Long Overdue - Thrifting! Yard Saling! Junking! (Recycling)

Yay! Whee! Fun stuff!! This is one post I have been THINKING about for OVER a week. I know I'll forget some things but these are the things I am thinking about.

I had some AWESOME finds last week and weekend! AND THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING.

So, if you don't know yet, I LOVE TO BUY STUFF. Yes, it's a compulsion, and yes, I'm working on it. Like, trying to complete themes for the house and stuff. I mean, it was definitely great that I had so much stuff already prepared when I moved in January. AND I got in on great housewares-type things that went on sale then, too! Anyways.

My new obsession? Tea parties and tablewares. GEEEEEEEEZ. Tea cups and plates and saucers and teapots and table linens and so much coolnesses. Viva la eBay! I want to throw a proper English-inspired tea party. The full regalia, the whole works. FanTASTico! Just like The Vintage Tea Leaf, since I'm fine not going there anymore after my LAST experience.

So here they are, some nice finds from the last two weeks!!! (This is like, the MONSTER of all posts. And, I'm just using pics I've found online for now because I'd rather take pics of everything else all together at the same time, eventually, whenever, that'll happen.)

This is one of my favorites!! I saw it and had to get it, even if it wasn't 50% off yet ...

The eBay lady listing it has it for $6.99, and says she bought them both at an antique shop in the early 70's. Hmm.) This is Saladmaster porcelain in the Heirloom pattern. Beautiful pattern, dorky maker name. I have at least 5 cups and saucers, some salad plates, some dinner plates, and a couple other things - total 24 pieces, for $20. This is the set I totally had to run to Albertson's to get cash for! But I love it. Most of the cups have a new original number sticker on it, so I think they have never been used.

I had a dickens of a time trying to track down info on how old this stuff might be and everything ... the most I could find was on the Saladmaster site, that they expanded beyond the actual Saladmaster shredder/dicer into Bavarian porcelain from at least 1952 on.

Replacements.com has the dinner plate listed for $53.99!! Cup and saucer for $33.99!! Daaaaaang.

On eBay, this 18-piece set sold for $25 BIN with $15 shipping. I'm so glad I ran back to get this set at the thrift store!!!! I think it will display beautifully.

I also saw a cup and saucer on eBay that looked quite nice, made by Hammersley (I'm still learning all these names!) and when I saw this:

I thought it was some weird big salt shaker. But it had two big holes on top on top of the other holes all around so that was confusing- the one I have doesn't have the ribbon anymore, so it wasn't readily apparent at first. And it has a plastic stopper on the bottom. Anyway, the only reason I bought it was because it was made by Hammersley and it was kinda pretty. It was $1.79 at Goodwill, one recently sold for $8 + shipping on eBay, and Replacements.com has it listed for $53.99. The pattern is officially Cornflower-Blue. Yay!

And, in keeping with the whole tea fascination/obsession/fixation lately, I have been searching for some pink glass cups to go with my set of pink Depression glass plates and bowls and sugar bowl I got. I also have one salt shaker, looking for another. I think I got such a good deal on those. But I also wonder if they are a reproduction, because Depression glass is such a huge market that there will always be a glut of reproductions and stuff being passed off as the original, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The set I got was about 12 pieces, for $20. The shaker was $2 by itself. I JUST YESTERDAY found out the name of the goldang pattern! It is Madrid, by Federal:

My plates DO NOT have the 76 on the bottom. But they still look so pristine and new. I just honestly do not know if they are genuine. I need to find some kinda expert to appraise them for me! But even at reproductions, they are super cute for the price.

So, at the same thrift shop where I found the Saladmaster set, I found a bag of 4 cups with saucers dumped in a bag - that's how they sell this stuff. One cup I noticed had a chip on the rim, but that was it - and they look like this:

So I will have to look and see if the colors match up close enough to use together. But I still love them and they are pink glass and adorable even if they are not vintage.

I also got a bunch of stuff at an antique-oriented yard sale last week. I got -

• about a dozen dishes (2 large plates, 4 or 5 smaller ones, none matching, boo hoo),
• a small bone china milk pitcher,
• two Coca-Cola bottle crates,
• gorgeous, dainty, white embroidered handkerchief,
• a beautiful lavender linen fingertip towel with a beige crocheted edge (I was gonna use the fancy-schmancy color word "ecru," but when I looked it up, I mean, gosh, that is SO not the color I think of when I hear that word?)

[tangent]
Beige and Ecru
Originally in the 19th century and up to at least 1930, the color ecru meant exactly the same color as beige or pale cream colour [2] , and the word is often used to refer to such fabrics as silk and linen in their unbleached state. Ecru comes from the French word écru, which means literally 'raw' or 'unbleached'. Now in the 21st century, however, ecru is considered a different color from beige.

THIS is actually ecru!! Dang, I remember the look of the linens in Lithuania last year, particularly in the capital Vilnius. It was definitely BROWN. Weirdos.

And here is some dorkified fun courtesy of Mimi-style.

[/tangent]

• and I think I got one other piece of linen in there somehow at this sale (they had a table full, as well as two garbage bags full to dig through) but I can't remember what it is right now. Hm. I will take pics and post when I can.

This was a nice sale, actually, advertised as 15 years' accumulation. I got there fairly early, had my eye on the Coca-Cola crates, but thought another guy had dibs on them with the speaker piled on top of them. Good thing I bothered to ask after I saw him leave :P.

