This Week’s Vintage Finds #152

Hi everyone!  Hope your week got off to a great start. I’ve been doing lots of cleaning, and not even at my own house (which could use a good tidying up). My sister and her family moved to Atlanta last Sunday and I volunteered to clean their apartment–a work in progress. Another close friend is going to the Ugandan mission field on Friday, so I helped her with some cleaning yesterday. It’s all kind of ironic because, just between you and me, I am not a cleaner. I am a crafting, vintage-selling, DIYer who thinks cleaning is for peasants just plain boring. Anyone agree with me? Shall we move on and take a look at some vintage finds?

Coffee Table Books

A few weeks ago, my sweet husband and I popped into a downtown Albany estate sale in a brownstone on Washington Park. All three floors were filled from floor to ceiling with books from top to bottom. They were. One. Dollar. Each. Eek gads, I could have bought them all. Instead, I bought the ones you see below.

This lavish, perfect condition book contains page after page of stunning, full color and black & white photos and illustrations. Published in 2007 and originally priced at $45.00, it has received rave reviews (value: $25-30.00).

A peek at a couple of the 301 pages. Unfortunately, pictures don’t really do any of the books justice.

Brand new in shrink wrap and published in 1990, Epic! purports to provide a full history of the movies. Unfortunately, I couldn’t uncover any information about the illustrations contained within its 240 pages, though I suspect they are pretty good (cost: $1.00, value: $15-18.00).

Published in 1965, The Golden Horseshoe chronicles the life and times of the historic Metropolitan Opera House [no longer standing], home to the Met before they moved to Lincoln Center. Bound in red cloth, it is in excellent condition and contains 319 pages filled with gorgeous [mostly] black and white photos and illustrations (original price: $16.50, value: $25-30.00).

Some of the divas who gave performances at the Met.

Another high quality volume filled with lush black and white photographs and the lyrics to all of Cole Porter’s songs (original price: $25.00, value: $30-35.00). Published in 1972, it is in remarkable condition, with a tight aqua-colored cloth binding and 283 pages.

Metal

With the renewed popularity of simple, geometrical shapes in home decor, along with the recent trend in copper, I thought it a no-brainer to pick up this plant hanger with all these attributes (cost: 50¢, value: $10-15.00).

I bought this little reproduction tin punched lantern to use for a Christmas project, coming up soon (cost: $3.00).

This is a new item for me–a Jumbo peanut butter jar. I bought it without a lid, but a quart-sized canning jar lid fits well (cost: 50¢, value: $10-12.00). It dates to about the 1930’s.

Here’s a better view of the embossing. Can you see the elephant head in the center?

Tin cookie cutter (cost: free, value: $8.00).

An awesome bunch of antique skeleton keys that I purchased in a coffee can along with the bunch of more modern keys below (cost for all: $2.00, value: $2-3.00 each). Notice the two with heart-shaped loops at the top. I plan to string them on chains and sell them as pendants at the Shaker craft fair.

This bunch came in the tin can along with the skeleton keys (above). My sweet daughter and I like to make bling-y pendants out of them.

I bought this scale at a small antique shop in The Shirt Factory, a collection of artisans and shops located in an old shirt factory we shopped at on our Girl’s Day Out. The owner had a 50% off sale going on, and I bought three items, including this nice vintage scale (cost: $5.00, value: $25-30.00). While it probably dates only to the 1950’s, I’m attracted to it’s simplicity in design and neutral color.

Knives

The well-known American knife company, Schrade, manufactured both this 4″ pocket knife and the one below. The Schrade Cutlery Company opened its doors in 1904, selling switch blades, an invention of the founder, George Schrade. The company changed hands over the years and is currently owned by Taylor Brands. In the 1980’s, Imperial Schrade Corp. (as it was known then) manufactured this pocket knife for Copenhagen tobacco as a premium that could be earned with tobacco can lids.

Written on the “tang” (knife blade) you will find both knives incised with “Schrade USA.” Their bodies are made of plastic, but their tips and brand emblems are of brass (cost: $1.00 each, value: $15-25.00).

This made-in-Pakistan knife, purchased from the same flea market vendor as the two above, is quite a bit longer and heavier (cost: $3.00, value: $10-15.00). I had pocket knives on the brain because a dealer friend had just relayed a story about how he found a Case knife for $10.00 and later discovered its value: $250-300.00! Yeah, I wanna find me one of those knives.

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Bye for now,

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