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.

Showing posts with label butterfly gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label butterfly gold. Show all posts

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Estate Sale Finds

I haven't been to many sales lately, but the Saturday before Christmas I went to three estate sales, so I have a few things I've been waiting to share.

I went to the first sale because they posted pictures online and I spied a gooseberry pink Pyrex casserole, and a 7 ft aluminum Christmas tree. I figured I'd never get the tree, but this was a chance to see one up close. It did not disappoint. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I'm sorry I didn't take a picture. The lady running the sale said it was the first item sold and it went for $135.00. I didn't get the Pyrex either. It didn't look like I was going to find much of anything until I saw this 78 record.

You see, back in November, Sherrie at A Conversation at Goodwill had a giveaway and one of the things she gave away was this piece of vintage sheet music from the forties.

I had looked up the lyrics online, and they are so bizarrely offensive to big women, it's amazing they got away with singing it. They'd never get away with anything like it today. So of course, when I saw the record, I had to buy it. I also got a pair of cake cooling racks and a blue glass canning jar.

At the 2nd sale, I found a cake decorating booklet, and this basket; 30c each.

This is what's stamped on the bottom.

233N is a 3 Qt rectangular baking dish.

(picture courtesy of ebay)
It's a bit shorter than my Butterfly Gold lasagna pan, but because the wicker is somewhat flexible, it works with the lasagna pan.

At the last sale, I found these ice cube trays

for my vintage refrigerator,

and this cool Pyrex carafe (that I showed you last week). Too bad it's lid is missing.

And I found

the reamer and juice bowl

for my Sunbeam mixmaster. Now I can make lemonade.

Then I was very excited to see this box.

And when I looked inside, I found

the meat grinder and food chopper attachment as well as

the power transfer unit that is sold separately. The power transfer unit hooks in where the beater goes and then the grinder attaches to it. Both are needed for it to work, so I was really happy to see it. I paid $10 for both of them. After I got it home, I discovered that there is a left-handed wing nut missing. It's not needed to grind meat, though, and that's what I wanted the grinder for. My Dad thinks he can find a nut that will work.

I also discovered that the black thing stuck in the tube of the grinder did not belong to it.

It was a corked lid to something. You don't suppose it might belong to the Pyrex carafe do you?

Why, yes it does! Imagine that.

They also had two sets of Sunbeam mixmaster beaters for $2.00 each, but they didn't match my mixer, so I didn't buy them. I regret that now. I have since seen two vintage mixmasters at Goodwill priced really low because they were missing their bowls and beaters. New beaters are available online, but they cost at least $15. So from now on, I'll buy Sunbeam beaters when I can get them cheap.

The only thing they didn't have at that sale was a Sunbeam mixmaster.
They had a Hamilton Beach one.

I also found two boxes of magicubes which I hope fit my thrifted Polaroid, and
a 1960 S&H Green Stamps "Distinguished Merchandise Ideabook,"

otherwise known as a catalog. I'll show scans of the inside in a later post.

Until then, here's a peek at how they displayed the linens.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.


This 1.5 Qt bowl didn't come from a sale but from a trip to the bins a few days later. It cost 75c and I bought it so that I could have two sets of bowls for my mixmaster. I can now mix frosting in multiple colors effectively and decorate cakes more efficiently.

Looking back at what I bought, most of it goes with something previously thrifted. I found parts for my mixmaster, a carrier for my Pyrex, a cake decorating book for my cake plate, ice cube trays for my fridge, etc. Funny how that works, isn't it?

I am linking this post to:
Thrifty Thursdays @ Bloggeritaville
Junkin' Finds Friday @ A La Carte

Come join the parties

Monday, October 11, 2010

Thrifty Finds & Vintage Recipes

Sometimes I find just WHAT I was looking for, but not WHERE I was looking.

I was out running errands the other day and Mom called to tell me about a great sounding estate sale she found on Craigslist, so I hustled on over and found...
nothing I wanted.

But as I was driving away, I passed a yard sale, and thought, "Why not. I'm already here." And boy, am I glad I stopped.



Pretty, pretty, Pyrex. The large Pink Gooseberry 404 Cinderella bowl, a 401 Scroll bowl, and

TWO of the Spring Blossom Cinderella bowls (441,442). All on my wish list. All for $12.00. They have some scratches, but are still shiny. The seller also gave me a Butterfly Gold butter dish for free.

A few days later, Mom and I went to an estate sale and bought...

an unopened can of baking powder and
a half a bottle of 409 cleaner (to test for bakelite).
Whoopee! (not)

But once again, as we were driving home, we stumbled upon another estate sale.
This is what we got:


I had been looking for a cake pedestal and dome for months. The only place I could find one was at the antique malls, and they wanted at least $28 - too pricey for me. This dome is not quite as big as the pedestal, but for $5, I'm very happy.

