Lucky Day

Seriously, yesterday was my lucky day.

At my first stop, I picked up this poor lidless LuRay pitcher from one of my favorite flea market vendors. It's the first piece I've added to my inadvertent collection I bought all at once as a boxed lot. I joke that me finding good deals is like the 50 cents that will make me spend 50 dollars, because I'm downright compulsive about putting sets together once I find a bit of something I like. I don't just want a piece or two, I want ever color they came in!

But that was just the beginning of the day. Next find was this dreamy turquoise canister set

I'll be honest, they have numerous cosmetic issues. The coffee canister is cracked, they are all stained and discolored even after a nice soak, and the lids are a marriage of two different sets (and I'm not entirely sure which ones are the right ones).

But I still love them. Completely and utterly smitten!

They are marked Cols. Plastic Products, which if I'm not mistaken, stand for Columbus Plastic Products of Columbus, Ohio, parent company of Lustro Ware.

Here I've taken a picture of the largest and smallest canisters from my new turquoise set with my marked red Lustro Ware canisters. Interestingly, each of the red canisters are one size larger than their turquoise counterparts.

Then at the next stop I found only my second new in box Pyrex!

I picked this up for the nice price of $15.00.

It looks like it's never been used. And even has the care booklet.

Quote from the CARE section:

"PYREX (c) ovenware is dishwasher safe; however colors or decorations on the outside surface of the ovenware may fade with repeated washings."

This is the first acknowledgement I've seen from Corning that dishwashers can indeed fade a/o ruin the finish. (Which, unfortunately, all us collectors have witnessed firsthand in thrift and antique stores all over)

And a detail I never realized before. This 474 casserole since it was sold as a single is the darker shade of gold from this version (Butterfly Gold II). When the 474 was a part of the 3 piece set, it was the lighter yellow shade. Meaning there are 3 different Butterfly Gold 474 casseroles.

As my husband and I were heading home (with one last stop at Goodwill in mind), I was just saying how awesome today was. I found really neat things, but I stayed on budget and felt like I still had a little change in my pocket for next time. We stopped at GW, walked though all our areas of interest and were fixing to walk out empty-handed when a worker who was stocking the shelves rolled out with a new cartful of goodies. I couldn't believe my eyes.

A vintage forest green Fiesta coffee pot for 2.99.

And it cleaned up perfectly. Absolutely mint. And probably the most flawless piece of Fiesta I have.

I am truly amazed. The coffee server and mixing bowls are my absolute favorite pieces of vintage Fiesta. This is my third coffee pot, and amazingly enough, the second one that's come from a Goodwill. My other is a yellow with a broken finial I picked up for 5.99.

Such an awesome day, with fabulous treasures!

Hope you are finding splendid treats and fabulous goodies!

Happy Thrifting!

Community Sale

This is the craziest, most wonderful single day haul I think I've ever found.

My husband and I go to this community sale every year, and typically find a few things that make it worth checking out every year. But there's a paid admission preview we'd never gone to. (In addition to buying a ticket, there's still usually quite a wait in line and a bit of madness ensuing.)

But we weren't sure what we were missing out on by not buying the early bird tickets. But boy oh boy did I get my answer this time.

New record for lowest price paid for vintage Fiesta relish tray pieces. I had a spare insert, so in a single stroke, I now have two complete trays!

I love how I can look back and piece together the story of how I've completed 2 trays in 3 years time. If you're interested, here's the links to each one.  First, the cobalt center. Then a month later, 4 sides to go with it. Then a green side. Then, about a year later, an anniversary splurge - a base for my inserts. )

Two dollars! I'm keeping this particular set because I know I'll be sentimental about them, but gave my other set to Mom, who loves pink Pyrex but will absolutely not step foot in an antique store. I've bought her pink pieces when I've found them for good prices, but I'd never lucked into the big 475 for song. I'm betting these guys are going to be used for family dinners and even holidays now!

Gigantic unmarked Fiesta platter for two dollars, small turquoise Butterprint for 3.

I didn't even look at the pattern. My brain just said "Pyrex bowl set for 6 dollars" put it in the buggy! Addiction!

There's a surprise set for my mama that's in the first pic, but not exactly visible. I think she'll love it. I also bought an entire set of Taylor, Smith, and Taylor LuRay pastels. Here they are, cleaned up!

So happy we went! Well worth the price of admission. My husband found lots of goodies, too, which is not such a common occurrance. By the end we had a grocery cart filled to the brim and threatening to spill over. It was magical. LOL!

