Thrift Share Monday - Spring

Russian Matryoshka Doll - Saturday Estate Sale

My thrifting week began on Thursday (which feels like weeks ago) when I rushed down to an estate sale in San Rafael. I was worried that I wouldn't get there in time or that I'd be stuck outside while everyone shopped but as it turned out I got there with 20 minutes to spare and I got in with the first group of buyers. It was good that I did because many of the Little Shop items came from that sale.

The house was absolutely packed with everything vintage. There were lots of items from Scandinavia as well as crafts supplies. I was so happy that I had made the effort to drive there despite not feeling like spending an hour in the car first thing in the morning. The gas probably cost me $15 to get there and back but I've already listed two pieces of flatware from the sale and have received an opening bid of $24.99.  It was such a good start to the Thrift weekend.

Friday morning I headed east to a sale in Sonoma and later to one in Napa.

This little machine caused a bit of drama at the Sonoma sale.

I was looking at a box filled with these lead letters trying to figure out what they go to.

The box that I was looking at had about 8 of these wooden boxes all filled with letters. I was asking one of the gentleman running the sale about the price when another buyer found the machine. We finally figured out that they go together. Then the Seller mentioned that they should stay together and that he had made a mistake by not pricing them as one unit. Can you imagine what happened next? The guy at the machine wanted the machine. I said that I would like to buy both of them if they had to be sold together. The Seller sided with me because I had asked first about them and had agreed to buy them all. The other buyer was very upset with me. He said it wasn't fair and was very annoyed.

I'm one of the most polite people you'd ever meet. I always say my thank you and pleases. I open doors for people etc. My dad taught me well. If I had thought the other buyer had shown interest first I would have walked away from the set. I knew though that I was there first so I stood my ground. He said some remark about me just going to sell them why can't I give him the machine. But I'm a crafter and this is the closest thing to a letter press that I might ever see. I not only want to hold onto it for a little while, but I'd like to figure the machine out. It's called a Kingsley Hot Foil Stamping Machine. Have you ever heard of these?

After I "won" the small Thrift battle, I stayed in the garage and hid there until the other seller left. I'm so not the confrontational type and don't look forward to running into him next week. I left Sonoma and headed to Napa through the pouring rain.

Napa brought me to the home of a hoarder (now in a home). She had hundreds of bottles of perfume and avon supplies. It was there that I found my largest collection of mercury glass beads ever. Besides this collection I found 8 vintage Montgomery Wards boxes of Mercury Glass Beads with 2 strands of garland in each box.

She also was an avid sequin and plastic bead ornament crafter. The garage was filled with her handmade ornaments.  Her ornaments were just lovely and she definitely had a talent for making them. I hope that she can continue to keep her hands busy in her new home.

Vintage collection of Staplers and Staples.

Saturday I attended another Estate Sale in Santa Rosa. The previous owner had traveled the world. It was there I found the Russian Nesting Doll at the top of this post. I was planning to list it in Little Shop when I realized that I just loved the colors. I've never seen one with teal before. So I took my previous favorite doll and added that to Little Shop.

This morning Keiran and I went back to the Estate sale where I bought this map of the Santa Rosa area for $5. It's not terribly vintage, from the early 80's but I thought the colors were lovely. Now to find a large enough frame for it.

It was at this same sale on Saturday that I found this sweet 100% beeswax candle in the shape of an egg. This will be the centerpiece for our Easter dinner.

This was my best "Unknown" find of the weekend. This little 10k gold 1922 basketball was in a bag of buttons. It's a charm attached to a pin that says "Play day". 

Any marble experts out there? I found these in a vintage plastic food container. The man running the sale said that they went to aggravation but none of the vintage games that I saw on-line had these colors of marbles. They are almost art glass in style. They are really beautiful.

Here are some items available for you in my Little Shop.

10% of all sales this week will be donated to helping Japan. Thank you for your orders last week when all proceeds went to Japan.

Little Shop Prices are based on price I paid, the shipping cost and work involved to take photos, list the item and ship. I do try to keep Little Shop prices low overall unless it's a large item or somewhat rare. If prices are higher than others, it's usually because of the price I paid for an item was higher than usual.

I'm now deleting items once they have sold to make easier shopping when you scroll down the page. If you do try to link to an item and the page is blank, this means it has sold. I've also added a little bit of information about Personal Shopping Services on the top post at Little Shop.

I hope that you enjoy this week's selection.

Russian Matryovski Doll Set is available here.

Betty Crocker Vintage Cookbook can be found here.

Vintage Napkins are here.

Christmas Nesting Doll set is waiting for you here.

My favorite item of the week, a Swedish grow chart can be found here.

Did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.

We Thrift  - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Thrift Share:

• Your Thrift Share Monday blog post should include your thrifted finds from the weekend.
• Create a blog post with photos of your items.
• Link your Thrift Share Monday post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Thrift Share Monday post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Thrift Share Monday regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Thrift Share Community.

Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.

Comments

[Lara]

The letter press machine seems like it was totally worth standing your ground over...how cool are those letters?!?! The colors in the map are great too :-)

[woolf]

i've enjoyed your monday post again, as per usual. you make it pretty visual, your thriftng adventures, which also means a bit of traveling for me. i wonder whether any good vintage auctions are being held in belgium at all? i mean, vintage & crafty ones. i fear we just do antiques, 'old style'.
the letter press, of course, ... oh wow. the russian dolls in red are magnificent, rare design to me.
n♥

[laura]

folks I have met Selena and she is a DOLL-sweet, polite and just a pleasure! Selena I'm glad you stood up for yourself, even if you had to hide afterward :)

[SixBalloons]

Selena, there are some great youtube videos that show how the machine works... Great find! I think you were right to stand your ground, and I'm sure the other fellow knows it - what's the point of the machine without the stamping letters??

