127 yard sale

For the last 3 years my husband and I have been making the trip to visit the 127 World's longest yard sale. Most of our trip is just getting to it! But we've found enough on our (too) short treks up and down the way, that we've braved the heat and rain to find some of our favorite things. And this year was no different.

First up, this awesome Lustro ware paper dispenser is something that dreams are made of. Lol! I've admired it for years online, but never seen it in person before. That is, until I bought it for 10 dollars! Yippee!

I hadn't realized how much red Lustro ware I'd accumulated until I set it on a shelf with the small salt and pepper set I'd managed to forget I owned. I also have the four piece canister set and a rolltop bread box. Red would probably not have been my first choice, but everything I've found so far has been yardsale prices or cheaply from antique stores, so I'm certainly not going to complain.

Jadeite! None of these were screamin' deals, but they were far enough below retail I felt pretty happy to purchase. The St. Denis mugs have been one of my jadeite grails for a long while. I don't know why I picked out that style, I just like the shape, but I'd never seen any for sale in person. The breakfast set, lotus pieces, and probably Charm have all been the jadeite styles I've admired most, but never seen. Glad to add these to my small collection!

Pretty in pink! The pink Daisy open baker brings me one step closer to having all the regular pink Daisy pieces. Just need the largest Space Saver casserole. And the pink Hazel Atlas Ripple was a sweet deal from a kindly older couple who sold these me these 9 piece for 15 dollars, which I thought was a great deal.

Two more pieces of Pyrex I didn't own. The Garden Medley has been on my wish list for ages. And the hearts casserole is a piece I've seen a few times before, but never for less than 20 bucks, so I'd passed on it. These two pieces were from the same dealer, 10 dollar each, so I finally decided to buy.

The red Friendship bowl is not the greatest shape, but I have a somewhat rough decorated Friendship lid to put on it, so it's getting reunited. This was bundled with my Lustro ware paper dispenser. The other pieces, the yellow shaker was thrown in free from a bundle deal my husband made, and the possibly bakelite utensils were a dollar for the 5 pieces.

I know absolutely nothing about bakelite. It's a collector favorite where I live, so it's always a blue fortune when it turns up, so there just usually isn't a deal to be found. I picked up a bakelite book cheap a while back, so I have some research to do.

I'm also curious if this bracelet is bakelite. Each of these pieces were sold seperately, 50 cents each. One of the santas is in rough shape, but I had to get him. Vintage Christmas is another expensive area I've managed to stay mostly away from, except for Shiny Brites, but I feel a Santa mug collection starting up. Lol!

My husband said that his favorite memory of me this yardsale is that I spotted these glasses before we even got pulled into the place, and in his words, I just said "BOOMERANGS"  and my seat belt undone and was out of the car before he even got parked.

50 cents each. When I got a closer look, they had that dull 'sick glass' look to them inside. When I washed them up, most of that came off with soap and water, but they could use a vinegar soak inside to clean up the rest. The pink is getting added to my pink Ripple collection, and the green is an X factor. I'd seen pics online of these in green, yellow, and white, and I wasn't sure what I'd do if the other colors turned up for me. I thought they'd make good go-alongs for the small collection of Lu Ray pastels I have. For now, the lone green is in with my lonely two turquoise. I also discovered these two are slighly smaller than my others, so I there are at least 3 sizes of these. Only my pink/white combo ones are actually marked Hazel Atlas, otherwise I'd still be unsure who made this pattern.

And a couple more Pyrex pieces. The blue New Holland promo is the larger of the two. Second piece I bought this trip with Hearts in the decoration. The Daisy casserole was 4 dollars. Cheap and cheerful!

Another jadeite mug! But this time it was 50 cents. Cheapest Jadeite I've ever bought. Makes up for the one I bought this trip that was 5 dollars and had a crack in it I didn't see when I bought it.

I think the pink clock can be cleaned up a little more. It was 15 dollars, more than I wanted to spend, so my husband bought it for me. He's my sweetheart.

The turquoise Ripple plate is faded, but still sweet. It wasn't priced, so the dealer just threw it in free when I bought this Friendship casserole for 10 dollars. I had 3 decorated Friendship lids my husband bought at a yardsale many, many moons ago that had just been waiting for lidless Friendship pieces to reunite them with. So I've only got one more now. It'd be lovely if I got the decorated piece next time, so I'd have a complete duplicate set.

A Cosco stool for 10 dollars. It is marked with a sticker underneath. It is original yellow, but has been touched up at some point. I had the idea to paint it, but I may just clean it up and see if I can remove some of the hasty overspray from the previous touchup.

