Peacocks and Dragons

Today I am sharing more estate sale finds from last year. 

These are from an estate sale Mom and Dad went to last fall.  Once again I was working.  The sale was just a few streets over from our house.  When they got there, people were lined up down the block.  Apparently the lady of the house was an avid doll collector and there were hundreds of dolls.  They almost gave up and went home, but then figured that if everybody else was there for the dolls, maybe there would be less competition for the things they liked.

They waited in line for about 25 minutes and this is what they took home.  Not a lot, just mostly useful stuff: bamboo skewers, glue sticks, plate holders, frames, etc.  They found a couple of jello molds.  Because I don't have enough, right?  I actually gave the smaller mold away to my friend for her kids to use at the beach.  You can make some pretty cool sand castles using jello molds.

 

They found another Wil-hold sewing box, this time in gold, with it's tray,

and plenty of room for thread.

They also found my thread holder of choice.  It's a vintage Tupperware bacon keeper.

I have 4 or 5 of them.  They stack and they travel well. 

They won't open up or spill easily, and all the colors are on display and easy to find.  If you sew or know someone who does, I highly recommend buying these when you see them.  This one was 75c (empty, of course - spools added later).

The doll collection was so big that they ran another sale the following week.  Mom decided to avoid the crowd and go on the last day of the sale.  She found a few things that other people missed.

 I love this nifty little gadget.  It's a Grabbit magnetic pin well.  I'm sure most of you have seen magnetic pin wells before, as DIY versions are all over the internet, but they had escaped my notice until Mom found this one. 

 

 Mom knows how much I love tins AND peacocks, so she couldn't leave this tea tin behind.  Isn't it gorgeous?  My picture just doesn't do it justice. 

Mom was very happy to find this colorful Chinese Checkers game.  Chinese checkers was a favorite of hers when she was very little.  This large tin was made by the Ohio Art Co. sometime in the 1960s.  I just love the fire-breathing dragons.  On the backside is a checkers board.  The playing pieces are supposed to be stored inside the tin.  Unfortunately, the tin is extremely difficult to open, which must have been frustrating for anyone wanting to play.  Perhaps that explains why it is in such great condition.  The marbles are missing, but it will still look great hanging on the wall.

By the way, Chinese Checkers is neither Chinese nor checkers.  The game was invented in Germany as Stern-Halma.  When it was published in the United States by J. Pressman & Co, they thought that associating it with the familiar game of checkers and giving it an exotic Chinese theme would make the new game more marketable. 

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An Estate Sale Adventure and The Naked Boob Hour

Mom and I went to our first estate sale of the year a few weeks ago.  We are fortunate to have a very cool local website where we can see what estate sales are coming up and what things will be for sale.  They usually have lots of pictures.  Even if the sale is too far away or we're too busy to go, it's fun to look through the pictures. I guess it's like thrifter p*rn.

We hadn't been to a sale since summer and we could tell from the pictures this was a great one. Going through the pictures is sort of like our version of playing I Spy.

  

I spy something Pyrex! Ooh... three partial sets of mixing bowls.  Maybe they will have the elusive red bowl.

I spy rooms and rooms of craft supplies... yarn... crochet thread... ribbon... I bet there are zippers,,,

And look,  that sign says everything is 25c!

Yarn...

 More craft supplies...

I spy toys and board games... I wonder what's in that box for $10...

 I spy enamelware in the basement... Ok, you find the craft room, I'll take the basement.

I spy... what the heck IS that cherub feather thing?  A lamp?

 We also spied shiny brites and a Disney Snow White toy ironing board, and horrendously loud 70's clothing, and so much more.  We weren't planning on buying everything, but hoped to see lots of it before everybody else bought it.   We figured this would be a popular sale, so we'd have to get there early.  We might even have a sighting of the elusive Magpie Ethel.  This was just her kind of sale.

 Early Saturday morning  we gathered our coats and umbrellas and set off across the river.  We arrived more than an hour ahead of time, but there were already dozens of people in line and they kept coming.

And you can see from the picture that this was an old house; the kind with narrow hallways and steep stairs leading to tiny rooms, so they couldn't let everybody in at once. 