Hope you are finding fabulous sales filled with dreamy goodness!

Happy Thrifting!
 

Way to start out the New Year!

I was so happy yesterday. I could not believe the great things I was finding at one little Goodwill. And on half-off day, no less!

I only have two pictures. My camera batteries need replaced and I keep forgetting about it. So forgive the even-worse-than-usual quality photos I did manage to take.

First up, these dishes were all taped together in a stack, marked 3.99, and they qualified for the half-off.  (They've started excluding the current week's color from half-off sales.)

I looked right over them until something in my brain connected the dots that these are actually unmarked Fiesta from 1970's. The dinner plates are the only marked pieces. They say Casualstone by Coventry, and Made in USA. Here's some more information from a Homer Laughlin book.

I found so much stuff. I was just so excited! I found a few more vintage items I didn't get to photograph, and just general cool stuff I don't blog about. For instance, I got a pair of polka dot Converse for 4 dollars, a pair of jeans, Harry Potter Clue, a couple of books, my husband found a couple of things, and we walked out spending less than 25 bucks. It was a New Years miracle! :-)

But the craziest score of all is something I very nearly overlooked altogether.



Yes, that's pink Kromex. Again! And the crazy, crazysauce thing about it is, I was missing the tea canister, and the sugar canister from my 8 dollar antique store set is cracked, right down between the u and the g.

And the bad thing is, I didn't see them! They were pushed right up against the wall, with something else in front of them on the shelf. I started to walk out of that area, when I noticed there were two silverware tubs on the bottom shelf that I might want to rifle through. So I walked back over. Bent down, I was face to face with pink Kromex. I couldn't believe I found them, and I couldn't believe I very nearly didn't! Ack!!!!

And I about died when I saw the prices. Sugar canister, 99 cents, tea canister, 59 cents. Really?!! I couldn't even begin to tell you the last time I bought anything *ANYTHING* good at this GW for 59 cents. It reminds me of when I first began going to thrift stores on a regular basis. The days when I used to pass on perfectly good pieces of Pyrex, Corelle, and all the other stuff that I now crave with the bloodlust of total crazy-person.

The sugar canister doesn't have even a scrap of black left on the lettering. It looks like it never even had it to begin with. These guys are a little more rough around the edges than my antique store set. And since my camera is dead (at least for now), I can't get a proper family portrait of them all reunited. Hopefully, next time I post, I can take a picture of them all together. And I believe I'll take advice from Farm Girl Pink and fill in the lettering with a Sharpie (or nick one of the hubs Prismacolors).

What a way to start the New Year!!!

Hope you are finding fantastic treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Pretty pink on a blue day

My finds yesterday, on a rainy day.

The Pink Gooseberry Pyrex Cinderella bowl is a duplicate for me, and an antique store purchase at 12 dollars. It came from the booth of one of my all-time favorite dealers, so I didn't mind paying the antique store price for it. :-)

And I have a story to tell about the pink gooseberry casserole!

I saw a thrift store employee walking by with the dish in his hands. I really don't recall exactly what I said or did to get his attention. (I think I went a little instinctual at that moment, lol!)

He asked me if I wanted to buy the dish (um....let me think about that. For like....GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME).

Then he was like, you want the lid that goes with that? And I'm like.....compose yourself girl. Stop drooling, tell the nice man in coherent words and phrases that yes, indeed, you would like the lid that goes with it.

He goes back to the back to price it. I stand around pretending not to pee myself with happiness.

And just before he hands me the dish and lets me see how he's priced it, he says something like "That'll be $150,000."

And on some level, my brain is going...uh, that's what I'm afraid of!

But no. The sticker says $1.50

Oh Happy Day! Cheap Pyrex at the thrift? And it's Pink Gooseberry?! So much love!

And I had to include a picture of this ornament I picked up yesterday at Hobby Lobby. Of the 4 they had, this one was only one of two that had the bowl part still intact. I almost bought the other one too, but the beater part was bent and I wasn't confident I could unbend them without breaking them.

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Blessed and Lucky

All thrifted. Amazing.

Get out! Shut the front door! This much Pyrex at the thrift store? You dreamin' girl!

