This Week’s Vintage Finds #37

Hi everyone! My sweet husband and I hit a few garage sales on Friday since he has alternate Fridays off. The temperature and humidity rose steadily throughout the morning, so we stopped shopping at about 11:30 and had some lunch together instead of continuing on. You may have noticed that I’ve acquired quite a large number of items lately; they promise to keep me very busy through the summer. I’m not lacking for wares to hawk in my Etsy shop, that’s for sure!

This is the third typewriter I’ve purchased within the last 10 months. I haven’t tried to sell any of them yet, but I better get busy or I’m going to be overrun with them! This 1950s sea foam green typewriter by Royal is in pretty great condition.

We tested it and it types great–the print has a wonderful vintage (of course) look. I checked out sold listings on Ebay for this item and the prices were all over the map, anywhere from $40-$200. Machines in colors like bright red and yellow could go as high as $300-$400. For a good article on this topic, check out What is My Typewriter Worth, an eBay Guide written by fjaproducts, which sells typewriter ribbon for this machine for about $6.99. Seems like a pretty good price to me.

I thought someone out “there” would enjoy these brightly colored vintage coffee tins. These are the large, 2 pound size. I think they would look great on somebody’s deck with plants in them. What would you use them for?

I’m a sucker for vintage cross stitch, and I love the sentiment on this one. It’s got a couple of trouble spots, which I might work on before I re-frame it in black. It’s a standard size frame, so it won’t be too much trouble. I will list it for about $35 if I can remove the worst of the stains. Remember my good blogger friend Rita at Panapoly has blogged some great cleaning tips for vintage linens.

The sellers priced this ornate side table so low, I couldn’t pass it up: $5.00(!). As you can see, it’s in pretty rough shape…

It’s not a full set, but the graphics are just stunning. Each one is a little piece of art, and I think that’s how I’m going to sell them–one at a time.

I think this Ridgway china pattern is lovely, but I’ve not had much luck selling any china on Etsy. Priced too low to pass up, the pair beckoned me with their loveliness and I gave in. Here, the pieces sit on a pretty runner made from about five feet of vintage toweling.

The bottoms of the pieces let us know that the Ridgway Pottery manufactured them out of semi-porcelain in the La Gloire pattern. (Ridgway is the hard to read last line.) They made beautiful china in Stoke-on-Trent, the pottery-making center of England. I had the opportunity to visit Wedgwood and Portmerion potteries several times when I lived about an hour east in the city of Derby. Semi-porcelain means that the pottery is not see-through in the same way that porcelain would be, making these pieces less delicate. Ebay has a great guide for dating china that gives lots of helpful tips.

The Hull Pottery Company of Crooksville, Ohio manufactured this pretty vase, probably in the 1930s. I’ve always loved Hull pottery. My grandmother had a piece that I inherited when she died. I love the shapes of the flowers and the muted color palette. You may have noticed the chip at the center of the top edge. Since it only cost $1, I thought I’d use it to learn more about the company and its products. Hull used a very distinctive embossed signature on the bottom of their wares. (It would not photograph well for me. The first downward stroke of the “H” is quite long.) Collector’s Weekly has written a good article, Hull Art Pottery, that you may find informative.

I think I might be starting to become a Pyrex collector. Not completely sure. Just giving fair warning. There is simply no way I could pass up these gorgeous pink casseroles, and I’m pretty sure there’s no way I’m going to be able to sell them. So there you have it. I paid $4 for the pair, and they are in very good condition. I visited Pyrex Love to learn that the pattern is called Gooseberry. I also learned that they made a pine cone pattern called Golden Pine that I’m going to have to keep my eye out for. The 1 quart (473) runs about $15-$25 on eBay, while the 2 1/2 quart (475-B) runs about $25-$40. Pink seems to be a valuable color.

I thought the little tart pan on top looked like a crown, so I left it there. It’s for me, not for sale.

Gosh these little guys are cute, aren’t they? And still in their original Shiny Brite box, too. I recently wrote a post about 1950s Christmas decorations and another about decorating with vintage bulbs, if you’re interested in reading more about bulbs. I will list this box for approximately $10 since the pink are a bit rarer than the multi-colored boxes, which sell for only about $7 or $8.

Since I know quite a few people collect Girl Scout memorabilia, I snatched these two GS emblem cookie cutters right up. After researching on eBay, I learned that they sell for about $8-10 each.

Last two items. The drill on top still has some of its original red paint and a nice wooden handle. The design of the wheel is pretty cool, don’t you think? They sell for anywhere from $10-40 depending on the manufacturer and design. I will have to do some more research on this one. The coal shuttle on the bottom is great for decorating. They go for about $10.