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.

Friday, November 5, 2010

We Suggest Kellogg's Cereals

Today I am joining Laurie @ A Conversation at Goodwill for "A Few of My Favorite Things Saturday",
and Sue @ It's A Very Cherry World for Rednesday.

This is one of my favorite things. It hangs in our kitchen and is supposed to hold spices, but usually also holds toys, keys, papers, aluminum foil balls - you know, the important stuff. My father gave it to my mother over 30 years ago. Can you tell what it was originally?

It's made out of sheet metal, and has raised lettering at the top. We've never seen another one like it, and can find no information about it, but we think it dates back to the thirties or forties. It was a display shelf for individual boxes of Kellogg's cereals in a restaurant. My father says it was hanging in his garage when he was a boy. His father used it to store cans of oil.

By 1977, when Dad asked Grandpa if he could have it, it was in sad shape. All those years of spilled oil had destroyed the original paint, but the metal was solid. There were little vertical strips of chrome at the top and bottom, but they were too far gone to be saved. So he stripped it down to the metal and duplicated the original paint job.

We thought it would be fun to fill the shelves with boxes of cereal, but they don't fit. Apparently the original boxes were a bit shorter.

12 comments:

  1. Oh what a treasure this is! I love it, and I love that it has been in your family for so long. This is my first visit to your blog, and I love the story of your blog name. Too cute! Thank you so much for linking this wonderful shelf to Favorite Things Sat. laurie

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  2. Good Morning Betty! I love this piece!!! I would use it as a spice rack as well, perfect size! Tell your dad it looks wonderful!

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  3. That is an adorable piece! How cool!
    Blessings, Beth

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  4. What a nice keepsake and treasure you have there.

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  5. oh wow, there's nothing like that deep red on metal... he did a great job refinishing it! very cool.

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  6. That is quite a prize!Simply love it.The graphics, the metal...sigh.Enjoy and thanks for sharing.

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  7. Wow!! a museum piece. Just gorgeous, great painting job.

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  8. love your blog! just found it today..i also found your Kelloggs display shelf but theirs isnt nice as yours. scroll down under the first kelloggs sign and see them. several shown.
    http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/kelloggs-cereal-display-rack-sign-from-restaurant

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  9. You lucky! That's so wonderful, so much fun!

    Happy belated Rednesday,
    Sally

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  10. Thank you for all your comments. And a special thank you to RobinDoreen for that link. I was able to find out lots of interesting info about the shelf.

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  11. I saw one of these for sale this weekend at a local swap meet. I really wanted to buy it but the $400 price tag was a bit much for me (though I am sure it was worth it). You can see it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23563103@N05/5748943927/in/photostream

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    Replies
    1. I just listed one today on KSL for 250.00. I'm sure we are in the same area as we never miss that car show.

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