Actually, this is two days worth & from 6 different thrift stores. The large Town & Country oval casserole & the Verde green round casserole were things my husband spotted for me. He'd gone in to drop off several boxes of donations after work, and course he had to take a look around while he was there. He also found a couple of Corningware pieces that I intend to sell. I could not believe the Pyrex was just $3.99 a piece. I can count the number of times I've found Pyrex at this thrift store on my fingers and toes & it's was more expensive than that. I found my large oval charcoal snowflake casserole there when I very first started collecting, and it was $5.99 even then.

This was all found yesterday. Everything in the picture was thrifted except the Butterprint casserole in the dish drainer. It was an antique store purchase for 9 dollars.

The blue tray on the front left is unmarked Anchor Hocking Vitrock. These were decorated in the same colors as my Lotus sets, and I thought it'd make a nice go-along. It, the 503 fridgie lid, and the Butterfly Gold butter dish were 2 dollars each.

The Butterprint mixing bowls were basically antique store priced, but I was thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to find them. I actually have this set already, but I almost never use them, because I think I'm subconsciously squeamish of using the more expensive/higher demand pieces in my collection. Now that I have these as spares, I'm going to feel free to use them all the time. I can keep a set on display as still have some handy to use - best of both worlds.

The kitchy artwork....oh boy. One of these days I will reveal where all this stuff actually goes. I can't do it without showing the full extent of my Pyrex hoard collection.

And of course I can't post it without making it look the best it can, lest it end up on Pinterest. lol!

Look at these little cry babies! So cute.

And finally, I couldn't take a good picture of this mirror without including myself in it, so here's yet another unflattering shot.

The utensils shelf looks like a project someone made & then decided they didn't like how it turned out. It's got some looseness to it that needs to be fixed before I'd trust putting any weight on the spoon & folk hooks.

I love everything I bought, just wish it was a little easier on the pocketbook sometimes. I don't mean to complain, really I don't. It's just that a lot of the 1 & 2 dollar items came from the same thrift store that used to charge 25 and 50 cents a piece for identical items only a year or so ago. I've only been finding a couple of things at a time, if I'm lucky, so the rise in prices isn't as noticeable or bad. But like yesterday when I was fortunate to find many things I really liked all at the same time, the price increases really do sting. It's the same feeling I get every time I go to the grocery store these days. You get less and less for more and more money.

Still, I feel very fortunate & blessed, and happy with my new lovelies.

Hope you're having great luck & fortunate finds!

Happy Thrifting!

Confessions of a Goodwill Shopper

Everyone has their own opinion of Goodwill Industries. Here's mine:

3 years ago, my grandmother, who has since passed away, began giving me various kitchen items. Pyrex, Fire King, Hazel Atlas, etc.

While researching these new-to-me items, I remembered various things my other grandmother used to use. I identified some dishes I had already inherited, and practically in the blink of an eye I was hooked on vintage kitchen stuff.

For the first time in my adult life, I began stalking thrift stores. I started visiting the ones I already knew about and found several new ones, such as Habitat for Humanity ReStore (Definitely my favorite of all to both buy from and donate to).

What I wanted was Pyrex, and lots of it. I discovered Pyrex Love, the flickr group, and a cool blog called Out Thrifting that was talking about the exact same things my grandmother gave me and was finding more of at the thrift store.

Anyway.

At the time, I could buy a Pyrex teacup or mug for 29-59 cents apiece. I bought colored Pyrex bowls & dishes for anywhere between 59 cents to $1.99. I bought a vintage rose Fiesta teacup for .19

I went overboard. Now, I wasn't exactly finding mixing bowls and dream pieces for these prices. Mostly it was stuff I really, really didn't need. Like Corelle in Pyrex patterns, Pyrex tableware/restaurant ware. Some Fire King & Hazel Atlas mugs. Miscellaneous Glasbake.

In other words, anything with that "Milk glass" look that was decorated in a kitchy way.

I had no outlet yet for the overload, so I actually donated most of it back.

Yep. Only it was typically bought from Goodwill but donated back to the ReStore.

Now, I kept plenty. I just bought lots of crap. Overeager beginning collector syndrome. And I've seen enough of the same thing from various thrifting blogs to know I am not the only one who goes overboard. :-)

For maybe a year, this is how it goes. Then, almost suddenly, no Pyrex anywhere.

I thought, "Oh no! They've caught on to it being a collectible!" I still kept hitting the thrifts, but nothing, nada. Once in a blue moon I'd find something at one of the non-Goodwill, church-based thrifts.