The first customer was in and out before we even got in the door.  As he came out all of us waiting were anxious to know what he had bought.  He stated proudly that he had gotten the aluminum Christmas tree for $100.  Wait... what? There was an aluminum Christmas tree?!  That wasn't in the pictures. And I didn't even get to see it.  Drat!  But I did see that he was carrying the cherub feather lamp thingy.  What the heck?  I figured he was a dealer, so did that mean that weird thing was valuable?? 

After we got in, I headed for the basement, but the enamelware was all snatched up already and there was no toy ironing board in sight.  Then I went to the dining room to see about the Pyrex and there was a crazy lady sitting on the floor surrounded by mixing bowls growling nastily at anyone who came near and mumbling something about "My Precious."  Ok, not really, but almost.  She was actually on the floor, totally blocking traffic and trying to lay claim to everything Pyrex within her sight.  I dared to pick up a bowl that was out of her reach and she yelled at me that it was hers until she said otherwise.  One of the red mixing bowls was actually sort of an orange color so she held it out to me and said, "Here, this is good enough for you."  I thought to myself, "They're ALL good enough for me," but didn't really want to fight a crazy woman, so I just said, "No thank you," and went in search of the craft room.  

When I got to the craft room, there was only one other person in there: Magpie Ethel.  You can read her post about the sale here.  All was quiet as we each shopped.  I got some beads and a large knitting needle and a Tunisian crochet hook.  Everything really was 25c :)  

Then I moved into the corner where the piles of yarn were.  I didn't want to block traffic, so I set my large bag down a few feet away.  I grabbed a few skeins of yarn and turned to put them in my bag, when two women with toddlers in tow barged into the room and pushed past me.  They proceeded to pull out large garbage bags and loudly announce how wonderful it was that they were going to get ALL this yarn.  A few other women had come into the room at the same time and tried to get to the boxes of yarn , but they were not about to share.  I moved on to the crochet thread, but couldn't help hearing them yelling at their poor kids not to touch anything and crowing about how much yarn they were getting as they scooped it all up.  "I can't believe I got 95 skeins of yarn."  "Well, I got over 100." They were so obnoxiously greedy that I wanted to grab one of their bags and hit them with it, then give them a piece of my mind, but I didn't want their children to have to witness that.  They looked miserable enough as it was.

Meanwhile, Mom was looking through books and games and other craft stuff.  There were a lot of craft supplies all over the house.

Here's some of what we got - pinking shears, vintage hair shears, craft punches, a 1930 edition of Nancy Drew (these were my favorite books growing up and I'm quite pleased to have found a clothbound edition), a nice vintage ledger, some cowboys and army men...

 

bags of beads and a couple of cute jars with plaid lids...

 

 crochet thread, yarn, the needle and crochet hook...

 

 a spaghetti kitty and a little dog...

  

 a colorful 70's domino set...

 

and a 1966 version of Milton Bradley's memory card matching game.  

Mom liked the graphics on these two games, but was surprised to find that the Memory game is quite popular on ebay, selling recently for $35, even with some of the cards missing (we're missing a card, too)

We had a good time going through the house in spite of the behavior of some people.  Most people were very patient and polite.   We also found some recipe pamphlets and books. 

By far, our favorite book is this one, because there is a family story to go along with it.  

About twenty years ago, we lived in an apartment.  Free cable was provided to all the tenants, but it was only 13 channels.  During Christmas vacation, they gave us free premium channels to try to entice us to sign up for the pay service.  So one evening, after the eleven o'clock news, Mom and my then teenaged sister decided to see if they could find anything good on HBO, Cinemax, etc.  Hoping for a movie, they tried HBO... half-naked people making out... Cinemax... more half-naked people making out... Showtime... even more half-naked people.  And by half-naked, I mean mostly naked boobs.  "This is ridiculous," said Mom.  "Apparently, eleven o'clock is the beginning of The Naked Boob Hour.  I give up.  We'll go to Disney Channel.  At least they won't have naked boobs."  So she turned it to the Disney Channel, and there was baby Perri, the squirrel, being nursed by her mother.  Even on the Disney Channel, there were naked boobs!  Granted, they were squirrel boobs, and you couldn't really see much, but come on!  Needless to say, we did not get premium channels that year.

We did not buy this pink poodle with real bright pink rabbit fur, but she was awfully cute.
I'm not sure where bright pink rabbits can be found.  Maybe the same place that pink and blue poodles can?

