This Week’s Vintage Finds #38

source: Kalmar Antiques

This interesting Art Deco jabot or stick pin made of celluloid has great vintage charm. The fan in the back is made of striped celluloid and the decorative piece on top is celluloid made to look like tortoiseshell. Tortoiseshell would have been rare and costly in the 1920s. So it would not make financial sense to put real tortoiseshell on top of a relatively cheap material like celluloid. It would be like putting a crystal in 14K gold setting. Furthermore, real tortoiseshell would have been thicker than the piece you see here. A great ebay guide, Tortoiseshell: Real or Fake, helped me to learn all about these materials. I will be listing the pin for approximately $24.99. (Note: the smaller pointy end unscrews so the “stick” can be threaded through a shirt collar.)

I have learned through the years that Boy and Girl Scout items sell well. Whenever I see scarf slides, I pick them up. They seem to go for just $6, so I may hang on to this one until I get another BSA item or two. Then I will group them and sell them all together.

This lovely necklace, made of brass and glass, can be worn as one long strand or as two short strands when wrapped around your neck twice. Given its rather delicate beauty, I will list it for about $15.99.

Isn’t this necklace beautiful?! I bought it along with several other items at a sale without looking at it too closely. Later in the day when I checked it with a jeweler’s loupe, I found “12K” stamped on the clasp. I was very excited. Then I washed it and inspected it again, only to find that the jeweled piece itself is marked 12K GF. GF stands for “gold-filled,” which means that the piece is gold plated, not solid gold. I suspect only the clasp is made of solid gold.

It’s still a very pretty, vintage piece, and I’m fairly certain the stones are semi-precious aquamarine, my birthstone. Historically aquamarine has been credited with providing courage, curing laziness, and quickening the intellect. Because of it’s water-like color, it is also associated with mermaids. The deeper the blue, the more valuable the stone.

I had to research this piece because I had never encountered one like it. It’s Victorian design and the chain made me think that it might be related to a chatelaine.

As you can see from this photo, under the Victorian style hand, one finds a clip. I typed “chatelaine clip” into the Etsy search box and discovered that it is a 1950s glove clip. Ladies would use it to clip their gloves to their hand bags. Sounds very 1950s, doesn’t it?

source: Etsy

In this photo from an unknown Etsy source, you can see how the clip would be used. The chain attaches to the hand bag while the clip holds the gloves. Pretty handy. (Note this Victorian era purse is inconsistent with the era of the gloves and the clip.) I’ll be listing the clip for $12.99.

These glamorous rhinestone earrings would make attractive evening-wear or the perfect accessory for a bride or bridesmaid. They’ll go into my shop for $9.99.

Pocket knives are quite collectible. This nicely detailed, brass knife shaped like a train has great appeal. I’m sure there’s a collector out their who will be willing to part with $14.99 for it.

This is an interesting piece–a jackknife with Celtic enamel and brass decoration made in Sweden, of all places. It’s got a nice little leather holder and is in quite good shape. As I mentioned, pocket knives are quite collectible. I anticipate this one, like the train knife above, will bring in about $14.99 as well.

This poor baby has seen better days. It was virtually free and I liked the celluloid decoration on the sides. I thought I’d see if I could clean up the rust with a nice rub down of mineral oil and steel wool. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Another garage sale find, this silver pin (marked STERLING on the hollow back) measures about 2″ x 2″. I think it looks like two love birds who’ve had a tiff(!). It’s currently for sale in my Etsy shop for $12.99. For a great article discussing the difference between Sterling and silver-plate, check out this ebay guide: Is It Sterling Silver or Silverplated?

All of the above jewelry and other smalls cost just $10. I know it’s crazy the deals you can get at garage sales.