And finally, here's most of my husband's finds. He also bought some toys, a vending machine and some gifts that he's already stashed away that I didn't get pictures of. I think his biggest thrills this trip has been scoring the Star Trek lunch box for 5 dollars and finally seeing Little Blue books for sale.

It had stuck in his mind to hunt for Little Blue books since seeing them mentioned in a Louis L'Amour biography. I can't do the history justice, but from what I understand, these little books were sold for 5 or 10 cents and were some of the very first paperbacks available.

He picked these up from all from one dealer who, for us, had the best items and best prices of the whole sale. It's funny how just one booth can make the whole trip worthwhile!

***

Just some thoughts in general about the yard sale. We've just been going for the last 3 years, each year a little earlier on. Friday and Saturday seem the busiest days with the worst traffic by far, but had the least stuff worth buying, so the early bird does seem to get the worm.

Each year seems to have themes. This year I saw Mantiques everywhere. An abundance of tools, advertising, garage and mancave stuff.

Last year was all about chalk paint. Chalk paint everywhere and mostly everything painted turquoise! But this year, hardly a painted piece to be seen. Original finish wood seems to back in fashion again, which I'm not at all sorry to see.

Last year, I hardly saw a piece of Jadeite. This year it was more abundant. But last year, I saw tons of Depression glass, this year hardly a piece. I was told, repeatedly, and I mean - REPEATEDLY, by helpful dealers that the only glass they seem to be able to sell these days is Pyrex, which is just going up and up.

I just smile and nod and act dumb mostly. Since I've been collecting Pyrex for the last 6 years, it's discouraging to be told by dealers who seem to only have jumped on the Pyrex bandwagon in the last little while, how this or how that my thing I collect is. I can tell most of them are trying to be helpful, but it's helpful in that same clueless way it is when dealers tell you about stuff they sold the day before you came in.

And on the Pyrex front, there is a dealer that specializes in it at least every hour or two's worth of travel down the road. And they are all insufferable. Of all the resellers, it's the dealer/collector who is usually asking the highest prices of all.

You can't look at a single piece in their Pyrex booth/prison without hearing some speech about what it is, how high demand/popular it is, and/or how many dozens of that exact piece they have at home in their personal collections.

At some point maybe they loved Pyrex. But not anymore. Now they just lord over it. They turn it into Beanie Babies. They become a part of the problem. They help create unsustainably high prices that exclude regular collectors and cater only to the truly obsessed (who seem to be made out of money).

No thanks.

And I'm not thrilled to share the title "Pyrex Collector" with them either. Because I suspect, in ten years time, this brand of "Pyrex Collector" will have long since cashed out of their collections and moved on to some other inflated thing they can get in on the ground floor of, when I'll still be here, Lord willing, just trying to decide which pretty dish I'm going to use to bake today's dinner in.


***

Anyways, I had lots of fun. Got a sunburn (despite much sunscreen), and feel like a need a week's vacation to recover from a single scorching hot day. I mean, I really feel like my eyeballs got bleached, I got so much sun. Whoever picked the first week of August for this thing must have really liked 100 degree temps!

And crazy as it is, I can't wait for next year!

Hope you're having a blast so far this Summer!

Happy Thrifting!

Community Sale

It's that time of year again for a community-wide sale I look forward to all year. The hubs and I have gone for at least the last 5 years running, but only last year did we buy the preview tickets that scored me one of the most exhilarating one day hauls I've ever found.

I was worried this year's sale couldn't possibly live up to the expectations I was trying not not to have. But happily I found some super great stuff!

Friendship lasagna pan for 2 bucks! Yes please! I'm half ashamed to admit this is my 3 one of this piece. (Does it make it less bad that I paid a lot for the two I had already?) And I have to tell this story here because I think it's so cute (and frightening to me at the same time).

Two years running, my husband has gone off in a slightly different direction than me, and both years he had his hands full of Corningware when he was standing right in front of awesome Pyrex I wanted and he just completely didn't see it. Last year it was two pink gooseberry round casseroles and this year it was this lasagna pan.

I had the buggy, and when I came around the corner, I saw my husband loaded down with Corningware in his hands, and directly in front of him on the table was this dish. And right smack in between us were two adorably cute Millennial kids that looked like what I think of as the quintessential young Pyrex collectors. I literally almost shoved into them with my cart, because I am that insane person who could, in court, plead temporary insanity for Pyrex.

