Why I Hunt for Vintage Finds at Church Flea Markets

Hi there! How was your weekend? Mine was just lovely–full of special birthday celebrations. Yep, yesterday was my birthday 🙂 We spent the day with my sweet daughter who performed in a staged reading of a student-written play at her college. Such a wonderful birthday present!

Earlier in the weekend, I restocked my antique booth and hit a couple of thrift stores with my sweet husband–a truly perfect way to celebrate. Well, not as perfect as garage sales, but beggars can’t be choosers when it’s not the garage sale season yet(!).

In today’s post about vintage finds at church flea markets I’m sharing why I enjoying hunting at them for the good stuff.  Again, it still being winter and all here in the chilly Northeast. You may also enjoy these posts: why I love estate sales, how to rock your garage sale season, and my garage saling guide.

Why I Hunt for Vintage Finds at Church Flea Markets

In general, I’m not one to rush out to a church “jumble” or “white elephant” sale. If nothing much else is going on by way of vintage sales, then I might pop in and check it out, usually later in the day. If it’s an historically excellent sale, then it’s already on my calendar, and I will attend it religiously (there are two of those in my area).

But otherwise, I can’t be bothered by the massive crowds and piles of junk that have to be waded through to find anything of value. Just my opinion. But for me, something advertised as a “flea market,” often means great opportunities for a vintage-loving girl like myself, and they don’t come around that often in my neck of the woods, so I’m usually THERE when they do.

Church flea markets mean that multiple people are selling all different kinds of goods at all different price points. Usually there are several rooms filled with vendors selling new stuff, antiques, vintage, and garage sale level goods.

A local United Methodist church holds one the first weekend in March, which I always enjoy attending. Two floors of both small and large rooms are filled with people offering all kinds of merchandise. I arrived late in the afternoon this year, with my sweet husband in tow, and still managed to pick up a few good vintage finds.

Vintage Finds at the Church Flea Market

Like this little pottery shoe, which I plan to use as a bottle brush tree receptical come Christmas (cost: 25¢). I’ll tie another bottle brush tree to the top of the vintage matchbox bus (cost: 50¢), and the newer, miniature spongeware pitcher (cost: 25¢) joins a small “accidental” collection that I hope to post about sometime soon.

Another miniature pitcher that once held a sample of Dolphi Cointreau also joins the collection (cost: 25¢).

I wasn’t sure what this piece was when I bought it (cost: 50¢), but I’ve since determined that it’s a fire wagon, which would have been drawn by horses. Unfortunately, the back of the seat is broken off, but I find it very interesting, nonetheless (value: $10-15 if in better condition).

I picked up these three vintage rhinestone pins from the same vendor (cost: 50¢ each). I thought they might come in handy for a future as yet-to-be-determined project or two. Those lips are something else! My last name starts with a “P,” so of course I needed that one.

The Yardley talc powder tin was a fun find (cost: $2, value: $10-15), the Baby Ben by Westclox is for sale on eBay at the moment (cost: $2, value: $12-20), and I sell a lot of sewing notions on eBay and plan a blog post about darners in the near future (cost: $2).

I need another beat up tray screaming for a makeover like I need a hole in my head, but what’s a girl to do when she finds such an interesting one for just 50¢? She’s got to buy it, of course. I know you understand. [Those of you who don’t are probably reading the wrong blog, LOL.] Shall I paint it? Stencil it? Decoupage is? So many choices…

A very sweet woman manned a table full of assorted recipe booklets, each offered for $1.00. I did a little haggling and bought four of them plus a crocheting booklet (below) for a total of $4.00. Haggling queen over here.

I have found that the world contains an number of voracious Jell-o collectors, so I pick up related pieces when I find them (cost: 80¢, value: $3-4 in this condition).

Plus I enjoyed the illustrations  in this 1930 edition: The New Jell-o Book of Surprises.

She had two of the Royal Cook Book pamphlets in excellent condition, so I snatched them both up (cost: 80¢, value: $6-7) .

The cartoons on this Spry (shortening) cooking pamphlet made me chuckle, especially when the purple-suited woman remarks that “…foods fried in Spry are as digestible as if baked or boiled.” The term “hydrogenated fat” was obviously unknown at the time, along with is deleterious health effects (cost: 80¢, value: $6-7). 

Despite its poor condition, this Dexter pamphlet had me mesmerized with its fascinating 1930’s era ladies modeling handmade crocheted garments.

I loved the peek at the period hair and fashion styles, and thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of “real-sized” women. Totally refreshing, but heartbreaking to realize how far from this we’ve deviated from that look today.

Final Fabulous Finds: Do you adore these pups? I’ve found over the years that dog-related vintage and antiques sell pretty well, but terriers of any kind sell extremely well. That led me to buy these darlings, which my daughter fell in love with (of course) when she saw them over spring break (cost: 50¢ each, value: $6-10 each).

The white fellow with green swirls has “Japan” stamped on his belly, as does the black-faced guy, though on his foot. The shorter black terrier has “Germany” embossed on his lower back. They will not last long in my booth.

Why Shop at Church Flea Markets

So the moral of the story is hit up as many church sales as you like, but your time will be much better spent at those specifically referred to as “flea markets.” You’ll find a superior array of merchandise and multiple sellers to haggle with, which is always enjoyable and usually profitable.