picture.

While we were waiting for my father to come for the furniture, the people running the sale kept trying to give us things as it was all going to Goodwill anyway. We also came home with a big box of kitchen utensils, knives, and a knife block for my brother and these:


Can you hear the angelic choir? It's the Brave Little Toaster (chrome and bakelite) AND an orange vinyl ice bucket! We still haven't tested the toaster but I don't care. Yes, I DO like the most random things.

As we were driving home from the sale I noticed that my mother was unusually quiet.

Me: So are you glad you got out of bed for this?
Mom: nothing
Me: Mom? Mom?
Mom: I'm asleep.

THE END


I'm linking this post to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charms
Thrifty Treasures @ Southern Hospitality
Garage Salen Party @ Debbiedoos

10 comments:

  1. I love all that you found! What is your plan for the blue spice canisters! They are lovely!

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  2. What a boatload of treasures...thanks for sharing them at my NIFTY THRIFTY TUESDAYS Party!

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  3. That table for a dollar! I am so drooling. What a find!

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  4. @Amy: Thanks! I have no plans for the spice canisters actually, I was intending to give them to someone who would like them or put them on etsy for $1.00. Would you like to propose a trade? :]

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  5. Love the conversation between you and your mom.

    Just wanted to let you know that I gave you the Versatile Blogger Award. Check it out here...

    http://craftopotamus.blogspot.com/2010/08/versatile-blogger-award.html

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  6. SO VERY JEALOUS!!! I've never been to a sale that would let you fill up a box for a set amount, you got some great stuff!!! I answered your pyrex question over at the Pyrex Collective post :-)

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  7. So. Cool. I can't believe you got that all in one box either!

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  8. OOOOhhh and ahhhhhh.....is all I can say to all this. I get so much pleasure from seeing a table of displays like this. Thanks so much for joining in.....looks like a great week. I love it all. Enjoy!~Debbie

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  9. Wow! That sounds like a very fun sale! I would have been so excited. I have never heard of a $5.00 or $10.00 sale and furniture for $1.00 either. Loved your commentary too! Very enjoyable!

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  10. oh how i love bag sales! looks like you found some amazing things! love that little lady bookend.

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