Out of the way Millennials!

I have officially declared my husband to be "distracted by Corningware". When I tell him this, he gives me the most sad, guilty, tried-my-best expression and I feel like I am scolding a puppy. My life, I tell you what.

Lids that are like gold! Space saver lid for two dollars, two large refrigerator dish lids and one medium for another two bucks, and 4 dollars for the Spring Blossom large oval casserole.

Toy finds. Small bundle of Fisher Price Little People for two bucks and an old tin toy house trailer for a buck. (I later found a car that may or may not be the right one for it that didn't make its way into this photo session. So yay for making a 'set'!)

My husband picked these up. No idea why. Just thought it was precious that he wanted little elephant salt and pepper shakers. Love.

Then finally on the way home I stopped in Goodwill and found the McKee sailboat measuring cup for $1.99. Just when I completely give up on GW, I find one awesome thing that just keeps me coming back for more. In truth, I probably benefit most from all the other pickers in town being somewhere else! Had to take a picture of it with my only other ships piece.

I'm very pleased with what I found. By all in all, things have definitely seemed to change. Prices are creeping up for just basic things, like lids. There was more Pyrex at this sale, but it made its way into other peoples carts before I ever saw it. There seemed to be far fewer vintage items, more new stuff. In a way, I was glad I don't collect as broad a variety of vintage stuff, because items like lunch boxes and thermoses were priced at full antique store level.

These days, I feel like everyone I see is a picker of some type. Some faces I recognize after years of seeing them around once in a while but not connecting the dots. Lots of folks seem to show up for these sales only to sell their wares in a yard sale at antique store prices. Which is why I'm not wild about yard saleing around my area.

I'm not kidding when I say that around where I live, you can often find a better deal in a nicely staged, air conditioned antique store than you can a yard sale or flea market. The store dealers (at least, SOME of them) seem to want to move items, keep their booth rent paid, when lots of the yard sale folks seem content to put a ridiculous high price tag on their items and move them around from yard sale to yard sale, never selling them. I've seen Pyrex bowl sets at the same yearly yardsale with the same taped on price tag for at least the last three years running. It beats me why people are like that.

But then again, with prices rising like they have, maybe eventually that will be what passes for a fair price. Ugh!

All in all, I'm happy with what I found. Even if it didn't quite live up to the hype of last years craziness, it sure did let me down gently. Lol!

Hope you are finding fantabulous treasures where you are!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift and antique store roundup

It's hard to keep up a thrifting blog when you just aren't finding anything. Thrift stores have been devoid of treasure. And this time of year it seems like more dealers are moving out of antique stores than moving in, so the finds have been few and far between. But yesterday, hubs and I finally found a few treasures.

I added this vintage glass to my collection for 40 cents from a thrift store that used to be a sweet spot for thrift goodness. But it was the only thing I went home with other than some Shirley Temple videos for my mom. This thrift now puts everything I collect in its collectibles section, and asks a few dollars more than I'd expect to see at an antique store.

Then I have a moment in an antique store where I buy something I don't really need, because it's cheap (or at least cheap for around here, that is). This Spring Blossom bowl was in good shape and for $5.75, it came home with me.

The only new addition from this picture here is the burgundy/maroon pie plate (the lime happened to be in the dish drainer, so I thought I'd include it for something of a color reference). I think this burgundy color is uncommon. It's not the in the greatest shape, and it wasn't exactly cheap, but I thought I'd regret it if I passed it up. It was 12 dollars.

More Gemco go-alongs for my Snowflake Blue collection. From a half-off booth, 6 dollars for the set.

And finally, a few flea market treasure from a few weeks ago.

I'm always excited to add Riviera pieces to my very slow-growing collection. Even more excited when they were in great shape and just a few dollars for the set.

I paid a bit more for the green handled utensils and whatnots, the beginning of a new collection of green that I probably shouldn't have started. I think I was under the influence of having fallen in love with a green handled utensil/enamelware/jadeite display I'd seen in an antique store before, but all the pieces were priced higher than I could ever see myself paying. So when I saw these guys at the flea market for quite a bit less I went a bit overboard, lol!

Other than some lids, that's all I've bought so far this year. I'm sad that it isn't as fun or fruitful to go thrift/junk/antique shopping these days, but on the other hand, I've been clearing things out and parting with piled-up stuff I probably shouldn't have bought in the first place, and it's nice to be making some space.

That, or I'm just making room for this years junk - which is probably closer to the truth, lol!

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!