Surprise antiquing

The goodies

Yesterday hubs & I treated ourselves to a shopping trip that we usually only go on once or twice a year. Last time we'd been in the area was on my birthday. This time there wasn't any particular reason to go, except we had some Christmas shopping in mind. I was just tired of all my usual places & high prices, and thought that if I was going to fork out some cash, I might as well spend it in an area with several large antique stores. Increase the odds. Usually, it's some occasion like birthday or anniversary, and we know in advance we're going, so we try to save up some extra money. But this time was completely spontaneous, no extra money to spend really, just our regular pocket change.

The irony was, I got a lot more for my money than I have been closer to home. I was happy to find some neat pieces for reasonable prices, I'm just sad that my immediate area is so high priced. And there's no real reason for it either, except for the fact that the stuff mostly is selling at these prices. I'm just not the one buying it, most of the time.

One last rant before I go on to the loot shoot: Yesterday I saw some Depression Glass Hoosier cabinet style jars that were actually in my price range. I didn't buy any of them because I would have blown through my budget in two pieces. But still, boy were they were tempting. There was a large green Hocking jar, sans lid, that I would have bought anyway, but it had a crack along the bottom I didn't see at first. About broke my heart.

I don't have a lot of Depression Era stuff for one simple reason: I can't afford it. What pieces I do have came to me via thrifts and auctions at well below retail or ebay prices. I love my Pyrex, but I am hitting a collector conundrum: Do I spend 15 dollars on my four hundredth piece of Pyrex or do I put five or ten more dollars with it and buy a single nice Depression Glass canister? If Pyrex prices continue to skyrocket and Depression Era pieces become more available, I think my choice will be clear.

Rant over, on to the loot!

A Moon Deco and a Zodiac in the same day! What are the odds? Neither one of these pieces came with lids or cradles, sadly. And unfortunately, I think with these specific pieces it's the bells & whistles they came with that kind of make them cool. But on the plus side, they were cheap, so I couldn't pass them by. The Zodiac was 5 bucks, and the Moon Deco was 8. I passed up a lidless Moon Deco for around the same price when I first started collecting. I thought it would bother me that I didn't have the lid for it, so I let it go. I thought it was funny that the same piece cycled back around at the exact same price as before. So I bought it. I think this time I can use it without being bothered that it doesn't have it's snazzy deco lid. Maybe I'll find one some day.

These were also antique store purchases, but it felt like I was at the thrift. This is pretty much the closest to opal Pyrex that I ever find these days. I spent 7 dollars between the two pieces, which is also on par with thrifts in my area.

Everything in this picture I bought because it was cheap, except the Snowflake Blue casserole. It completes my 480 casserole set. I rarely see Snowflake Blue in person. It ranks right up there with Friendship in terms of scarcity/desirability. I'll pay a premium for a piece I don't have. And like Friendship, I might just break down and finish my sets by buying online.

And finally, all I can say is, I'm not worthy.

Oh my stars

These are so special to me. It had never even crossed my mind that I'd ever own a single one of these Kromex canisters. I've only ever seen them online, in the collections of people who own all sorts of other-worldly-levels of beautiful things. It never crossed my mind that I'd even see them, much less own them, much less have paid 8 dollars for the set of 3.

8 dollars.

This set is missing the smallest Tea canister. And the Sugar canister is cracked, right in between the u and the g. And they have some fading & yellowing compared to the flawless pink color on the inside of the lid.

But all that is like, who in the world cares about that! It's pink Kromex! They are beeyooteeful. I've been considering replacing the Sears Chicken canisters that have been my photo backdrop since I began this blog.

I dunno. As much as I love these pink beauties, I'm sentimentally attached to my chickens. So they stay. I have no idea where I'm putting my pink beauties, but it needs to be somewhere where they can be seen but aren't subjected to direct sunlight. No more fading on the lids if I can help it.

Finding these amazing, unexpected surprises are why I usually don't buy online. I try to save my pennies for adventures like these. Last week I'd very nearly spent my fun money on a Pyrex set online, but ended up letting it go. 18 dollars for shipping was just too big of a killjoy to me. I would have enjoyed the set, I'm sure. But like I said to my husband, if I'd bought it, I wouldn't have had the money to spend yesterday. Things work out for a reason, I believe.

I hope you're finding fantastic treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Are these a set?

Yesterday my husband stopped at the thrift store after work and found me the smallest and largest of these bowls. It was missing the middle size bowl (the 323), but I realized that the two-toned blue bowl I had nested in my totally made-up set seemed like the right bowl for this one.

The smallest bowl makes me squee. A delphite-ish shade on the inside, a turquoise shade on the outside. Not the same shade as the 50's turquoise, but still very pretty. This set reminds me a bit of the Blue Americana Pyrex set that I've only ever seen in pictures, drool.

Not a great picture here, but you can see the difference between the inside and outside colors.

I wish I knew more about these bowls in general. They seem to be sold primarily as Pyrex Designs bowls. Patterns and colors seem to be 1980's through 1990's.

Something to watch out for is that there is sometimes a major difference between the 3-bowl set and the 4-bowl set. The order of the colors can change. Meaning, you can have a two bowls from the same set, both the same size, but two different colors. And I'm not sure if there is a book or a site that actually talks about these later designs. Anyone know of anything?