We spent almost two hours going through the house, and just as we were leaving I remembered that I wanted to take a picture of something else we didn't buy...

this hilarious robe made out of bath towels.  Apparently such robes were a fashion statement in the '70s.  I believe the exact statement was, "What the frickety-frack?"

You can tell this one was extra special because they used fringe on the collar and sleeves.  I'm really glad I went back because that was when I saw the chenille bedspread.

I love chenille and have always wanted to find a bedspread.  This one is peach in color and is worn in places, but I plan to cut it and make pillows or something.

We stopped at one other estate sale, but only bought a sweater and some boxes of Little Debbie brownies.

 We did, however, see this terrifying ashtray...

and this adorable felt on cork giraffe.  

Mom remembers assembling several of these art kits back in 1968. 

On our way back home we stopped at Wendy's for chicken sandwiches and discovered a very nice deal.  This year Wendy's is selling plastic key tags for $1 ($0.90 of which goes directly to the Dave Thomas Foundation) that entitle the cardholder to a free junior frosty with every purchase for the duration of the 2015 calendar year.  We each bought one and I'm very satisfied with the deal and highly recommend it to anyone who likes frosties.

Our first estate sale of the season was a success. How has your thrifting been lately?

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Estate Sale Finds

After a recent dry spell, we had several estate sales in one weekend. Here are a few of my favorite things we found.

My mother found this book in amongst a bunch of others stuffed into a closet. I hadn't gotten there yet when she found it or I'd have probably spotted it first. It's a portion of a correspondence course on home appliance repair ca. 1970.


The book is full of diagrams and instructions featuring common brands of household appliances such as this one for servicing and repairing a Mixmaster. The diagram they use shows a Model 10. My mixer is a Model 12 and still similar enough to use their diagrams for servicing.

After finding that, my father decided to go online and order the complete course. The NRI (National Radio Institute) doesn't exist anymore but we were able to order the full course for about $15.00. Now he has service and repair instructions for vintage toasters, coffee pots, washing machines, blenders, mixers, etc.


I love children's books and fairy tales so bedtime story books are always a favorite for me. This is a vintage copy of Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories with the latest copyright of 1941. Arthur S. Maxwell was a spokesman for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Britain, but in America he is well known for his volumes of Bedtime Stories and Bible Stories. His stories all teach a morality point related to scripture.

Interestingly enough, although there are a few drawings, most of his "illustrations" are photographs from recent events or copies of biblical paintings.



My mother loves vintage board games, especially with fun, bright graphics.

She found this one that she'd never even heard of. It's ca. 1970 and has the colors to show.


At one sale my mother found an entire shoebox full of stir-sticks. Vintage ones - we're guessing most are from the 1960s. They did their traveling mostly in Seattle and Tacoma Washington, with trips to Hawaii, Reno/Lake Tahoe, and Vegas. She knows I love barware so she felt compelled to bring them home.

These are some of my favorite ones for styling, color, etc.

My mother has always wanted a souvenir pillow cover. She loves the ones from Hawaii especially and never thought she'd be able to afford any. We refrain from purchasing many things on Ebay and the only time we've ever seen one at an estate sale it was far too expensive.

We found two of them at one sale and waited until half price day to buy them for $1.50 each, a little bit surprised that they didn't sell.



I love aluminum tumblers and am always looking for them. I found these for $0.50 each. Don't they look lovely with my pitcher?

Lots and lots of apothecary jars for storing lots and lots of things. We paid anywhere from nothing to $1.00 each for several, even more than are pictured.

This is the best deal we made all weekend: A Bogen 3001 Tripod for my camera! (Picture borrowed from ebay; ours is very similar) My mother has been looking for a tripod for months now and hasn't found a thrifted one that was any good (usually the legs won't lock properly). This tripod was only $12.00, but Mom wasn't sure it would work with our camera. The woman running the sale very generously told us that we could take it home for the day and try it out and, if it didn't work right with our camera, bring it back the next day.

We brought it home, it worked perfectly, and we did the research and found out that it's a very popular tripod, very high quality, made of aluminum and sells on Ebay for around $60.00. Needless to say, my mother is glad she didn't find a functioning plastic tripod sooner.

I hope you found as many wonderful sales as we did!

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