We also got: a pressed wooden cheese plate that can also be used with the dome, a little pink pitcher to hold toothbrushes in the bathroom, a little blue stool, 2 small shelves (not shown), a ricer, a salt & pepper set, a Campbell's soup spoon, two wooden pestles, and some free vintage magazines, pamphlets and cookbooks.

I love looking at vintage recipe books. This one is quite unique.


Printed in 1960, it seeks to capitalize on the popularity of tv, by photographing each recipe as it is made, "just like the recipes that you see demonstrated on television." Some of the recipes are quite appealing, such as:

height of sophistication... celestial concoction... perfect...
(I guess they didn't worry about raw eggs and salmonella back then.)

Others are quite appalling:

Tempting combination of flavors... Cottage Cheese and Kidney Bean?? Who are they trying to kid? Tempting to hide it in a napkin... tempting to slip it to the dog... as if he would eat it... tempting to throw it in the garbage...

And this:


Appetizing... Aw come on! What did we Irish Americans do to them? Italian-Americans have pizza and pasta and marinara; Mexican-Americans have tacos and enchiladas; Asian-Americans have egg rolls and lo mein; Irish-Americans have... well, one dish, and they have to go and muck it up. Why? Were they mad because Kennedy was running for President? Was this some sort of a political plot?


A cookbook featuring Campbell's convenience foods - meaning food in a can...

like barbecued beans, which can be used as a base for:

Beans & Franks Apricot Garnish - okay, franks & beans, not bad...

Or Skillet Chops 'n Beans - a little heavy on the beans, but still pork + beans, ok...

Mexican Bean Burgers - what the heck? Since when are pork 'n' beans Mexican cuisine? And pork 'n' bean sandwiches?
Oh, I get it. A burrito has beans in it and it's kinda like a sandwich, so we'll just call it Mexican and nobody will notice how stupid...NO, NO, NO!!

Barbecue Bean Salad - Holy Mother of Pearl!
Salad greens topped with cold beans, then topped with mayonnaise...YIKES!

In fairness to Campbell, I should mention we received a free cookbook from them a few years ago and the recipes have improved greatly over the years.

We also got the Dec 1966 issue of Good Housekeeping Magazine.
Here's an ad for Fisher Price toys.

I love that toy iron!

And a very interesting Kraft cheese ad.

Putting a little girl in a bubble bath to sell cheese...hmm... Not sure they'd do that today. But I am loving that cool modern bathtub. I wonder if it's a real tub or just something invented for the photo shoot.

And look at this 1943 Kerr Home Canning Book.

Apparently not all the government research was channeled into nuclear weapons. It would appear the National Nutrition Program was creating peaches as big as a human head. Yowzers!


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Estate Sale Friday

Last Friday, my mother and I went to two estate sales in our area and got quite a haul.

The first sale was hosted by the same family with the Bag of Used Soap from the week before, but they had more things out. We did quite well there, finding a few kitchen wares, some fun things, and lots of books and craft magazines (which we got for essentially free).

The Home Improvement books and Craft Magazines are a hoot and have the best pictures! The Kitchens and Bathrooms are the most fun; they come in the best colors.


There's Vixen the Reindeer Apron again! And isn't the tablecloth envelope just so cool? It's made so that you can fold up your fancy tableclothes in it when you put them away and they won't get all damaged.
The Troll Doll is a Dam troll from 1988 with his original tags on him. He's wearing a uniform with a shirt from Cellwood Machinery.


The second sale was the estate of an Army Officer and his wife who was an Army Nurse during WWII. In one of the rooms they had this charming portrait of the couple; too bad it was damaged.
Their house was wonderfully decorated with lots of things from the Philipines and Japan (she was in Japan in the war) and was quite fun to look through. They also had some kind of weird things like this "chewbacca scale" which I suppose was intended to keep your feet warm on cold mornings.
We found a few things we could use including a Gemco pump action Ketchup and Mustard set (more picnic ware) for $1.00 and a Butterfly Gold Pyrex Lasagna Pan for $3.00.

I even found a rhinestone necklace finally. I always see the prettiest rhinestone necklaces at estate sales but my neck is too big for them usually. This one fits just right and was only $6.00. I love it and will wear it the next time I take Betty (the mink) out for a night on the town.


We usually go to estate sales on Sundays when everything is half price and so when we went to this one on Friday we were pleased to see things priced as we would want them to be. We also usually miss out on the good things like jewelry and apparently bags of soap.

Maybe they're more common than we thought.

We didn't buy too many things last Friday but at the second sale we bought things that we can actually guarantee will get used.

What's your favorite thing to look for at estate sales? I always look in Kitchens first for Pyrex and other Kitchenware.

Please visit these parties to which I am linking this post:

Thrifty Thursday @ Tales from Bloggeritaville
Garage Salen Party @ debbiedoos
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