I guess this means I'm officially collecting these clear bottom bowls too. It never ends. Thanks Pyrex.

Happy Thrifting!

Auction loot

Went to an auction this weekend. There were a fair amount of things that my husband & I were interested in, but of course that was the stuff that went sky high. Everything I came home with was part of box lots at the end of the night.

These little Swanky Swigs were part of a box of probably 30 various drinking glasses I paid a whole dollar for. Since I didn't have any intention of buying a bazillion drinking glasses, I had nothing to cushion them with on the ride home. It was a musical ride, let me tell you. From the box I rescued these guys, a set of 8 juice glasses, and some pretty blue drinking glasses I'm giving to my mom. The rest of the lot is getting donated.

This was the only Pyrex of the night. It was also a box lot with half the kitchen sink thrown in just for good measure. The Corelle is better shape than it necessarily looks in the pictures. It's got the characteristic rust marks of Corelle & Corningware that hasn't been used in a decade or two. I can probably get them out pretty easily with Corning Ware cleaner or Bar Keeper's Friend. This lot was my priciest item of the night, 15 dollars. I need that Corelle like I need a hole in the head, but such is life.

I did find a couple of things at the thrift last week that I hadn't blogged about yet, but my camera batteries decided to die after the last photo. Perhaps they don't like Corelle. Or maybe they looooove Corelle and they didn't want anything to upstage it. Or perhaps personifying camera batteries is just silly.

Hope you are finding super snazzy stuff!

Happy Thrifting!

Weekend finds

I've been to a couple of thrift stores and 1 antique store this week but left with nothing but some Corning Ware lids. But this weekend the hubs and I headed down to our favorite weekend spot where there's lots and lots of pretty Pyrex, it just doesn't come cheap.

The Pyrex sandalwood striped bowl is the 402 size that came with the mixed color set. Surprisingly, I found it for 7 dollars at a flea market where I almost never find Pyrex. This one is a duplicate, but it's going to be part of an all Sandalwood bowl set, just one more left to go.

The two blue casseroles are the 473 size that goes with two different casserole sets. Neither came with lids, but luckily I have a bit of 470 lid hoard. The Snowflake Blue is one I didn't have, but the Butterprint I just bought because I have a sickness for Butterprint. All in all, it's probably my favorite pattern.

And finally, I'm in love! This is my first McKee bowl! It's just shy of 7 inches across. It was 15 dollars!!! I was so surprised to find it. McKee bowls and canisters rate very high on my list of super-neato kitchen wares, but I really never think about them because they are so rare in my area. Once in a blue moon a red Ships patterned piece will turn up but it's always pricey.

When I first started collecting, I got a collector's book for Christmas from my in-laws, called Kitchen Glassware of the Depression Years by Cathy and Gene Florence. It's still my favorite book to just randomly thumb through and pipe dream about. (Yes, even more so than my Pyrex books!~)

What I picked out from the book and decided even then was that my holy grail of vintage kitchen was McKee Dots stuff - mixing bowls, canisters, measuring cups, etc. Every time I go antiquing in a new area it crosses my mind at least once, wondering if I'll ever finally see a piece of McKee dots -any color- in person!

But this bow bowl was completely off the map for me. I don't even know how many bowls came in sets like these. Some McKee is pictured in my book, but there's really not a book that details McKee/Glasbake items like there is for Pyrex and Fire King. I've also thought that these bowls and patterns were older, closer to 30's - 40's Depression Era, but I somewhere I have a magazine with an original ad that shows this pattern and it's from the 1950's - more recent than I thought.

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Mini-vacation goodies

Hubby is off for a few days, so we've actually been able to hit up some yard sales, for once.

I had the best conversation with the lady I bought these from. Turns out we collect some of the same things. She gave me a great deal on these pieces. I'm completely in love with the green depression glass mixing bowl. The blue Pyrex bowl finished a primary set that needed that exact piece. And the turquoise open baker was a piece I didn't have, so I was thrilled with all of it!  

After buying these guys and chatting with the lady for a while, the very next place we stopped had this gorgeousness sitting right there on the table just waiting for me. This is the large 475 piece - a 2 1/2 quart casserole. It even had its lid. It was ten dollars. I didn't even try to negotiate. After seeing all the 30 dollar pieces of pink gooseberry last week, I was happy to give the lady a 10 dollar bill and walk away with this prize.

And while we were driving around, we stopped at a once-in-a-while antique store. The Snowflake Blue butter dish top was sitting by its lonesome, marked a dollar. I knew just what I was going to do with it. I paid too much for the red casserole, sold with a plain lid, but I had plans for it, too. 

Voila! Sets complete and pieces reunited!

I knew the butter dish bottom I bought at a thrift store would one day pay off. It's been sitting in my lid stash for quite some time, just waiting for a top to call its own.

And speaking of lid stash, my husband found some Pyrex Friendship lids at a yard sale over a year and a half ago. They've also been sitting in my lid stash awaiting a good use. When I bought the orange dish it didn't have a lid either, so its come in very handy that he picked those up for me. I'm so happy to have completed the 470 set. Now if only I could ever find the regular mixing bowls and oval casseroles!

I was thrilled with my finds and especially happy to get to goof-off and go yard sale-ing with my husband!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Happy Thrifting!