I also discovered Shopgoodwill.com. For a good long while I was pretty happy that I could bid on things I had never seen locally. For my Pyrex fix I've bought a set of the gray banded dinnerware, the larger sized pink gooseberry casserole dishes (the 480 Cinderella casserole set) & that same set in "Friendship" with the decorated lids. I bought almost 2 sets worth of pink mixing bowls and refrigerator dishes, and the complete set of "Snowflake Blue" refrigerator dishes with lids.

I know that sounds like a lot, but spread out over two years, it's not so much. And also, I've never, even once, bought anything from ebay. So I still don't consider myself much of an online shopper.

Anyways, in the rare times now that I find pretty much anything vintage, it's priced crazy high. The glory days of finding Fire King mugs for less than a dollar are long gone, it seems.



But the reason I'm writing this post today is because I realize how defeated I feel. And it's not just prices that's doing it.

Out of habit, I searched shopgoodwill for Pyrex earlier today. Instead of being interested in what I was seeing, I felt sad. Every one of those auctions are Pyrex pieces that I think should be sitting on a store shelf, just waiting for a cute little blogger like me (Haha!) to buy it, clean it up, love it, blog about it. Instagram it. All that.

It's a local piece that came out of someones home. The original owner may not be with us any more. I think it deserves a chance to stay in the area and go to another local person. I know that may not ultimately be its fate, but it stands a lot less of a chance when it's being presented to a global audience, to whomever is willing to shell out the most $$$

I'm thoroughly sick of online. It's only online because it makes them more money. And does anyone know where exactly that money goes?! Cause I sure don't. I think they think that paying their employees is their charitable deed. But by that logic, Walmart is a charity. Target is a charity.

Ugh.

I hate how ugly my emotions get when I think about it all. I'm at that point where I feel that a part of me is saying that I don't want to shop at Goodwill anymore, because I don't want to give them any more of my money.

The other part of me is a real shopping addict that doesn't know if I can give it up! Even when I practically HATE Goodwill some days.

There have been many occasions where I've felt like what I buy is being inspected, so they can mark it up next time. I've been asked by a cashier if I'm a dealer, and I basically said "No, I'm just a hoarder." LOL!

Frankly, I don't think it's anyone elses business! AND when I buy something from the thrift store and resell it, I only resell locally. So I'm at least as good as my opinion that a local item deserves at least the chance to stay local.

And whether you like it or not, vintage is just the thing these days. Before the economy tanked, house-flipping was the side hustle of choice. Now it's flea market flipping. It's American pickers. The tides will turn when there are more opportunities to seemingly make more money in an easier way.

So, no, I don't think vintage is going to be as hot a few years from now. But by then, all the good stuff might have been auctioned off to the highest bidder in Japan, where they seem to have more of an appreciation for vintage glassware!

And as for the future of Goodwill, well, I don't think it's very bright either. I don't know that I believe thrift stores as a whole can even survive. Too much disposable crap that isn't really resellable. I think in general, thrift stores are going to basically become used clothing stores with progressively tinier sections for everything else.

I go back to Goodwill and will continue to go back because I'm a gambler. I play the odds, I lose money sometimes, and sometimes I win big. I have enough small wins to keep the hunger alive.

Intermittent reinforcement. It's a hell of a drug. lol!

Thoughts? Do you have a thrift chain you just love to hate?

Happy Thrifting! ;-)

Why I thrift

Come to mama!

Sure these guys are battered and bruised, but at $5.99 you'd have to be a very discriminating Fiesta collector to pass these guys up entirely.

Here they are after a bath, best sides showing. I'm in love! The vintage red & yellow add a really nice pop of color to my predominantly blue & green collection - which is not that way deliberately, but just how it's worked out so far.

The damage to the pieces is unfortunate, but it doesn't hinder me at all from thoroughly enjoying these beautiful pieces!

 And on the same day, different thrift, I found this milk glass 1 pint dry measure. It also has a chip, and it very nearly didn't come home with me. I got it for $2.50

 Worse, I actually passed it up altogether, the first time I saw it. I honestly thought it was a reproduction. The milk glass is swirly and has many straw-marks, all characteristics of something cheaply made.

And it probably was cheaply made. Only now I think it could be from the turn of the century - 1920's.

I can only find two bits of information, both auctions. One appeared to just copy and paste the same info from the first auction, so I can't be sure.

And here's where I admit that I'm a dunderhead. I would have bought this anyway. Just cause I liked it. But I probably would have looked at it for years and years without deducing what my husband did in about 8 seconds. -  National Biscuit Company = NABISCO. !!!!