[Nick]

Good on ya! That letterpress thingy was definately worth fight the fight for. In the words of my daughter, I would have "stink-eyed" the other party till he shrivelled up in a ball.
Your finds make me want to hop on a plane to the US. You guys have some good treasures over there.

[Carolyn]

Hi Selena-you may research Akro (pronounced a-crow)marbles. They made ones out of what they called agate glass. The only reason I know this is because I passed on an Akro green agate vase because I didn't know what it was. By the time I researched it and went back it was gone. Grr.

[Karen Jones - The White Approach]

oooh! I sooo need a trip to the USA to go thrifting. Not sure how I would get it all home. Your bits and bobs are totally amazing. Found you via Scarlet Loves Elvis. Will follow and include your link on my Monday posts xx

[Whitney]

I am a hobbyist printer. Right now, we are focused on all things press related. Have fun playing with your new toy. I am most jealous. I was at a sale last week and passed on TONS of foil rolls because we don't have a machine... yet. That being said, the foil rolls are out there and you can find deals on them too! Good Luck!

[Apryl]

some really fantastic finds. And sounds like a lovely weekends despite that one idiot. love the cook book best. that would be great for crafting. *ponders*... I did a tiny bit of thrifting mostly today. will attempt to do some blogging when I have caught up on house work and started in on the 150 cards i need to make this week for the studio.

[Gina at Vintage Junk in My Trunk]

Great finds Selena! The letterpress thing was definitely yours; glad you defended yourself! Thank you for all your tips and info on selling -- they are quite helpful! I know you sell on a few different online sites; I was wondering how you decide what to put where? I'm having trouble figuring that out, and the options for ebay just make things worse (buy it now, starting price, etc.).

[Van]

I love going to yard sale/estate sales in the homes of world travelers. Two weekends ago I went to one with many objects from Japan, I didn't buy much but I love looking at all of it.

[Barbara]

Looks like you had a great weekend. Well done for standing your ground over that amazing machine. You'll have such fun crafting with all those letters I'm sure.

[Jacki]

did you get all the plastic beads and sequin supplies for making Christmas ornaments? They make a good lot. I love good beaded ornaments. they can be so pretty all together.

[Cheryl]

I came across a very similar stamping machine recently. It was much cuter than the one you bought-- if thats possible :-P This one was a hand crank press that had a small drawer with letters & numbers. I image it was used for pricing stickers-- as it had a roll of small square stickers going through the machine-- it had a self inking pad that priced each one as it went through the machine. Super adorable... but it was priced at $40. She said she'd go down to $35.... I should have offered her $20. What did you pay for yours? Do you think I should go get this one? It was at a yard sale... which she has all the time, so I imagine it'd still be there amongst all the plastic JUNK. If nothing else, it sure was cute! lol
~Cheryl

[Let's Go Thrifting!]

I'm glad you you won that little battle for you letter stamping machine. It looks to be a great find. I also love that candle, very elegant.

<3 Jackie

[Shara]

I LOVE everything!!! This has to be one of your best weekends ever! I'm inspired to get back at it after seeing your finds (: Hopefully Mr. "Hoodie" (I know exactly who you are talking about) will get over the letter machine ordeal--what a jerk. Have a great week!

[Adrienne]

I'm glad you won! That's a neat find along with all the other stuff you got too! As for the marbles, I don't know to much about them, but I do remember seeing an episode on Pickers where Frank was haggling over some. I'd say it's something to definitely look into! Anyway, I hope you have a great day!

[amy zimmer]

Selena 1, Bullies 0.

[angelika]

I smiled when i saw the nesting christmas tree/santa/snow man. i have the exact same set that i bought in a flea market in Kiev in 2003. i bring it out each Christmas along with my huge St. Nicholas collection and it makes me smile every time. great find.
i agree with everyone else about standing your ground. being polite and kind doesn't mean you have to be a door mat. it's a cool machine - i hope you'll post photos of creations made with it once you've figured it out.

i'm on holidays this week and hope to do some thrifting where i've never thrifted before. last week i found some shamrock covered Vans for $3 that were in my size. just in time for St. Patrick's day. you can see a photo of them on my St. Pat's post on my blog. I'm also going to figure out how to link to other blogs from mine so i can share you with my readers! i love your blog, Selena!

[Anne]

I love that candle, and the little basketball. You have a good eye!

[Amy]

My parents had a Kingsley machine when I was little. They had a flea market booth on the weekends. From what I remember, they stamped playing cards, matchbooks, napkins and Christmas cards. I think the letters have to be lined up upside-down and backwards. Have fun with it!

[Nostalgic in Maine]

Love the Swedish growth chart! Also, thanks for sharing your poignant story about the letter press. I am so glad you stood your ground :-)

BTW, how do I add the socalled Thrift Share Monday button to my blog? Still new at this, but I saw somebody else's blog where they said they hadn't figured it out either - so it's not just me who's clueless, lol.

I have started to look forward to Monday mornings just to read your blog and see what everyone else found over the weekend too.

Have a nice week ahead!

[Diann @ The Thrifty Groove]

Wow, lots of cool finds. How fun! Thanks for hosting and have a wonderful week!

[sweet european dreams]

Congrats on standing your ground! I'm completely non-confrontational, but I would have done the same as you if I knew I were first in line for a vintage treasure! Looks like you got some great deals - I especially love that growth chart - too cute! -diane

[Linda@Coastal Charm]

Thanks so much for hosting the party.

Blessings,
Linda