I was SAD that while they had SO many linens - especially a bunch of doilies, which are not really my style anymore - there was not much that was in good shape or without holes or weirdo stains. Hmm. That's why I passed on a lot of stuff, but I know I ended up with 3 pieces.

When I brought everything over to the girl, she gave me a price of $20, which I might have settled for, but didn't feeeeeeeel like paying, so I asked if she would take $15 - I only had a $20 - she didn't have change - she said she'd need to get it from her dad - "Why don't you pick out a couple other things, then?" - I decided to hang around - therefore, yayness. Soooooo cute.

Later on I was seriously regretting passing on the Schumann Orchard cup with snack plate, but honestly, that is not one of the best patterns, even if no one else is currently listing it, so it might be rare or something. I also asked about (pink) "Depression-type" glass and was directed to a pink, shallow basket (ick), and saw a yellow cake platter/round tray underneath. It was like a rattan-pattern circle in the center, but yellow glass? I looked up similar things on eBay after I got home - never saw the Schumann Orchard fruit plate, but maybe could have sold the yellow plate for a small profit. The reason I ultimately passed?? Packing china, glass, AND breakables must be SUCH A PAIN in the nads.

I remember when Miss Hippie Rainbow Tie-Dyed shirt girl in cargos and Birks was counting up the stuff to show it was $20, she said $2 each for the Coca-Cola crates, about $2 for each of the bigger plates, $1 or so for the plates and pitcher, and she had only arrived at $12 while I had the 3 small linens in my hands - so $8 for the linens was a major stretch. 50¢ would have been ideal but I can handle $1.

Yay!!

At a Goodwill down the street from where I grew up, when I happened to go there last week, I got a Simply Shabby Chic shower curtain for $4.99, without the packaging - normally $24.99.

I was like, majorly hitting the Mary Engelbreit jackpot at this one thrift store. I walked around, saw this:

and decided to get it, even though the tip of the spout was chipped, and there were some flakes off some of the dots around the middle, but it'd be cute to display with a set of dessert dishes I have from a thrifting trip a few months back. I think it was $3.93.

The I was like, kicking myself because I spent too much time in the book section and walked by a lady with this in her cart!!!!

Oh. My. The TEEMING envy. :'( It was so cute sitting in her cart. I could not have been more than $7. And is currently at $26 on eBay with one day left. Le sigh. I don't particularly like bright yellow, and that's how I consoled myself, but looking at this picture now, of COURSE it looks way more attractive.

So after that, and feeling more irked and sorry for myself, I took another walk around and found this!

I believe it was $3.93 also. They seriously put stuff out CONSTANTLY at this gigantizoid place. And I would rather have 2 semi-matchy teapots anyway. But I could have sold the cookie jar. Man, it looked nice.

I'd also gotten these two cute boxes:

They both open up (the lid of the box is the cap/top of the hat!!).

Now I want to expand a collection to include these:

On Thursday I visited a new thrift store and got a pink rose Shabby Chic-style flat sheet (felt like very nice, crisp cotton), some books, and I PASSED on a big, beautiful footed/pedestal cake stand WITH a big beautiful dome and everything. I mean, I looked at it several times, picked it up, wanted it, but it was so big. Dunno why I was looking at cake plates. Maybe I saw all the gorgeous pink glass listed on eBay as Depression glass, including cake plates, which actually, were never made back then, but were made more post-1976.

It was $6.93. It was heavy, in great condition ... but so big! What could I do with it? The dome just makes it look classy! Where could I put it? Could I put anything other than a cake in it? I don't even bake! What cake could go inside? When? Did I really need it? All sales are final!! Argh. Anyhoo, I left it and told myself that if it was there the next day, I should get it - and it totally was NOT THERE. :( Now I want one even more. And one similar to it, allegedly from Williams Sonoma, is currently listed on eBay for $25 WITH $21 shipping. OUCH!

So just had a nice bright white cotton, crisp-feeling flat sheet with pink roses for $1.91, and some very very interesting children's books. Oh yes, also a CUTE little yellow frilly apron and a black tulle one with red and green rickrack!! $1.91 each!! I want to wear the tulle one for Christmas.

I eagerly went to the next Goodwill, which I had never seen before, found 4 Simply Shabby Chic curtain panels for $4.49 each, a mirrored tray (for the pink cups!!) for $3, and some wooden decorations for the classroom. It was decent.

And then! I hit one more thrift store in a last ditch effort, and dang, they only took cash. Grrr. I saw a shabby Limoges serving platter, kind of scuffed, and worn, but nice in its own way, then a weirdish sort of light blue glass cake plate, so I grabbed it, and then I saw some obviously hand-painted earthy-green mini-mugs with bright orange flowers - 60¢ each. I had to decide up at the counter, so I went with the cake plate, and the cups, since I basically only had $9 on me anyway. The nice cashier lady said she liked the cups. And the cake plate was $9.96. And it looks like this:

And apparently, it is VERY collectable. It was made by Jeannette Glass in 1954-1957, the piece is Harp-Blue (Ice) , eBay has one auction for $19.99 plus $15 shipping, various online vendors have it for $30-$45 without shipping, and Replacements.com had it listed, but now I can't find the price. Anyway, that is my find of the week, it makes me happy to look at it, and I'm glad I chose it over the pedestrian Limoges platter (which was still there, today, when I went back to check that thrift store.)

Hooray.