According to the auction house that sold a grouping of turn of the century Nabisco items, these dry measures were given to retailers to measure product out to customers. And when it ran out, they could keep, sell, or give away the glass measuring cup.

How neat! I LOVE the story behind this piece, and it will fit right in with odd collection of depression era glass, half of which has some chip or imperfection anyway. I think I'm a sort of retirement home for half-cracked glass.

The expression 'half-cracked' is telling, isn't it? lol!

Hope you are finding thrifty treats & vintage treasures!

Happy Junk

 This is just about the best thrift haul I've had in ages.

First up, just about the dumbest thing I spent money on - a divided lid for a Pyrex divided dish. 2.99 just for a lid, and this fool girl bought it. I just don't find stray lids anymore, for practically any size Pyrex dish. They're just not to be found. So I paid the price. Just out of curiousity, I wonder if they thought this was a complete dish since, theoretically, you could use it to serve two separate things. Or were they just knowingly being greedy? sigh....


Still, everything was expensive. The blue Pyrex fridgie with lid was 4.99 at a church thrift. Double sigh. Bought it anyway. The loaf pan is an unmarked Glasbake in a pattern I've never seen, so of course I had to have it for 2.99 from the same thrift.

At another store I bought this small dishwashed-to-death Pyrex dinnerware bowl. I wouldn't have paid good money for it, but it was on a 10 cent rack. At that price it was more of a 'rescue' than a purchase. The woman running the store wasn't going to let me off the hook though. She thrust a glass donation jar in front of me with a look on her face like I would deeply insult the Lord if I did not make a further donation, so I dumped out all my change in to it. I'm a wuss like that.

Next up, I LOVE these guys! These are fired-on color, vitrock Lotus bowls made by Anchor Hocking. I've never seen an original box for these, but I believe they were sold as snack sets, in sets of 4. The color I'm missing altogether is a fired-on jadeite green shade. These were also made in real Jadeite, as well as at least some pieces in Azurite (pale blue), Forest Green & Peach Lustre. I've said before on this little blog that of all Jadeite pieces that Anchor Hocking/Fire King made, I'd like these the most.

But I'll settle for these, for sure. They were GW purchases, 99 cents per plate, 79 cents per bowl. Also, one of the things to look out for with vitrock is that it just doesn't look like glass. Anchor Hocking made a number of these types of pieces in vitrock, and they can look downright ceramic. But they are definitely glass.

And finally, super mega ultra Happy Dance. A cool vintage table. It's dirty, rusty, and possibly stained forever, but it is mine, and was totally in the budget at a sweet $12.99. Now that's more like it, Mr. Thrift Store. LOL

It's small enough that the tiny vintage tablecloths I have actually fit on it. God help me if I start tablescaping....

Yes, the wonky angle was intentional. This is my very disordered laundry room, the temporary home of this fabulously junktacular find. And I am trying to hide my mess, yes sirreee.

Hope the Junk gods are being kind to you this week! Happy Hunting!

American Sweetheart

I love reading old magazines. I just read a story last week or so from a magazine dating from 1986, of a lady who began a collection of American Sweetheart depression glass from a lucky rummage sale find that cost her less than two dollars.

Little did I know I would have basically the same thing happen to me just yesterday, give or take 8 dollars for inflation.

I don't didn't collect Depression Glass at all. It may be the one type of kitchenalia on the face of the planet that I do not collect. Except......5 pieces of American Sweetheart in Monax (white) - my one exception.

So how on Earth could I refuse a taped up shoebox of pink depression glass that I couldn't even check the condition of for ten dollars? Which, to me, is a lotta bread for some bread plates.

(Sorry, bad joke :-)

But I think I did good, and was quite lucky. This little set totals 18 pieces, including 4 hard-to-find fruit bowls. Two of the footed sherberts have jagged chips that I'm going to sand down and keep them out to use. Otherwise the rest of the pieces are pretty much perfect.

 

 

Tiny, adorable fruit bowls. If baby kittens were dishes, they'd be these fruit bowls. They're that cute.

And here's my other pieces - one luncheon plate and 4 teacups in Monax.

(By the way, Monax is just an obscure, copyright-able name for white, in case you're wondering, lol.)

Same place, I also found a piece of Pyrex, an adorable Glasbake baker, and a Fiesta mug, but I'll save them for another post.

Happy Treasure Hunting!